The Black Ops Cold War beta's second weekend is underway, now PS4 users will be joined by Xbox One and PC players!
Off the back of a successful public Alpha on PS4, which came as a shock to everyone, the Black Ops Cold War multiplayer beta will arrive in early October.
Considering the game has been very slow to be revealed and multiple claims have stated that the game is in a state, it looks like we're in for a great year of Call of Duty.
The Alpha was in a great state despite the many concerns, so its exciting to see what improvements come in the beta.
This limited-time beta will operate over two weekends allowing players from PS4, Xbox One and PC play together.
Now those who missed out can get their chance in the cross-platform beta this weekend - starting the 15th October!
Treyarch really has outdone themselves with a multitude of updates and quality of life improvement to create a great experience.
Here's everything we know about the Black Ops Cold War beta.
- Latest News
- Release Date
- How To Get Into The Beta
- Platforms
- Patch Notes
- What Is Included?
- Why Is This The Most Important Beta?
Latest News
Patch Notes - 17th October
The Black Ops Cold War beta is now free to play for PC and PS4 players!
Check out the new notes from Treyarch.
LEVEL CAP INCREASE
All players now have access to the following by reaching level 40:
WEAPONS
- RPD light machine gun
- RPG-7 launcher
- Magnum pistol + more
PERKS
- Quartermaster
- Ninja
SCORESTREAKS
- Air Patrol
- Chopper Gunner
WILDCARD
- Perk Greed
EQUIPMENT
- Decoy
- Semtex
FIELD UPGRADE
- Jammer
GAMEPLAY UPDATES
- Fireteam: Dirty Bomb
- Reduced the chances that players will join a match already in progress.
- Reduced the spawn frequency of the Hind.
- Reduced the drop rates of War Machine and Attack Helicopter Scorestreaks.
STABILITY IMPROVEMENTS
- Fixed a crash that could occur when players joined a Fireteam: Dirty Bomb match and were assigned an invalid team.
- Fixed a crash that could occur in Fireteam: Dirty Bomb if a player disconnected while depositing Uranium.
- Fixed a crash that could occur when killing other players while in a vehicle that was just destroyed.
BUG FIXES
- Fixed an issue where the Gunsmith button could be missing after selecting a new weapon.
PC
- Prevented the player’s name from being displayed in the Barracks menu if Real ID was enabled in Battle.net.
New Update - 17th October
Treyarch pushed a brand new game settings update overnight, below are all the notes you may have missed:
SCORESTREAKS
Score Tuning/Rewards
- Adjusted score tuning to deliver a more consistent earn rate across all game modes.We’ve noticed a disparity of Scorestreak earn potential across game modes. Domination saw a high volume of Scorestreaks, while TDM saw less.
- This new adjustment now sits between where Domination and TDM were during the PS4 Beta.
- Increased score rewards for streaks of 6, 7, 8, and 9 kills to better reward players.We agree with feedback that players who go on killstreaks in the 6-9 range were not rewarded enough by the Scorestreak system, and had to go on too high of a streak to earn powerful Scorestreaks compared to past games.
- This update increases those score values to better reward players for going on higher streaks.
Scorestreak Costs
- Adjusted costs for all Beta Scorestreaks.
- The process of dialing in the exact Scorestreak earn rate that feels good for the majority of players will take a few rounds of feedback, and this is the next step. Our process here will allow us to better evaluate feedback after the Crossplay Open Beta to have Scorestreaks in a solid place for launch.
Cooldowns
- Increased the cooldown on Spy Planes to help limit their numbers in the sky at one time.
STABILITY
- Fixed a crash that could occur when joining a match in progress where items were not properly spawned.
- Fixed a crash on PC that could occur on boot if Windows was set to certain languages with the “DD.MM.YYYY” date format (for example, Finnish and German).
- Additional general stability improvements on all platforms.
BUG FIXES
- Addressed an issue where a player could spawn outside of the map in Cartel at the start of a match.
2XP + 2X WEAPON XP NOW LIVE
Now through the rest of the Crossplay Open Beta, everyone gets 2XP and 2X Weapon XP to rank up and unlock weapon attachments twice as fast through the rest of the weekend! Don’t forget to reach level 10 to unlock the “Mutual Animosity” SMG Weapon Blueprint for launch.
