Call of Duty's annual updates are the most comprehensive in terms of content. Black Ops 6 Season 1 will begin next week, on November 14. The blog post that breaks it all down was so long that I read it in two sittings. The information density makes sense when you realize that Activison has combined Black Ops 6 with Warzone. Warzone will be fully integrated with BLOPS 6 guns, perks and classes, as well as Omnimovement control changes. It will also gain a new small map called Area 99.
I'm happy for the Warzone fans, but the Black Ops6 additions on the Season 1 Roadmap are what really caught my eye:
- Five new guns - two at the start of the season, three in mid-season
- Five new maps Three 6v6 at the start of the season, one 2v2 map and another 6v6 from November to April
- A new perk: "Shadow", which I assume makes you immune to proximity devices
- One scoretreak: Hand Cannon, possibly a super gun with limited ammunition.
- Three modes : Ransacking, Prop Hunting, and MP Ranked
- A new Zombies map for mid-season
- Three new Zombies gobblegums
- Two mid-season events
- A bunch ugly skins
Black Ops 6 map pool is one the few disappointing aspects of a strong year for CoD. Adding more 6v6 maps to the mix ASAP would be a good thing. I hope that the new guns will have more personality than most of the launch weapons: The AMR Mod 4 is a one-shot kill sniper rifle that is a spitting-image of the Barrett.50cal in Call of Duty 4. And the foldable pocket SMG is enticing as a second weapon. Both of those guns will be available later in the season as part of an update or an event reward. The full list of weapons:
- Krig C (Assault Rifle, battle pass page 3)
- Saug (SMG, battle pass page 3)
- Maelstrom, a mid-season event featuring Shotguns
- AMR Mod 4 (Midseason)
- Sirin 9mm (Secondary smg, in-season reward)
- Power Drill (Melee) is a reward for the in-season event.
- Cleaver (Melee) (in-season event reward).
BLOPS will also get post-release attachments. This is a bit unexpected. Two guns, the XM4 & Kompakt 92 will be getting burst-fire mods. This sounds a lot like the "conversion kits" aftermarket parts in Modern Warfare 3 which let you create truly deranged Gunsmith abominations. The burst-fire mods are not as revolutionary as the barrels that turn a revolver in to a sniper weapon, but they do make Black Ops 6's loadouts more interesting.
Armory Unlocks is also returning from MW3, a system that unlocks guns and attachments in previous battle passes through completing challenges. When the Armory system first launched, it was confusing. However, it has proven to be an alternative progression path for players who don't care about battle passes or prestige. It's nice that you can still unlock a few gameplay-relevant items after reaching level 55.
Check out the entire blog post for a complete account of Black Ops 6/Warzone Season 1
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