Activision has released the Warzone 2 Season 4 patch notes, which once again shows the game rolling back to its superior predecessor.
Ever since Warzone 2 launched, it feels like every change Activision has made to the game has slowly been rolled back to the way it was in the original Warzone. Season 2 brought back 1v1 Gulag and three plate vests, then Season 3 brought back one-shot sniper rifles with the FJX Imperium. Now things have been taken one step further, as not only has Activision rolled back another Warzone 2 change, but now it's even changed the name to simply Warzone with Warzone 2 Season 4, perhaps in an attempt to hide the existence of a failed sequel in the first place.
One of the most contentious updates in the new Warzone has been the time-to-kill (or TTK) which was simply too low; you could drop into the game and be wiped off the face of Al Mazrah in seconds, leading to even more frustration (even from pros like Fifakill). Now with the Warzone Season 4 update, TTK has finally been brought back to where it was in the original Warzone, by bumping the player health up to 150.
Warzone 2 Season 4 patch notes
The following is the Warzone Season 4 patch notes in it's entirety, as posted on the Call of Duty Blog :
New Map
Vondel
Developed by Beenox, the new Vondel map offers 15 distinct points of interest and a dynamic blend of urban streets, canals, and expansive structures to explore. It presents a unique topography centered around an intricate canal system, allowing Players to navigate through water using watercraft and the new Tactical Amphibious Vehicle (TAV). Additionally, the map features verticality and strategic opportunities to counter those who seek to take the upper hand.
The primary Points of Interest that Players will be able to explore include:
Castle
Central Station
City Hall
Cruise Terminal
Exhibit
Fire Department
Floating District
Graveyard
Mall
Market
Museum
Police
Station
Stadium
University
Zoo
Map Adjustments
Al Mazrah
Sandstorm
- The sandstorm in Al Mazrah has subsided.
- Al Mazrah City now has several sand banks to climb upon, which offer new and creative ways to approach some of the city’s prominent buildings. Specifically, expect a massive sand dune up the side of the TV tower, the Embassy, and the “Highrise” building. The dunes also piled up across some roadways, including covering parts of the highway system, and nearly flooded entire small structures in the main downtown area. There is also some partial destruction that will offer new approaches to maneuvering in, within, and out of the city.
Landscape
- Added vibrancy to vegetation throughout the map.
New Modes
Lockdown Vondel | Limited-Time | In-Season – Inspired by the Multiplayer mode Hardpoint — Lockdown will task teams with capturing and holding zones around Vondel rather than being the last Squad standing. The first team to reach the score limit wins.
Key Highlights:
- Objective-based gameplay
- Allows for Custom Loadouts right at the start of the match
- Frequent engagements
Gameplay Adjustments
Player Health
- The base Player Health pool has been increased to 150, up from 100.
- With full Armor Plates, the combined total will equal 300.
- Regen Delay increased to 7 seconds, up from 5.
- Note: The above changes apply across all Modes in Warzone including Ranked Play and DMZ.
We’ve extended the number of bullets required for the down, while increasing the time to regenerate full health enabling Players to capitalize on damage done and providing increased value to the stim tactical.
Armor Plates Quality of Life
- Players will automatically pick up 9 Armor Plates - 3 in the active Loadout slot and 2 full stacks in the Backpack. Players will have to manually pick up Armor Plates beyond that threshold to create more stacks in their Backpack.
Armor Box Quality of Life
- Players will now receive a fixed number of 6 Armor Plates from Armor Boxes regardless of how many they already have.
Munitions Box Quality of Life
- Players will now receive a fixed stack of Weapon ammo from Munitions Boxes regardless of how much they already have.
- To clarify, Lethal and Tactical Equipment will still only Refill to the maximum the Player can hold in their active Loadout slots.
Both of the above Quality of Life improvements for the Armor Box and Munitions Box are designed to improve the gameplay loop, where previously you would have to remember to drop your Armor Plates and Ammo in order to fill them, whereas now you are awarded the maximum amount regardless as to your current number.
Vehicle Fuel
- Gas Cans will now drain a percentage of total Gas while refueling a Vehicle.
- You can now siphon Gas out of a Vehicle using a Gas Can.
- Rather than catching fire when out of fuel, the Heavy Chopper will now drop out of the air.
General
Rejoin [Beta]
- Players that experience a client crash on their device will be able to reconnect to their match within 4 minutes.
Criteria:
- Players must have at least 1 Squad member remaining alive. This does not apply to Solo Playlists.
