SEASON THREE LAUNCH

RICOCHET ANTI-CHEAT^TM

This week #TeamRICOCHET brings the kernel level driver to Call of Duty: Vanguard and details new mitigation techniques in Warzone. For more information, check out the RICOCHET Anti-Cheat^TM Progress Report here.

PLAYLIST

For regular updates about the Playlist and other Scheduled Events, check out the dedicated Warzone Trello Board.

BATTLE PASS

The Season Three Battle Pass for Vanguard and Warzone is bringing out the big guns to handle the monstrous fight ahead, offering dozens of free items, Legendary content, and more across all 100 Tiers.

For more information about the contents of the Season Three Battle Pass, check out the official blog here!

EVENTS

New Event: Operation Monarch

Operation Monarch, a special limited-time event featuring the iconic Titans of the Monsterverse – Godzilla and Kong, will introduce a new game mode for Quads inspired by several of Warzone’s best experiences to date.

Operation Monarch will go live at 9 AM PT May 11. More information to come soon.

MODES

New Mode: Caldera Iron Trials

The fan-favorite mode, Iron Trials, is back. This time on Caldera. Here’s a recap of the Iron Trials experience:

• General
  • No free Loadout Drops
  • ATVs, Tac Rovers, and Squad Transports only
  • Buy Station prices are increased
  • Cash retained on death increased
  • Melee Finisher Damage capped at 150

• Operators
  • Base Health increased
  • Health Regeneration
    • Regeneration amount decreased
    • Delay timer increased
  • Starting equipment adjusted

• Loot
  • Epic and Legendary Weapons are harder to find
  • Killstreak drop rates are reduced
  • Large Cash piles are harder to find
  • Removed Field Upgrades
    • Stopping Power
    • Dead Silence

• Equipment
  • Sniper Rifle single shots only down Players up to a maximum of 90 meters
    • These ranges vary considerably between Sniper Rifles
  • Stun Grenade stun duration decreased
  • Medical Syringe regeneration rate decreased

• Gulag
  • Exclusive Gulag Loadouts
    • No Akimbo
    • No Semi-Auto or Fully-Auto Shotguns
  • Limited Tactical Equipment
  • Players redeploy with remaining equipment

Plunder Adjustments

• Increased Carrying Limit

Players had a hard limit in Plunder of carrying a maximum of $1.6 million. Whilst this is an extremely unlikely scenario, we wanted to make the system more robust for the minority of Players that achieve such a feat.

Rebirth Resurgence Adjustments

• Players no longer spawn with Handgun Charlie (BOCW) as a starting Weapon

MAPS

New Gulag: Hold

A roughly symmetrical arena is based in the belly of a ship moored just off the coast of Caldera, with identical hallways on the perimeter of an otherwise open space.

New Location: Dig Site

Located between the Mine and the Ruins, Dig Site provides Operators the opportunity to rummage through abandoned excavation equipment, tents, and massive skeletons for Supply Boxes and other items.

New Skybox

A dark storm approaches…

Updated Locations

• Peak
  • New Constructs, Supply Boxes, Contracts, ascenders, and a fresh coat of paint.

• Runway
  • New barracks, hangars, and other structural additions.

• Lagoon
  • New sandbar, paths, and cover.

GENERAL

• Private Matches
  • Added Rebirth Resurgence Solos
  • Added Rebirth Iron Trials
  • Added support for new Rebirth Island features (Comms Towers and Weapon Trade Stations) in some Modes

• XP Token Accessibility
  • XP Tokens can now be activated from in-game through the menu.

GAMEPLAY

New Features

• “Sabotage” Contract
  • Players will be given a vehicle target somewhere on the map. Destruction of the target will be rewarded with an Armored Truck Deployment via plane. Be warned, this Armored Truck can just as easily become someone else’s…

• High Value Loot Zones (In-Season)
  • These zones are represented on the Tac Map by a very appropriate “$” sign and will provide the best looting opportunities. These zones will be complimented by Rebirth Supply Boxes that will provide recurring loot opportunities.

