The Season 3 update is out and players are discovering Pay2Win skins for the DMZ mode of Call of Duty: Warzone 2.
Call of Duty turned everything upside down in 2019. The Modern Warfare series got a reboot, moving away from paid DLCs to free seasons and a live service system. The hated loot boxes from Black Ops 4 and previous titles disappeared, Pay2Win was only “accidental”.
But now official Pay2Win is back in Call of Duty.
The first skin is already in the game. Data miners also found similar skins with benefits that will likely come into the game during the season.
Season 3 is live. Here’s a quick overview and here’s a short trailer:
Skins provide starting advantages for the DMZ mode
What advantages do the skins provide? The operator skins provide items that can be used directly at the start in the DMZ. The advantages do not apply to the Battle Royale or the multiplayer of CoD MW2.
The following items are provided by the skins at the start of each match:
- EOD Specialist: Medium Backpack
- Sinister: Self-Revive
- Thorns Out: Recon Drone
- Classic Ghost: 2-Plate Armor Vest
Additionally, a weapon skin has been discovered that, as an insured weapon, reduces the cooldown time by 15 minutes. You can therefore use it again more quickly if you lose it in the match. So far, only the EOD Specialist is in the game.
What do players say about it? In the CoD Warzone subreddit, the new Pay2Win skins are the hot topic. The largest thread after the launch of Season 3 has garnered more than 1,600 upvotes (as of April 13, 23 / 11:00 AM). The following threads also address the topic (via reddit.com).
Opinions are clear: There is a lot of backlash against the skins and the advantages.
At times, players defend the advantages because they are not that strong. Some say that DMZ has no relevance, so why should that be a problem? Additionally, you can collect the items in a match and then have those advantages in the next match as well.
However, the threads show that there are many players interested in CoD’s extraction mode. Especially the recon drone at the start is an issue because it’s a valid strategy to hunt other players right from the start.
User “chalupa_battman” is annoyed that the Classic Ghost skin is probably among the Pay2Win examples: “Why did they ruin Classic Ghost by putting it in a Pay2Win bundle? Sad.”
Call of Duty has made some changes with Season 3 that should make Warzone 2 feel more like Warzone 1 again. Among them are sniper rifles with one-shot potential. Here you can find a summary of Season 3.
But with their nostalgic approach, they seem to have gone a bit over the top. Because even though Pay2Win was already a topic in CoD in the past, it was thought that the era had been buried with CoD MW 2019.
Let us know your opinion on the topic in the comments.
