For the past few weeks, some powerful new weapons from Black Ops Cold War have been wreaking havoc in Call of Duty: Warzone. The developers announced nerfs for these guns yesterday, January 6th. However, many players are not satisfied.
What’s it about? With the launch of Season 1 of Black Ops Cold War, the Battle Royale Warzone also received a significant content boost. Included were over 30 weapons from CoD 2020 and the associated balance issues.
Especially two weapons from the new tactical rifle class were considered far too strong – the DMR 14 and the Type 63. Additionally, many players believe the Mac-10 submachine gun and the Diamatti akimbo pistols are good candidates for nerfs and weakening.
Yesterday, January 5th, it finally happened: The developers from Raven Software announced the nerfs in the morning and brought them into the game in the evening. However, many players are now angry and complain that the nerf for the tactical rifles was not strong enough. Some even say the weapons might be better than before.
MeinMMO shows you the effects of the nerfs on the weapons, the reactions from players, and the opinions of some CoD experts regarding the adjustments.
DMR 14 & Type 63 are now weaker – but more precise
What did the nerfs specifically entail? The CoD YouTuber “TheXclusiveAce” looked at the adjusted values based on the patch notes from Raven Software on Twitter and published his findings in an English YouTube video. His results:
What is different with the DMR 14? The tactical rifle is currently at the top of the food chain for many CoD soldiers and has experienced a reduction in headshot damage. Instead of 175 damage, headshots now deal only 114 damage. Therefore, you now need at least 3 shots for a kill when the enemy has full armor. Additionally, you now need 3 body hits (60 damage) and one headshot for a KO, not just 2. However, the announced nerf of recoil seems to show little effect. In fact, the weapon appears to be even more precise:
What is different with the Type 63? Here it looks similar to the DMR 14. The headshot damage has significantly decreased – from 175 to 124 per hit. Thus, 2 headshots are no longer sufficient, now missing 2 damage points for a KO with full armor. However, the Type 63 still takes down opponents with 2 body hits mixed with one headshot. The recoil nerf also missed its target here: the weapon seems rather more precise.
What is different with the Mac-10? For the submachine gun, the developers announced a nerf of headshot damage. It now is 1.2 instead of 1.6, reducing the damage for a headshot in the first damage range from 40 to 30.
What is different with the akimbo pistols from Cold War? Although it was particularly the Diamatti pistols in the akimbo variant that many players considered too strong, all “Cold War” akimbos receive this nerf in Warzone. The spread when firing has increased by almost 25%. The developers also stated in their tweet that the damage range has been decreased. This value is very difficult to measure with akimbo pistols, which is why Ace cannot provide specific figures here.
The players are angry because the weapons are still overpowered
What do the players say about this? The opinions on the patch from many Warzone soldiers generally lean in one direction: The nerfs were not strong enough. Be it for the tactical rifles, the Mac-10, or the akimbo pistols. Many commentators are disappointed and see significant room for improvement, especially with the two overachievers, DMR 14 & Type 63:
- Porter 497 on YouTube: “This is total nonsense. Everyone knows that precision is the most important thing in Warzone, and the DMR and the Type 63 are even more precise now.”
- Dampfwurst on MeinMMO: “A complete joke of a patch… DMR, Diamatti, and Mac-10 are still completely OP.[…]”
- @endyonyt on Twitter: “It [the DMR 14] is still the king of Warzone. Just nerf it to the ground, please.”
There are some voices that view the nerfs as reasonable to avoid completely destroying the weapons. At greater distances, the recoil is apparently more noticeable, and the reduction of headshot damage eliminates the severe 2-shot kill potential of the weapons.
However, most comments on the topic share one opinion: The nerfs were hardly noticeable to useless, and many demand that the developers improve this quickly.
CoD experts also see room for improvement
What do experts say about this? The assessments of some experts are not as harsh as the opinions of the players. However, there are still some doubts about whether the nerf was indeed strong enough. The CoD YouTuber “JGOD” says on Twitter:
Tweet translation: “It’s funny to see how some people say there would be no difference with the DMR. Obviously, there is a difference – it has gone from ‘unbelievably broken’ to ‘a bit overpowered’. However, more needs to be done, in my opinion. Maybe they should add more recoil to make it significantly harder to use.”
Also, TheXclusiveAce sees progress and considers the DMR 14 no longer far ahead of the other weapons. In his English YouTube video, he says:
“That was a pretty good nerf. I feel that they haven’t completely destroyed the weapons [the tactical rifles DMR 14 & Type 63] and they remain usable in Warzone. Some players will continue to use them. But they are no longer the dominating weapons against which no other [weapons] can compete due to the strong 2-shot kill potential with headshots.”
However, Ace views the nerf of the Mac-10 quite critically. He believes that reducing headshot damage was not the right approach to stop the close-combat monster. He is also uncertain whether the adjustments for the akimbo pistols are sufficient.
What do you think about this? Do you also think that the developers need to adjust again, or are the changes within your expectations? Should the DMR meta completely disappear or are these rather small nerfs an acceptable way for you to bring the weapons in line without completely breaking them?
