Call of Duty Warzone 2 has been in the hands of players for 1 month now and the player base has been cut in half from launch. What happened? What is going on inside of Call of Duty that has led to this massive drop?

Here is a list of my grievances with the game and where I think they went wrong.

Gun Leveling System

Warzone 2.0 tried to innovate their gun leveling system in this game by spreading out the unlock requirements across multiple guns. Their intentions might have been sincere however It seems like their desire to move people around and discover guns they normally wouldn’t run, created a complex spiderweb that requires a flow sheet to follow. Didn’t have time to unlock the guns in Warzone 1? You are extra screwed this time around.

Map Size

The Al Mazrah map is huge, it is almost twice the size of the beloved Verdansk. This means moving, ALOT. Being moved by a shrinking circle is a normal feature in BR’s but when the map is as large as it is you can very quickly find yourself on the bad end of the circle and be forced to spend half your game running. Not only that but in some weird attempt to fix what wasn’t broken, they blended POI's together making transitions seamless and full of potential hiding spots. This may seem like a good idea but trust me the next few points will explain why this has caused problems.

Game Ending Looming Threats Everywhere

Not only is the map gigantic, they have also decided to make the lines drawn between POI’s almost non-existent. Although this might be more realistic it does not make a good BR game. With cover almost everywhere and every building being accessible, every POI and every building in them are suddenly death traps waiting for you. It is almost impossible to explore a POI without the looming threat of an open window. Is this realistic … yes… is it fun… no it is not.

Time to Kill

I have said time and time again the time to kill in this game is too fast. Now this is not a bad thing all by itself. Fast TTK’s have worked in other games. The issue here is that the fast TTK is paired with this style map. If you get caught and seen out in the open (and by open that can literally just mean being in a street surrounded by buildings) your death is almost guaranteed. There is no time to react to being shot. Even if you do react fast enough, the movement in the game has been grinded to a snail pace halt which gives you no ability to retaliate. Which turns this game into a giant Hide and Seek simulator.

Melee Damage

I have always disliked this about call of duty games. Melee hits should not be two hit kills. I find it absolutely absurd that I can empty a clip into someone and still die if they decided punching me was their best course of action. And pair that with needing to clear buildings like a professional swat team, you can find yourself getting the crap beat out of you much more often than is comfortable.

The Jailer

The Gulag, on of my favorite features of the Warzone Br style. You may have died in game but here is your chance for redemption. All you have to do is be better than the person across from you. Not anymore, not with the jailer. This has to be a launch joke right? Why would you add a 3rd party to the Gulag? This was an unnecessary addition to a beloved feature of this game. The Gulag is supposed to be a place for 1v1 redemption and skill. 2v2 sure I can get behind that I guess. Requires you to lean on someone else rather than your own skill but I can ease my way into being ok with that. 2 v 2 v Tank, not so much.

People Camping Everywhere

All of the above has created a desire for players to avoid being caught out in the open. Which leads to everyone's favorite playstyle, CAMPING.... For anyone getting upset about the campers in the game, it's not their fault. The gameplay almost dictates this play style. You have no time to react to getting shot so what's the answer? Don't get shot at all. If you want to win a game of Warzone your best bet is to find some loot and hide and move to the final ring and hope you see the last team before they see you.

Zero Skill Gap

TTK, poor map design, poor movement techs, camping meta... it all leads to my overall issue with the game... Almost non-existent skill gap. Without a significant skill gap in the game, any new player can come in and find some success, this is great for casual players, but for those of us who enjoy the competition and the grind of mastering a game, this ruins it for us. I should not lose to someone just starting after I have put hundreds if not thousands of hours into my gameplay, yet it is happening all of the time.



The Crashes

And of course let's not forget the absurd number of glitches and dev error crashes happening. Everyone I play with has crashed at least once if not once per day. This should be an easily fixable issue but we will see how urgent this is for Activision considering the launch of Call of Duty Rocket League edition. (It is clearly not a priority)

All this being said If you enjoy the game, go do you. I am not saying the game is a wash, I am not saying you can't enjoy it. All I am saying that for a competitive BR game it does not hold up to this era of gaming's standards.