- Royal Cabana Resort – Pristine sandy beaches, great surfing, clusters of cabana huts, and a stately main hotel structure were on offer to the well-heeled traveler at the Royal Cabana Resort. Operators dropping into Caldera should expect to see the deserted remains of this resort, with a main thoroughfare offering quick access by vehicle. There is also a small square and clock tower, bus station, and the hotel entrance itself. The grounds of the resort are large and lush, with shallow pools, ferns, and palm trees to thoroughly explore.
Day One Playlists, Content, and RICOHET Anti-Cheat Driver Rollout
Sledgehammer Games also revealed the upcoming playlists and content for Warzone Pacific, as well as how the RICOCHET Anti-Cheat driver will be rolled out. Vanguard owners can access on the Caldera map on December 8 before it releases for everyone else on December 9. However, all content including Operators, Weapons, and Personalization will be available to all starting December 8.
– 40 Weapons: The core 38 weapons from Vanguard’s launch, plus two free functional weapons in the Season One Battle Pass. All of these can be personalized with unlocked camouflage, and every ballistics-based weapon can be further customized with up to 10 attachments through the Gunsmith.
– Over a Dozen Operators: Each of the Operators from S.O.T.F. 002–005 are ready to drop in alongside Special Operations Task Force 006 arriving this season…
– Calling Cards, Emblems, and More: Show off your progress in Vanguard since launch to everyone in Warzone.
Vanguard Royale
Available to all players on December 9, with Vanguard players gaining exclusive play access on December 8 with Caldera, Vanguard Royale leads Season One’s featured Playlist rotation with a game mode that puts a fresh set of vehicles and a streamlined Loadout and weapon pool on the brand-new map.
There are two major differences between a Vanguard Royale and traditional Battle Royale:
– New Vehicles and Dogfighting. Fly fighter planes that rain down fire on foes or head for the AA guns or trucks to shoot them out of the skies. There are also other ground-based vehicles, including a Squad Transport all-terrain car that will help your squad cut through and around the island.
– A Focus on Vanguard Weapons. Loadouts can only contain Vanguard weaponry, streamlining the meta for more accessibility and room for experimentation. Expect all weapons around the island to also be from Vanguard. Operator selection is also limited to Vanguard soldiers.
– Circle Collapse Changes, In-Game Events, and More. The radii and times for Circle Collapses are altered to offer a different pace of play, especially with dogfighting overhead. Also, expect an in-game event at each Circle Collapse, Bombing Runs, and different items both within Caldera’s overworld and contract rewards.
Rebirth Island
Vanguard owners will receive 24 hours of exclusive access to Caldera, the brand-new Warzone Pacific map. During this initial period, all Warzone players will be able to drop into Rebirth Island. After this exclusive period, Caldera becomes accessible to all players, with Rebirth Island returning later in Season One.
Expect a special one-day-only Rebirth Island Playlists – both Resurgence and Mini Royale – to drop right at the start of the season before everything shifts to Caldera for the week starting on December 9.
The Gulag – Drop Back in Ready for Combat
The Gulag now gives you more than a second chance at victory.
When Warzone Pacific drops, any player who wins a Gulag will drop back in with the weapon – or weapons – and lethal equipment given to them during that deadly duel.
Loadout Items and Field Upgrades
Dead Silence is being nerfed. Stopping Power Rounds are gone.
In addition to detailing those exact changes, Raven Software looked closely at various equipment pieces, such as nerfs to Stun Grenades and Heartbeat Sensors.
Another change involves Loadout Drop Markers – they can now only be purchased from Buy Stations after the Loadout Drop event occurs in a match, effectively shifting their usefulness from an immediate power spike to a more tactical choice in the mid to end game.
Along with these nerfs, several Lethal and Tactical Equipment pieces will see much-needed buffs. Most Lethal Equipment will deal more damage, while the Snapshot Grenade will see its effective radius increase, the Stim will also apply a slight movement boost, and the Decoy Grenade will pack rubber bullets that deal just enough damage to pester enemies.
Gas Masks and Explosive Canisters
Gas Masks won’t interrupt as many actions as they did previously, making it easier to pull your mask off or on, as well as plating up or reloading a weapon while getting out of the Circle Collapse – but still always favoring the combat advantage to those safely inside the circle.
Gas Masks may off a modicum of protection against Gas Canisters, a brand-new item developed by High Moon Studios. If these canisters explode, they release the same noxious vapors as those comprising the Circle Collapse, albeit within a much smaller radius.
Shallow Water
While Operators aren’t getting their sea legs in Caldera, they are now able to wade through shallow water seen in areas like the Lagoon. Walking within water makes it harder to see footsteps, even to those Operators with the Tracker Perk equipped. Crouch in knee-high water and you gain the effects of Cold Blooded, but you cannot go prone.
Contracts and Public Events
During a match, squads can find new contracts to complete, such as a Supply Drop Contract, which airlifts a valuable crate onto the map for anyone to pick up, but only has its exact location revealed by the contracted squad.
Another is a Big Game Bounty, which targets the Operator with the highest kill count – but only once per game, while another – known as Top Secret Contract – is, as one could expect, [[REDACTED]] until you pick it up, but comes with greater rewards compared to the standard loot from the Contract types it chooses from.
As for Public Events, expect Restocks and Resurgences from Rebirth Island to come to Caldera, in addition to the Cash Drops event you may have seen during Operation: Flashback. There are also rumors of [[REDACTED]] Weapon Crates that can appear around the island, which contain the coveted [[REDACTED]] Weapon Blueprints seen in Verdansk, and armaments extracted from the meta-forward galaxy brains of the studios’ Gunsmith gurus.
RICOCHET Anti-Cheat Driver to Roll Out with Warzone Pacific Season One
As part of the Season One update, RICOCHET Anti-Cheat will deploy a new, internally developed kernel-level driver on PC to assist in identifying cheaters in Warzone. This will allow players to focus more on the fun new offerings in Warzone Pacific as #TeamRICOCHET fights unfair play with its new anti-cheat security initiative.
Secrets of the Pacific — Limited-Time Event in Warzone and Vanguard
Before Season One begins, Operators can discover the Secrets of the Pacific, a limited-time event across Warzone and Vanguard with Rare, Epic, and Legendary rewards.
During this event, you can drop into Verdansk in its final days to decipher six clues leading to intel on Caldera’s points of interest, which must be held onto for several minutes before it can be safely extracted. Alternatively, you can hop into Vanguard and complete six Multiplayer challenges that range from playing with a fellow Clan Member to performing a Finishing Move.
Each challenge awards a specific item, such as a Calling Card or Weapon Charm, and completing all six in a set (Warzone or Vanguard) grants the “Bomber Menace” Epic Assault Rifle Blueprint, which slots alongside the “Bonerattler” and “Warning Track” in that weapon’s Blueprint family.
Stay tuned here on MP1st for more of Warzone Pacific, the Caldera map and more on COD Vanguard Season One in the following weeks.
Source: Call of Duty