Dirty Bomb Update - 16th October
Treyarch has issued an update to improve performance in Fireteam: Dirty Bomb during the Beta.
As a result, enemies in this game mode will no longer drop their weapon when killed.
Double XP - 16th October
Double XP and Double Weapon XP will be live throughout this weekend and goes live tonight at 6pm BST!
Weekend 2 Road Map - 15th October
Stats From Weekend One Will Carry Over To Weekend Two - 14th October
Your stats WILL carry over from the first weekend of the beta into the second weekend.
Treyarch “Working Hard” To Strengthen Servers - 14th October
Noticed a bit of lag during the Beta? Treyarch is supposedly aiming to strengthen servers.
Here's what we know.
Cartel's Bushes To Be Cut? - 14th October
Rumours are floating around that Cartel will be getting some gardening work done before the second weekend of the beta.
Here's what we know.
Drift0r Reveals Concerns Based On Game's Open Beta
Popular Call of Duty content creator has expressed his concerns with the new Call of Duty.
Read what he thinks right here.
Weekend 2 Trailer - 13th October
Play the #BlackOpsColdWar crossplay open Beta this weekend.📅 Oct 15: Free for all PS4 players. Xbox & PC pre-order Early Access.📅 Oct 17: Free and open to all players. pic.twitter.com/mcJArZV5un
— Call of Duty (@CallofDuty)
October 12, 2020
Day 4 Update - 11th October
New Black Ops Cold War Beta updates:
- Adjusted tuning on the Duster Stock attachment to prevent faster sliding than intended
- Increased the cooldown on the Spy Plane to help limit their numbers in the sky at one time
- Increased TDM score limit from 75 to 100
- Adjusted conditions for joining in progress to prevent players from joining matches that are about to end
- Fixed an additional crash that could occur during the Best Play in a VIP Escort match
Combined Arms: Assault Mode Goes Live Early - 10th October
The Combined Arms: Assault Mode has gone live early in the Black Ops Cold War beta.
Read all about it here!
Small Update - 10th October
Overnight, a small update was pushed to the beta:
- Fixed Snappoint and Diamondback Optics being misaligned in ADS and blocking the player's view
- Fixed a crash that could occur during the Best Play of a VIP Escort match
- Slightly reduced damage output of the Milano 821 SMG
- Fixed a bug where players would get "UI Error 66156" when selecting “Add Activision Friends” from the Recent Players menu
- Fixed a rare crash that could occur if a Gunboat was beached for too long
2nd Day Update And What's New - 9th October
- NEW Mode: VIP Escort
- In VIP Escort, your objective is to safely escort the VIP to one of two extraction zones, or wipe out the enemy team to win. If you’re on defense, you’ll need to stop the enemy VIP from extracting before your team is eliminated. Because this is a no-respawn mode, players can revive their downed teammates before they bleed out, so it pays to coordinate with your squad.
- Scorestreaks are disabled, and players will have access to their usual loadouts except for the randomly selected VIP each round, who spawns in with a pistol, two Smoke Grenades, two Frag Grenades, a Field Mic, and a Spy Plane. Teamwork is key, so you’ll need to communicate if you want the dub. (We’ve got more on that below.)
- NEW Level Cap: Level 25
- Updated the Assassin Perk description for clarity
- Fixed an issue where a controller could become unresponsive when loading into a match.
- Fixed a crash that could occur while selecting Operators in the front end.
- Fixed a crash that could occur when a SAM Turret missile hit a target when the turret was destroyed.
- Fixed an issue where other players’ names were not visible in the pre-match lobby.
Beta Weekend #1 Road Map - 8th October
SMG Blueprint - 6th October
Play the Black Ops Cold War beta and reach level 10 and you will unlock an SMG blueprint called 'Mutual Animosity'.
Release Date And Schedule
Black Ops Cold War's beta will begin on the 8th August 2020!
Here's the schedule for the Black Ops Cold War beta:
Weekend 1 - PlayStation Exclusive
- 8th-9th October: PS4 Early Access
- 10th-12th October: PS4 Open Beta
Weekend 2 - Crossplay Beta
- 15th-16th October: Xbox + PC Early Access, PS4 Open Beta
- 17th-19th October: Open to all Platforms
How To Get Into The Beta
Open Beta Access for Black Ops Cold War will invite players who pre-purchase Black Ops Cold War to the Open Beta.
