Activision released an update to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Warzone 2.0 and the DMZ overnight that includes an interesting gameplay change that the community thinks is a reaction to pay-to-win bundles.
Last week, Season 3 of Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 and Warzone 2.0 went live with a bundle that includes the controversial “bonus effects” for Extraction Mode, the DMZ.
For example, the Classic Ghost Pack, which costs 2400 CP, includes a free two-plate armor vest, 15 minutes of insured weapon time for each of the two guns included in the bundle, and another active duty operator for the DMZ. Slot connects. ,
Most telling, however, was a Datamind Rose and Thorn bundle, which includes Thorn’s Out Rose operator skin. (Rose, you may recall, is an operator from the original Warzone, which caused a kerfuffle to be particularly difficult to spot.)
The video below, from YouTube channel Thund3r, shows the Rose and Thorn bundle in action.
The Thorns Out skin produces players with a free UAV which, the community thought, could be used at the start of the DMZ game. In Call of Duty, a UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) reveals enemy locations on a mini-map for 30 seconds. As you’d expect, this hasn’t gone down well, with users complaining about players’ skin giving them an unfair advantage.
While the Roze and Thorn bundle isn’t out yet, it looks like Activision has already responded to the backlash by slightly toning down UAVs in the DMZ. Here’s the change, fresh from the updated patch notes:
“Added a one-minute countdown when DMZ matches start before the player can use the UAV killstreak.”
Some players expected Activision to pull these bonus effects from Call of Duty in response to the online backlash, but it appears the company will instead attempt to mitigate their effects with balance changes. Really, this UAV change is a minor nudge that will do little to soothe those who feel Activision has taken Call of Duty in a worrying direction.
As Redditor McMessenger put it: “I bet this still doesn’t change the fact that you’ll still see trios of Rose UAV skins bombarding other teams with their three free UAVs they get every game.” Delaying their use at least once which is upwards of 60 seconds is, after all, not going to fix anything – in fact prolongs the inevitable.