COD Warzone 2.0 enters Season 2 and is still a mess
I have to admit to being, at times, in the past, a fan of Call of Duty. My era was the transition from Modern Warfare 3 into Blacks Ops II. I played those games for more hours than I’d care to recollect, but like most people, I dropped off somewhere along the way. I’ve still played a bunch of Call of Duty campaigns and blasted the multiplayer occasionally, but it hasn’t been a mainstay. That is, until recently.
With the release of Warzone 2.0, my friends were finally interested in jumping online as a party and gaming the nights away, and I was more than happy to join in. I played the first Warzone at launch, but dropped off before it even got its first major update. With a bunch of friends at my side, dropping into Al Mazrah felt great, and I really appreciated Warzone 2.0’s deemphasis on loadouts.
Warzone 2.0 Season 2 needs work.
Loadouts are, of course, your own custom selection of weapons, perks, and equipment. With a few clicks on Google to find Warzone 2’s best meta weapons, you can easily build yourself a weapon setup that complements your playstyle, and is going to be better than anything other players will be picking up off the ground. The tactic in the first Warzone was to drop in, acquire your loadout, and begin to mop up kills. At launch, Warzone 2.0 had loadouts, but they were harder to get, meaning you had to be ready to mow enemies down with whatever you had to hand – a bit fairer for those free-to-play players, at least as the game gets started.
That’s all changed now, though. Since launch, both the Modern Warfare II multiplayer modes and Warzone 2.0 have been under increased scrutiny from fans. The issue is that fans had been playing Warzone for three years, and they liked it. Now it is removed and unplayable, replaced with a game and a ruleset that they’re less keen on.
It feels like Activision is panicking. After repeated fan complaints on a topic that I, as a newer player, had zero issue with, backtracks have been made. Repeatedly. Over and over again.
Remember this? Hope you have nostalgia for old stuff.
Loadouts are now once again purchaseable from a Buy Station, even if they’re more expensive than in previous games. Armor was limited to two plates In Warzone 2.0 until you found an Armor Vest, which increased your shields to three plates – this has been reverted to starting with three plates, as it was in the first Warzone. The overhauled Gulag, which focused on 2v2 gameplay, has now been changed back to the original 1v1 style of the first game. It feels as if they’re slowly but surely taking away everything that set Warzone 2.0 apart from the original aside from the map, and it’s truly disappointing to see.
But Modern Warfare II multiplayer fans are begging for an original map. Season 2 is introducing two new maps: one of which fans already saw in MWII’s beta period, and another remake of a classic location. Aside from that, multiplayer content offerings are looking pretty anemic. I’d like to give them points for adding Ranked modes and the classic Infected game type – but those modes, which most people expect at launch, are being added in Season 2. Better late than never?
The game still lacks a Hardcore mode too. This was initially replaced by Tier 1, a mode with no UI, but fans complained – it’s what they are best at. Tier 1 has been ditched, and Hardcore is being reintroduced. Again, that word – reintroduced. Everything “coming” to the game is something old, and fans are expected to celebrate. Want proof? Season 3 is confirmed to bring back Warzone 1’s Plunder, and a Ranked battle royale mode.
The game is never quite this explosive.
I’m honestly thankful that Call of Duty QA staff have successfully unionized, because I can already see the workload they would’ve been expected to complete with this game. Since the launch of the multiplayer mode, it has had countless problems. Lag spikes, rubber banding, dev errors kicking people from games randomly, items you can’t interact with, and possibly worst of all, your pings showing as an entirely different item on the map to your teammates, entirely breaking the system. Aspects of the game both major and minor have been inconsistent at best since the launch of Warzone 2.0 and MWII’s multiplayer mode. While I’d love to play a game that actually works, hey, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad now if Activision hadn’t fought unionization efforts every step of the way, huh?
It’s true that I’m a relatively new player when it comes to Warzone 2.0, and I don’t have the anger that these Verdansk veterans feel when the meta they’ve come to know and love has been upended, but the response from both fans and Activision alike have been disappointing. Instead of (quite literally) sticking to their guns and standing by the new changes made to the game, everything is being reverted, and fans are still managing to moan at every opportunity.
After a two-week delay, the launch of Warzone 2.0 is a disappointment. The battle pass has ugly, junk cosmetics, the gameplay changes are all just steps backward, and every actually new mode that has been introduced has barely worked as intended. DMZ is devastatingly dull, Resurgence is boring despite the new map, and in my experience at least, the Assimilation feature is not used. Despite hours of play, I’ve not once had an Assimilation invite, nor have I had anyone respond to one. So, I have to ask, what’s the point?
Skin designs are a little underwhelming.
I’m enjoying dropping into Al Mazrah with my friends, flexing my kills on the scoreboard, but I expected Season 2 to feel like a much-needed refresh after an initial season of instability. Instead, it’s just reverting to Warzone 1.0, only with a fanbase that won’t stop complaining about everything. Instead of panicking and making hasty changes to calm the angry, vocal minority of fans, the developers should just be focusing on making a new, interesting Warzone battle royale experience. Only, with all of these reintroductions and reversions, I don’t have any confidence that will happen.
