In Call of Duty: Modern Warfare & Warzone, the announced major mid-season update was released today, on May 19, bringing a lot of new content, bug fixes, balancing adjustments, and playlists – What do the patch notes say? Here is an overview.
What is there today in CoD? The long-awaited mid-season update launches today (May 19) and brings new maps for Modern Warfare and fresh mechanics for Warzone, along with various bug fixes and balance adjustments. Among other things, it includes:
- New multiplayer maps
- Adjusted SpecOps mode
- Fresh playlists
- Different Gulag weapons
- New loot in Warzone
- “Most Wanted” contract returns
- Armor box for battle royale
- Weapon balance adjustments
- Many bug fixes
- Classic BR mode announced
- Changes to the last gas circle
Here at MeinMMO, you will get all the important info about the big patch package and what to expect this week in CoD: MW.
Call of Duty: Update 1.21 from 19.05. – Patch Notes
When does the update come? The patch was released at an unusual time for CoD (Tuesday morning, 8 AM) and is already online.
How big is the update? As the numerous contents suggest, there is again a substantial data package to download. Depending on the platform, the sizes vary more than usual this time:
- PS4: approx. 22 GB
- Xbox One: approx. 30 GB
- PC: approx. 30 GB
With this patch, it doesn’t matter if you are using the premium or free-to-play version. The update is always the same size; the storage requirement varies only with the platform.
CoD: Modern Warfare – New maps and special SpecOps mode
Which maps are new? As previously announced, you now get the new maps with update 1.21, likely the last new content of season 3 for multiplayer. Newly included are:
- Hardhat – a very popular MW3 classic returns
- Aisle 9 – a small firefight in a storage room
Especially veterans of the CoD series are likely to be excited about Hardhat. First released with Modern Warfare 3, the construction site map has many fans, and a certain passage often leads to exciting battles. See you in the pipe!
What’s going on in the SpecOps mode? Here, there are now “Modified SpecOps missions.” An operation you have already completed can now be started in an adjusted variant, allowing you to earn extra rewards. For example, there are enemies that you can only defeat with headshots.
From now on, there will be new modified missions every week that you can undertake to earn special rewards.
What do the playlists look like? Hardhat is available as a 24/7 playlist so you can dive right into the new map. However, the small firefight map Aisle 9 also gets a 24/7 moshpit, albeit in a 3vs3 mode. Here are all the playlists for this week:
- Realism Moshpit (Night Vision) – Realism rules at night, many game modes, many maps
- Reinfected Ground War – The infected mode on ground war maps
- Standard Ground War – “Ground War” without special rules
- Blueprint Gunfight – 3vs3 firefight with random blueprint weapons
- Cleaning force in Aisle 9 – 3vs3 with many modes (TDM, Kill Confirmed, Delivered, Domination) on the new mini-map Aisle 9
- Hardhat 24/7 – The new construction map “Hardhat” as a moshpit with various modes
CoD Warzone: New loot, old contract, and fresh Gulag
What new weapons are there in Warzone? The legendary and epic weapons that you can find on the ground in Warzone and in loot crates are increasing. You can find a total of 6 new variants of weapons:
- The new SKS as a legendary weapon
- AX-50 in an epic variant
- Kilo 141 in a legendary variant
- FAL with an epic blueprint
- MP7 also as a legendary weapon
- AUG with a new epic configuration
What is the new armor box? The new item replaces the shield turret in the buy station and works similarly to the ammo box. Instead of some fresh clips for your weapons, you receive a package of armor plates that your entire team can use.
You can not only buy the new box but also find it in crates and loot piles throughout Verdansk. The shield turret remains available in the BR, but now you can only loot the killstreak and cannot obtain it at the buy station anymore.
What happens in the Gulag? The special respawn mechanic receives a small makeover and gets fresh weapons. In addition to pistols and shotguns, you will now also receive SMGs and assault rifles.
