Halo Wars 2 Open Beta



The Halo Wars 2 Open Beta is a phase of the development of Halo Wars 2, developed by Creative Assembly and published by Microsoft Studios. It was publicly announced at E3 2016. The beta ran from June 13 to June 23, 2016.

Overview
The beta opened on June 13, 2016. Players could enter it by going to the Xbox store and downloading it for free. The Beta was only available on Xbox One as the developers could not make the PC version ready for a beta release in time, leading to them doing a second beta for the PC later on.

Timetable

 * June 13 to June 16: Domination was available on Ricochet. Domination is the classic RTS gameplay from Halo Wars, now with all-new units, leaders, special abilities, and the amazing depth of Halo Wars 2. Players will build their bases and armies, and battle for control of the map and supremacy on the Ark.
 * June 17 to June 23: Deathmatch was available on Veteran. In Deathmatch, players will plan and build a base and army – but instead of fighting for map control, they'll fight until only one player remains standing.

Included features
The beta test featured a taste of the features from the final multiplayer experience. The features were:

Non-playable units or items
During the beta. The following units or items were only visible or usable during building, or leader power, animations.

UNSC

 * Drop pod: Drops ODST with leader power.
 * Condor:Drops off a UNSC Firebase
 * Pelican: Drops off UNSC buildings and is usable with a leader power.
 * Pelican Gunship
 * Darter: If a supply pad is on the field, Darters will take Supplies to it.

Banished

 * Lich: Drops of a Banished Outpost
 * Spirit: Drops off Banished buildings and is usable to transport troops.
 * Spirit Gunship

General

 * When it comes to leader powers, the leader powers was a tree-base system where the player is granted 3 leader power points at the start and 3 again when the progress, this system was later changed to a wheel-base system and the player is now granted a single leader every time.
 * Many units had different visual projectiles.
 * Every unit and buildings had a red, small hp bar with no segments.

UNSC

 * UNSC Raid I: In the beta, the infantry units capturing power points and also making the infantry mov faster were two separate leader powers. There was a leader power absent from the launch titled "Adrenaline" that was in charge of making the infantry moving fast.
 * Close Air Support: Only just a visual difference, when the Pelican Gunships arrive they turn all their wings 90 degrees down.

Banished

 * Eradication: The leader power can friendly fire.

UNSC

 * The Marines had an extra Assault Rifle member in their unit, when fully upgraded the unit had 6 total marines (5 Assault Rifle marines and a rocket launcher Marine).

Banished

 * The Jumpback Brute had an extra member.
 * The Hunters' upgrade had a fuel rod gun icon in them.
 * The Warlord had a separate model that was later turned into the Chosen.

Trivia
The development name for this beta was Legdrop.