COD: Black Ops Cold War Alpha Sniper Nerf Coming At Multiplayer Launch
After growing player concerns, Treyarch has confirmed that sniper rifles will be nerfed below their current power level in future iterations of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. This weapon class is one of the most unique and the most powerful in any first-person shooter, but players need to play in a very different way while utilizing them. Most other weaponry in Call of Duty requires players to close the distance on their opponents, but snipers require finding a quiet spot and surveying the landscape for unaware targets to blast away. The weapon's efficiency is balanced by the skill necessary to deploy it successfully and the occasionally unwieldy nature of using it in-game. For the latest Call of Duty, Treyarch seemingly wants to change up the formula.
The first alpha for the multiplayer of the latest Call of Duty game is on now, and players are discovering that sniper rifles are much more powerful than they've been in the past. Not only do they retain their traditional stopping power, but their ability to aim down sights is faster than ever before. This has led to experienced snipers getting legendary killstreaks in the current game, and everyone else isn't happy about it.
Treyarch lead game designer Tony Flame took to Twitter to assure players that the team wasn't turning Black Ops Cold War into a sniper-only zone. The current alpha is only running on PlayStation 4 consoles, and Flame says that the developer took that as an opportunity to try something new that wouldn't be possible with a wider player base and the implementation of crossplay between consoles. So, in the running game, sniper rifles are buffed beyond normal parameters, and Treyarch is taking note of their performance. Flame states that the weapon will be toned down to normal in upcoming tests as everyone prepares for the final release.
Players sometimes forget that alpha and beta tests are not merely extended online demos, mostly because some developers treat them as such. In Treyarch's case, the studio seem to be using the opportunity to fine-tune weapon balance for their new game. Considering that the last Black Ops game was set in the future with quite a few laser-guided weapons that wouldn't fit in with this year's 1980s timeframe, there's sure to be some adjusting to the sandbox. At the end of the day, this test gives sniper players a few days in a glorious paradise and hopefully leads to a better gameplay environment overall.
It's good to know that Treyarch isn't just making a sniping focused game in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. Not only do games like that already excell at providing zoomed-in deathmatch, but Call of Duty's take on the genre is growing exceedingly rare in the marketplace. The stalwart franchise has outlasted almost all its imitators by sticking true to a formula and continuing to create great yearly entries. When the expanded beta hits servers, players will be able to see the true balance of what they'll be playing in November.
Source: Tony Flame
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War will be available on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, Xbox One, and PC on November 13, 2020.