With Season One, we introduced Public Events, like Cash Drops, during Infil to draw Players towards new loot locations. We have been happy with the results of these ‘honeypot’ opportunities but we want to take it a step further. Starting with Operation Monarch, we will be introducing “High Value Loot Zones” to provide new, fruitful opportunities for Players willing to take the risk.

General Adjustments

• Gas Mask
  
  • Will no longer interrupt a falling Player, thus allowing them to still be able to pull their parachute when falling to preserve their life.
  • Won’t play animation when the Player is ADS and affected by the gas from Nebula V Rounds

The Gas Mask remains a continued focus for our Quality of Life efforts. It plays an important role both in gameplay and the visceral Call of Duty feeling, but we felt that we had seen one too many videos of Players jumping from high heights into the Gas and the game incorrectly prioritizing the Gas Mask animation over the parachute… and we all know how that scenario ends.

• “Most Wanted” Contract
  
  • Timer reduction via the following…
    • Eliminating opponents reduces the timer by 20 seconds
    • Opening Supply Boxes reduces the timer by 5 seconds
    • We want this to be a Contract that both promotes and rewards aggressive play.
  • Players can no longer use the Tac Map to ping an enemy Most Wanted target directly.
    • We felt this method was unfairly punishing and provided too great a degree of accuracy that was almost impossible to be countered by the target.
  • The refresh rate of the Most Wanted target on the Tac Map has been increased, to counterbalance the removal of the above ping.
    • This brings balance and still allows tracking of the approximate location of the target.

We reviewed the data for the Most Wanted Contract and we felt that improvements needed to be made to increase its engagement and success rate, whilst still retaining the all important risk/reward that it offers.

• “Bounty” Contract
  
  • Speed increase to Tac Map refresh rate
    • This is especially noticeable when a target is in a vehicle to better inform Players that a vehicle chase may be required.

• Deployable Buy Stations
  
  • When a Player pings a Deployable Buy Station, there will now be dedicated audio/narration to better inform squad mates of the Players’ intentions.

• Redeploy Positioning Improvements
  
  • Players who redeploy via Gulag victory or are bought back will now spawn in close proximity to their squad or Loadout.

Caldera Adjustments

Loot that spawns across Caldera have been adjusted…

• Added Perks
  • Battle Hardened
  • Engineer
  • High Alert
  • Restock
  • Tempered
  • Quick Fix
  • Scavenger
  • Pointman (Plunder Exclusive)

• Notes:
  • Only one of each Perk can be equipped at any one time.
  • Lootable Perks can be pinged to communicate to your squad.
  • Lootable Perks are additive to Loadout Perks.
  • All Perks are unequipped on death but do not drop.

We want to further increase the value and rewards of looting during the mid-game. It’s important for both pacing and movement in Battle Royale that there are always new rewards to be found for Players who rotate through locations for greater loot advantages, and our first step on this path is to bring single Perks into loot. From our internal testing, this change has brought a wealth of new Player stories and we will continue to roll out additional Perks in this manner as we review player feedback and data on how it improves the pacing and experience of Battle Royale. These lootable perks will launch first in Caldera, and then to Rebirth Island at a later date.

Rebirth Island Adjustments

• Spawn Protection Improvements
  
  • Removed the damage reduction scaling system that was based on ground distance
  • System is disabled if a Player is near the ground or an opponent
  • Players who have the shield icon will only take a flat 25% of the damage received
  • Spawn protection will no longer reduce gas circle damage

Whilst Spawn Protection plays an important role in any multi-life game mode, we felt it needed some extra refinement to make sure it cannot be exploited by Players. We will continue to monitor Player behavior in this area and make further changes throughout the season if required.

• Weapon Trade Station Adjustments
  
  • Reduced Specialist Token drop rate
    • We’ve enjoyed the engagement Players have been having with the Weapon Trade Station and the Specialist Token reward, but felt it was slightly on the high side so have made a reduction.
  • The station will now look for empty space to drop your rewards
    • We found it a bit annoying to pick up loot after you traded your weapon so we’ve polished this moment. The system will now always look for an empty space when dropping your rewards

Later this season…

• Footstep Audio Improvements
  • We are looking to bring in additional audio improvements to footsteps during the season as a priority.

