Call of Duty Warzone is broken. Not only does the game suffer from glaring balancing issues, but severe bugs and connectivity issues also plague the popular battle royale. After putting in around 600 hours over the last year, I’m afraid the time has come to move on from Warzone – that is, unless Infinity Ward/Treyarch/Raven Software (or whoever is developing it these days) sorts it out, and fast!
Warzone was a saving grace in 2020. With the loss of pretty much all usual social interaction thanks to UK-wide lockdowns, catching up with the boys during long sessions on Warzone was a great way of forgetting the shitty state of the world outside. It replaced the regular lunchtime trips to the pub, Friday nights out in town, and chill-out evenings with pizza and movies. The reason I tell you this is because I want to make it clear how thankful I have been for it over the last year. And that I take no joy in having to desert my social crutch.
Released on 10th March 2020, it’s tough to argue that Warzone has ever been perfect. It has always suffered from so-called “meta” weapons (most effective tactics available) that dominate player loadout choices. Crossplay (the feature that allows cross-platform play between PlayStation, Xbox, and PC) has been a constant issue, too. Console players almost always turn it off – despite it being a pretty great concept – due to the prevalence of cheaters on PC. On top of that, there are recurrent glitches that are patched before re-emerging later on, and constant niggling issues that have never been corrected.
So, why is it that Warzone has abruptly nose-dived into being a borderline unplayable mess? Enter Black Ops Cold War Season One.
The latest version of the game was released on 16th December 2020, and the issues escalated to an almost game-breaking level. The integration with the newest Call of Duty title – Black Ops Cold War – brought in a welcome supply of new weapons. But in doing so, months of work that had gone into balancing the existing weapons (like nerfing the Grau 5.56 assault rifle, Origin-12 shotgun, and Akimbo .44 Magnums) was thrown out of the window. As the weeks have progressed, hardcore players have discovered numerous new meta guns such as the MAC-10 SMG and Akimbo Diamatti pistols – but none more ridiculously overpowered than the dreaded DMR tactical rifle. This imbalance, and the DMR in particular, has all but ruined the game.
With first person shooters, there will always be guns that have a slight edge over others. It’s perfectly natural. However, a well-made game should effectively balance these guns to ensure each has their own positive and negative attributes that make them useful – or not – in certain situations. A shotgun, for example, ought to be great at close range but poor when firing over long distances. Equally, a sniper rifle should have great stopping power at range but be completely impractical in close quarters due to its slow fire rate and poor mobility. When such balancing is disregarded, severe problems arise. The DMR is the prime example of this – a single shot rifle, effective at most ranges, with an incredibly high rate of fire, and absurd stopping power.
This leaves players of all skill levels in a difficult spot. For casual players who don’t have the time to level up the numerous metas, winning becomes almost impossible. Even if you enjoy other guns and used to perform well with them, they will consistently underachieve by comparison. Hardcore and pro players also suffer. To compete at an advanced level, they are left with no choice but to join the dark side and equip the latest OP firearm. If they don’t, any chance of defending their coveted kill/death or win/loss ratios is lost. This results in a complete loss of variety. Gone are different play styles and diverse tactics. All that remains is camping until you get brutally murdered by someone dual-wielding Diamattis or joining in on the colossal circle-jerk around the DMR. It is a sad state of affairs.
As I mentioned, meta weapons aren’t the only problem. They are just symptomatic of a more deep-routed issue – one that stems from a lack of attention to detail. The gas mask animation has been ruining potential wins since the beginning. The inconsistent ability to climb rocks has always been infuriating, but never fixed. And the return of the infinite stim glitch makes the game a cheater’s paradise. These are core mechanics in Warzone, and there is simply no excuse for them not working properly.
Contracts (player missions) are broken, too. For starters, they are poorly balanced. There is an abundance of almost useless Supply Runs and next to no Scavenger contracts. This gives players who get those coveted “Scavs” a critical advantage. Even more frustrating is an apparent change to the ways Scavenger and Recon contracts function. It used to seem that they wouldn’t spawn on other players – to at least give you a chance to complete them. Now, it looks like they do the opposite and only ever spawn on enemies. Bounties are just as bad. I can’t count how many times I’ve been a target after respawning from the gulag as the sole member of my team with no weapons or gear.
It is a shame that it has come to this. Scouring the PlayStation Store for something else to play with friends isn’t something you should have to do when Warzone has so much potential. Of course, playing a new game is never a bad thing. But ditching a game you once enjoyed because it’s now broken leaves a bitter taste in your mouth. While there’s a chance Warzone can be saved, I worry that it may be too late. Once people stop playing, it can be hard to entice them back, especially when those that remain are purveyors in the very thing other players want to avoid.
So, here’s one last plea to the devs to fix Warzone… And to properly nerf the damn DMR.
Do you agree with my reason for leaving Verdansk? Are you still enjoying Warzone? Let us know in the comment section below and don’t forget to check out our other gaming articles…
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Thanks to my good friend, James Buxton (@GhostJames14 on Twitter), for hours of discussion and rants on this topic.
Featured image credit: Treyarch/Activision
