Caldera Puns

Vanguard Royale was one of my favourite modes when it dropped, mainly because most of the lobby didn't have the weapons levelled up and it was nice to play against a variety of loadouts all being partly complete (and no HB sensor, thanks to which I have stopped using it in any mode). And no, I didn't and do not intend to purchase Vanguard. In fact I didn't purchase any of the three games since WZ dropped, so I am the most FTP player possible out there with no bias towards what weapons to use.

But the more I see of Caldera with regular BR and weapons from all three games, I realise Caldera is just more suited to VGR.

1. For starters, VG weapons feel worse in terms of TTK compared to Black Ops or even MW (with the recent buffs to Grau and stuff). Rebirth has most people still running the OTS and it still dominates close quarters. VG weapons are just more forgiving, for a variety of reasons, including the fact that the BR meta in not set with them and people are still figuring them out (like MW Weapons when WZ dropped). This makes it a bit more friendly than a game of whoever shoots first, which is essentially what normal BR is. I like this, and it is completely subjective.
2. Secondly, similar to the first one, Caldera has lots of open areas. The centre is usually just a ton of climbing and not enough cover. Which is fine, it's different to 'Dansk, and I preferred the layout of 'Dansk but I really have no complaints. But, that said, Caldera snipers have ridiculously slow ADS speeds and they're not as great to use as the Swiss/Kar/AX-50/HDR. Which brings us back to, the forgiveness of VG weapons. You could just be holding an angle off the rocks of peak with a KAR98 and all you need is to connect one shot out of 10 to a dude making it into the zone from below you, and the same is true for someone who might be gatekeeping you from the top of peak. Broken snipers just do not work well in Caldera, they're not fun to go up against. And they are easy to use, the Swiss and Kar are some of the easiest snipers to use in the game, and we all know that.
3. Finally, its the best way to do a player reset. The map is new, the guns were new, it almost felt like we were playing a different game altogether, with the same mechanics. This was great for new players, because its like a competitive rank reset. Everybody drops off from the top giving the ones behind or the newcomers an opportunity to catch up with the metas without being deleted by people bungee jumping and

After a few weeks, I'm getting real bored of the new map. The problem is that the map is full of great POIs but they're almost all at or around the edge. The center of the map is mostly hilly, barren nothingness (more of less the same environment save for mine and peak). And that's where the circle pulls to just about every game.

So instead of each game of Warzone feeling a bit unique (oh, were ending up at boneyard v. promenade v. prison v. farmland v. mine), mid to late game is the same nearly every game -- move toward the bushy hills, try to get the high point, fight people behind the same cover (rocks and bushes), hold the edge if you get there first (because the cover sucks if you are trying to get into the circle). You aren't really clearing buildings, rushing rooftops, occasionally fighting in the fields, etc. like you did in Verdansk. I mean holy shit is this one note, it's the same ending 90% of the time. Verdansk was a bunch of stitched together multiplayer maps but at least the layout made sense for a BR. They need to overhaul the middle of the map or at least fix the algorithm so the circles pulls to the middle a lot less.

I believe that the loadout change in Warzone Caldera (Loadout can only be purchased once the free loadout has dropped) is the worst rules change in warzone until today. It benefits no one and just makes the game less fun overall.

Why?

1. It does not stop really good players from stomping the lobby. Instead of gathering 10k for a loadout, they start spamming UAVs once they reach 6k and push people while being 100% sure they see every opponent on the map since there are no ghosted players. Many kill-chasing content creators complain about Caldera because the map design nerfed the aggressive play style, not the loadout change.

2. It actually increases variance. Previously you were able to get either good ground loot or enough money for a loadout the get an advantage in the early game – now you rely 100% on the ground loot, which is more random.

3. Passive players now do not have the ability to get ghost early and “hide” from the aggressive players – another strategy invalidated (if you like it or not)

4. The new loadout timing often results in the loadout spawning FAR away from you if you are near the edge of the zone 1 - without a vehicle it might take you several minutes to reach your loadout, especially if you have to rotate around peak

5. MOST IMPORTANT: It is FUN to play with your loadout guns. You probably spent hours levelling them in plunder or Vanguard. You might even spent money on a skin – and the access to them is severly limited?! In solos there are around 50-60 people left once the loadout drops in my lobbies – that means two thirds did not even get the chance to use them.

