Warzone Season 2 Quality of Life changes
The good news is that these QoL changes are focused on things that have frustrated players for months, targeting things like movement, animations, and even the base functionality of items.
One of the biggest changes comes to Armor Plates, which will now refill a full plate of armor before refilling damaged ones, something which players have begged for. Mantle Height has been increased to make traversing the map easier, and Raven have adjusted the final circle so it is less likely to end on Peak.
You can view the full list of QoL changes below:
- Traversal Improvements – Increased mantle height & collision fixes
- Gas Mask – Animation won’t interrupt a player who is aiming down sights
- Armor Plates – Refills full plate of Armor before filling damaged plates
- Vehicles – Handling and a reduction in collision of world geometry
- Parachute Improvements – Including being able to deploy them at a lower vertical height
- Restrictions – Dead Silence and Stun Grenades removed from Vanguard Royale
- Stunned Fix – Aim Assist now scales appropriately. Won’t increase Aim Assist strength.
- Nerfs – Fighter Planes and Gasoline Cannisters
- Buffs – Anti-Air Cannons
- Final Circle – Less likely to end on Peak
There are also some QoL changes currently scheduled for the Season 2.5 update, which include:
- Downed – Able to control resurrect state – Prone vs Crouched
- Gas Masks – Ability to drop
- Armor – Pick up from another Armor Satchel
- Performance – Performance and streaming issues, including Buy Station freezes, voice chat connectivity, and distorted graphics across all platforms.
- Operators – Specific Operator skins being invisible at certain distances.
- Modern Warfare – Blockages to Modern Warfare Multiplayer, which is tied to Warzone’s launcher.
Warzone Pacific devs confirm consoles won’t receive FOV slider
A Field of View, or FOV, slider lets players increase how much information the game displays, allowing them to see much more of what’s in front of them. While PC players can crank their FOV all the way up to 120, console players are stuck on 80 and have been crying out for a slider.
Unfortunately, in a call with content creators and the press, Warzone’s developers said that consoles will never receive an FOV slider because of last-gen console performance.
Amos Hodge, Raven Software’s Associate Creative Director, previously said they were “aware” of FOV slider requests and were looking to implement it in the future. However, Game Director Josh Bridge confirmed on February 10 that it’ll never happen.
“It’s a hard one,” said Bridge, explaining that adding an FOV slider opens up ‘Pandora’s box.’ While they have “heard” and “seen” the FOV slider demands and had the team investigating and performance testing, he said that the “biggest challenge is last-gen.”
“We don’t have the confidence we can maintain framerate on last-gen consoles with an FOV slider,” he said, revealing that it won’t be added at all. He compared an FOV slider to a ‘slider to decrease your framerate.’
Raven revealed that last-gen console players make up the majority of Warzone’s playerbase and they don’t want to expand the skill gap even further by only adding it to the PS5 and Xbox Series consoles.
“We want everyone to have fun,” chimed in Pat Kelly, Infinity Ward’s Co-Studio Head. He reasoned that “Field of View enables high skilled players more than low skilled,” and they’re “not trying to nerf low skilled players.”
No FOV slider on consoles is sure to be a blow to that side of the playerbase. It’s not all bad news though, as Infinity Ward have confirmed that they’re developing Modern Warfare 2, which will include a “new Warzone experience.” But, whether this will finally bring an FOV slider to consoles remains to be seen.
If you currently play on PC, this option is already available, and you can use our Warzone FOV settings guide to make sure you’re making the most of this advantage.
Warzone devs admit game is “broken” and promise to fix it
Warzone players have been complaining about the state of Warzone for months, with December’s Season 1 patch causing a host of issues that left fans frustrated. From console performance issues to Buy Station freezes, it’s been a tough time.
In an Activision-hosted call with press and content creators, Infinity Ward Co-Studio Head Pat Kelly, Activision Game Director Josh Bridge, and Raven Software’s Eric Biesmann candidly discussed the problems, and their plans to fix them.
During the call, the trio bluntly stated: “We f**ked stuff up,” but made promises that these would be addressed throughout the rest of the year.