• Slide Camera Lock Improvement
  • We have heard from our community that the camera lock that can occasionally happen while sliding down a vertical descent can be frustrating and lead to a negative outcome in a combat encounter. We are pleased to announce that this will be addressed soon.

UI/UX

• Buy Stations
  • No longer require confirmation when making a purchase

The confirmation box when making a Buy Station purchase had good intentions, but we felt that the muscle memory had become so ingrained in Players to double-tap twice in succession. This was causing unnecessary friction in a potentially hostile combat situation, versus the unlikelihood of mistakes being made. We plan to make additional refinements to the Buy Station experience during the Season.

BUG FIXES

• Fixed an issue causing incorrect Ping positioning when used on the Tac Map near Redeploy Balloons.

• Fixed an issue that caused Players to get stuck in AA turrets if they interacted with it at the same time it was destroyed.

• Fixed an issue that prevented carriable gasoline from being picked up while Dead Silence is active.

• Fixed an issue that allowed Players to glitch-carry carriable gasoline up ladders.

• Fixed an issue that was preventing skyhook balloons from receiving damage from certain explosives and thermite-based sources.

• Fixed an issue that allowed Players to have unlimited gas immunity when entering the area of effect of a PDS as it ends.

• Fixed an issue that caused Vehicles to receive less damage than intended.

• Fixed an issue that caused Players to be kicked back to the Main Menu when attempting to preview Vanguard Charms.

• Fixed an issue that caused Buy Station UI selections to reset to the top when attempting to scroll up.

• Fixed an issue that caused the Armaguerra 43 (VG) to have the same codename as another Weapon.

• Fixed an issue that caused Helicopters flying near Capital to be pulled towards the ground.

• Fixed an issue that caused the “Fenrir Unchained” Finisher to not be available in the Finishing Moves menu.

• Fixed an issue that caused Blueprint-specific Attachments for the “Purgatory Lost” Blueprint to not be available in the Gunsmith Customs menu.

• Fixed an issue that caused the “Mod. 3 10.0x Telescopic” Optic on the M1 Garand (VG) to appear blacked out when a Player would ADS.

• Fixed an issue that caused the Player’s view to be obstructed when using Park’s “Petal Pusher” Operator Skin.

• Fixed an issue that allowed Players to clip into stairs in a certain area of the map.
• Fixed an issue that resulted in the Armaguerra’s Botti DA Stock not receiving a bonus to flinch like intended.

KNOWN ISSUES

• Private Matches are temporarily disabled due to stability issues.

For a list of other known #Warzone issues, please check out our dedicated Trello Board.

WEAPONS

New Weapons

• M1916: Marksman Rifle (VG)
  • A semi-automatic rifle with a deadly combination of power and fire rate. Lethal at any range in the hands of a capable marksman.

• Nikita AVT: Assault Rifle (VG)
  • Heavy, powerful, and fast firing. This Assault Rifle can be outfitted to excel in both CQC and mid range combat.

New Unlock Challenge Missions 

• KG M40 (VG)
  • Earn 3 double kill medals with an AR in a single match 15 times.

• Whitley (VG)
  • Destroy 3 killstreaks with an LMG in a single match 15 times.

Weapon Adjustments
» Assault Rifles «

• Assault Rifle Alpha (VG) 
  • .30 Russian Short 45 Round Mags
    • Damage Range decreased to 10%, down from 20%
    • Horizontal Recoil Control penalty decreased to -23%, down from -25%
    • Vertical Recoil Control penalty decreased to -18%, down from 20%
    • Visual Recoil decreased
  • 7.62 Gorenko 50 Round Mags
    • Damage Range penalty removed
    • Bullet Velocity penalty removed
  • Krausnick 620mm Precision
    • Bullet Velocity increased to 40%, up from 30%
    • Now increases Damage Range by 20%
  • VDD 320mm 02B
    • Bullet Velocity increased to 30%, up from -12%
    • Damage Range increased to 10%, up from -10%
    • Horizontal Recoil Control penalty decreased to -18%, down from -25%
    • Initial Firing Recoil penalty decreased to -10%, down from -20%
  • VDD 760mm 05B
    • Damage Range increased to 35%, up from 15%
    • Bullet Velocity increased to 50%, up from 40%