Warzone 2.0 has Its Work Cut out for it.

Warzone 2.0 is overall worse than the previous Warzone. That’s it, that’s the video. Bye. Okay I’m kidding.

With the release of the new DMZ mode, as interested as I was to try that mode because it was brand new and a potentially different take on a Tarkov like experience (it isn’t which we went over in the previous video), I still was also interested to see what they did to update 2019’s take on a battle royale, Warzone. I remember during the summer seeing the COD event take place and watching a little bit of it, and for the most part from that small snippet of gameplay, it looked to be pretty faithful to the previous version. And while I did enjoy my time with Warzone, my biggest gripes with that game mode was how stupidly easy it was to get your loadout in the first five minutes and already be at endgame gear for that round. It pissed me off something fierce, and I know that’s kind of a hot and sacrilegious take on the mode, but I much prefer the BR style of finding a gun and having to scour the map for all the attachments, in order to make it really effective. I love that story narrative and the arc makes so much sense for a 30-minute mode like a battle royale. With loadouts, you never get that kind of story. And good luck trying to use the ground loot all the way to the final circle, because you’d most likely get beamed from across the map with the seasonally best in slot weapon with the VLK 4x scope. So, my major concern for the new Warzone was how they would deal with people getting two loadouts in one round.

To my surprise, they actually addressed this. Loadouts are still in the game, but are MUCH less common in general. You can’t but them anymore from buy stations. That alone is already a monumental change to the gameplay formula to how Warzone works. Now, at certain intervals throughout the match, loadouts will drop at specific parts of the map and you’ll need to move to those locations, claim the loadout for yourself, and most likely fight off other players who have the same idea. Which, to me, is an interesting way of funneling players to certain spots to have them engage with one another. Most people may not like the change as it stifles creativity with loadouts and finding what’s really powerful, but I feel as though that was their intention. I’m sure IW are very aware of how the community sought the best in slot weapon and attachments for it, with every new season. So, I’d have to guess and say that was one of their driving motivations to change loadouts so drastically. While mostly everyone using the same weapons can balance out the field, it hurts players imaginations and allowing them to make guns that feel comfortable to them specifically, instead of just using what everyone else is, and not enjoying it. Which, again, most likely in the minority here, but I commend them on the changes. Unfortunately, that’s where most of the positives end for me in regards to Warzone.

There are a lot of other big changes to the mode, and the Gulag is a really odd one especially. Before, in the previous game, when you died and were sent to the gulag, it was a very straight forward 1v1 to earn your way back into the game. The weapons rotated usually every week, so the variety in there was always interesting, and while the map itself could arguably be in favor of one side, it was still well received. Now, however, it’s a 2v2. Which sounded cool on paper, but in practice, kind of sucks. For one, it’s most likely with a random other player instead of someone from your squad should you die at the same time. You can be paired up with a teammate, which is the best when it happens, but that’s only if you play anything other than solos. When you’re with someone you don’t know, there’s very little communication between you two. Most gulag matches last anywhere from 5 to 15 seconds; there isn’t any time to formulate some kind of strategy. What makes this worse if you’re unfortunate to have someone who isn’t at their computer for whatever reason, and is AFK in your gulag spawn. Unless you’re really good, it’s basically a guaranteed loss. Which to me, defeats the purpose of the gulag; to outplay ONE opponent and be better than them so you can go back into the fight. You earned it. It would be like playing 2v2 chess and you’re reasonably good at the game, and your teammate has never played chess before and makes enough mistakes that you can’t salvage the game back. It’s not entirely their fault, but those kinds of comeback moments should be between you and someone else. If you make a mistake, you say GG, and move on. But if someone else makes the mistake, it hurts more because you had no say in it. So, for me, 2v2 gulag is just kind of the big question mark as to why they made the change in the first place.

Probably my biggest concern for warzone, is the size of the map. It's bigger than Verdansk; a sizeable amount bigger. Depending on what mode you enjoy playing, that will ultimately affect your gameplay experience in regards to how many other players you run into. Which remember, the point of a battle royale is to be the last person/squad standing. You are supposed to go and fight people. Even if it’s at the bitter end of a match, you will still most likely end up in at least one engagement before the end. It’s not like DMZ where it makes sense to leave early or avoid other players if you have something you want to extract with. But with how large the map is, the handful of matches I’ve played as a three-man and only running into one other squad, is very concerning. And if you enjoy solos, good fucking luck. Because I have also tried some of those just for comparisons sake, and man, they are not fun. Extremely slow, boring, and when you die it’s most likely someone in a corner of a building just hanging out. Which is fine, if I had seen at least three other people before that. And I haven’t. So now I’m salty. Maybe these concerns are coming a little early, but it just feels barren; like a wasteland, especially considering the color choice for the map too, but I digress. There's 150 people in a single warzone match and it certainly doesn’t feel like that most of the time. My main two changes I bring to the table to potentially alleviate some of these concerns would be to either, raise the player amount to 200 in a single match. I don’t know if the servers can handle it, but just throwing it out there. Or secondly, something a little easier to do on their end, would be to drastically increase the speed in which zones close in. That way, you are always being funneled into each other. Make the zones bigger so the gas has to move in more total amount of times, but make each circle collapse take much less time. I hope that makes sense. More circle collapses throughout a match and make the circles bigger so people don’t have to run to the other side of the map. I feel as though that alone might address these concerns but who knows.

Warzone is certainly kind of a mixed bag for a lot of people this year, myself included. There were some very positive changes made to the mode to smooth out the power curve throughout a match, but at the same time, changes made that feel like steps to the side, instead of forward. Again, a lot of these are subjective from personal and previous experiences, but I feel as though this version of Warzone is overall worse than the previous one. Because it doesn’t feel good to play. I mean, let’s be real, if the same pattern follows like it did with warzone 1.0, the next COD that comes out will be injected into this Warzone, and ruin the entire game like how Cold War and Vanguard were added to the old Warzone. That alone made me quit, and I imagine it will happen again, don’t want it to, but it worked so well before, they’d be stupid not to. But those are just my own thoughts, if you have your own, be sure to sound off in the comments, and if you enjoyed this video, be sure to like and subscribe for more videos about the things we all find interesting. I hope to see you in future ones.