The beta test of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War started last week for players on PS4. Starting today, October 15, players on Xbox One and PC can finally join. MeinMMO shows you the most important info you should know before the start of the 2nd beta phase.
This year’s Call of Duty is a Black Ops and is called Cold War. For pre-order customers on PlayStation 4, the battle begins today, but other platforms and non-pre-order customers will still have a chance to check out this new first-person shooter before its release on November 13.
To keep you up to date on what has happened so far and what to expect in the beta, here are 5 of the most important things to know about the beta.
Update October 9: The first reactions are in and are rather negative. Check out more about the beta feedback here.
The 4 phases of the beta – time, preload, release on PS4, Xbox One & PC
When can I play? That depends on 2 factors: pre-order and platform. Players on PlayStation 4 can generally benefit from a longer testing phase than gamers on Xbox & PC. If you are not playing on the Sony console, it won’t start for you until next week. Here are the important times:
- October 8 – 9 – Start and end at 7 PM
- Only PS4 pre-order customers have access
- October 10 – 12 – Start and end at 7 PM
- Only PS4, but all players with PS Plus have access
- October 15 – 16 – Start and end at 7 PM
- Access for PS4 players with PS Plus and pre-order customers on PC and Xbox (Xbox Live required)
- October 17 – 19 – Start and end at 7 PM
- This is the open beta phase for everyone – players on all platforms have access (PS Plus or Xbox Live required on consoles)
If you just want to take a peek, join phases 2 and 4. From October 10 – 12, you can test for free on PS4 and from October 17 – 19 on all platforms – PlayStation, Xbox & PC. You’ll find the download in your respective store (and also here in the article), the one for PS4 here:
If you start Modern Warfare, you can also click on “Cold War Beta” here and go straight to the beta. There is also a preload – The beta is around 30 GB in size.
Important: As a pre-order customer, only players who have purchased their Cold War version digitally in advance count for the beta. If you ordered a disc version, you are not automatically included in the beta.
There was already an open alpha on PlayStation
In mid-September, a first public testing phase for players on PlayStation 4 already took place. Tony Flame, the lead game designer at Treyarch, told us in an interview that an alpha for players at home was completely new territory for them. The reactions to the early test were rather negative. The following aspects were particularly criticized:
- The matchmaking
- The powerful sniper rifles
- The somewhat unpolished animations and movements
- Graphical regression compared to the predecessor
The developer talked to us about the most important beta changes compared to the alpha and is hopeful that the new test phase will go better. The feedback has helped them a lot to identify weaknesses and work hard on them. You can find our review of the alpha here:
Major changes compared to CoD MW
Every year a new CoD comes out, and with each generation, the developers want to deliver something new to you. This is also the case in Cold War, which does quite a few things differently than its predecessor, Modern Warfare:
- Movement – Jumping/sliding is different, you can swim, the tactical sprint is gone
- Loadouts – There are now wildcards. These are strong bonuses for your loadouts
- Scorestreak – Instead of collecting killstreaks through kills, you will now collect them through points
- Map layout – The maps in Cold War are more oriented towards the 3-lane system
- Time-to-kill – Moves more towards Black Ops 4, but with a headshot multiplier like in CoD MW
More details can be found in our special: CoD Cold War: 6 important multiplayer changes.
Content in the Cold War beta
In the alpha, only 2 modes were available: a 6vs6 moshpit with changing modes on 3 different maps and the 12vs12 mode Combined Arms on 2 maps. With the beta, there is a lot added:
- Traditional modes: Domination, Control, TDM, Kill Confirmed
- New 6vs6 mode: VIP Escort – Defenders must protect a VIP in the team, attackers must eliminate
- 12vs12 Combined Arms as Domination & Assault: Mode with vehicles – capture fixed or moving points
- Firearms: The Ground War variant of Cold War – a large 40vs40 battle, mode: Dirty Bomb
- 4 maps for 6vs6 modes: Moscow, Miami, Satellite, Cartel
- 3 maps for 12vs12 modes: Crossroad, Armada, Cartel
- At least 17 weapons
- You can level up and unlock equipment
- Your loadouts can be fully customized
Moreover, the developers worked a lot on their game after the alpha and even released English patch notes on a Treyarch website. If you want to know more about the content and what the beta wants to improve over the alpha, check out our big special on the Cold War beta.
You can unlock a blueprint in the beta
If you play the beta diligently, you will directly unlock your first weapon blueprint for the finished game. The SMG Type 821 fires rather slowly and has a high range – an atypical submachine gun. If you reach level 10 in the beta, you will get this item for your arsenal as soon as Cold War celebrates its full release on November 13.
This is what the blueprint “Mutual Animosity” looks like:
Bonus: Get Cold War cosmetics for Warzone now
Since the reveal of the new CoD in Warzone, some streamers and puzzle solvers have been chasing the secrets of the new title. Cold War set up a crazy website and hid a few tricky quests on the page. Like spies in the Cold War, players solved encrypted messages and even found the way to the reveal of the zombie mode.
Along the way, they have already unlocked two cool vehicle skins for Warzone that you can also get:
The battle royale is supposed to evolve with Cold War and even share content with the new Black Ops Cold War. However, how exactly this will look is still not conclusively clarified. Check out how Warzone might continue with Cold War: The future of Warzone with CoD Cold War: Here’s how it could continue
