Second Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 Beta Now Live, Treyarch Details Changes Made

The second Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 beta weekend is now live on PS4, Xbox One, and PC, giving players another chance to hop into the popular shooter’s multiplayer. Proving that the beta is far more than just a glorified demo, Treyarch has outlined all of the changes made from the extensive tracking and feedback they received last week.

In addition to optimizing and stabilizing the game, Treyarch made a number of changes to gameplay, tuning both Specialists and weapons. Many of the Specialists are receiving buffs, though some overused classes are getting nerfed in order to balance out the usage of each character. Ruin’s Grav Slam cooldown is now longer and Nomad’s dog has seen some reductions to be a little less deadly. Now’s the time to try out some of the other characters who have been given a bit more lethality.

Treyarch also wants to see the balance of the game shift more towards gunplay than abilities, so equipment cooldowns have been increased. The dev wants equipment to have more impactful and decisive moments, rather than being the meta through equipment spam. You can get a full look at all of the changes below.

The listed changes are live now.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 Beta Update

General Fixes

Stability & Performance

• Matchmaking optimization pass.
• Fixes to reduce a number of network disconnects.
• Resolved several hitches that were occurring during gameplay.
• Resolved a number of UI errors that were occurring in the Front End menus.
• Fixed numerous crashes/freezes.
• Fix for scoreboard scores and faction icons sometimes getting flipped during killcams.

Maps

• Performance optimization pass across all maps.
• Addressed several collision bugs across all maps.
• Addressed many gameplay-impacting issues (like bad lines of sight) across all maps.

Features

Lobby Timer

• Reduced “Match Start Timer” to 70 seconds.
  • This timer is longer than usual right now to accommodate map pre-loading in the lobby, which has been added to allow players to spend more time on Create-a-Class customization, Scorestreak selection, and more, rather than spend that time on a static loading screen. We’re aware that there are still cases where this isn’t working as consistently as it should, and we’re working on it.
• Addressed an issue with the lobby timer restarting to the full time if too many players leave.
  • Now, when the lobby timer is below 10 seconds and players leave/join, the timer will only reset to 10 seconds.

Player Feedback

• Reduced the amount of flash on screen at the moment of taking damage.
  • We’ve reduced the darkness and duration of the “damage flash” when players take damage. We are working to find the right balance between making sure players understand every time they take damage and keeping the screen clear for gameplay. This is a continued work in progress.

Movement

• Reduced default jump height.
• Added tuning that scale down jump height on subsequent jumps to prevent bunny hopping.
• Reduced default slide speed.
• Reduced default slide distance.

Spawns

• Adjusted Domination spawn logic to ensure that players spawn more frequently near objective points owned by their team.

Gear

• Body Amor:
  • Fixed a bug where explosive damage was not damaging Body Armor or the player wearing it.
  • Addressed an issue where players wearing Body Armor had no flinch when taking damage.
  • Player wearing Body Armor is now dealt a percentage of damage rather than the Armor blocking full damage.
  • Killing a player with Body Armor now awards an additional +25 score per EKIA.
• COMSEC Device:
  • Further reduced cost to earn Scorestreaks with COMSEC Device for the following:
    • RC-XD
    • UAV
    • Care Package
    • Counter UAV
    • Attack Chopper
    • Strafe Run
    • Strike Team
    • Gunship
• Stim Shot (and standard Heal):
  • For both standard heal and Stim Shot heal, time to full health has been sped up with an increase to the heal cooldown time.
• Equipment Charge:
  • All Equipment will charge faster with this Gear.

Perks

• Dead Silence
  • Increased Dead Silence’s effectiveness versus Acoustic Sensor by reducing the ranges at which Acoustic Sensor can detect a player with Dead Silence.
• Flak Jacket
  • Reduced explosive damage protection.
• Cold Blooded
  • Reduced the delay that AI will take before recognizing a Cold Blooded player by a little over 50% – you’ll need to take cover a bit more quickly when enemy AI are roaming.
• Dexterity
  • Increased weapon hip spread while mantling.
  • Reduced slide duration.
• Ghost
  • Decreased time that you are protected by Ghost after you stop moving.
• Tactical Mask
  • Reduced the amount of resistance to 9-Bang, Concussion, Reactor Core, and Fire.
• Tracker
  • Increased the duration that footsteps remain in the world.

Equipment

• We’d like to see the balance of gunplay vs Equipment tilt a little further to the gunplay side, so we are increasing Equipment cooldown rates across the board. This will make each Equipment use more impactful, while also leading to less “Equipment Spam.”
• Combat Axe: Lowered cooldown.
• All other Equipment cooldowns are longer across the board.
• Frag Grenade: Increased inner and outer damage to match Cluster Grenade damage.
• 9-Bang:
  • Increased stun radius.
  • Decreased fire delay.
• Tac Deploy:
  • Reduced the positive influence on the Tac Deploy. This will allow players spawning on the Tac Deploy to have a better chance at spawning in safer conditions when possible.
  • Reduced the time that a Tac Deploy is active to 25 seconds.
  • The Tac Deploy will now have a maximum cap of 10 spawns. Once 10 players have used the Tac Deploy, it will self-destruct.
• Reactor Core: Increased damage distance.

