Halo Reach Overload

b.net's latest update about the Reach MP beta is hurting my head. This is far and away the steepest learning curve of any Halo game to date. New weapon set, new abilities, new loadouts, new spawn control, new game types, new maps. There's a lot going on here, so we'll need to ramp as a clan to work together effectively in teams. Reach seems to be putting a much greater emphasis on team work than ever before.

Invasion on Boneyard. Details have finally been announced. This will be a Spartans vs Elites game type where you get to play as one or the other in the Beta. Spartans defend the high ground, and Elites try to break down stages to progress to the next phase.

• Phase 1: 4 minutes long, Elites need to occupy 1 of 2 generator territories for 20 seconds to unlock the next phase. Elites have choice of two short range loadouts, but mid/long range Needle Rifles are available on the map. Spartans can choose short or long range loadouts. No vehicles.
• Phase 2: 4 minutes long, Elites need to occupy 1 of 3 territories for 20 seconds to unlock the next phase. Both Spartans and Elites have choice of short or long range loadouts. Warthog, Ghost and Wraith spawn in each team's respective vehicle bays.
• Phase 3: 4 minutes long, Elites try to move data core outside to awaiting Phantom to win. Both sides have four different loadouts to choose from, Jetpacks and specialty weapons become available. All vehicles spawn, which should result in massive chaos.

Team Work. Bungie has now announced two heavily team-centric game types in Invasion and Generator Defense.

• Generator Defense is 3v3 where the 3-man Spartan team has to defend 3 generators.
  
• Invasion is 6v6 where only 2-3 territories have to be defended at any given time, but it is a MUCH larger map.
• Fireteams. New for Reach is 2-man fireteams. The game will automatically pair you with a buddy for the duration of the match. When you die, you will have the opportunity to spawn on your fireteam buddy, or choose from other predetermined spawn locations. This will have a HUGE impact on gameplay. If your buddy is in a fight, he will get notified that you're trying to spawn on him, can pull back out of fire to allow you in, and then come out of cover with a new ally! You can also directly spawn into the gunner seat of your buddy's vehicle!

Invasion Slayer. This is a watered down version of Invasion where the phases are determined simply by time or kills. Each phase introduces better weapons and better vehicles. The craziest thing here is that there will be random territories placed around the map. In order to get the better weapons and vehicles with each phase, you have to hold a territory which will then trigger a weapon/vehicle drop.

Controls. Bumper Jumper is back, but may not be as super if you plan to use your abilities a lot. Abilities are mapped to "X" in Bumper Jumper, which will make it hard to aim and shoot while flying or camo'd. Abilities are mapped to "LB" in most other schemes.

Man, my head hurts.