Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Beta Update Makes Some Big Gameplay and Weapon Changes

The Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Beta is now cross-play. In other words, the Beta is now live on Xbox One and PC in early access form while it's available on PS4 to everyone. And to accompany the Beta coming to Xbox One and PC, Treyarch and Raven Software have released a new update with a slab of gameplay changes and weapon tweaks. Of course, complimenting this, the aforementioned pair have also released the official patch notes for this new update.

There's also new content. More specifically, the new 40-player mode, Fireteam: Dirty Bomb, has been added, alongside two new maps, dubbed Ruka and Alpine, both of which are completely original. Meanwhile, the level cap has been increased and will be increased again this weekend, allowing players to unlock new weapons, perks, scorestreaks, and more. There's also a new playlist, Combined Arms Moshpit, and two new modes, Control and Hardpoint.

Below, you can check out the aforementioned patch notes in their entirety. Meanwhile, for more information and media on all of the new content mentioned above, click here.

GAMEPLAY UPDATES

- In response to player feedback and game data from last weekend's PS4 Beta, we've made a new round of gameplay updates and tuning changes to movement, weapons, attachments, and more. For our PC players joining us this weekend, there's also a list of known issues and workarounds to be aware of. -

• Movement
  • Reduced the speed of the initial slide impulse and slightly shortened slide duration.
    • During the PS4 Beta, we found players over-relying on sliding to traverse ground quickly or engage in close quarters, making it difficult to target players in the open. Our goal is for sliding to function as a smooth transition to cover, escape, or transition to a crouching stance. This weekend's changes result in a snappier slide that better fit our goals for the mechanic.
• Significantly reduced slide speed with the Duster Stock attachment equipped.
  • In Weekend 1, the Duster Stock attachment accounted for massive slide speed increases that didn't fit into our more grounded combat loop. With this new change, Duster Stock now offers a modest improvement in slide speed that is more balanced with other attachment offerings.

Weapons

• Milano 821
  • Reduced damage falloff range.
    • This update causes the 4-hit kill range to turn to 5 hits at 12.8 meters, down from 19.2 meters during the PS4 Beta.
• AK-47
  • Slightly reduced recoil.
    • We'd like to see the AK-47 remain a top contender for assault rifle picks, and it was barely edged out by the XM4 and Krig 6 in the PS4 Beta. By reducing its recoil, we're giving AK-47 users a better opportunity to compete.
• M16
  • Increased time between bursts from .216s to .233s.
    • This weapon's high lethality and well-rounded attributes allowed it to over-perform even outside of its intended role during the PS4 Beta. This change keeps the M16's power and accuracy while requiring more precision.
• Type 63
  • Reduced recoil.
    • Our new recoil system tuning made this weapon a bit too difficult to hit multiple shots on target. We've toned down the recoil to make it more effective as the precision weapon it was meant to be.
• RPD
  • Slightly reduced hipfire spread.
    • While the RPD can be effective at long range, we've improved its close-range reliability compared to the PS4 Beta.
• Gallo SA12
  • Adjusted medium-range damage to require three hits to kill instead of two at mid-range.
    • This was an extremely effective secondary throughout the PS4 Beta. With this tuning update, it will still take two hits to eliminate an enemy within a short range, just not quite as far out.

Attachments

• Agency Suppressor
  • Reduced some recoil bonuses.
    • This attachment came with too many strengths without enough tradeoffs during the PS4 Beta, particularly with how much it reduced recoil. This update reduces some of those bonuses while still making them notably beneficial.

Field Upgrades

• Field Mic
  • Reduced the range at the Field Mic can detect players who are crouching, ADS walking, or moving but not sprinting.
    • During the PS4 Beta, this Field Upgrade did not incentivize counter-play as much as we were planning for. The Field Mic will now be less effective at detecting footstep noise from players who move more slowly.

Equipment

• Frag Grenade
  • Reduced the damage on the outer half of the Frag Grenade's splash damage radius.
    • While we expect Frag Grenade usage to drop significantly in the Crossplay Open Beta as more Wildcard and lethal options open up, we also agree with the feedback that frags resulted in kills a little too often.

Known PC Issues and Workarounds

• Mouse Wheel Input Delay defaults at 0, which is lower than intended.
  • Workaround: The player canadjust the value for the mouse wheel delay input in Settings. Recommended default value is 80.
• When many audio devices are available, it is not possible to view or select the last one from the drop-down list.
  • Workaround: These audio devices can be selected using the keyboard.
• Some players on AMD GPUs may experience frequent packet burst spikes during gameplay.
  • Workaround: Lowering the Graphics Settings can alleviate the severity of this issue.

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is set to release on November 13 via the PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, and PC.