Specialists

• Ajax – Despite his potentially game-changing Ballistic Shield, Ajax has been underperforming in gameplay. To help him out, we further increased his movement speed while using Ballistic Shield, in both standard and Fortify (ADS) modes. This should provide an overall smoother experience and relieve some frustrations of feeling too sluggish.
• Ruin – Players are flocking to Ruin thanks to his extreme mobility and Best-Play worthy Grav Slams. We’ve bumped up his Grav Slam cooldown to help focus usage and make sure everyone has a nice day.
• Firebreak – Reactor Core can be very hit or miss Equipment, causing big plays or sometimes ending in a fruitless death. We’re bumping up its damage to provide more consistency and help Firebreak hold his ground. His Purifier also has a bit more fuel to keep those heartwarming flames firing longer.
• Torque – Torque can definitely be a thorn in his enemy’s side. However, he’s still not up to snuff with the other Specialists. To make him the true master of his domain, we increased the duration of his Barricade and improved damage on its microwave field. This should make Torque more effective at blocking routes, providing cover, and getting kills.
• Prophet – Prophet’s Tempest needed a bit more oomph to bring it up to the level of our other Specialist Weapons. To start with, we’re decreasing its cooldown so players can earn it faster. In addition, we’ve made its ADS move speed slightly faster to help players line up those shots.
• Nomad – One man’s best friend is another’s worst enemy, and it turns out that Nomad’s dog, Juneau, is a force to be reckoned with. We’ve slowed down her sprint speed, and she’ll now play with boots… paws on the ground like the rest of us. These changes should also prevent her from launching into an aerial assault when running up a sloped surface. We’ll miss the memes.

Scorestreaks

• Scorestreak progress is no longer resetting between Domination rounds.
• Lightning Strike:
  • Explosive damage and radius increased.
  • Tablet will now sweep for enemy positions in the Fog of War when first used.
• Hellstorm:
  • Cluster bomb lock-on radius increased.
• Sentry:
  • Health increased.
  • Can be placed while sprinting.
• Strafe Run:
  • Pathing
  • Cost reduced.
• Strike Team:
  • Default cost increased.
  • Weapon accuracy increased.
  • Behavior updates to seek out enemies more quickly.
  • Increased health per squad member.
• Gunship: cost reduced.
• Mantis:
  • Health increased.
  • Damage increased.
  • Move speed increased.
  • Behavioral changes to seek out enemies more quickly.
• Attack Helicopter: behavioral changes to seek out enemies more quickly.

Weapons

• SMG: GKS
  • ADS recoil reduced for increased ADS accuracy.
  • Hip-fire spread reduced for increased Hip-fire accuracy.
  • Improved high damage range.
  • Improved Ammo Pool.
• SMG: Cordite
  • Increased weapon recoil.
  • Extended Mags: Improved bullets gained.
• SMG: Spitfire
  • Increased weapon recoil.
  • Reduced Ammo pool.
  • Fast Mags: Improved and standardized reload speeds.
  • Extended Mags: Improved Bullet gained.
• SMG: MX9
  • Increased weapon recoil.
• AR: ICR-7
  • Improved ADS IN speed.
  • Improved movement speed while ADS.
  • Improved movement speed while firing in ADS.
• AR: Rampart 17
  • Improved ADS IN speed
  • Improved movement speed while ADS
  • Improved movement speed while firing in ADS
• AR: MADDOX RFB
  • Improved ADS IN speed.
  • Improved movement speed while ADS.
  • Improved movement speed while firing in ADS.
  • Stock Attachment: Improved movement speed while ADS.
• AR: KN-47
  • Improved ADS IN speed.
  • Increased high damage range.
  • Improved movement speed while ADS.
  • Improved movement speed while firing in ADS.
  • Stock Attachment: Improved movement speed while ADS.
• AR: VAPR-XKG
  • Improved ADS IN speed.
  • Added a higher damage short range.
  • Improved movement speed while ADS.
  • Improved movement speed while firing in ADS.
  • Stock Attachment: Improved movement speed while ADS.
  • Bayonet: Slightly reduced range
• LMG: Titan
  • Improved hip-fire accuracy
  • Improved movement speed while ADS
  • Improved movement speed while firing in ADS
  • Stock Attachment: Improved movement speed while firing in ADS
• Shotgun: Mog 12
  • Slightly increased 1 hit kill range.
• Shotgun: SG12
  • Extended Mags: Improved bullets gained.
• Launcher: Hellion Salvo
  • Improved ADS IN speed.
  • Improved Raise Time.
  • Improved Drop Time.
• TR: ABR 223
  • Extended Mags: Improved bullets gained.
• Sniper: Koshka.
  • Quickdraw: Slowed ADS IN time.
  • Quickdraw2: Slowed ADS In time.
  • Speed Center: Increased Precision Aim Crosshairs size.
• Sniper: Paladin HB50
  • Fix for left arm taking less damage than the right arm.

This weekend will also feature an all new game mode, Heist, that Treyarch showed off today on a live stream. In Heist, teams need to find a bag of cash before they “get to da choppah!” to deposit the money. You can try out Heist right now in the Black Ops 4 beta.

Don’t forget that the Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 beta client will be updated to run the Blackout beta in September, so don’t delete it when this weekend is over. The beta is a great chance to see a lot of what Black Ops 4 will have to offer, as the game won’t be coming with a traditional single-player campaign.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 releases October 12 for PS4, Xbox One, and PC.

[Source: Treyarch]