Call of Duty Devs Address Cheating, Confirm Console-Only Ranked Play for Season 2

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The inaugural season of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 has been challenging for the teams responsible for this popular first-person shooter series. Players have expressed significant dissatisfaction during Season 1, which is partly attributed to anti-cheat measures proving ineffective and match instability issues. A fresh community update, authored by Activision, Treyarch Studios, Team RICOCHET Anti-Cheat, Raven Software, Beenox, and Demonware, aims to tackle concerns raised by players in recent times.

The post on the Call of Duty blog outlines enhanced safety measures and anticheat systems for Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and Warzone, focusing on maintaining fairness within the game. Alongside today’s new security improvements, the team has also disclosed more details about their detection strategies. Usually, Team RICOCHET keeps such methods secret in Call of Duty games to avoid cheat software developers anticipating and circumventing their countermeasures.

The team responsible for Call of Duty (COD) has additionally cautioned that their efforts to combat cheating aren’t confined to software upgrades alone, emphasizing that Activision plans on pursuing further legal action against those selling such unfair advantages. Previously, Activision successfully sued EngineOwning and was granted over $14 million in damages due to the harm caused by their spoofing software.

New security measures live now in Call of Duty

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The Call of Duty team has activated fresh security measures and anti-cheat defenses in the Ranked Play playlists. These measures encompass updated cheater detection algorithms, advanced cross-verification tools that swiftly handle suspect accounts, and innovative safeguards to thwart false reports.

In Call of Duty, deliberately reporting someone maliciously, also known as “spam reporting”, goes against the Call of Duty Security and Enforcement Policy. This practice has been disregarded by Call of Duty since Modern Warfare 3, when it comes to one player reporting another. The Call of Duty team clarified in their community updates that spam reports are ineffective in Black Ops 6 and Warzone. In essence, those selling spam report tools are misleading players. The report system focuses on the initial report from a player against another, and subsequent reports are disregarded. Using scripts or other tools to excessively report other players maliciously can lead to a ban on your own account.

Team RICOCHET has reported that approximately 136,000 accounts have been suspended due to cheating and inappropriate conduct since the introduction of Ranked Play. New monitoring and alert systems have been implemented and are currently active, aiming to punish players who frequently team up with those exhibiting harmful or dishonest behavior. The system will identify other accounts that often play with known cheaters, triggering a closer examination of these accounts as well. This strategy is intended to minimize boosting and other detrimental activities.

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In the world of Call of Duty, there’s often discussion about why developers don’t use IP bans to punish confirmed and repeat offenders who cheat. The team RICOCHET explained today their reason for avoiding such a measure: it’s due to the fact that the system targets larger groups instead of just one cheater. If an IP ban were implemented, it could potentially affect innocent players living in dormitories or apartment complexes, even if they didn’t cheat themselves. The offender might not even reside there anymore.

Malicious activities, server stability, and disruptive voice

Since the Season 1.5 update, there’s been a growing concern among players about unstable lobbies, frequent crashes, rubber-banding because of packet loss, and other disconnection problems. These issues occurred across all game modes, but they were particularly prevalent in Ranked Play. Additionally, servers in regions with limited options seemed to be affected more frequently. After a thorough investigation by Demonware, it was found that disruptive players’ malicious activities were causing the stability problems. To address these concerns, enhancements have been made and deployed to the servers for Black Ops 6 and Warzone to prevent such actions from recurring.

Apart from establishing a new server setup aimed at preventing harmful actions, the Disruptive Behavior Team has also focused on refining the in-game voice chat moderation system using AI technology. This sophisticated AI system is employed to minimize hate speech, harassment, and offensive language during voice communications. It’s essential to clarify that this system is not intended to regulate casual banter or “trash talk.” The team frequently holds manual tuning sessions to make sure the detection system aligns with the Call of Duty Code of Conduct.

Future updates

Black Ops 6’s Season 2 will debut on January 28th. From this date, you may notice more strategies to combat cheating in the game. The Call of Duty team has also hinted at changes coming with Season 3, which we can expect around two months after the start of Season 2.

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Season 2 and 3 planned updates include:

  • Season 02:
    • New and improved client and server-side detections and systems
    • Major kernel-level driver update
      • Improvements to driver security
      • Reinforced encryption process
    • New tampering detection system
  • Season 03 and beyond:
    • A multitude of new tech including a brand-new system to authenticate legit players and target cheaters

Excitedly speaking as a die-hard fan, I can’t help but share some thrilling news about Season 2! More updates are on their way, although specifics about fresh maps and modes accompanying the next battle pass haven’t been revealed just yet. But hey, here’s something to look forward to: some exciting quality of life improvements have been confirmed!

