Call of Duty: Warzone will soon be getting nerfs for its most overpowered firearms. Activision’s battle royale has found a second life since its parent game, Modern Warfare, was ousted by Black Ops Cold War. The first season of the latter game brought new content to Warzone, but the integration wasn’t perfect. Many fans complained about the new crossover for a variety of reasons, including a short-lived removal of double XP tokens and generally underpowered weapons that didn’t stack up to the firearms already present in Warzone.
While most Black Ops Cold War guns have been deemed too weak to bother with, one firearm has quickly risen to prominence for just the opposite reason. Many have complained that the new DMR-14 gun has rendered Warzone practically unplayable. Clips abound online of the DMR mowing down enemies in only one or two shots. The meta of the game has been severely impacted by this preposterous power level, to the point where whole game lobbies will be full of the overpowered gun. This doesn’t make for a stable or balanced gameplay experience, and it’s especially frustrating for fans who aren’t able to obtain one of the potent guns.
Fortunately, the developers are aware of this dreadful condition. Raven Software posted an announcement on Twitter (via PCGamesN) announcing that a balance update is en route. This fix will address not only the deadly DMR-14 but some other notorious weapons like the Type 63, the Mac 10, and the dual pistols. These changes will be exclusive to Warzone, in order to make the guns play nicer with pre-existing firearms from Modern Warfare. An emoji of a timer appended to the announcement indicates that it’s coming soon, but no specific time frame was given, and the details of what changes will actually be made are unfortunately absent. The Mac 10, unlike the DMR, has a fair amount of fans to its name, so one hopes that Raven won’t nerf it too drastically.
[UPDATE: Following Raven Software’s tweet, the promised balance changes have since gone live and the new information is reflected below.]
Activision has been responding remarkably well to fan complaints since Black Ops Cold War season 1 rolled out. The company was quick to restore the aforementioned double XP tokens when fans complained that they’d been removed from Warzone, pointing out that actual real-life money had been spent on the resources. It’s also been introducing some stylish and unique Mastercraft weapons to Black Ops Cold War in order to give players some distinct flair to look forward to. Hopefully these changes will make the collectibles easier to work toward. The new changes are as follows:
- DMR-14: Reduced headshot damage, increased recoil
- Type 63: Reduced headshot damage, increased recoil
- Mac-10: Decreased headshot multiplier
- Dual pistols: Increased hip fire spread, decreased damage range
Maintaining a live service game is difficult. Maintaining a multi-title live service franchise like Call of Duty is surely even harder. Activision and its associated developers are just as prone to human error as anyone else, and unfortunately that’s liable to turn up in the games they produce. Luckily, it seems that the developers are keen to redress their mistakes and make Call of Duty: Warzone the best game it can be for everyone. Hopefully this trend does not die out in the new year.
