Call of Duty Thread - Potential return to form? Or nothing but cope on the horizon? You decide!

[30+GameOvers]

This was one of the top results for "XDefiant skins"

Looks pretty quaint compared to the skins we see in modern COD

BO4 is the least popular COD.

Absolutely not, that would be Vanguard with MW5/MW2022 behind it. BO4 has a small, dedicated community that loves the unique changes it brought that were shortly abandoned after MW4/MW2019, Vanguard and MW2022 are universally hated for bringing nothing new and lowering the standards seen in MW2019/Cold War. This goes especially for Vanguard, of which I have not seen a genuine fan of since release, best people can say about it was "w-well at least it didn't have doors like MW2019!". Even MW6/2023 has a bigger fanbase.

Just having them sucks.

Abilities spice up gameplay when used and balanced properly. Otherwise, you get the same stale slop we've been getting since 2019. XDefiant evolved BO4 formula in a way that makes it arguably better than how even BO3 handled it. The only people I hear talking smack about the abilities is the same people who suck at using them, ie low skill scrubs. Never heard anything bad from the people that can actually use them properly, funny how that works.

So basically, Ubisoft mimicked everything about the least popular COD that made it unpopular and can't figure out why it wasn't popular.

XDefiant did nothing wrong, it only failed due to Ubisoft's incompetence. The growing pains it had were nothing special that other GAAS shooters don't have, and it was definitely less broken than your average COD game these days on release. Any company that isn't retarded would have kept the lights on, you know why? So they could potentially enjoy a windfall in the future, say when their competitor loses 50% of it's fucking userbase. Considering the current state of Ubisoft, I can imagine the reason why they cut XDefiant off is because they quite literally ran out of cash, especially when you consider Assassin's Creed: Nigger comes out in a couple of months and that is going to be a disaster on such a scale that they're already getting ready for a straight out buyout.

Your opinions about this game are both uneducated and wrong. No offense, but I'm not going to take them seriously, especially when I see something like this when randomly browsing another thread

I got a PS4 at launch for Gran Turismo 7, GTA 6, and Elder Scrolls VI.

Really, dawg? You're gonna buy a PS4 for fucking TES? Not only is it going to be slop that is going to make Starfield look playable, but without mods on top of that? Jesus. The other two I can at least understand.

 

[The Ugly One]

So did all three flop?

I remember reading that BO4, which sold fewer units than WaW, made over $1b due to MTX, more money than BO2 made, so they probably all made money.

Looks pretty quaint compared to the skins we see in modern COD

"This gay movie has slightly less gay sex as this other gay movie, why wouldn't you watch it?"

Absolutely not, that would be Vanguard with MW5/MW2022 behind it.

It's BO4 with ~15m (I can't find the number right now, but WaW was 17m, and BO4 was behind that). Vanguard sold over 30 million units. MW2022 was close to it. MW 2019 was a massive shot in the arm to the series. The series doesn't hit sales trouble until MWIII, which still managed to outsell BO4.

Abilities spice up gameplay when used and balanced properly.

I don't want to play a hero shooter, no matter how good it is. Let me put it this way. Call of Duty is a cheeseburger. A hero shooter is a fried chicken sandwich. If I ask for a cheeseburger, I don't care if you bring me the best fried chicken sandwich in the world, I asked for a cheeseburger.

XDefiant did nothing wrong,

It failed to be a game people wanted to play.

Really, dawg? You're gonna buy a PS4 for fucking TES? Not only is it going to be slop that is going to make Starfield look playable

How was I supposed to know in 2013 that a 2023 game would be bad? The last couple games Bethesda had made were Skyrim and Fallout 3. Both were highly regarded at the time, and people were eagerly looking forward to the follow-up games. Nobody knew how disappointing the next 10 years would be, including you. Honestly, the fact that you are shocked that in 2014, I, along with many other people, was looking forward to the follow-up to probably the best-selling RPG ever, shows that you don't understand the gaming market at all.

 

[30+GameOvers]

Honestly, the fact that you are shocked that in 2014, I, along with many other people, was looking forward to the follow-up to probably the best-selling RPG ever, shows that you don't understand the gaming market at all.