- There must be at least 5 Squads remaining in the match.
Note:
- Playlist updates that go live during a match in progress will prevent Players from using the Rejoin feature.
Known Issues:
- Last remaining teammate disconnecting may result in an undesirable spectator experience while the final teammate attempts to reconnect.
- Rejoining while still in the Driver seat of a vehicle will remove the player’s hands. Can be resolved by switching weapons.
- The functionality of Rejoin in Ranked Play is detailed in the Ranked Play section below.
Adjustments
Gulag Killcam
- The killcam has been enabled in the Gulag.
Pre-Match Lobby Audio Quality of Life
- Proximity Voice Chat has been disabled in the pre-match lobby.
Exfil Sequence Quality of Life
- Players are now able to skip the Exfil sequence animation.
Gameplay
New Features
Please note that the Vondel features outlined below will come to other Maps and Modes in later updates.
Vondel | All Modes
TAV (Tactical Amphibious Vehicle) New Vehicle
- Amphibious vehicle that is able to traverse land and water
- Accommodates 1 driver, 1 passenger and 4 players in the back
- Mid range armor vehicle
Dynamic Fog System New Environmental System
- Though typically sunny, Players will encounter a varying degree of fog as they play through matches on Vondel.
- Billboards found around the map will serve as a way for Players to plan around the weather forecast.
- Note: The visual obfuscation caused by fog is reduced in Resurgence compared to DMZ.
Vondel | Resurgence
High Stakes New Public Event
- During this event, Players will be prompted to capture any of several crates that are dropped from the sky. Capturing one of these will provide Players with some very useful loot such as a Portable Buy Station, Armor and/or Munitions Box, alongside some Cash.
- In addition, a successful capture will grant Players with Double Weapon & Player XP for the duration of the match.
- Note: This multiplier stacks with active XP tokens.
Reinforcement Flare New Field Upgrade
- This Field Upgrade will redeploy an eliminated Squad member that is randomly selected.
Favorite Supply Box New Supply Box Type
- This is a rare Supply Box that arms Players with their 2 favorite Weapons.
- Players are able to dictate their favorite Weapons in the front-end menu by navigating to Custom Loadouts and using the “Set to Favorite” option by either right-clicking or pressing LS/L3.
Adjustments
All Maps | All Modes
Loot Update
- Loot found on the ground and via Supply Boxes has been updated to include: New Season 04 Weapons, Revised Attachments for most Weapons
Armor Box
- Buystation price increased to $2,500, up from $2,000.
Munitions Box
- Buystation price increased to $2,500, up from $2,000.
Backpack Inventory Quality of Life
- While attempting to loot an item that a Player already has in an active Loadout slot, they will be presented with the option to stow the duplicate in their Backpack.
Marker Smoke Effects Quality of Life
- Differentiated the color of the smoke produced by various markers for easier at-a-glance legibility:
- Loadout Drops = Red
- Deployable Buy Stations = Green
- Smoke Grenades = Grey
Resupply Perk
- The time to recharge equipment has been increased to 50 seconds, up from 30.
Redeploy Drone Destruction Damage
- The explosion damage caused by a Redeploy Drone when it impacts the ground has been adjusted.
- Minimum damage increased to 50, up from 10.
- Maximum damage increased to 150, up from 50.
Bounty Contract Quality of Life
- The Bounty Contract will prioritize selecting a target that is on the ground and within close proximity of the Player.
Most Wanted Contract Quality of Life
- The Most Wanted target Player will now carry a flag on the back of their Operator for the duration of the Contract to better help enemy Players track the target.
Data Heist Public Event Quality of Life
- Players will now receive a Circle Peek reward of the upcoming circle when they complete the Data Heist Public Event on Ashika Island.
Gas Circle Finale Behavior
- The number of “Moving Circles” in the final phase of a match has been decreased to 2, down from 4.
- These circles move and collapse in size slower than before.
The “pull” is an interesting peak in the climax of combat, however it has often decided the finale due to a lucky pull in a squads favor. This change keeps the need to reposition but enables a wider, slower rotation to take a more even fight.
All Maps | Battle Royale, Resurgence
Gas Damage
- Reduced Gas damage to 6 while not wearing a Gas Mask, down from 9.
- During the first 4 Circles, reduced Gas damage while wearing Gas Mask to 5, down from 6.
Al Mazrah | Battle Royale
Armor Plates
- The number of Armor Plates that Players spawn with in the Gulag has been decreased to 1, down from 2.