Future Black Ops 6 updates:

  • Global
    • Challenge Tracker (up to 10 manually tracked Challenges or 10 nearest completion)
    • Separate HUD Preset settings for MP and Zombies
    • Reduced collision with teammates to improve maneuverability around tight spaces and doorways with nearby teammates
  •  Multiplayer
    • Gameplay & quality of life updates:
      • Weapon balance pass
      • Bullet penetration updates
      • Further reducing weapon motion when jumping, sliding, and diving with the Dexterity Perk equipped
      • Improving player visibility in Kill Confirmed by reducing the height of dog tags
      • Simplifying/expanding requirements for several Prestige Calling Card Challenges
      • Later in Season 02, an icon over an opponent’s head will proc when you shoot them if they have War Cry active, so you know they’ve got faster health regen. This should clear up confusion in firefights where you didn’t know why an enemy with more health was able to survive an engagement.
    • Playlist changes:
      • Expanding the number of Featured Playlist slots
      • Bringing Gunfight back to Featured Playlists
      • Keeping Stakeout 24/7 in Featured Playlists and/or Quick Play
      • Planning a “Small Maps Moshpit” shortly after season launch for camo grinders
    • High-profile bug fixes:
      • Gearhead will now properly increase the charge rate of Field Upgrades
      • Free for All will accurately calculate the scoreboard by kills and the Winner’s Circle will accurately showcase the Top 3 FFA players
      • Ninja will no longer be able to reset between respawns or round transitions in certain game modes
      • Fixes and tuning updates for a large number of Calling Card Challenges
  • Ranked Play
    • In Season 02, Treyarch is enabling the ability to disable cross-play for console players who want to compete only against other console players.
      • This is currently in testing and is planned to go live for both Black Ops 6 Ranked Play and Warzone Ranked Play during S02.
    • The Vote to Forfeit feature is coming at Season 02 launch, which allows players to vote with their team to end a match early if the team is getting blown out, or you’ve lost a teammate. Forfeited matches count as a standard loss and do not result in SR penalties or suspensions.
    • The ability to rejoin Ranked Play matches is also planned for later in Season 02, which should help to ensure fuller teams in matches if players experience a disconnect.
    • New S02 Ranked Play Rewards will include:
      • Camos for Gold Rank and up
      • Jackal PDW Blueprint for 10 wins
      • Large Decal for 100 wins 
  • Zombies
    • As mentioned in Treyarch’s 115 Day celebration, players will be able to jump into The Tomb, the newest Zombies map at the start of Season 02
    • The team remains committed to putting player fun first, squashing leftover bugs, and keeping new Zombies content coming throughout the post-launch seasons
    • In addition to challenge tracking and per-mode HUD Preset settings, upcoming Zombies QoL updates include:
      • Co-op Pause: In matches where everyone is in the same party, the host will now be able to pause the game
      • AFK kick loadout recovery: If a player is kicked for going AFK in a co-op game, they’ll now have their loadout, Essence, and Salvage restored when rejoining

Future Warzone Updates:

As a tech enthusiast who’s been eagerly following Call of Duty: Warzone, it’s no secret that maintaining a live service game like this is no walk in the park for the development team. Given the massive volume of quality-of-life improvements the game needs right now, they’ve made the tough decision to postpone the launch of the original content originally planned for Season 2. Instead, they’re diving deep into squashing bugs and addressing player feedback to ensure a smoother gaming experience for us all.

Changes in certain aspects won’t take effect right away when Season 2 begins, but here are some alterations players can anticipate throughout the season.