The beta is available early to those that pre-order digitally. PS4 will receive the beta first as part of the exclusivity deal with Sony/PlayStation.
This comes as no surprise, considering this has been the case almost every year.
In the closing few days, the beta will be available to all players on that supported platform. Meaning you do not need a beta code to participate.
If you received a code to redeem for the game, you can redeem it here.
Read More: How To Get A Black Ops Cold War Beta Key For PS4, Xbox One And PC
Platforms
The Black Ops Cold War beta will be on the PS4, Xbox One And PC.
During the Modern Warfare beta, PS4 players got to play the beta first in an exclusive weekend.
During the second weekend beta, Xbox One and PC players also got their chance to play with PS4 users.
The beta will launch before the arrival of the next-generation consoles - the PS5 and Xbox Series X.
Patch Notes
Second Weekend Beta Changes
Full patch notes here.
- Movement
- Reduced the speed of the initial slide impulse and slightly shortened slide duration.
- Significantly reduced slide speed with the Duster Stock attachment equipped.
- Weapons
- Milano 821
- Reduced damage falloff range.
- This update causes the 4-hit kill range to turn to 5 hits at 12.8 meters, down from 19.2 meters during the PS4 Beta.
- AK-47
- Slightly reduced recoil.
- We’d like to see the AK-47 remain a top contender for assault rifle picks, and it was barely edged out by the XM4 and Krig 6 in the PS4 Beta. By reducing its recoil, we’re giving AK-47 users a better opportunity to compete.
- M16
- Increased time between bursts from .216s to .233s.
- This weapon’s high lethality and well-rounded attributes allowed it to over-perform even outside of its intended role during the PS4 Beta. This change keeps the M16’s power and accuracy while requiring more precision.
- Type 63
- Reduced recoil.
- Our new recoil system tuning made this weapon a bit too difficult to hit multiple shots on target. We’ve toned down the recoil to make it more effective as the precision weapon it was meant to be.
- RPD
- Slightly reduced hipfire spread.
- While the RPD can be effective at long range, we’ve improved its close-range reliability compared to the PS4 Beta.
- Gallo SA12
- Adjusted medium-range damage to require three hits to kill instead of two at mid-range.
- This was an extremely effective secondary throughout the PS4 Beta. With this tuning update, it will still take two hits to eliminate an enemy within a short-range, just not quite as far out.
- Milano 821
- Attachments
- Agency Suppressor
- Reduced some recoil bonuses
- This attachment came with too many strengths without enough tradeoffs during the PS4 Beta, particularly with how much it reduced recoil. This update reduces some of those bonuses while still making them notably beneficial.
- Agency Suppressor
- Field Upgrades
- Field Mic
- Reduced the range at the Field Mic can detect players who are crouching, ADS walking, or moving but not sprinting.
- During the PS4 Beta, this Field Upgrade did not incentivize counter-play as much as we were planning for. The Field Mic will now be less effective at detecting footstep noise from players who move more slowly.
- Equipment
- Frag Grenade
- Reduced the damage on the outer half of the Frag Grenade’s splash damage radius.
- While we expect Frag Grenade usage to drop significantly in the Crossplay Open Beta as more Wildcard and lethal options open up, we also agree with the feedback that frags resulted in kills a little too often.
- Known PC Issues and Workarounds
- Mouse Wheel Input Delay defaults at 0, which is lower than intended.
- Workaround: The player can adjust the value for the mouse wheel delay input in Settings. The recommended default value is 80.
- When many audio devices are available, it is not possible to view or select the last one from the drop-down list.
- Workaround: These audio devices can be selected using the keyboard.
- Some players on AMD GPUs may experience frequent packet burst spikes during gameplay.
- Workaround: Lowering the Graphics Settings can alleviate the severity of this issue
- Mouse Wheel Input Delay defaults at 0, which is lower than intended.
First Weekend Beta Changes
There are a lot of changes being implemented compared to the Alpha.
- Integrated updated locomotion animations and systems for walking, jogging and sprinting.
- Slightly increased acceleration when moving from a standstill.
