Treyarch addresses fan complaints and nerfs the new specialist Zero in Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 – just one week after her introduction on PS4. Players on Xbox One and PC remain spared from the drama.
What happened? Zero was introduced as part of the Operation Absolute Zero, the Season 2 of Black Ops 4, as the first new specialist in the game. However, it quickly became clear that Zero was absolutely overpowered.
Many fans found that she took all the fun out of multiplayer on PS4. Calls for a nerf or a rework grew loud.
Now Treyarch is pulling the emergency brake and toning down the female hacker before Zero appears on PC and Xbox One on December 18.
What was the problem with Zero? In traditional multiplayer, Zero was a real problem. Especially her specialist ability Ice Pick has proven to be unbalanced and overpowered.
With Ice Pick, she can hack enemy special abilities and scorestreaks like helicopter strikes or sentry guns and turn them against the opposing team, the actual owners.
In the process, Zero does not just hack one opponent but the entire enemy team.
If you use her ability cleverly, you can obliterate the entire enemy team with multiple of their own scorestreaks or abilities, thereby deciding entire matches single-handedly.
How is Zero changing? Treyarch addressed this question in one of the numerous complaint posts about Zero on Reddit. In the update on December 18, Zero will be weakened with a first set of changes:
- The time Zero needs to hack enemy scorestreaks will be doubled.
- The time she needs to hack a combat helicopter will even be quadrupled.
- Additionally, further adjustments will be made, which Treyarch did not detail.
What does this mean for players? Everyone who lost their enjoyment of multiplayer on PS4 due to this overpowered specialist can now probably breathe a sigh of relief and confidently pick up the controller again. With these measures, the most annoying trait of Zero will be significantly weaker.
How Zero actually plays in Call of Duty Black Ops 4 after the changes remains to be seen, but Ice Pick should no longer be used more than once per match.
Players on Xbox One and PC can also be glad that they will be spared one of the most annoying weeks that the multiplayer of Black Ops 4 has experienced so far. Because for them, Operation Absolute Zero does not start until today, on December 18.
What do you think of Zero’s nerf? Did Treyarch make the right adjustments? Or did they overreact and completely undervalue Zero?
