Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 Blackout Launch Changes Detailed by Treyarch

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 developer Treyarch has detailed the changes it will make to the final game based on feedback received during the last week or so for the beta for battle royale mode Blackout. Aspects include armour, inventory pickups and management, audio adjustments, and performance on Xbox One. Some of these were continually tweaked during the beta as well.

In a thread on the Black Ops 4 subreddit, Treyarch said that it has reduced availability of ‘Level 3 Armour’ by 75 percent, which will mostly be found in ‘Stashes’ and ‘Supply Drops’ rather than in the open world. Moreover, Level 3 Armour will now break sooner and pass more damage to the player. That said, headshot protection is still paramount. There will also be an indicator of armour health in the heads-up display (HUD).

As for inventory, Treyarch said it’s testing tap-to-pickup on console. “We like this idea a lot and want to be sure we get it right and test it thoroughly,” it added. It’s also testing a change to proximity and height for items, so players don’t have to be as precise as before for pickups. And the Black Ops 4 developer is mulling the idea of "closing the Quick Equip menu if the player performs other actions such as firing a weapon, changing stance, starting a Sprint, etc.”

Blackout beta players complained of footsteps being “louder or quieter than expected” and Treyarch said it is working on appropriate fixes. Lastly, it’s investigating reports of screen tearing and choppiness on Xbox One, and will have fixes ready in time for launch for losing controller input after pressing the Xbox button and inviting friends.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 is out October 12 on PC, PS4 and Xbox One.

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