- Players will continue to spawn with a full 3 Armor Plates in Warzone Ranked Play.
Gulag Overtime
- The time it takes to capture the domination point in the Gulag has been increased to 4 seconds, up from 3.
Strongholds
- Inactive Strongholds have been renamed to Abandoned Supply Caches.
- Active Strongholds and Abandoned Supply Caches are now enabled from the moment the match starts during Infil.
- Active Strongholds and Abandoned Supply Caches now have floating POI indicators that can be seen from above in the world space during Infil.
- White Supply Boxes have been removed from active Strongholds.
- We’re putting the focus of strongholds on the loadout acquisition and UAV benefits for owning the structure. Abandoned supply caches are intended to be fruitful loot locations worthy of a visit.
- Enemy NPC Combatants have been removed from active Strongholds.
- Players will now be prompted with the “Hold the Line” capture objective.
- The “Bomb Defuse” objective has been removed from active Strongholds.
- With Strongholds activating at the start of each match, we are balancing the rewards to reflect the challenge.
- Completing an active stronghold will only reward the black site key upon first capture. The loadout is awarded when the stronghold is captured and can only be acquired once per squad.
- Players are now able to recapture a stronghold that has been captured by another squad.
- Subsequent captures will only reward Players with access to the custom Loadout crate and the Stronghold UAV effect.The UAV effect from completing a Stronghold will now be shown to enemy Players on the Tac Map.
- The mission tracker widget on the UI while progressing through Stronghold and Black Site completion has been removed for a cleaner interface.
Black Sites
- The UAV effect from completing a Black Site will now be shown to enemy Players on the Tac Map.
- The potency of enemy NPC Combatants in Black Sites has been reduced.
All Maps | Resurgence
Dynamic Resurgence
- The Resurgence Countdown Timer is now dynamic and will adapt based on the current number of Players in your Squad.
- To clarify, a Solo Player that queues into a Quads Playlist will play with Solo Countdown Timer rules.
Vengeance Icon
- When a Squad member pings an enemy that recently eliminated a friendly Player, they will now observe an icon above the enemy to indicate that said Player will reduce the Resurgence Countdown Timer more than others.
Tracked Squad Indicator
- Squads will receive a HUD warning similar to the one used for the Interrogation mechanic when a Squad member has been eliminated and the enemy Squad is able to see the position of remaining Squad members.
Redeployment Loadouts
- Players will now encounter more variety in the Loadouts that they redeploy with as we’ve added Submachine Guns to the pool of Weapons for the third circle onwards.
- First Circle = Handgun without Attachments
- Second Circle = Handgun with Attachments
- Third Circle and Beyond = Either Assault Rifle, Battle Rifle, or Submachine Gun without Attachments and Handgun with Attachments
Interrogation
- This feature, which allows a Player to interrogate a downed enemy Player to reveal their Squad’s position, has been enabled in Resurgence.
Al Mazrah | Plunder
Strongholds
- Active Strongholds has been disabled in this mode.
- Abandoned Supply Caches will now be enabled from the moment the match starts during Infil.
UI/UX
Perk Package Name Quality of Life
- Players will now be able to see the name of their equipped Perk Package in various areas of the interface.
Buy Station Pings Quality of Life
- A floating icon will now appear above a Buy Station to indicate an item that a Player has pinged for purchase.
Scoreboard in Gulag
- Players are now able to view the scoreboard while in an active Gulag match or in the holding pen.
Ranked Play
Text Chat Quality of Life
- Players are now able to disable Global Text Chat while leaving Team Text Chat enabled.
Warzone Ranked Play
Warzone Ranked Play continues with its first FULL Season and introduces new rewards to earn during Season 04. Whether you’re jumping into your first Warzone Ranked Play match or continuing your grind, there’s more to unlock and fierce competition to face. Below are the Season 04 specific details to keep in mind for returning competitors and further below is a full refresher for all players.
Season 04 Highlight Changes
Here are the highlights for returning Season 03 competitors.
Global Battle Royale Changes
Season 04 brings many new changes and updates for all Warzone Modes, like increased Player health and the new Rejoin (Beta) feature, which also apply to Warzone Ranked Play. Check out the Battle Royale, Resurgence, Plunder General section and Gameplay All Maps | All Modes section for all the details. For Warzone Ranked Play-specific Rejoin (Beta) callouts check out the Competitive Integrity Features section below.
Restricted Weapons & Equipment
Items
- Gas Cans
SR (Skill Rating) & Divisions
Deployment Fee Update
- Iridescent: -110 SR + 10 SR every 500 SR above 10,000, up to a max Deployment Fee of -230 SR.
