Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is interesting, to say the least. It's a sequel to both Black Ops 2 and Black Ops 6, while also making the former mostly non-canon, and we weren't even expecting another direct sequel in the same vein as 2023's Modern Warfare 3 to begin with. Nevertheless, it's doing the usual business of the annual CoD release: a new campaign, refreshed multiplayer and zombies modes, and a few other bits and bobs. And I hope you like how it's shaping up already, because you'll be playing it forever (at least until the next game releases). Oh, and potentially meta items are locked behind a lengthy and repetitive new grind, because of course they are.
While the full multiplayer reveal is being held back until Call of Duty Next on September 30, Treyarch has already been spilling the beans on what to expect from Black Ops 7. We're getting 16 6v6 maps and two 20v20 maps at launch, 30 weapons (16 of which have "never [been] seen before in the franchise"), a new PvE mode, and—oh, what's that?—weekly challenges and weapon prestige.
Treyarch has revealed that it'll be "delivering Weekly Challenges starting in Season 1, with more ways to earn Weapon Camos and gameplay content than ever in a Black Ops game." As for what "gameplay content" refers to, that's actually attachments, weapons, and scorestreaks. Yes, time-gated equipment unlocks.
Given these challenges will be on top of the usual battle pass gubbins, it's another layer of grind. If you play every single day, then that's probably music to your ears, but to most people, I imagine they just let out a deflated sigh. We can only hope that these won't be time-limited, so you don't have to complete each week's challenge before it disappears, but I wouldn't be surprised if that were the case—it's at the very least seasonal.
More worryingly, in an effort to create the "deepest Weapon Prestige system ever", you'll be able to level up and prestige individual weapons, just like you can do for your account level. This is something we've seen in the past, namely Black Ops 4 and Modern Warfare 3's prestige mastery camos, but there's even more to chip away at this time around, of course.
Black Ops 7 introduces an unlockable prestige attachment for each weapon, multiple mastery camos, and weapon prestige master. Obviously, this comes alongside the already massive mountain that is the level 1000 prestige master account grind that you'll be used to from previous games.
Here's how weapon prestige works in Black Ops 7:
- You level up your chosen weapon as normal, unlocking attachments as you progress through 50 levels.
- If you decide to enter weapon prestige, you'll unlock an exclusive camo and attachment that's unique to every weapon while resetting your weapon attachments (excluding optics).
- Reaching max weapon level again gives you the choice to enter weapon prestige again, which unlocks another unique camo and a weapon-specific charm.
- Complete both weapon prestiges and you’ll automatically enter weapon prestige master with 250 levels to climb through and yet another unique camo at the end.
What these exclusive prestige attachments are, exactly, remains to be seen. Unfortunately, it doesn't sound like they're merely cosmetic like the rest of the mastery and prestige rewards are, as the official blog worryingly describes them as "build-changing". I can only imagine how annoying it will be if the meta attachment for a gun is locked behind not just the normal weapon level grind, but prestige mode as well. Buckle up.
With all these new progression systems piled on top of the already arduous climb from the previous game, you'd better grab a napkin because I hope you're ready to spend the rest of your life 'completing' Black Ops 7.
