Halo Wars 2 completed a beta test for the upcoming game is June, and developers 343 Industries and Creative Assembly have decided to share their findings, as well as some of the tweks they plan to make for upcoming showings at GamesCom and Pax West.

Oh, and there will be another beta test for Windows 10 and Xox One players early next year before the game launches on February 21.

In a post on the official Xbox site, 343 studio head Dan Ayoub said the team has already addressed the biggest complaint from the beta, which was de-syncs and connectivity issues. In addition, he said "There are a significant number of individual changes and adjustments being made, including unit tuning, game mode pacing, UI improvements, stability, and flow improvements based on the data we received from the beta."

He said that changes will be focused on five key areas:

• Controls: "We’ve already made a number of adjustments to the controller layout to make it faster and easier to engage the actions players want to take. In addition to the layout changes we’ve already completed, we are investigating multiple controller configurations."
  
• Leader Abilities: "We are currently working at ways to make the Leader Powers usage more straightforward, easier to use, and understandable as to how the powers are evolving. Basically, we are tuning Leader Powers to better balance cost versus impact."
• Bases: "We’re working to change the appearance of individual structures within the base to better reflect their current state. This will help players eyeball their base, or that of their opponent, to quickly assess its stage of development."
• Resources and Energy: "We are changing the costs to scale with the stage of the game.  For example, in the early stages, with lower power units, you will mostly focus on Supplies.  As you progress to the more advanced stages, Power will become more of a factor, and you’ll need to start planning an approach to resource buildings. The goal here is to facilitate management of resources early in the game while giving the players choice about how to grow their armies."
• Population: "While the unit cap for the Beta was purposely lower than what we’ll launch with, we’ve already raised the population and are working to possibly increase further for the final game."

As for multiplayer modes, Ayoub said that there were only two in the beta, but more can be expected, with details in the coming months. "The range of modes are intended to satisfy a number of play styles and appetites; we’ll have modes that run from hours of play to modes you can play in as little as 5 minutes."