With Season 5 came a few new features to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Warzone. Among them were dogs, the new Battle-Pets. Unfortunately, the companions come with advantages when you buy and deploy them.
Over the past years, Call of Duty has brought new types of cosmetics to the game from time to time. Some experiments were really off, like the skins for killcams in CoD: Vanguard.
However, we are now at a point where some players might wish for those crazy experiments back. Because Call of Duty is currently introducing more and more pay-to-win mechanics into the game, each time through cosmetics that require players to pay a hefty price.
The latest gimmick: Battle-Pets. These are animals that accompany you invisibly and only appear when you’ve selected and deployed the correct execution move. Such things existed before, even with birds or wolves. However, new is that the animals can provide certain advantages.
You can watch the trailer for the current Season 5 of Call of Duty here:
Why is the dog pay-to-win? The dog is named Merlin and modifies a strong perk that helps locate enemies: “Alarmed”.
As soon as an enemy looks at you from a direction you are not currently facing, you receive a visual signal on your screen. You can be sure: Somewhere in the direction of the signal is an enemy.
With Merlin, you also get an audio signal: the dog growls. A video on Reddit shows that this small detail can be an advantage:
It was only when the dog growled that one enemy in the room took another look around and discovered the thread creator in their hiding spot. The filing cabinet tactic didn’t work out. Enemies can also hear the growling – perhaps an attempt by the developers to mitigate the advantage a bit.
Is it really that bad? Worse. The dog Merlin with its howling continues a trend that pushes Call of Duty further towards pay-to-win.
Right now, it’s only small things, homeopathic doses. There are skins that provide advantages only in the DMZ mode. With the doggo, a pay-to-win feature has now entered the game that works in Warzone, CoD MW2, and DMZ.
The dog is also part of the controversial but very popular “Black Cell” package. Each season features a new package that also comes with level jumps for the Battle Pass. At €29.99, it is one of the most expensive skin bundles available.
What are the reactions like? There is a lot of debate in the thread. Some players defend the feature and don’t see it as pay-to-win. The opposing faction is strictly against cosmetics that influence gameplay and change features.
What do you think? Leave us a comment on the topic.
Many comments also address the play style of the thread creator, who hides in the corner with their riot shield. These players don’t have the best reputation either.
