Pay-to-win is a term rarely heard within the Call of Duty community, particularly in Vanguard where Sledgehammer Games issues regular doses of weapon balancing to ensure a relatively level playing field. The Season 1 Reloaded update saw numerous weapons nerfed, including the Double Barrel Shotgun.
Following the nerf, players were quick to uncover a Double Barrel Shotgun blueprint that features an attachment combination that's unavailable within the gunsmith, much to their annoyance
With an additional attachment available, the popularity of the shotgun has undergone a significant resurgence, with many players using it to their advantage in multiplayer.
Vanguard Pay-to-Win Shotgun Blueprint
The blueprint in question is Wild Marble and utilises eight of the ten available attachment slots. The blueprint includes the Akimbo Proficiency which restricts the use of the Underbarrel slot but the inclusion of the SMLE Pistol Grip ignores the restriction.
The only way to acquire the blueprint is to purchase the Scavenger Hunt bundle for 1400 COD Points, causing several players to express their frustrations. Reddit user 'M4GIX' revealed that this isn't the first time pay-to-win blueprints have appeared in Vanguard.
"People had an STG which had either attachments of proficiencies that you couldn't get on the base gun," explained the player. One commenter even went as far as claiming that Sledgehammer Games "don't know anything about the game."
Is Call of Duty Vanguard Pay-to-Win?
Despite the instances of some blueprints containing incorrect attachment combinations by spending COD Points, Vanguard isn't a pay-to-win game. It's highly likely that the attachments used on the Wild Marble blueprint was an oversight and will change in an upcoming update.