Black Ops 7 introduced (or rather, reintroduced) a new mode in Warzone, called Black Ops Royale. Using Blackout from Black Ops 4 as a foundation, Black Ops Royale is much more akin to a traditional battle royale, and it quickly became one of Zyro’s favorites.
Zyro is a Call of Duty content creator, also known as the UK’s movement king. And at CDL Major 2 in Birmingham, Dot Esports had the chance to speak with him about Black Ops Royale, how it compares to core battle royale, and also touch on the recent resurgence of Modern Warfare (2019).
Does Black Ops Royale require more skill?
As a more traditional battle royale, Black Ops Royale doesn’t have loadouts or buy stations. Instead, you scavenge for loot and upgrade its tier throughout the match. This significantly deviates from what the community knows and loves about Warzone, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
“We’ve had the same routine of: land, get 10k, get loadout, play for the rest of the game. It’s the same rhythm all the time.”
On the other hand, in Black Ops Royale, you need to make use of what you can find, which may result in you using weapons and/or weapon builds you may not usually use. “I personally love that aspect of it. That’s what makes it fun for me and makes it feel different every time I go back in,” Zyro said.
This difference has also become a common complaint among some community members, stating that random loot removes the skill element. To that, Zyro responded that while loadouts keep Warzone balanced, it also takes skill to make use of what you have on Avalon.
“I would actually say in Avalon, it probably requires more skill to actually pick up different weapons and not be using the same ones all the time,” he said, adding that it has a level of RNG that should be in a battle royale, and it’s nice to see people using different weapons, which is something that can make regular Warzone stale.
Wall jump and grappling hook in Warzone
Zyro is known as the UK’s movement king, and with Season 3, both wall jumping and grappling hooks are coming to regular battle royale as well as Resurgence, creating a lot more movement options. “Hearing about grappling and wall jumping coming to Warzone is like music to my ears,” Zyro said.
“I don’t think wall jumping is overpowered or overused or too broken. I think it is a perfect balance with having just that extra level of movement.”
He added that his perfect combo would be grapples and wall jumping on Vondel, if Activision ever decided to bring the map back to Warzone.
Long-term support for Black Ops Royale
At the time of the interview, we didn’t know what Activision had planned for the mode (apart from the Hot Pursuit coming in Season 3 Reloaded) in terms of new content, and we discussed what Zyro wishes to see from Black Ops Royale in the long term.
“We’ve seen, you know, maps not really getting many POI changes over the years, and it’s sort of stayed the same throughout the entirety of the game cycle,” Zyro brought up, emphasizing that changes in the loot pool and attachments every few months would keep the mode a lot more fresh. This could be as little as changing some of the attachments on certain weapon archetypes (e.g., Burner SMGs).
Zyro said that these minor regular changes are more important than huge updates. Although he would love to see a POI change every few seasons, similarly to how Verdansk is getting the Launch Pad POI with Season 3.
The best parts of Modern Warfare 2019
Last but not least is the recent resurgence of Modern Warfare (2019), with the game going on Steam sale for as low as $5 and outperforming core Call of Duty (which includes Black Ops 7 multiplayer, Zombies, Warzone, and more) in player count, according to Steam DB.
While a big part of it is nostalgia, which may overshadow the issues the game had back at launch, Zyro highlighted Modren Warfare (2019) absolutely mastered graphics and mechanics, including the old movement.
“I do miss that snappy one-dimensional movement. Obviously, now omnimovement, I do really really enjoy it, but I liked the simplicity of MW19.”
He believes that with several improvements (for example, making slide cancelling an actual feature), MW19 would feel really good today, especially among casual players, so that they don’t get overwhelmed by all the movement.
Regardless of what happens, though, and what this year’s CoD title holds, the most important thing for Warzone is to have content. Whether it’s the POI changes, events, or camo challenges, there must be things to keep players intrigued and engaged come next game and beyond.