“Most Wanted” back in the game? The “new” contract temporarily replaced the bounty contract and was thus not well received. Now the mission for left-behind team members makes a comeback and comes this time as an additional contract in Warzone. The required survival time was reduced from 5 to 3 minutes.
Overall, there are now 4 different missions that you can start during the match.
What’s up with the classic BR? The developers announced a brand new mode that does without the special mechanics of Warzone and offers a “classic” battle royale experience. This means:
- Gulag removed
- No loadout drops
- No contracts
- Buy stations are disabled
Here you get a mode that neither allows respawns nor provides your own weapons. You have to fight to the end with the weapons you find and go more cautiously since you have no chance to return to the match after dying.
What happens with the last gas circle? The fight in the last circle could now be trickier again. Recently, the circle was fixed and did not move. Now the area of the last circle shifts, and you have to rethink if you had already found a good position for the final fight and the circle moves away from you.
What do the playlists look like? There are no major changes to the playlists directly with the update. Instead of Blood Money Trio, this mode is now a four-player mode and the “Stimulus solo” is replaced by the regular solo mode:
- BR solo
- BR-3
- BR-4
- Blood Money 4
Update 1.21 brings many bug fixes and some balance adjustments
What happens to the weapons? Rarely have there been so many weapon adjustments as in the current update. The strong Renetti, the new pistol of season 3, will be slightly weakened, but otherwise, there are almost only buffs:
- Renetti (Pistol)
- Less ammo in reserve
- 3-shot burst fire when hip-firing is now significantly less accurate and does slightly less damage
- Damage of the Akimbo/burst combo has been reduced
- VLK Roque (Shotgun)
- Higher fire rate
- More damage at short range for the “12 caliber” ammunition
- Increased damage range of the 6″ Revolt barrel
- Holger 26 (LMG)
- Increased movement speed with the weapon
- Better aim down sights (ADS) time
- Slight reduction of recoil
- “FTAC 8.89″ Spitfire” barrel with better ADS time, higher movement speed, and better hip-fire
- “XRK Ultralight” barrel with shorter ADS time
- 30-round magazine with better movement stats (ADS, movement speed, sprinting to firing) and more accurate hip-fire
- No stock – Improvements like those on the 30-round magazine
- Patterned grip tape – Even better ADS time
- FAL – Shorter ADS time
- SCAR – Shorter ADS time
- LMGs – Earlier warning signal that ammo is running low
- Less aim sway when you hold your breath too long with sniper scopes
- Warzone – Smaller radius for RPG kills against players with full armor
The update brings several weapon changes, and especially the LMG Holger 26 can benefit. With the right attachments, it should now be significantly more mobile to play, and the secret variant G36, which turns the LMG into an assault rifle, could now be more interesting.
What bug fixes and other changes did Update 1.21 bring? On the Trello board for CoD MW 2019 and Warzone, you can find announced bug fixes, and there were already 20 entries with the note: “Fixed with a future update”.
In addition to fixes, there were also some general changes. Here are the most important points:
- All operators should now be visible in the lobby again.
- Some “Out of Map” exploits have been removed.
- XP exploit in the positioning mode is no longer possible.
- Infected and weapons game modes will no longer count towards player statistics.
- In the infected mode, there are now random supply deliveries.
- Weapon Game Reloaded is now part of the quick play playlist.
- Players are no longer immune to gas when they come back with the last circle in Warzone.
- The bug where soldiers were stuck in the Gulag until the end of the match and achieved an easy victory no longer exists.
- The voice chat should work properly in Warzone again and not disconnect in the middle of a match.
The complete English patch notes can be found here, on an official website of Infinity Ward.
At the very end of the patch notes, there is still a cryptic hint, where it is not entirely clear what it means. In German, it says: “Station number <redacted> is protocol yellow. Active <redacted> system. <redacted> is incoming. Waiting for correct authorization.”
There are already early reports that you can now use the key cards that have been in the game for a while to open the bunkers for massive loot. Another significant innovation of the update.