  • Weapons
    • Reload speeds are faster for all weapons, anywhere from 5% to 20% depending on weapon class.
    • Reduced penalty when sprint-to-fire jumping from 35% to 10% and increased jump ADS speeds by 25% – the intent is to find that middle ground of being able to pull off jump shots, without it being the meta movement strategy.
    • Adjusted bullet penetration across most materials resulting in a more consistent experience for thicker walls in particular.
    • Weapon swap speed increased by 10%, effectively replicating the effect of the Quick Grip Gloves Perk from Modern Warfare.
    • Removed burst and semi-auto rifles and low rarity pistols from ground loot – allowing for more confidence in knowing how your weapon will fire when you pick it up.
  • Movement
    • Increased both jump speed and successive jump height with one unmodified successive jump.
    • Increased the speed of the parachute cut animation, making cutting a parachute and readying your weapon significantly faster.
    • Increased player velocity when landing from a cut parachute land, for smoother transition into full sprint.
  • Audio
    • Reducing reverb effects to improve directionality of movement audio produced by other players (footstep, ascenders, parachutes).
  • Perks
    • Combat Scout pings replaced with an outline that is not visible through walls.
    • Added new default Perks:
      • Dexterity (the weapon component) has been increased in effectiveness and made default for all Warzone Players
      • As mentioned above, we’ve replicated the effect of Quick Grip Gloves and Fast Reload via weapon adjustments.
    • Mountaineer returns as a Perk in slot 1, replacing Dexterity. We’ve increased the fall damage reduction substantially from what is currently in live with Dexterity, though not quite the powerhouse it was during Modern Warfare III.
    • Veteran now significantly reduces the damage ticks of Gas Grenades. 
  • Equipment & Killstreaks
    • Munitions Satchel now only provides 1 additional item, down from 2, to address overstocking and spamming equipment.
    • Maximum deployed tacticals and lethals reduced to 2 each, down from 3, to make more purposeful trap plays.
    • Gas Grenade radius, duration, and movement penalties reduced to bring in-line with the vision of a zoning tactical and less of a lethal crutch.
    • Spy Camera’s outline effect no longer renders through walls.
    • Advanced UAVs will now show elevation arrows.
  • Miscellaneous
    • Body Shield functionality limited:
      • No longer automatically releases players in free fall.
      • No longer provides an outline of the victims’ teammates through walls.
      • Removed manual release of players, keeping them alive – must end with an execution.
    • The flares that fire out of Buy Stations when a player is bought back can now be pinged to increase visibility on redeployments.
    • Match stat tracker font adjusted for better readability at lower resolutions.
  • Bug Fixes
    • The team acknowledges player frustration with insufficient messaging of bug fixes in patch notes and through social channels. “Prioritization of fixes is fluid and shifts as new issues appear or as ground is paved on existing ones,” the team writes.
    • Map & Gameplay Issues
      • Addressed visibility of dark areas and characters on Rebirth Island.
      • Addressed players being forced to stand up while reviving downed squad members.
      • Addressed exploits allowing players to access unintended areas of the map.
      • Addressed parachutes deploying when jumping off ladders. 
    • Weapons & Equipment
      • Addressed weapons becoming inaccessible near interactable areas.
      • Addressed weapons falling through Buy Station models.
      • Addressed weapon tooltips appearing as common when dropped to the ground.
    • Perks & Contracts
      • Addressed Ghost persisting through the prematch lobby into the match.
      • Addressed Cold Blooded not properly countering Tracker.
      • Addressed Quick Fix health regen not properly activating while plating.
      • Addressed Survivor preventing players from reviving downed squad members.
      • Addressed Most Wanted contracts not overriding respawn timers as intended.
    • Operators
      • Addressed Operator selection appearance issues in menu.
  • Ranked Play
    • In addition to incoming cross-play options for console players, Ranked Play in Season 02 will see a refinement to the amount of SR required and adjustments to deployment fees. These updates aim to soften the on-ramp into accessing Ranked Play and make the top end truly competitive.

One step forward, two steps back: the future of Call of Duty

As a tech-savvy gamer, I can’t help but notice the unique predicament that Call of Duty finds itself in. This game is an absolute titan in the gaming world, bringing in billions each year. However, to keep it fresh and engaging, the gameplay needs constant evolution, or else risk losing its audience. The task of regularly introducing new content, be it annually or monthly, is no small feat, even for the dozen studios currently working on it.

Merging the premium Call of Duty title with Warzone might seem like a smart move on paper, but in terms of development, it may not be the most feasible approach.

The issue revolves around the constant “passing of responsibility” among different development teams for each new premium Call of Duty title. These teams take over as the main developers, shaping both Warzone and the annual premium COD game’s creative direction. Instead of starting from scratch with their ideas, each team must balance the creative work done by previous teams with their own vision for the Call of Duty franchise. Although attempts have been made to streamline storylines and plots, Black Ops 6 shows us that keeping up with Warzone is extremely challenging.

Initially, Warzone 1 experienced a significant transformation in its map layout to align with the advancement of its premium version. However, the development of Warzone 2.0 has followed a unique trajectory. Unlike the primary Warzone map changes during Modern Warfare 2 and Modern Warfare 3, Treyarch chose a different route for Black Ops 6. Instead of revamping the Warzone map, they decided to rewind six seasons’ worth of content to restore the map Urzikstan to its original state from late 2023.

The choice has left many members of the community puzzled about why Call of Duty creators persistently make progress and then regress when it comes to the game’s development. Given that this approach seems to be causing problems like those we’re experiencing in Season 1, what possible solutions could the team come up with to address these issues in the future?

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2025-01-18 14:39