Call of Duty: Warzone now offers one of three random events per match. These are meant to lighten the game and bring an additional layer of variation. But especially one of the events is rather annoying.
What are events? Season 4 in Warzone introduced random events into the game, which are occurrences that can happen at any point in every match. Only one of the three possible events takes place at a time. The timing is sometime after the first loadout drop and before the closure of the gulag.
What events are there? The events are meant to lighten the gameplay by bringing a drastic change into the game. The three possible events, of which one can occur in each match, are:
- Jailbreak: All dead players come back into the match, regardless of whether they are completely down, currently in the gulag, or just recently eliminated. One minute before it all starts, an announcement is made.
- Fire Sale: For one minute, items at the buy stations are drastically cheaper or even completely free, including respawns for your buddies.
- Supply Chopper: A large and well-armored helicopter appears over Verdansk. The helicopter does not fight but can be shot down. Then high-quality loot rains down.
What is the purpose of the events? The events are meant to clearly disrupt the usual routine of a Warzone match and introduce unforeseen parameters. Through this chaos, more fun is supposed to arise and rigid meta-structures are to be broken.
Especially inexperienced players, who may not earn much money in the game or get eliminated often, can stay in the game longer and achieve more. But how is all this received by the players in practice?
This is how the events are received
This is the reaction to Jailbreak: Jailbreak is a good idea, as it is meant to prevent players from rage-quitting. After all, there is a possibility to come back for free. Because even though there are opportunities for a respawn for dead players after the gulag with sufficient monetary investment, many exit the game frustrated when they get shot.
Unfortunately, this still seems to be the case in many instances. On reddit, players are still complaining about the rage-quits of their dead teammates. Many seem to (still) not want to accept the possibility of a jailbreak, which likely occurs above average. However, since jailbreaks and the other events are still very new, this may change and bring more excitement to the final phases of a Warzone match.
However, the sheer randomness of the jailbreak frustrates some players:
Two jailbreaks happen about 30 seconds before my team’s wipe, which makes them even more frustrating; it feels like a “blue shell” [a hated item in Mario Kart that always hits the leading player], as players who tend to win battles are punished for surviving with a respawn opportunity for too long.
Invisibullcow via reddit
This is how Fire Sale is received: Fire Sale rewards players who have little money. According to an article on Kotaku, the author saw a player with $6,000 snagging a ton of valuable items, of which he could otherwise only afford one.
What sounds good in theory is also criticized on reddit. The idea would be good, players say, but in reality, it’s simply too much stuff being bought. After the fire sale, the playing field is practically flooded with UAVs, and players don’t know where to put all the stuff, especially in modes like Trio, it’s just too much of a good thing. Additionally, there are suddenly numerous self-revivals available, which completely turns the game upside down.
The idea itself is good; it just needs some adjustment:
It just needs to be adjusted. Let the items be cheaper only with a single purchase. A UAV can still cost $800, but only one would be available to each teammate at that price (perhaps only at that buy station, giving you an incentive to conquer another one).
Blasto05 via reddit
I think the free re-entry would be fine as is, as everyone has already purchased just one armor or ammunition box, and gas masks are discounted, so I see no problem. The self-revival needs to be at full price. The fire sale seems like a great idea to me, it just needs some changes to work.
This is what players say about the Supply Chopper: While the above events are received fairly equally, the reactions to the supply helicopter are rather negative. This is already evident from the nickname given to the helicopter: “Flying Loot Pinata”.
A fully packed helicopter that hovers unarmed over a battlefield, just waiting to be shot down, disrupts immersion and gameplay for many players.
Furthermore, the helicopter is too loud and distracts from the actual game. Players can’t hear what’s happening in the game anymore. Especially when multiple helicopters appear and endlessly circle.
- Niv141: “We just had a game where we had 4 helicopters circling around us for 5 minutes, no joke. Nobody wants to shoot them down, so they just fly in circles forever, you can’t hear anything, we have to go inside so we can hear each other on comms.”
- GulagLIVE: “The sound of the helicopter drowns out the entire game and ruins immersion to provide people with a stuffed piñata that are dumb enough to shoot at something that doesn’t shoot back?”
Some players would prefer to have the helicopter in the modes of Plunder and Blood Money, as it’s all about loot and bounty there anyway. But these two modes were surprisingly removed from the game by the developers, which does not sit well with fans of these modes.