If we look back at “Iron trials”, one of the most common feedback was “we love the longer TTK, no dead silence, good ground loot, etc” but the very limited access to loadouts definitely was one of the worst changes for the mode. Many people said “I don’t like it, but at least the ground loot was great” – which is definitely not the case in Caldera. Using good guns is just more fun!

I hope they either revert the changes completely or do something else like decreasing the loadout cost over time (15k until free drop, then 10k for example).

What do you think?

I really like it, the visibility is better, the colours are better, the map is really interesting and detailed and the FPS is generally better. Dont get me wrong it needs some changes but all everyone does is complain. I'd honestly hate to work for the dev team. But when it was Verdansk everyone hated it so make yer minds up!

Nothing is more annoying than watching 6 planes follow each other in a congo-line, repeatedly taking turns wiping the map in unison. Vast majority of the games I play, 30-40% of the lobby is killed by planes before the first loadout has even appeared. Great map, but the planes are an incredibly terrible addition to the game.

For the record, I have a 3+ K/D, it's just pretty annoying when your side of the map is empty after 2 minutes due to planes.

Caldera all in all is a great map IMO. It was just unbearable on the first day due to all the bugs.

Also, the guns have sooo much visual recoil. I just don’t see a world where they out-gun the Cold War weapons without a tremendous nerf to the CW guns. IMO the meta is still EM2/AK & OTS/MP5 with what I have seen so far. It feels like they made the vanguard base weapons worse because there is 10 attachments. I’m not sure even with 10 attachments that they’ll be able to compete.

The vehicles are so slow. Really takes away from the flow of the game for aggressive players. The plane also is uncontrollable at the moment.

Also, I thought I’d like not having a loadout until the first drop, but it actually just annoyed me.

Anyone else feel this way?

I am probably one of the few that are enjoying Caldera. The building diversity is great and I do think all areas are different and give room to different strategies/approaches.

However, with Peak at the center there’s a huge amount of unoccupied space around it that would better be occupied with something else. It’s a huge waste of space since literally no one is ever there (it’s a pain in the ass to travel this area). I do like how high it is placed, but if it was at the edge the whole map would benefit from it. Hopefully you understand my suggestion. Cheers!

I see so much hate towards the new map. While playing it I’ve wondered, why is there so much dislike towards it? We played on Verdansk for nearly two years. It got old, it got boring and it got stale. It was a lot of fun to play on and I really REALLY enjoyed the time with it but after nearly two years how can any change not be welcomed. The new map definitely challenges players new and old, it challenges us in ways we’re not used to. The new map is but a couple months old and to see so much hate is disheartening in the community. Really I just want to know, why the hate? We asked for it.

[edit : Off grid is, here, short for "off the power grid". I now know this also means living far away from the society. I do but Im still playing warzone, scroll reddit and teach online. Sorry for misunderstanding.

My guess : bigger map (but updated version of the comparison shows it's nearly same)? anti cheat? Much more luminous? More colors? Bad optimization (this one would be nice for me, means this gonna improve?

Basically I was playing 80~90w on verdansk and now play 140~150w. So yeah something like +60% power consumption... Bad sad. Means less time to play with friends.

Laptop : Lenovo legion 5 pro with rtx 3070. Warzone setting : everything very low / disabled BUT resolution 2.5k and 110° view

Your Guess ?

(Baguette baguette bonjour hello sorry for my not perfect English)

Is anybody else REALLY struggling with the new game? I was never a world beater in Verdansk but I felt like I was at least competent and able to get a couple kills.

I’m not here to complain about matchmaking. I’m more just wondering if something with the mechanics changed. I run around feeling like I’ve never played this game before in my life. If anyone else feels the same, know you’re not alone.

EDIT- Maybe I will complain about matchmaking juuuust a little bit. I don’t usually give a shit about Warzone stats and the cod tracker site, but I decided to take a look after seeing so many people post theirs in the comments.