Bridge stated that they were “not happy” with the state that Warzone finds itself in, and admitted that they had “learned the upper limits of their technology” as they attempted to integrate games into Warzone over the last couple of years.
As for why the Pacific Caldera was so messy, Bridge said that he was not there to make excuses, but that the team had great ambitions for the update. Unfortunately, with “limited time” they weren’t able to complete it as planned and they pushed for a delay to Season 2 so they could ensure the game was in a stable state.
Infinity Ward’s Pat Kelly stated that Warzone was originally built solely as an addition to 2019’s Modern Warfare, but after its incredible success, they wanted to incorporate it into future CoD titles.
This caused “significant development challenges,” which left the game feeling bloated with the additional Black Ops Cold War and Vanguard. This left Warzone in a state of limbo, with Kelly saying: “It didn’t feel like Modern Warfare anymore, nor did it feel like Black Ops.”
This bloated state made it even harder to find bugs and patch them quickly, due to how much was going on in the game at one time.
While the three were very candid about the issues facing the game, they were also hopeful for the future and promised that they are “determined to fix the issues with the game” after using social sentiment and crash-related reports to track the problems.
Encouragingly, they also emphasized that they plan to provide better communication with their fanbase about fixes for issues while focusing more on ‘quality of life’ improvements rather than just new features all the time.
Vanguard Season 2 Armory Perk explained: How to get it & what it does
The Armory Perk is a brand-new addition in CoD: Vanguard’s Season 2 update, and here’s everything that you need to know about it, including what it does and how to get it.
Following the announcement of a slight delay, Call of Duty: Vanguard Season 2 is set to arrive on February 14, bringing a ton of brand-new content for players to explore, including two new Perks.
One of these is the Armory Perk which the developers added as a way for players to directly counter enemies using the Engineer Perk, so here’s how it works and what you need to do to get your hands on it.
What does Vanguard’s Armory Perk do?
Vanguard’s new Armory Perk has two main functions; it lets you use your equipment quicker and it hides the equipment from enemies using the Engineer Perk, keeping them from hijacking it or viewing it through walls during combat.
This perk is ideal for when you want to use Demolition Charges, concussion mines, or placeable Field Equipment pieces without fear of being detected and then shot down by nearby opponents.
How to get Vanguard’s Armory Perk
You can get the Armory Perk as a free reward after reaching Tier 44 of the Vanguard Season 2 Battle Pass.
Warzone devs confirm plans to add Ranked Play to game
Warzone’s developers have confirmed they have plans to add a Ranked mode to the game, but can’t reveal a release date as they “want to do it right.”
Battle royale games are competitive by nature, with Apex Legends, Fortnite, and Warzone all having a thriving esports scene. However, unlike the others, Warzone doesn’t have a specific Ranked Play mode where players can compete to climb the ranks and earn rewards.
With the success of Iron Trials, players have been desperate for devs Raven Software to add a dedicated Ranked mode. In a call with content creators and the press, the devs revealed that they want to include a Ranked mode, but it’s down to the “timing of it.”
Call of Duty: Vanguard will be receiving its Ranked mode with February 14’s Season 2 update, allowing players to play like the pros, climb the ranks, and earn rewards. Warzone fans have been begging the devs to add one, and Game Director Josh Bridge revealed they want to include one in the future.
Speaking to content creators and the press on February 10, Bridge confirmed: “We want to do Ranked right,” but they need to consider the “timing of it.” Bridge reiterated that they “want to do it right,” and they “don’t want to come out and do it broken.”
They’ve been extremely candid about the state of Warzone towards the end of Pacific Season 1, saying that they “f**ked stuff up,” so it sounds like they would only release Ranked if it’s in the best state possible.
As for a Ranked Play release date, Bridge couldn’t offer one. Explaining that “I just don’t have a place in the calendar for it,” he said that “timing is critical” and they need to weigh “the amount of uplift for it” versus “other features.”
Whether Ranked Play will arrive in Warzone Pacific or Modern Warfare 2’s “new Warzone experience” remains to be seen, but it’s encouraging to know that it’s on the developers’ minds.