The free-to-play battle royale Call of Duty: Warzone has fallen on hard times. Cheaters, bugs, OP weapons, unpopular content – almost every flaw was up for a dive. But since the launch of – Season 2 in February 2022, the winds have changed – and it may be worth your while to jump in or return.

Warzone is a standalone Call of Duty “Battle Royale” that gives you free access to the series’ superior shooter gameplay. Especially at the release in 2020, the title literally exploded and was the talk of the town. But then came the lull.

Little content, hardly any innovations, a broken weapon meta, cheater plagues – Warzone annoyed many players, who then left the shooter in frustration. The developers also explained what bug was behind all the problems.

However, after the changes in recent months, the Battle Royale has undergone a major transformation. Just about every aspect in the game has been tweaked, every little mechanic has been scrutinized.

If you’re a veteran and haven’t noticed any of this, or if you’re a fresh newcomer, we’d like to show you some of the best changes that have been made in the last few months and explain how they’ve positively affected Warzone.

If you want a short introduction to the game beforehand, take a look at our video:

Increase of the life points

What was that change? After the introduction of the map Caldera, Warzone had the “Vanguard Royale”. Here you were only allowed to use Vanguard weapons and there were other rules and content that were only available here.

The developers used this mode as a test lab and introduced more health points – 50 to be exact. Along with armor, the total health went up to 300.

Meanwhile, the change applies to all modes on all maps.

Why is this so good? Adjusting health points brought a breath of fresh air to the weapon meta. The time-to-kill values changed, the cards were reshuffled.

More importantly, it changed the feel of combat in a positive way. You’re not down quite as fast anymore, and you make it behind cover more often.

This has made the battles more exciting. Good movement and smart cover play benefit. But the adjustment was not so great that better players could take a huge advantage of it.

A simple and very effective adjustment that made Warzone directly better.

Caldera rebuild, new map and map rotation.

What was that change? The great map Caldera had to listen to a lot of criticism from day 1. The mood quickly changed from “finally a new map” to “give us back Verdansk”.

With the launch of – Season 4, the developers have responded to the feedback. There are many new small locations that fill in previously empty areas. Even the Verdansk favorite “Storage Town” is included. In addition, vegetation has been reduced by 50% in many places and enemy visibility has been improved.

The popular little map Rebirth Island has become a crowd favorite due to the age of Verdansk and skepticism of Caldera. Mid– Season 2 brought many changes here as well at the end of March, which were positively received by players.

In addition, thanks to map rotation, there are now three maps in Warzone for the first time. Similar in size to Rebirth Island, you now hunt through the alleys of Fortune’s Keep on your way to victory.

Why is this so good? Just because of the new map rotation with the third map, Warzone offers much more content and variety. The small maps should then change daily in the near future.

But the continued work on the old maps based on player feedback has also paid off. With every update, new locations are added and unpopular things are patched out.

Warzone has become much more player-friendly in recent months. The developers continue to not respond to certain issues, such as matchmaking. But away from that, they are listening much more to feedback and explaining how they incorporate it into the development process.

That’s very good for Battle Royale.

Lootable Perks

What was that change? Previously, you could only bring perks into play through your loadouts. Now, the powerful passive bonuses are also lying around as ground loots.

There are even really strong bonuses that many players like to take:

• Battle scout
• Eager
• Spirit
• In Cold Blood

Why is this so good? One developer called the lootable perks a gamechanger shortly after they were introduced. And indeed, the random perks you can find bring a new dynamic to the game.

With the bagged bonuses in mind, new tactics can be tried. Also, it’s more worthwhile to create different loadouts so you don’t duplicate strong perks.

This gameplay trick is as simple as it is brilliant because of that. It brings a new level, more depth to the game, using the very things that were actually already in the game.

More time in the match than on the bench

What was that change? The developers explained in the Mid– Season 3 patch notes their strategy behind the changes made in the last months and in the future:

• More counters – mechanics should have appropriate counter gameplay
• More Movement – You shall progress faster and movement techniques will be expanded.
• More Play Time – The time you spend watching in the match shall be reduced.

The “More game time” point is particularly exciting. The developers want to make sure that you come back into the game faster after a death. This brings in more dynamics and ensures that there is more action on the maps.

The measures:

• Gulag token introduced
  • If you collect the item after you’ve already been to the Gulag, you can enter the resurrection duel again
• Re-entry token
  • If you have this piece, you will come back directly after being killed
• Resurrection cheaper
  • You only need 3,000 cash to buy back team members

Why is this so good? Battle Royale are a fantastic experience when played as a team. But unfortunately, teammates are doomed to watch when they’re busted.

Warzone wants to actively combat “time on the bench” and ensure that all players participate more in the match. Again, a strong change that fits the Warzone foundation. Indeed, of the most popular and largest Battle Royale, Warzone is the “easiest”.

Relaxed weapon meta for more variety

What was that change? This is not one or a few changes, but a general change in strategy. And this change has been in the offing for some time.

In the first 1.5 years of Warzone, changes in weapons were sometimes arbitrary and not very comprehensible. In the meantime, there are many explanations for the adjustments and clear reactions to the weapons that are actually too strong or too weak.

Here and there you can still identify customizations that come into play due to a new real-money bundle. A recent example of this is the MAC-10, which was surprisingly buffed with – Season 4 and then an elaborate skin bundle appeared in the store.

However, most of the weapon adjustments are done in the spirit of a fair weapon meta.

Why is it so good? You generally need to be less concerned with which guns are currently “OP”. Many guns are on the same level, the advantages of a particular gun is not so great that it trumps all others.

In the beginning, OP weapons were giving each other a run for their money in Warzone. No sooner was one gone than players discovered the next one, and it sometimes took months for a nerf to arrive.

Nowadays, overpowered weapons are generated after a week at the latest. If a weapon is played too much, you can usually expect a nerf in the next – Season or mid– Season update.

Overall, this has made Warzone much fairer and it’s been exciting to see Warzone evolve in this regard.

Bonus: RICOCHET turns up the heat

Cheaters are unfortunately a part of a Free2Play game, but Warzone has done a lot right with the anti-cheat system.

The system is still heavily dependent on your player reports. So if you discover a cheater, use the report function immediately.

Overall, however, the problem has been noticeably reduced and you’ll encounter uninvited cheaters much less often. However, the real practical test for RICOCHET is still to come – with the release of Warzone 2 and the possible hype with many new players and also cheaters:

Personal conclusion: Warzone has (almost) never been so good

Conclusion – MyMMO author Maik Schneider: I’ve been playing Warzone since day one and, as is often the case, the feeling of the first 100 hours of play can’t just be recaptured. Everything was still new, fresh and exciting.

However, Warzone didn’t deliver back then, brought little content and weird changes. Plus the annoying cheaters. But that is no longer a comparison to today.

I’ve been playing Warzone more regularly again for a few weeks now and I’m really happy about the changes. Through my work at MeinMMO I have followed everything meticulously, tested every now and then and meanwhile the desire, the Bock on Warzone is back.

Looking for a Battle Royale or turned away in frustration a while ago, get into Warzone now.

Because even though I sometimes look over at Fortnite with envy, Warzone is and will always be the best Battle Royale on the market and especially well suited for beginners.