- Reduced or removed several sprint penalties that could leave the player in a state of reduced sprint speed. This results in more opportunities to use the Sprint Takeoff feature for a quick burst of speed when initiating a sprint.
- Increased the time it takes to ramp down from maximum to minimum sprint speed for a smoother change of speed. This also slightly increases the time at which a player sprints at a faster pace.
- Slightly adjusted camera bob during sprint to better align with updated movement animations.
- Disabled Field of View increase when sprinting. This should provide a smoother in-game view and prevent a “floating camera” feeling when sprinting.
- Slightly reduced slide speed.
- Increased the minimum amount of time a player must sprint before sliding to better align with time to reach max sprint speed. This means a player cannot immediately trigger a slide from a near-standstill.
- Addressed an issue that allowed players to cancel a slide without the appropriate slowdown. We will continue to monitor and investigate any slide-cancel exploits.
- “We’ve refined our weapons tech and animations since the alpha, completed numerous tuning and tweaking passes on our weapons, and added more details to attachment statistics in Gunsmith,” Treyarch said.
- “We’ve also made several positive changes to how sniper rifles work based on alpha data and feedback.”
- Added a more detailed breakdown of statistics for each attachment, explaining in detail how each attachment influences its weapon’s stats.
- Moved the Gunsmith UI button closer to the weapon for easier access.
- Added new weapon-recoil systems and firing animations, with a comprehensive tuning pass for a revamped weapon-firing feel on every weapon for both hip-fire and ADS.
- Reworked and rebalanced all recoil patterns, impacting weapon balance and mastery across the board.
- Full touch-up pass on animations across all weapons based on feedback.
- Added new [aim-down-sights] weapon-rendering technology for more realistic ADS perspective. Smoothed out all ADS in/out transitions.
- Made tuning changes to alpha weapons that overperformed or underperformed, including increases to AK-74u recoil and ADS time, increasing LMG ammo capacity, and more.
- Full attachment-balance pass to ensure all attachments stay relevant and balanced.
- Added aim assist on snipers for controller users for cross-platform balancing.
- Several precision-aiming adjustments to help the sniping experience feel more fluid.
- Sniper glint now displays more often and more reliably to help players understand when they are in danger.
- Adjusted ADS time on sniper rifles.
- Sniper rifles now require higher hits on the body for one-hit eliminations (for example, upper chest instead of the stomach, or upper arm instead of the lower arm).
- Reduced the fuse time on the frag grenade for beta. Throw-speed adjustments are targeted for launch.
- Other improvements include changes to graphical fidelity, performance, lighting, audio, scorestreak-system adjustments, vehicle tunings, and bug fixings.
- The game also now features a “ping” system across all multiplayer gametypes, allowing players to mark locations for their teammates.
- Added bass and punch to all weapon sounds by adjusting master EQ and compression output.
- Added 3 presets to Audio Settings (Treyarch Mix, Bass Boost, and High Boost) to suit player preferences.
- Redesigned several weapon audio layers, corrected audio decay playback, and added blending for interior/exterior sounds.
- Polished reverb audio across all maps.
- Crouch-walking now functions as a near-silent movement option available to all players, with or without the Ninja Perk.
- ADS crouch-walking now makes the player’s footstep audio even quieter. Enemies should not hear the player when crouching outside of extreme close quarters.
- While Ninja is equipped, core movements such as sprinting, jogging, and walking are now greatly reduced in volume and distance by roughly 50% compared to the Alpha.
- ADS walking will also provide a significant stealth advantage when using Ninja.
- Added new sounds for fatal and non-fatal hit markers.
- Polished audio for several Scorestreaks.
- Reduced the volume of the Spy Plane’s locational pings.
- For the first time in a Black Ops game, Spy Plane pings are directional and locational based on where an enemy is when they are swept by the radar, allowing for pinpoint accuracy. As this is a new mechanic, we will continue to monitor and adjust as necessary.
- Tweaked the bullet crack system to prevent players from hearing sounds when they shouldn’t, and vice versa.
- Objective score rewards have been increased in Domination, Kill Confirmed, and Hardpoint. These changes will reward any objective player and do not require or reward objective streaking.
- Adjusted Scorestreak rewards to reduce Scorestreak spam and make Scorestreaks more rewarding. Players will need to go on higher streaks in a single life to earn top-tier Scorestreaks. The curve has been flattened out on the low end, and ramps up quickly as the player earns higher kill-streak numbers.
