The new Call of Duty: Vanguard once again changes the mechanics around the mini-map and sound suppression. Players demand changes and wish for the return of the ‘old’ mini-map. What lies behind it, we explain to you on MeinMMO.
The shooter Call of Duty: Vanguard has just completed its first beta weekend and received much feedback on the issues of the test phase and also on the general mechanics. And one thing is at the top of many players’ wish lists for changes: the return of the classic mini-map.
MeinMMO shows you how the ‘classic’ mini-map works, how Vanguard interprets this mechanic, and what solution many players desire.
Mini-map used to be strong gameplay support
How did the mini-map work before? In Call of Duty, you used to see your enemies on the mini-map when they fired with an unsuppressed weapon. A red mark on the map briefly showed the position of a potential kill – even beyond the edge of the mini-map.
When configurable weapon attachments came into play, you could bypass this ping by equipping your weapon with a suppressor. But you consciously had to give up another strong bonus to take advantage of this.
Another way to see enemies on the mini-map, is Killstreaks. A reconnaissance aircraft monitors the action on the map and regularly pings enemies on the mini-map like a radar. A personal radar also uncovers enemies, but only for you and not for the entire team.
You can normally escape this discovery with the perk “Ghost”. The Killstreak “Counter UAV” also helps, as this drone makes the enemy mini-map useless.
What impact does this have on match flow? It makes a big difference whether you are regularly visible on the map or not. Especially aggressive players sacrifice other strong bonuses to remain unseen on the map.
Basically, this has increased the speed of battles and tactics. More information about the positions of enemies is available, and good reconnaissance allows you to have a rough idea of what you are getting into in a fight.
If you keep an eye on the mini-map as a player, it often gives you a significant advantage.
If you want to take a look at the Vanguard beta yourself, here are the important dates for the open beta:
Mini-map in Vanguard rather a map
What is different in Vanguard? With Modern Warfare from 2019, there was a new system. Also, players without a suppressor are no longer visible on the map when firing. This made the reconnaissance drone more important.
Vanguard also relies on this system again, but with a twist. Because theoretically you can use the old system again with the perk “Radar”. You must therefore use a perk and give up other advantages to use the old mechanic in the game. If it weren’t for the generous gunsmith.
In Vanguard, you can equip 10 out of 10 attachment slots at any time. Two of the attachment slots, muzzle and ammunition type, give you attachments that allow you to suppress your sound, thus countering the perk “Radar”. You have to use a valuable perk slot that can easily be countered by a less valuable attachment slot.
Against the reconnaissance aircraft, the perk “Ghost” also helps here, and the Killstreak “Counter UAV”, which disrupts the entire enemy team’s mini-map so that neither the outlines of the map nor soldier pings can be seen. If you are on the move, have full suppression and the perk “Ghost” in your loadout, you can almost completely disappear from the mini-map.
Additionally, the very long deployment times of the Counter UAVs in the beta come into play. If an enemy activates a drone, the mini-map is disrupted for more than a minute. However, the Counter UAVs can also be shot down.
Only the improved reconnaissance aircraft can theoretically detect you with full counter abilities, but it has not yet been confirmed whether the better reconnaissance is even in the game.
What impact does this have on match flow? Your loadouts should be prepared against detection by “Radar”. So you either need a strong suppressor for the muzzle or subsound ammunition. The perk “Ghost” remains strong and important.
Players must decide whether they want the old mini-map, which may occupy a perk slot unnecessarily due to the good possibility of sound suppression. Or whether they prefer to use other perks to detect enemies, such as “Tracker,” which shows the footprints of nearby enemies.
Overall, the weaker mini-map reduces the speed of battles and tactics. The weaker reconnaissance leads to more uncertainty and thus to a generally more cautious approach.
If you, as a player, keep an eye on the mini-map, the advantages to you are manageable.
If you want to see the Vanguard beta mini-map in action, we embed 10 minutes of pure gameplay here:
We want your opinion on the topic
The issue with the mini-map has been a topic since CoD MW, and Cold War also relies on the old system again. How do you see this? Participate in our survey on the mini-map topic or check out the results directly:
Many players have a clear opinion about the mini-map
What do players say about it? At the time of Modern Warfare in 2019, the mini-map was already a controversy in the community, and before the beta launch of Vanguard, many players also advocated for the classic version of the mini-map. Thus, the news account “ModernWarzone” launched a survey on the topic at the end of August and received a clear response:
Of the more than 26,000 participants, over 21,000 wanted the old mini-map back (as of 14.09.21), meaning the perk “Radar” standard and without having to sacrifice a perk slot. The survey has no representative value for a statement about the entire player base of Call of Duty, but it probably indicates the trend.
On the discussion platform reddit, the topic is also a “hit.” In the still relatively young subreddit of CoD Vanguard, 2 topics about the mini-map occupy 1st and 3rd place among the threads with the most upvotes at all (via reddit.com / as of 14.09.21).
Especially the user “Hayashii” has articulated their opinion on the topic very extensively (via reddit.com). For the user, the mini-map of the beta is the “most useless mini-map ever” in a CoD and also immediately suggests 3 improvement possibilities for Vanguard:
- Subsonic ammunition should show firing enemies when a radar is activated
- Counter UAV should have a shorter duration and be a 5-kill streak
- The perk “Ghost” can only be unlocked at higher levels
There are also players in the thread who do not want to give the mini-map the status of strong gameplay support. But approval for the system of CoD MW is only rarely found.
When it comes to the setting and in-game mechanics, it also depends a lot on your own taste. One person may have no interest in World War, while another is put off by jet packs and a futuristic scenario. The same applies to perks and abilities.
Why CoD Vanguard could also be interesting for every CoD player, aside from the setting or specific in-game mechanics, you can find out here: CoD Vanguard: Fans complain about the reason that makes the new CoD really good for me.
We also gladly read your comments on the topic of the mini-map. How would you solve the problem? Participate in our survey in the article and share your thoughts in the comments on MeinMMO.