- [Updated] Max Fee increased from -210 to -230
End of Season Skill Setback Update: At the end of each Season, your ending Skill Division will determine where you start the following season:
- Bronze through Crimson I players are set back three Tiers below where they finished in the previous season.
- Example: A player ending Season 03 in Gold III will begin Season 04 in Silver III.
- Players Crimson II and above will start Season 04 in Diamond I.
Season 04 Rewards
Season 04 Challenge Rewards
Throughout the Season 04, players can earn the following rewards:
- Placement Challenges
- Finish ‘Top 15’ 25 Times: ‘Cash Out’ Large Decal
- Finish ‘Top 5’ 25 Times: Pro Issue Lachman Sub Blueprint
- Finish 1st Place: ‘Team Wipe’ Weapon Charm
- Kill & Assist Challenges
- Get 25 Kills or Assists: ‘WZ Season 04 Competitor’ Sticker
- Get 250 Kills or Assists: ‘WZ Ranked Play Season 04’ Loading Screen
- Get 1000 Kills or Assists: ‘WZ Season 04 Ranked Veteran’ Camo
- End of Season Division Rewards
- At the end of each Season, players will be awarded Skill Division rewards that represent their highest attained Division that Season.
- Seasonal Division Rewards
- Each Ranked Play Season will have a unique set of Division Rewards awarded at the end of the Season to celebrate the player’s highest Skill Division reached that Season.
- The Season 04 rewards are as follows:
- Top 250: ‘WZ Season 04 Top 250’ Weapon Charm, Emblem, and Calling Card
- Iridescent: ‘WZ Season 04 Iridescent’ Weapon Charm, Emblem, and Calling Card
- Crimson: ‘WZ Season 04 Crimson’ Weapon Charm and Emblem
- Diamond: ‘WZ Season 04 Diamond’ Weapon Charm and Emblem
- Platinum: ‘WZ Season 04 Platinum’ Weapon Charm and Emblem
- Gold: ‘WZ Season 04 Gold’ Weapon Charm and Emblem
- Silver: Emblem
- Bronze: Emblem
- Ranked Play First Place: The player who finishes Season 04 in the #1 position on the Top 250 Leaderboard will receive a unique, one-of-a-kind Calling Card and Emblem for the ultimate bragging rights.
Bug Fixes
- Fixed an issue that prevented the Apply All Plates setting from taking into consideration any new Armor Plates that were looted while plating.
- Fixed an issue that prevented spectators from hearing Proximity Voice Chat.
- Fixed an issue that caused the Deployable Buy Station icon on the Tac Map to remain white during Fire Sale Public Events.
- Fixed an issue that caused an elimination to not count if the target Player disconnected in the middle of an execution animation.
- Fixed an issue that caused the Player Buyback cost in the Squad widget to not properly reflect the Firesale Public Event discount.
- Fixed an issue that prevented Players from being able to pick up ground loot while in a Weapon reload animation.
- Fixed an issue that caused Players to receive 100% of Progression XP as Weapon XP when completing Contracts, which has now been appropriately reduced to 20% as originally intended.
- Fixed an issue that prevented Players returning from the Gulag from seeing Most Wanted Contract target icons on the Tac Map.
- Fixed an issue that caused the Deployable Buy Station Tac Map icon to remain white during Fire Sale Public Events.
- Fixed an issue causing an equipped heartbeat sensor to drop with 1% battery life after equipping a loadout. The heartbeat sensor will now drop with the correct remaining battery percentage.
- Fixed an issue causing the gas to do less damage to the Players health during the first three circles.
- Fixed an issue that prevented Players from receiving a Killstreak warning when the backpack UI was open.
- Fixed an issue that caused the Plunder scoreboard to not display completed Contract total and Supply Box total.
- Fixed an issue in Battle Royale that caused inactive Contracts to disappear from the Tac Map if Players picked up an active Contract.
- Fixed an issue where Perk Packages were impossible to pick up on the train.
- Fixed an issue that caused the Train to unintendedly eliminate Players within close proximity while not in motion.
- Fixed an issue that was causing Players to resist more Gas damage than intended with Gas Masks during the first 4 Circles.
- Fixed a number of incorrect Buy Station spawn locations across Al Mazrah.
- Fixed an issue that caused the Birdseye Perk to not function properly in Battle Royale.
- Fixed an issue causing missing UI elements for the Champion’s Quest objective.
