Black Ops Cold War Weapon Balancing Is A Step In The Right Direction

The second season of post-launch content for Black Ops Cold War is about to reach the halfway point and with plenty of brand-new content slated to launch, Black Ops developer Treyarch has also revealed details on the first wave of weapon balancing to take place in over 100 days.

The large gap between weapon balancing updates has seen arguably one of the most imbalanced weapon metagames in any Call of Duty title, with submachine guns frequently outperforming assault rifles in long-distance duels, launchers having little to no impact on players with Flak Jacket equipped, and assault rifles being incredibly easy to use with minimal skill due to non-existent levels of recoil.

While weapons with no recoil are always a good thing, there should be some element of skill when using an AR in order to create some kind of skill-gap to separate the good from the bad. Constant additions to the arsenal have made weapon balancing tricky, and this latest wave of upcoming changes should be a step in the right direction as Treyarch attempts to restore some kind of balance to Black Ops Cold War’s multiplayer.

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Too Little, Too Late?

In the opening weeks of release, Treyarch did well to implement a range of tuning updates to the tactical rifles and the MP5 to balance them with the rest of the weapons in the game due to their incredibly overpowered nature. Since then, there have been very few changes to the overall performances of several weapons that clearly possess an advantage over others that are available to equip.

Something should have been done sooner to maintain balance alongside providing players with a wide variety of weaponry that is all on a similar level, encouraging plenty of variety when it comes to loadout selection. Variety is the spice of life and when nearly every single player is running around with an LC10 or an XM4 when you might want to use an RPD, the imbalance eventually forced players to switch to the stronger weapons just to stand a chance of scoring some eliminations.

In my opinion, leaving Black Ops Cold War without any kind of intervention regarding weapon balance was the wrong decision. Throughout Season 1 and the first half of Season 2, the metagame has grown increasingly stale despite the additions of new weaponry which, to an extent, did provide an element of variety before the mainstays of the meta quickly asserted their dominance as the best weapons to use. Some kind of balancing could’ve been done much sooner and it’s unsure to see why it hasn’t been especially with plenty of backlash coming from players.

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A Step Forward

Based on the brief paragraph Treyarch posted in its March 25th blog, the next wave of changes sounds like it will promote a drastic shift in the multiplayer metagame which will almost certainly promote plenty of diversity during the second half of Season 2.

Having a multiplayer meta where there are at least six or seven standout weapons alongside the rest of the arsenal which aren’t too far behind means players don’t have to rely on a single weapon to have an impact during a match.

I’ve always been a believer that one day there will be a Call of Duty title where every single weapon included in the arsenal has its place during a multiplayer match. Black Ops Cold War has missed the mark thanks to the overpowered nature of SMGs and sniper rifles but with Call of Duty: WWII: Vanguard on the horizon, there’s a chance the 2021 instalment in the franchise could be much more balanced than Black Ops Cold War. Unless this update and future updates keep Cold War in perfect balance, then I think there will always be room for improvement when it comes to keeping the weapons balanced.