The free Battle Royale Call of Duty: Warzone has had a hard time. Cheats, bugs, surgical weapons, unpopular content – almost every blunder was ready for a dive. But since the start of Season 2 in February 2022, the tide has turned – and it may be worth getting in or returning.
Warzone is a standalone Call of Duty “Battle Royale” that gives you access to the franchise’s premier shooter gameplay for free. Especially for the 2020 release, the title literally exploded and everyone was talking about it. But then came the lull.
Little content, hardly any innovations, a broken weapon meta, plagues of cheaters – Warzone annoyed many players who then left the shooter frustrated. The developers also explained what bug was behind all the problems.
After the changes in the last few months, however, the Battle Royale has changed a lot. Almost every aspect of the game has been tweaked, and every little mechanic has been scrutinized.
If you weren’t aware of this as a veteran or are a fresh newcomer, then we want to show you some of the best changes of the last few months and explain how it has had a positive impact on Warzone.
If you want a short introduction to the game beforehand, take a look at our video:
Everything you need to know about the Battle Royale shooter CoD Warzone
Increase in life points
What was that change? After the introduction of the Map Caldera, there was the “Vanguard Royale” in Warzone. Here you could only use Vanguard weapons and there were other rules and content that were only available here.
The developers used this mode as a test laboratory and introduced more health points – 50 to be exact. Along with the armor, the total health went up to 300.
The change now applies to all modes on all maps.
why is this so good The health adjustment brought a breath of fresh air to the weapon meta. The time-to-kill values changed, the cards were reshuffled.
More importantly, it has positively changed the feel of combat. You’re not down quite as quickly anymore, more often you make it behind the saving cover.
That made the battles more exciting. Good movement and clever cover play benefit. But the adjustment wasn’t big enough for better players to take huge advantage of.
A simple and very effective adjustment that made Warzone better straight away.
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Caldera redesign, new map and map rotation
What was that change? The big map Caldera had to endure a lot of criticism from day 1. The mood quickly changed from “finally a new map” to “give us back Verdansk”.
With the start of Season 4, the developers responded to the feedback. There are many new small locations that fill in previously empty areas. There is even the Verdansk favorite “Storage Town”. In addition, vegetation has been reduced by 50% in many places and enemy visibility has been improved.
Popular small map Rebirth Island has become a crowd favorite due to Verdansk’s age and skepticism about Caldera. Mid-Season 2 at the end of March also brought many changes here, which were positively received by the players.
In addition, thanks to map rotation, there are now three maps in Warzone for the first time. Similar in size to Rebirth Island, you now sprint through the alleys of Fortune’s Keep on your way to victory.
why is this so good With the new map rotation with the third map alone, Warzone offers significantly more content and variety. The small cards should then change daily in the near future.
But the continued work on the old maps based on player feedback has also paid off. It feels like new locations are added with every update and unpopular things are patched out.
Warzone has shown itself to be much more player-friendly in recent months. The developers continue not to respond to certain topics, such as matchmaking. But aside from that, they listen to the feedback a lot more and explain how they incorporate it into the development process.
This is very good for the Battle Royale.
CoD Warzone finally shows more of the new map in Season 4 – trailer and pictures of Fortune’s Keep
Lootable Perks
What was that change? Previously, you could only bring perks into play through your loadouts. Meanwhile, the strong, passive bonuses are also lying around as ground loot.
There are even really strong bonuses that many players like to take with them:
why is this so good One developer called the lootable perks a game changer shortly after they were introduced. And indeed, the random perks you can find bring a new dynamic to the game.
With the bonuses bagged in mind, try new tactics. It’s also more worthwhile to create different loadouts so that you don’t have two strong perks with you.
This gameplay trick is therefore as simple as it is ingenious. It brings a new level, more depth to the game and uses exactly the things that were actually already in the game.
More time in the match than on the bench
What was that change? The developers explained their strategy behind the changes over the past few months and going forward in the Mid-Season 3 patch notes:
The point “More playing time” is particularly exciting. The developers want to make sure that you get back into the game faster after a death. This brings in more dynamics and makes the maps busier.
The measures:
why is this so good Battle Royale is a fantastic team experience. But unfortunately, fellow players are doomed to watch when they’ve been shot dead.
Warzone wants to actively combat “time on the bench” and ensure that all players participate more in the match. Another strong change that fits the foundation of the Warzone. Of the most popular and biggest Battle Royale, Warzone is the “easiest”.
More relaxed weapon meta for more variety
What was that change? This is not about one or a few changes, but a general change of strategy. And it has been hinting at it for a long time.
In the first 1.5 years of Warzone, changes to the weapons were sometimes arbitrary and difficult to understand. There are now many explanations for the adjustments and clear reactions to the weapons that are actually too strong or too weak.
Here and there you can still identify adjustments coming into play due to a new real money bundle. The MAC-10 is suitable as a current example. It was surprisingly buffed with Season 4 and then an elaborate skin bundle appeared in the shop.
But the majority of weapon adjustments are done in the spirit of fair weapon meta.
Do you want to know how fair the CoD Warzone meta is right now? We’ll show you the formula
why is this so good In general, you don’t have to worry as much about which weapons are currently “OP”. Many guns are on the same level, the advantage of a particular weapon is not so great that it trumps all others.
Initially, in Warzone, the OP weapons gave each other the handle. As soon as one was gone, players discovered the next one and it sometimes took months for a nerf to come.
Overpowered weapons are nerfed after a week at most these days. If a weapon is played too much, you can usually expect a nerf for the next season or mid-season update.
Overall, this has made Warzone a lot fairer and it’s been exciting to see how Warzone has evolved in that regard.
CoD Warzone: The Best Weapons With Setups – Constantly Updated
Bonus: RICOCHET turns up the heat
Unfortunately, cheaters are part of a Free2Play game, but Warzone has done a lot right with the anti-cheat system.
The system is still heavily dependent on your player reports. So if you discover a cheater, use the report function immediately.
Overall, however, the problem has noticeably reduced and you will encounter uninvited cheaters much less often. However, the real practical test for RICOCHET is still ahead – with the release of Warzone 2 and the possible hype with many new players and cheaters:
CoD Warzone 2 is still coming in 2022 – all information about the release, map and leaks
Personal conclusion: Warzone has (almost) never been so good
Conclusion – MeinMMO author Maik Schneider: I’ve been playing Warzone since day one and as so often, the feeling of the first 100 hours of play is not easy to bring back. Everything was new, fresh and exciting back then.
However, Warzone did not deliver at the time, brought little content and strange changes. Plus the annoying cheaters. But that is no longer compared to today.
I’ve been playing Warzone more regularly for a few weeks now and I’m really happy with the changes. Through my work at MeinMMO I have followed everything meticulously, tested it again and again and now the desire to play Warzone is back.
Are you looking for a Battle Royale or have you turned away in frustration a while ago, then get into Warzone now.
Because even if I sometimes look over at Fortnite with envy, Warzone is and remains the best Battle Royale on the market and is particularly suitable for beginners.