Activision is in the crosshairs again, with Call of Duty and Warzone 2 players accusing the monolithic publisher of introducing a "pay-to-win" bundle into the game's real-money marketplace.
Added alongside yesterday's Season 3 update, a new progression system was added to DMZ, which is described in the patch notes thusly:
- Individual Operators now go on “Active Duty” when used by the Player. Only one Active Duty slot can be equipped at a time, but all Players will start with 3 slots.
- Active Duty Operators have their own persistent items: Exfil Streak, Dog Tag Rarity, Backpack Type, Killstreak, Gas Mask and Self Revive.
- When failing to exfil, only that individual Operator will have its gear, streak, and Dog Tag rarity reset. All other Operators will not be affected.
But, if you're willing to pony up the cash, you can gain access to more Active Duty Operator Slots, in addition to some great Perks to get a leg-up on the competition. As expected, fans in the game's subreddit were less than thrilled with this development. There were moments of levity, as well.
It remains to see how the powers that be react; the update did only drop yesterday, after all. In similar threads, players listed other grievances.
Is all truly fair in both love and war? Do these Active Duty Operator Slots deserve to be called pay-to-win? Compete on the most level playing field of all, the comments section below.
[source callofduty.com, via gamesradar.com]
Comments 24
Yes it is "pay to win" although you still have to be good at the game. I stopped playing dmz a while ago but i still play resurgance and all the other multiplayer modes especially invasion with my mates online every wednesday evening...
@Northern_munkey Pay to win for what? 1 game round? What people are winning with that?
They are giving 3 slots for each, and want to make some money by selling 4th slot, but to make that deal slightly lucrative, they give some mediocre bonuses.
And those bonuses could be wiped put in 5 minutes after spawning in game or swapped for better gear 5 min later.
@REALAIS its my opinion. You dont like it and thats fine but try to be a bit less confrontational as this is becoming a thing with your replies to my comments or just block me if it really bothers you that much.
@Northern_munkey But you cant say why you have such opinion?
@REALAIS why do i need to? Is it going to ruin your day or cause sleepless nights because i think its pay to win? I dont think that anything i have an opinion about will bother you unless a) you are neurotic and just a massive drama queen or b) i intentionally directed a response constructed to antagonise you..please dont read too much into what i think and enjoy your day 👍
Removed - trolling/baiting
And yet people will buy it up all the same like they always do. Activision listens to money and people say "I don't like it but I can't NOT have the pass." So it goes.
A lot of games are pay to win even if they say they're not. I remember playing Fortnite years back and there were a few skins that let you sit in dark corners etc. so no one could see you.
Honestly, more people should try Battlefield. It's still an absolute trash game but at the same time, it's really fun. Less sweats than COD too
@REALAIS Those bonuses (UAV, backpack, armor) aren't wiped out after every deployment. If the slot is free it will be automatically equipped to it like you had it, because you essentially have an infinite amount of those items. Make sense?
The UAV in particular is pretty egregious, because you can easily find another squad close to you at the start of Ashika Island which has some of the WORST extraction game spawns ever.
It is blatantly P2W for the UAV alone. That is pretty ridiculous to have at the start of a deployment. That shouldn't be allowed.
Of course you'd know this if you actually knew what you were talking about.
@Constable_What is that UAV bundle for purchase right now?
@REALAIS It's a season 3.5 bundle, so expect to see it around May give or take a couple weeks.
I highly doubt they change it before launch, but they probably will when the next season starts depending on sales analytics.
@NinjaNicky I have no interest in CoD, but BF 2042 looks like crazy fun now. Been thinking about trying it for a few weeks.
@Constable_What till then maybe they can change. At first I thought Self revive bundle would be somehow "Okay" deal for Solo players, but DMZ is so bad for SOLO players, that those perks will exploit 3 man squads, and I stopped playing DMZ soon after launch of season 2. So yeah, I waste my time watching Westie with Stodeh occasionally. They can rule dmz without any of those upcoming bundles
@Shepherd_Tallon it's not as destructive as older BF games (almost none tbh), most of the time my team sits back instead of pushing the objectives and you can't remove attachments on your guns which is a basic in any fps game but something about it is addicting. A lot of people say it's dead but I get full games every night. It was free last month on psplus so I think that bumped the player count up since I'm seeing a lot of low levels playing now
@NinjaNicky I added it to my library when it joined Plus last month. I mean there's no excuse to not try it really.
I wouldn't have the patience or the reflexes for CoD, but BF was always just fun.
Get some of your mates in to a vehicle and see what happens. That kind of thing.
@Shepherd_Tallon I get a lot of angry messages because people like to sit in the safe zone in a tank or car and try and get long shots so I get in and drive straight into battle. I've also been in games where the pilot is amazing and we survive the whole game in a helicopter although I wish there were more anti aircraft weapons. People also don't look at pings or use a mic so sometimes it's frustrating. Medics are hit and miss but they've always been like that in bf games
@NinjaNicky I play with a bunch of Leeroys so I have no choice but to be a good medic, or whatever the equivalent is depending on what we're playing. They charge in to everything.
To be fair, it results in some serious hilarity.
Sounds weird and confusing. Thankfully I don't really play either of those modes so it won't effect me for the most part. I'm just happy they finally added Gun Fight back in! My favorite mode by a mile and my buddy and I had a blast with it last night.
There also isn't really any way I can think of that would turn that mode into PTW either which is a great bonus...don't get any ideas please Activision.
It is “pay to win” in a way but not as big a deal as people make it out to be.. as usual tend to ramp one another up to an extreme level.
I play DMZ every day and I bought the new bundle so I could run a 4th operator to add more variety. Although starting with a medium backpack (or future perks like 2 plate or UAV) is nice, it doesn’t impact the chances of your survival by that much. You can generally find better loot quite quickly.
The UAV addition isn’t a huge deal either since Ashika Island has so many of them and most people know the spawn points and generally rush you if they’re wanting to team wipe straight away. The spawn points are a bigger issue as well as people exploiting the 6 man team mechanic.
The people that will generally benefit from this are the solos and teams that are bulldozed easily by PVP chads. The 6 man teams hunting other teams already have 3 plates and UAVs etc. so it doesn’t make much of a difference. It’s just a slight benefit once you die.
I deleted the game from my system. The one game mode my buddies liked was DMZ, but we're not dropping money for that stuff (or playing against people who do). Screw em.
@REALAIS The thing about P2W though, is that if you're on an even playing field, skill wise, and someone has got the UAV bundle, or they even just had level 2 armor and you got unlucky that deployment and only have level one armor, the odds of your winning the engagement against them is significantly lower than if they didn't have that bundle. They have an advantage that they paid for essentially.
If you come across a player that is also very skilled (you will thanks to SBMM) and they have that bundle they have the advantage, an advantage they paid for, and one that you might consider buying if you died to that player. And thanks to how operator slots work, you will be able to tell instantly that they have that paid advantage due to the cosmetic associated with the said advantage. It's subtle manipulation.
It can still change, sure, but this is ABK we are talking about. The company that released Diablo Immortal without any moral qualms. I wouldn't expect it to change.
@ATaco That's the thing, with all of these games. It doesn't matter if 90% of the people hate microtransactions or some particular season pass benefit - if those willing to pay DO pay, and pay enough, then it will stay even if the 90% hate it. Money talks louder than complaining.
The day that doing these things doesn't bring them any extra money - or makes them start losing revenue - is the day they will change.
@RobN
The problem is that many people complain and THEN pay for the pass anyway. Like, the way you get your message across is NOT supporting the things you don't like. Somewhere along the way people forgot how that works or something lol
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