DMZ
New Features
Introducing the Forward Operating Base
Consider the Forward Operating Base (FOB) , a central hub for DMZ. Here, Operators will complete objectives to unlock upgrades across DMZ.
The FOB is divided into four categories of upgrades (elements of which are shown in the image above, for exemplary purposes only):
Weapons Locker
Insured Weapon Slots
Insured Weapon cooldown time
Contraband Weapon stash size increases
Stash
Wallet Unlock
Wallet capacity
Key and Contraband Stash Size increases
Bounty Board
Personal Exfil
Barter recipes
Buy Station discounts
Communications Station
Urgent Missions access
The F.O.B. contains passive objectives - a new set of mission types for Players to pursue that reward permanent upgrades for DMZ.
Phalanx New DMZ Faction
-
With Season 04 comes the arrival of a new faction, Phalanx. Meanwhile, the REDACTED faction whom we met in Season 03 has unceremoniously disappeared from operations in the DMZ. No further intel is available on their whereabouts…
Station Chief Kate Laswell is conducting operations with Phalanx directly as she has an interest in the unknown enemy faction that has invaded Vondel. Phalanx and Black Mous will execute on missions together, gaining intel to uncover the force’s identity.
Mission Objectives Menu
Added new UI/UX menu where Players can view and track their Faction Missions, upgrades, location challenges, and notes.
Seasonal Reset
Key and Mission item stashes are resetting
Faction Missions are resetting
Insured Weapon Slots are resetting
Active Duty Slots are NOT restting
Contraband weapon inventories are NOT resetting
Vondel
Signals Intelligence New DMZ Contract
Signals Intelligence allows you to hack 3 other Contracts to earn passive income
New Weapons Case and Rewards
Travel to Vondel to track down the Bullfrog and earn all new rewards
Adjustments
Contracts now split the cash reward evenly amongst each Squadmate
Enemy Combatants killed with suppressed weapons will now take longer to call in reinforcements
Running a helicopter into the DMZ boss chopper will now aggro it
AI combatant damage has been adjusted relative to the increased Player health
Stealth Vest:
Players using the Stealth Vest will not trigger a callout from enemy Players with a Comms Vest
Now protects against Advanced UAV effects, Players can no longer be revealed by Players with a Comms Vest
Changed the cash value of items:
Hard drive $500 to $200
Gold bar $8000 to $2000
Laptop $1500 to $600
AQ laptop $1500 to $800
Liquor $500 to $50
Bandage $50 to $20
Battery $50 to $40
Game console $2000 to $800
Watch $600 to $100
Thumb Drive $150 to $80
Comic book first edition $3500 to $1000
Canned food $150 to $50
Drill $600 to $300
Electronic components $100 to $80
Folder $250 to $50
Classified documents $8000 to $1500
Sensitive documents $2000 to $500
Fresh water $100 to $60
Gun oil $500 to $150
Encrypted hard drive $5000 to $2000
Tea $500 to $100
Food ration $50 to $120
Soothing hand cream $100 to $60
Wine $250 to $150
Aged wine $2500 to $750
Vintage wine $6500 to $2000
Gold skull $12000 to $8000
VCR $800 to $500
GPU $16000 to $6000
Ashika original masks $25000 to $10000
Ashika vases $2000 to $600
AQ planning diagrams and images $1500 to $500
Bronze dog tags $2500 to $1000
Silver dog tags $5000 to $3000
Contract cash rewards have been modified:
Secure Intel $6500 to $6000
Secure Nuclear Material $3500 to $4000
Eliminate HVT $6500 to $6000
Raid Weapons Stash $8500 to $8000
Cargo Delivery $12500 to $10000
Hunt Squad $3500 to $3000
Cargo Shipment $12500 to $10000
Destroy Supplies $7500 to $6000
BUG FIXES
Fixed an issue where enemy combatants were not using Gas Masks
Fixed an issue preventing several Blueprints from working properly in DMZ
Fixed an issue where, when a Player defusing the charge at a supply site is downed (interrupting the defusing), the charge is no longer incorrectly defused
Fixed an issue where pleading for help while on the train could cause the camera to act incorrectly
Fixed an issue where some laser traps were not visible in the Koschei Complex
Fixed an issue where Players were unable to join in progress when part of the Squad transitions to the Koschei Complex from Al Mazrah
Fixed an issue where stowed Weapons weren’t reporting mission progress
And that's everything in this hefty new update, hopefully these changes which have placed the game more in-line with the original Warzone help the game out of this slump.
