My Impressions of Call of Duty: Vanguard

To sit there and blame Call of Duty Vanguard for the decline of players is a copout in my opinion. Many of us gamer are sick and tired screaming out that we don’t want Skill Based Match Making. We’re sick and tired of screaming out that you have a hand full of gamers running hacks/cheats, in every Call of Duty game going back to Black Ops 2. We’ve never had skill base matchmaking before Modern Warfare 2019, why implemented now? And if there were any level of SBMM before Modern Warfare 2019, it was either non existent or tone all they way down. Braking up the lobbies at the end of every match is not only the worst part, but extremely annoying at best. Last year when I played the Call of Duty Vanguard BETA, you had hand full of gamers running hacks/chest and even to the point where, with a press of a key, could end the game. And again, lobbies were broken up after every match.

Last year’s entry, Call of Duty: Vanguard, failed to meet Activision’s sales expectations, leading executives to suspect that it had been cannibalized by the previous year’s game. A free-to-play version released in 2020, Call of Duty: Warzone, remains a massive success and may have drawn players away from the premium entries.

Source: Bloomberg https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-02-22/activision-to-delay-next-year-s-planned-call-of-duty-game

Over this passed weekend, Call of Duty Vanguard was available to play for free. I took the opportunity to download it and play Vanguard and see for myself and compare to the Beta that I’d played in 2021. I wanted to see if anything has changed or improved, especially since the Ricochet Anti-Cheat was implemented. Much to my surprised, I had fun playing Vanguard. Seriously, I had fun playing it and yes, there’s a but. Too start off with, you had six modes to start with for the free weekend.

Call of Duty Vanguard Game Modes:

1. Mayhem 24/7
2. Ship Haus 24/7 similar to shipment 24/7 in WWII
3. Small Zone Blitz
4. Western Front
5. Arms Race
6. Champion Hill – Duos

I started out fresh, leveled up to 5 and chose to run with the STG-AR. I wanted to play every mode in the time I had left. The only mode that I did not play, nor was I interested in was Champion Hill – Duos. I played in the Bata and didn’t like it nor cared for it. The one mode I mainly stuck with Small Zone Blitz. I found myself having more fun in that mode, too an extent. Arms Race reminded me of Conquest but in a very small, tight nit area. You just run around, trying to take over bases, similar to domination. Western Front just have large maps. Ship Haus 24/7 is similar 2017 24/7 shipment. Firefights can get intense, the incendiary grenades can be a tad annoy especially when there’s a large area on fire. Mayhem 24/7 takes placed in some stage set up with a miniature city, 2 levels, you can run around in, camp in-between trees, climb up a one story building, jump off a broken bridge, it’s just a fun map.

Out of all the maps available for the free weekend, my favorite map was Dome. It just felt like it had a nice flow to it, didn’t matter if it was Hardpoint, Domination (Dom) or Team Death Match (TDM). There were other maps I didn’t like as much, but it was nice to see something different. The only 2 weapons I had a chance to mess with was the STG-AR and the M42-LMG, Both felt good. There were times where it seemed the bullets wouldn’t register. The Automation AR felt nice also. Sadly, I didn’t have a chance to mess with the other weapons which, in a sense, it’s fine; since I mainly like to run AR’s SMG’s and LMG’s. Running felt good. Not to slow, not to fast. All in all, I had fun.

There’s time where you’re in a lobby and it’s outright fun, intense and the people that have a mic are cool and you carry on a simple conversation. I had one of those last night. I was looking forward to finishing up the conversation I had and stayed in the same lobby, with the entire group. But that didn’t happen. After the match was over, the lobby was disbanded. I went, to go see my new unlocked attachments, equip or make some changes and when the match was about to start, I’m in a lobby full of different people, no one talked, and no one that I played with previously was in the lobby. It’s 100% annoying. Furthermore, For every match I had, regardless of mode, is every lobby disbanded. I can understand if lobbies were broken up for “Ranked Matches” just to mix it up. But for causal, it makes zero sense.

There’s times when you’re in a lobby and you’re doing really well, you get 40 to 60 kills. You’re like, “alright”. The Next lobby they put you in, you just get shredded from all sides and you might end up with half the kills you got form the previous lobby. Other lobbies are so downright annoying that you just up and leave. There’s just no point in staying. Other times, I’ve been in lobbies where the opposing time is completely oblivious for some unknown reason. Braking up lobbies is just a turn off for me and because of it, or one of the reasons, why I never bought MW 2019, Black Ops Cold War and Vanguard. And if this “disbanding lobbies” is going to be added to Modern Warfare 2, as speculated by others, I’ll play the BETA but won’t be buying the game.

Predatory Microtransactions

With past Call of Duty games, you would level up and prestige and with each, you would unlock calling cards. Some require challenges. It was nice to have a collection of calling cards. It’s not so in Call of Duty Vanguard. I went on last night, after a match looking for calling cards that I could unlock and the large majority of calling cards were locked behind the Battle Pass or a paywall. the price range would be anywhere from 800 Cod Point to 2400 CoD points. That’s $19.99! Why? To be fair, there’s are calling cards you can unlock. Player Titles are locked behind a paywall. There’s only eleven emblems to choose from. The rest of the emblems are locked behind a paywall. Gestures and Spays are also locked behind a paywall; you can only equip twelve of the available gestures. Killcam Themes are also locked behind a paywall. There is no incentive to grind, large majority cosmetics are locked behind a paywall. The most expensive Call of Duty CoD points cost $149 dollars. Are you kidding me or what! Let me show you.

The Battle Pass Bundle is also $19.99 along with skipping 20 tiers. If everything is going to be locked behind a Battle Pass and/or Paywall, then what the point of playing if you can’t earn any of it? Let alone, Call of Duty Vanguard is not Free To Play. The standard price for Call of Duty Vanguard is $59.99 on BattleNet. (PC) What am I paying for? All this just tells me that you can just buy everything without having to play the game! That has to be the dumbest thing I have ever seen.

Between disbanding lobbies and predatory microtransactions are the two major factor as to why I didn’t buy Call of Duty Vanguard, or Cold War or MW2019. Further more, the Skill Base Match Making is atrocious. I don’t want to hear about new players and how they need to feel a certain way. When I played Call of Duty WWII on PC for the first time with a controller, It came with zero aim assist. I got slaughtered. Black Ops 2 same thing happen. The game didn’t old my hand. No one held my hand. I just took the beating and moved on. A friend told me to learn to play with Keyboard and Mouse. I just in lobby with bots and I started practicing with keyboard and mouse. It isn’t hard at all. Later on I would go into a PVP lobby and I would get 15, 20, 35, 50 kills. So, don’t tell me about new players. They can learn just like I did. New player is not a reason to use SBMM as an excuse.

The Decline of the player base and the poor sells is not because Call of Duty Vanguard is a bad game. On the Contrary, it’s because of all the garbage added to the game that have no business being in the game, Battle Passes, SBMM, Predatory Microtransactions, Disbanding Lobbies is not wanted! How much more clear can I be? What, loosing 50 million players is not a tall tail sign? And forget Warzone. I just want a regular Call of Duty Game. If the above is any indication as to what is going to be added in the upcoming Modern Warfare 2, then I have zero interest in buying MW2 or any future editions of Call of Duty and I’ll just stick to the old. Lastly, no one asked for a reshaped SBMM. I’ve been playing Call of Duty on and off since Call of Duty 2 Big Red One. Presently, All 3 developers, Infinity Ward, Tryearch, Sledge Hammer Games, all three do an epic job in producing Call of Duty games, but the above needs to end.

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