Last 7 days: 32 kills with a 0.28 K/D Lobby K/Ds - 1:21; 1.22; 0.99; 1.23; 1.33; 1.18

😂😂😂 I’m amazed at just how outmatched I am right now. My K/D in the past hovered between 0.8 and 0.9 and now I’m sitting at a 0.28 going up against people above 1. Might be time to buy something cheap from the store to get some bot lobbies!

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Thank you, trying to do what I can to give us all a better Warzone!

Scump is currently streaming and he only has 3,600 viewers on a friday night. I have never seen scump with these low numbers before, this has nothing to do with scump but COD in general. With the awful reception of caldera compared to verdansk and we already all know the joke that Vanguard is. People are seriously losing interest in this call of duty cycle like never before. So many streamers stopped playing caldera and moving on to something else and vanguard never did well other than the first month of the game.

What play can call of duty even make at this point to even get back excitement into this year to the public??? Release MW2 remastered multiplayer? Bring back Verdansk? And we still have to wait a long tiem for the season to officially begin other than the showmatch in 2 weeks. This year might truly be chalked.

Caldera is currently unplayable due to multiple crashes, kicking you or your teammate out of a match. And if your game is going well, Krampus will chase you, which will completely ruin your game experience. Please try to be competent for once and fix the game. Try fixing real bugs and not only the ones benefitting the players like 2xp. We know you're quick on that, God forbid players have some fun....

I live in Asia and there's a shitton of hackers here, before the update, I literally and I mean literally have cheaters in every lobby I've played in. But after the update, I have seen zero hackers, as in zero hackers at all. Is it just me? Why do people keep complaining? Am I just lucky or something? For reference, I have a 2.17k/d.

I played vanguard quads last night with the crew for maybe ten rounds, no problems. Hop on today, solo plunder no problems. Textures loading, sound working, seemed fine to me. Some tree tops not rendering super quick but that’s it really. Rest of my crew had minimal issues too. Seeing all of the posts about the problems, I’m just wondering if anybody else is in the same boat as me.

Yes guns are unbalanced and there are a few things that need to be tweaked but overall I am really enjoying the new map and playing style. Can’t wait until Caldera is fixed for everybody and we can all enjoy it together.

Is it just me?

Xbox Series S, wired fiber connection

edit: thanks for all of the responses, what a great community. Here’s to many great matches in Caldera

This game feels so much better in the vanguard royal without the heartbeat sensor. Also it makes it easier to pick a second perk other than ghost with the changes to uav price.

Also I absolutely love the new map and would love to have just purely vanguard weapons be the main from now on. It just feels so much better.

How does everyone else feel about the heartbeat

Every Caldera town/area looks exactly the same 😔

-while Verdansk had great ‘multiplayer’ maps embedded into it with each having it’s own distinctive personality.

*super store was different than tv station, *salt mines was different than storage town *train station was different than hospital

Giving us an option to which map we want to play would be a great move forward...

drawing alot of people who invested near 2-years of their gaming experience into warzone to either come back or have fun again.

i love you all! my warzone brethren. cheers to warzone returning to it’s glory days!

I like to drop lagoon and loot the caves for mula. What about y'all?

Ever since I've playing this map I've just found it really tough to know who is around me, where they are and where they're coming from compared to Verdansk.

Played a load of duos with a friend earlier and every single game we really got taken by surprise either by being third partied while fighting or just running into people we did not expect at all in a way that just didn't seem to happen in Verdansk. I used to be able to get a good sense that there's people in a particular building, or people are gonna take a particular path into the circle and that sort of thing. It's kinda hard to explain I guess, but I find it so much harder to do this in Caldera with people are really unexpected angles or taking approaches I just don't expect.

Anyone else know what I mean?

This might be an unpopular opinion but it just feels more...fun

Instead of all boring apartment buildings and warehouses with parking lots, you've got tons of cool ww2 stuff airstrips and landings and traditional villages

The combination of massive industrial machinery and small wooden huts just make this a more interesting location imo (combat-wise and aesthetically)

Maybe if just gotten a bit better, or maybe it's something else but I'm massively enjoying this map over the other one, more kills, last longer, and idk just fun!

What are your thoughts?