Halo Infinite’s battle pass isn’t just a slow grind, it’s poorly designed.
A lot of people are already upset about Halo Infinite’s battle pass, and rightfully so. I personally played for over five hours yesterday and barely earned two measly levels. I can’t imagine how hard you would have to grind to reach max level, and for what? A couple of flame animations with terrible particle effects and some basic color swaps? Aesthetic preference is obviously subjective, but I don’t see anything on the track that’s worth putting in the time to earn, even if it wasn’t a nearly-impossible slog. The XP gain needs to be sped up, there’s no question about it, but that will only solve part of the problem. Challenge-based progression that forces you to play the game a certain way to make progress is the worst way to design a battle pass. The over-reliance on daily and weekly challenges sapped away all of my enthusiasm for Apex Legends, and I can already feel it dragging down my Halo Infinite experience.
Battle Pass challenges seem innocuous at first glance. Rewarding a player by getting five kills with a specific gun or playing three matches in a specific game mode should be a low-impact way to encourage people to seek out variety and experience everything the game has to offer. Challenges begin to cross the line when they’re directly tied to progression – and in the case of games like Apex Legends and Halo Infinite, are the only way to earn xp and battle pass levels.
At that point it’s no longer an incentive, it's a requirement.
