Weekend one tests 4v4 Arena. The build becomes available this Thursday, 23rd September (and you can play training mode and weapon drills as soon as it’s downloaded), with matchmaking only available during two four-hour periods per day from Friday until Monday. Here’s the schedule for matchmaking (with UK times):
Friday 24th Sep 6pm to 10pm, and Saturday 25th Sep 1am to 5am Saturday 25th Sep 6pm to 10pm, and Sunday 26th Sep 1am to 5am Sunday 26th Sep 6pm to 10pm, and Monday 27th Sep 1am to 5am
The first weekend technical preview ends at 6pm UK time on Monday 27th September. Weekend two tests 12v12 Big Team Battle and 4v4 Arena. Training mode and weapon drills become available on Thursday evening on 30th September (probably early morning UK time on 1st October). Again, matchmaking is only available during two four-hour periods per day, from the Friday until Monday. Here’s the schedule for matchmaking (with UK times):
Friday 1st Oct 6pm to 10pm, and Saturday 2nd Oct 1am to 5am Saturday 2nd Oct 6pm to 10pm, and Sunday 3rd Oct 1am to 5am Sunday 3rd Oct 6pm to 10pm, and Monday 4th Oct 1am to 5am
Access to the second technical preview weekend ends at 6pm UK time on Monday 4th October. Outside of these matchmaking windows, training mode, weapon drills, battle pass, and customisation are online and available in-game. As you will have noticed, these matchmaking slots aren’t particularly helpful for those outside the US. While the first four-hour slot on each day (6pm to 10pm) is doable, the second (1am to 5am) is pretty rough. In a post on Halo Waypoint, Halo community manager John Junyszek explained the decision to go with matchmaking slots: “Our primary goal for these two tech previews will be to test our online services at a larger scale than ever before. To achieve this goal, all Halo Insiders with eligible accounts as of September 13 will be invited to participate,” Junyszek said. “To help focus our population and test our servers even more, matchmaking will be limited to set periods of time each day. “Jumping on during these play sessions will help us prepare our online services ahead of launch.” Then: “As mentioned above, matchmaking will only be up for a set amount of time each day in order to help us test our servers against the highest concurrency possible. While this does mean shorter time for players to go hands-on, it’s critical to our primary goal of ensuring that our online services are ready for launch.”
