To say Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0 is in rough shape is an understatement. Aside from all the technical issues and missing features, the battle royale mode is filled with odd design choices that have pushed fans away and are specific steps backward from the original game in many cases. Some are simpler, quality-of-life issues, while others are a bit more complicated, but deserve to be addressed nonetheless.
Warzone 2.0 isn’t beyond help, though. A handful of key tweaks could help restore the battle royale juggernaut to a stable position — it’s just a matter of figuring out what to prioritize first. Based on my time with it, there are seven issues in particular that stand out. Addressing these could go a long way toward fixing Warzone 2.0‘s quality of life in early 2023.
Gunfights in Warzone 2.0 are frequently over in a matter of mere seconds. That’s why it’s important to be able to step back to apply armor plates, allowing you to reset the engagement. The problem is that plating actually disables your ability to run, meaning you’re basically a sitting duck while applying armor. This can often be a difference-maker during a particular battle. The original Warzone felt snappier due, in part, to the ability to run while plating — so it’s a bit odd that Warzone 2.0 removed that feature.
Even if you win your Gulag, it can be hard to make a full comeback in Warzone 2.0, especially if you’re playing with a squad. That’s because there isn’t enough cash to go around throughout the Al Mazrah map, which is frustrating since the odds are already stacked against you. Having at least twice as much cash to go around would give players a fighting chance to come back after an untimely elimination.
With so many weapons, it’s easy to get overwhelmed when picking your loadouts. While many expert players tend to follow popular YouTubers and content creators to find out what the meta weapons are, the majority of the community picks their guns based on the in-game stats. The problem is that these stats are wholly inaccurate and misleading, causing casual players to be at an even greater disadvantage. Having detailed stats — down to the exact millisecond — would be greatly beneficial, allowing players to make more of an informed decision when picking their weapons and their attachments.
Perks are a Call of Duty staple, but in Warzone 2.0, they don’t work as you’d expect. The issues are twofold: Bonus and Ultimate Perks straight-up don’t work half the time (they simply do not activate). In addition, you aren’t actually able to select the individual Perks you want across all four tiers. Instead, you only have access to the default Perk Packages, which feature four preset Perk options that, in many cases, aren’t that useful. It’s unclear if you’ll ever be able to add the exact Perks you want, but as it stands, this system undermines one of the best aspects of the series.
Yet another controversial change is the lack of any one-hit-kill snipers (to a fully-plated enemy). This change is somewhat understandable, but the way it’s executed is frustrating, making snipers feel practically useless. The idea is to prevent players from being instantly deleted for simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time. However, in the original Warzone, only certain snipers could get a one-hit kill to the head, and you had to be within a specific distance for it to work.
Lightweight snipers such as the Kar98k were only able to earn one-hit kills within a short distance, while heavier rifles like the ZRG could one hit-kill at any range. Warzone 2.0 could do well to adopt the same system, allowing lightweight rifles to secure one-shot kills within 60 meters or so, while heavy snipers could be sluggish to balance them out, but still powerful enough to down an opponent in one hit.
Another major issue has to do with Warzone 2.0’s pacing. While the early and end-game are often action-packed, the majority of the middle section of the game is downright boring. This is because the new map is too large for the 150-player count, making a major portion of each match feel slow. Bumping the player count up to 200 could help mitigate that problem, creating more opportunity for action throughout the match.
Warzone 2.0 is criticized for its absurdly fast time to kill (TTK). Many weapons can delete opponents in half a second, which is frustrating, especially after spending upwards of 20 minutes in a match. Players would likely have more time to react if the TTK was slower, just like it is in other battle royale games. This could also improve the pacing, which is one of the game’s greatest issues, as players are often too scared to move around the map since they can get eliminated so quickly.
Acer’s Predator Atlas 8 finally has a US release date and price, several months after the company first showed off the handheld in May. The highlight is the Intel Arc G3 Extreme chip inside, which has been adopted by only a couple of other consoles besides the Atlas 8. This version will go on sale exclusively at Best Buy on November 1 for $1,299.99.
Acer originally said the Atlas 8 would arrive in North America in October, but left pricing open at the time. The launch came amid the ongoing DRAM crunch, which has made memory more expensive across the PC industry and complicated pricing for hardware makers.
Gaming laptops and I have a complicated relationship. One of my first gaming rigs was an Acer Predator that was already outdated when I bought it. I was a broke college kid, and that was the best I could afford. So trying out high-end gaming laptops is always fun. But ASUS' ROG Zephyrus G14 is a lot more than a laptop that can run AAA games. It is portable, so you're not lugging around a 2.5kg machine everywhere you go. It is built well, none of that plastic chassis, and can even function as a normal laptop outside of just gaming.
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.