[GameSpot] - Call Of Duty: Warzone Patch Notes Reveal Major Perks Changes

[343iBot]

Call of Duty: Warzone continues to see major changes in Season 2 Reloaded, with the latest patch notes from Raven Software including several changes to the battle royale's perks.

According to the March 28 patch notes for Warzone, significant changes were made to Scavenger, Restock, E.O.D., Quick Fix, and the popular Ghost perk. The developer discussed these perk updates in detail, describing Season 2 as ever-evolving and teasing that these changes only offer a glimpse of what's to come in Season 3.

"We see this chapter of Warzone as an ever-evolving and layered gameplay space where we want both counterplay and interplay between systems to be viable," Raven Software said. "Perks are going to make for a significant part of the push towards this objective. The changes observed today represent a glimpse of what is to come in Season 3."

The most impactful changes come to Quick Fix and Ghost. For Warzone's popular Ghost perk, the Ghost stealth effect will now only trigger if the player is moving. Previously, Ghost was seen as the "camper" perk, easily hiding players who waited patiently in buildings or bushes, but now players will need to keep their feet moving to receive the benefits of Ghost.

For Quick Fix, the perk gained popularity with Warzone's recent Iron Trials mode, as the perk helps a player regenerate health faster. The new update can make it even more beneficial for getting healed up faster, as it now triggers health regeneration when inserting armor plates. This means players using Quick Fix can start the regen process faster and regen health at a faster rate than normal players.

Additionally, the E.O.D. perk also received a significant buff in Warzone. The raised cap on explosive damage has changed from 80 to 200, while the increase to damage reduction went from 35% to 45%. Raven Software says this change was implemented due to lethal equipment dealing more damage in Season 1, and the developer wanted to buff the E.O.D. perk to be a viable counter against lethal equipment for Season 2.

And finally, the Scavenger and Restock perks received buffs. Scavenger's resupply pouches now have a cyan outline for those with the Scavenger perk equipped, and the pouch now gives +1 armor plate to add a little more value to the perk. Players can also choose to resupply their equipment much faster, as the Restock perk has a reduced recharge time from 50 seconds to 25 seconds, but the Stim equipment is now on a 60-second timer to reduce spam and gas abuse while using Restock.

Perks aren't the only thing changing in Warzone for Season 2. Rebirth Island recently added the Weapon Trade Station feature as a reward for completing the first Rebirth Reinforced event challenge. The map will continue to evolve as the event progresses, adding new features to the prison island.

In other Call of Duty news, Activision is hosting a two-week-long Free Access event for Call of Duty: Vanguard. Parts of Vanguard's multiplayer will be free for everyone across all platforms.

The full details of the perk changes can be found in the patch notes below, as shared by Raven Software.

GAMEPLAY

Perk Adjustments

We see this chapter of Warzone as an ever-evolving and layered gameplay space where we want both counterplay and interplay between systems to be viable. We want to provide Players with a variety of tools to create even more interesting stories or “big-brain” plays that take advantage of systems in ways that we as developers never thought possible.

Perks are going to make for a significant part of the push towards this objective. The changes observed today represent a glimpse of what is to come in Season Three.

Below are the outlined adjustments:

• Scavenger
  • The pouch will now have a cyan outline for those with Scavenger equipped.
  • Increased dissipation time from 20 seconds to 60 seconds.
  • The pouch now gives +1 Armor Plate on top of previous items.
  • Text update.

Scavenger was originally built for a multiplayer encounter where your eliminations are typically easy to reach and foot traffic aligns with elimination zones. In a Battle Royale setting, Players have a lot more space to cover and a lot more time passes in between encounters. With this change we aim to assist in identifying where your spoils of war are located while also providing more time to acquire them. The update to the items may seem small but a more aggressive Player may see better results in staying stocked up on gear.

• Restock
  • Recharge time reduced from 50 seconds to 25 seconds.
  • Stim is now on a 60 second timer to reduce spam and gas abuse.
  • Incorrect ingame text “50s” will be updated in a future update.

Restock saw an increase in time with the original launch of Battle Royale. As Warzone has evolved, it has become noticeable that its strength has diminished. We want there to be stronger choices in the Red category of Perks that heavily impact the playstyle around the respective Perk, and there is an opportunity with this revamp to create room for experimenting with various equipment that doesn't get as much love.

• E.O.D.
  • E.O.D. will reduce damage or cap the damage whichever is higher.
  • Raised cap on explosive damage from 80 to 200.
  • Raise damage reduction from 35% to 45%.
  • Text update.

With the adjustment to lethals dealing more damage in Season 1, we wanted to align E.O.D. with those changes so there is a viable counter in the Perk meta.

• Quick Fix
  • Inserting an Armor Plate will now begin regenerating health.
  • Text update.

Quick Fix was already a decent meta contender but similar to the other perks it was primarily built for Multiplayer. This change makes its effect more potent in a Battle Royale setting and we hope will lead to some really fascinating plays.

• Ghost
  • The "Ghost" stealth effect will now only apply if the Player is moving.
  • Players can observe this via the arrow representing their Operator in the minimap fading when “Ghost” is active.
  • A text update will be coming in the future to clarify these changes.

In a pre-Caldera world, Ghost has always been very beneficial. However, in Caldera it is obvious that it has become even stronger with the ability to seek visual cover in foliage across the map. With this change we aim to balance the Perk around being mobile or being stationary, to provide more counter play opportunities around the Ghost perk. We are thoroughly looking at the stealth and detection meta with the intent to create more value in the options available to acquire and combat it.

• We’ve also updated tooltip text for the following Perks:
  • Tune Up
  • Kill Chain
  • Pointman
  • Hardline

We would like to thank all of our Players in the community who have made suggestions and generated discussions around Perks in Warzone. Please continue to provide feedback as we move towards some of the best Seasons of Warzone yet!

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