- Reduced Scorestreak cooldowns to offset these changes and allow players to cycle through Scorestreaks more often.
- Full spawn pass for Team Deathmatch and Kill Confirmed modes on Miami with the goal of reducing the time to engagement and increasing the overall pace of 6v6 game modes.
- Spawns at the ends of the map have been pulled in closer.
- Added new spawns to get players back into the fight faster.
- Adjusted the spawn logic to reduce the distance at which an enemy player will influence the enemy team’s spawn points.
- Spawn adjustments across all maps
- Reworked the bullet damage mitigation model for Tanks to provide a more consistent experience across weapon classes. This fixes issues where some guns seemed inordinately more powerful against vehicles than others.
- Adjusted the “Cavalry Lancer” weapon attachment to be more consistent across weapons, especially on LMGs. We will continue to keep a close eye on tuning this for launch.
- Reduced Tank health to make launchers and C4 more effective counters.
- Reduced the deadliness of the Tank shell’s splash damage.
- Added Field of View (FOV) slider on all platforms to define the height and width of the player’s view in Settings.
- Added locational Ping system across all MP modes, allowing players to ping objectives, loot, locations, and enemies for teammates during a match using D-pad left on controllers or Z on keyboards by default.
- Alternate button layouts, like Bumper Ping and Bumper Ping Tactical, can be selected in the Gameplay Settings menu.
- Adjusted the ruleset around when friendly player names would show to reduce instances where friendly name plates would appear over enemies in certain situations.
- Added the ability to toggle visuals for the compass, enemy and ally health bars, hit markers, crosshairs, player names, and button hints in Settings.
- Expanded the options to reduce minimum stick input threshold (or “deadzone”) to 0.
- Our data from Alpha showed that Kill Confirmed was ending on time limit too frequently in the Alpha, so we’ve reduced the score limit to 65 for the Beta.
- We’ve enabled the ability for players to rotate their Operator, swap weapons, ADS, and changes stances during the pre-round timer.
- We’ll be introducing a deep progression system synchronized across Multiplayer, Zombies, and Warzone that deserves its own time in the spotlight, and we’ll have more details in a dedicated blog as we get closer to launch. While players won’t see this full progression system in the Beta, you’ll be able to rank up to certain levels to unlock additional content throughout both Beta weekends.
Sniping now features aim-assist, which hasn't been a feature in a Treyarch game since Black Ops 2.
Finally, consoles can get a FOV Slider and join the "PC Master Race". They have warned there may be some framerate issues.
The HUD Elements feature allows players to quickly remove annoying extras such as player names, health bars, crosshairs and more.
What Is Included?
Modes
- Team Deathmatch
- Domination
- Hardpoint
- Kill Confirmed
- VIP Escort
- Combined Arms: Assault (12v12 mode)
- Combined Arms: Domination (12v12 mode)
- Fireteam: Dirty Bomb (40-player mode)
Maps
- Miami
- Satellite
- Moscow
- Cartel (6v6 & 12v12)
- Armada (6v6 & 12v12)
- Crossroads (6v6 & 12v12)
- Alpine (40 players)
- Ruka (40 players)
Weapons
- Assault Rifle
- Krig-6
- Commando XM4
- AK-47
- QBZ-83
- Tactical Rifles
- M16
- Type 63
- SMGs
- MP5
- Milano 821
- AK-74u
- Type 821
- KSP 45
- LMGs
- RPD
- Stoner 63
- Shotguns
- Hauer 77
- Gallo SA12
- Sniper Rifles
- Pelington 703
- LW3-Tundra
- Pistols
- 1911
- Diamatti
- Magnum
- Launchers
- Cigma 2
- RPG-7
- Melee
- Knife
Why Is This The Most Important Beta?
With Treyarch taking over the development of Black Ops Cold War a third of the way through the three-year development cycle, releasing a beta sooner rather than later would be one of the most effective ways to iron out any glaring bugs and glitches that will be in the game.
After a mixed fan reception to the release of Modern Warfare, Black Ops Cold War needs to be a return to familiarity rather than contain maps which are far too big for any form of fun.
With such a high amount of pressure on Treyarch, can they produce the goods once again?