April 11, 2023
April 11, 2023
Hello Warzone Community!
With Season 03 just around the corner, we wanted to provide more detail on just some of the exciting Battle Royale updates and features you can look forward to ahead of our full Patch Notes tomorrow!
We have been listening to your feedback and reviewing the trends in Battle Royale pacing carefully. When we talk about pacing, we think of the heartbeat of each match – where we want suitable downtime to allow for looting and loadout acquisition, and then the highs of combat and engagements. There’s a delicate balance here and we don’t feel we have struck that yet, and that’s where Season 03 comes in…
Pacing requires the review and consideration of a number of variables spanning time-to-kill, weapon damage, armor values, movement mechanics, defensive tools, outplay opportunities, and much more. It’s vital therefore that the adjustments we make to these elements are evaluated carefully, not just in isolation but also the impact they have across the entire Battle Royale experience.
With these findings and player feedback top of mind, Season 03 brings an array of updates. Below is just a snapshot of the many changes coming this season, so remember to look for our full Patch Notes tomorrow just before the update.
Improvements to the core pacing of Battle Royale includes a reduced delay time between circles closing towards the mid-game, the addition of more Ammo Caches and Buy Stations in areas to support regain in the late-game, as well as the inclusion of UAV Towers to provide intel and encourage more combat engagement opportunities.
Players can expect to see changes to Combat Engagements including reduced intensity of damage feedback on the HUD to better improve combat visibility, reduced high-damage weapon outliers to make combat feel more consistent
After testing in our Saint Patrick’s Day Event, we are adding One-Hit-Down Snipers to create added variety in combat playstyles. Bolt-action snipers equipped with Explosive Ammunition will be able to down enemies with one skill shot. The MCPR-300 has also had Explosive Ammunition added to its progression.
A number of equipment and killstreak rebalances are coming to this season including a Bomb Drone update, so that it will no longer one-hit-down and can instead support flushing and/or pushing an enemy squad.
Movement will now feel more dynamic and fluid due in part to improvements to mantling over objects or through windows , with slight adjustments to sliding and diving responsiveness, and the addition of Redeploy Drones to better enable rotation opportunities.
Quality of life remains an area of continued focus for the Warzone 2.0 team, with Season 03 being no exception. Among the vast array of improvements are the inclusion of elevation arrows on the Tac Map to help players better locate the objects and the “Incoming Killstreak” banner has been raised to sit further from the aiming reticule to offer cleaner sightlines.
We’ll be sharing more information on Massive Resurgence, Plunder, Warzone Ranked, and more in-season content in the coming weeks. In the meantime, we here at Infinity Ward, Raven Software, and our partners at Treyarch, Sledgehammer Games, High Moon Studios, Beenox, Demonware, and Activision are working hard to bring you the best that Call of Duty has to offer.
We’re all looking forward to the many seasons ahead of us and to seeing you in Al Mazrah, Ashika Island, the Gulag, Multiplayer or wherever else you may be playing! 😊
*Game features described above are based on current in-development features that are subject to change based on final development changes and/or game tuning or updates that may remove or modify some or all of the above features.