I could respond to the rest of what you said, but I won't for the reason I have already given. All I will say to this in particular, is repeat that you unironically spend about 400$(the price of a new PS4 at launch) to play an unmodded Bethesda game. Maybe the slightly more advanced mechanics of XDefiant and Black Ops 4 compared to slop of duty 2019 and onwards(which all play the same) are just too hard for you to grasp, in which case a conversation about these games with you is a waste of time.
In which case, I rest my case: Advanced Movement COD games still reign supreme, just because they filter so much of the fanbase.

 

[The Ugly One]

Maybe the slightly more advanced mechanics of XDefiant and Black Ops 4 compared to slop of duty 2019 and onwards(which all play the same) are just too hard for you to grasp

Black Ops 4: 15m units
MW 2019: 30m units

What you don't understand is "I, personally, like this" and "This is very popular" are not equivalent statements. You can be pissed off all you want that what the fans want is a paint-by-numbers reprisal of Army Man And His Bros Shooting Guns In Warville, but the fact remains...that's what people want. It's what sells. XDefiant copied what sold poorly and sold poorly. I took one look at it when people were shilling it and said, "This will not sell well. Everyone hoping this will be a COD killer is going to be disappointed."

My prediction was right, and yours was wrong, because I understand what makes COD successful better than you do. It doesn't matter how many mods you install to replay Skyrim for the 1,374th time. It doesn't matter how good you were at Infinite Warfare. You don't understand market behavior, and I do.

In which case, I rest my case: Advanced Movement COD games still reign supreme, just because they filter so much of the fanbase.

You can either filter fans or sell well, but you can't do both. In the case of XDefiant, the cartoony, advanced movement hero shooter filtered out so many fans that it outright failed in the marketplace.

 

[The Last Stand]

Never forget Last Gen Richtofen
View attachment 6842174

How about Wii Makarov?

 

[30+GameOvers]

How about Wii Makarov?

View attachment 6845604

Were the graphics there that bad? Jesus
Since we got people reminiscing about Wii ports, I heard that WaW had a survival mode that is rumored to be a prototype for what would be included with MW3. Is it true, and was it any good?

 

[The Last Stand]

Abilities spice up gameplay when used and balanced properly. Otherwise, you get the same stale slop we've been getting since 2019. XDefiant evolved BO4 formula in a way that makes it arguably better than how even BO3 handled it. The only people I hear talking smack about the abilities is the same people who suck at using them, ie low skill scrubs. Never heard anything bad from the people that can actually use them properly, funny how that works.

Key words: when used and balanced properly. Abilities/ultimates do not work for a game like Call of Duty because of its lower TTK and reliance on killstreaks.

Maybe the slightly more advanced mechanics of XDefiant and Black Ops 4 compared to slop of duty 2019 and onwards(which all play the same) are just too hard for you to grasp, in which case a conversation about these games with you is a waste of time.

From my research, the common consensus to Black Ops 4's less than expected sales (or popularity) was related to its post launch monetization, absence of a traditional campaign, and half-assed hero shooter mechanics. (I believe it had game breaking bugs at launch, but that's standard for many AAA games now, unfortunately.) Or maybe just Call of Duty fatigue, I cannot say for sure.

 

[The Ugly One]

How about Wii Makarov?

View attachment 6845604

Infinity Ward said Modern Warfare wouldn't come to Wii because cinematic games are impossible on such a weak platform (despite plenty of examples on the PS2). Then Treyarch ported WaW to the Wii mostly to prove they could. I heard there were a couple guys inside the studio who liked the challenge of down-porting, which is why that happened at all.

 

[30+GameOvers]

Key words: when used and balanced properly. Abilities/ultimates do not work for a game like Call of Duty because of its lower TTK and reliance on killstreaks.

That's the brilliant thing about XDefiant: There is no killstreaks, leading to a more skill based gameplay where you only have yourself and your gear to depend on. Abilities were busted in BO4 since you had streaks and super-gear on top of all that. BO3 was more fair with it since you had to chose between a super gun or an OP ability.

From my research, the common consensus to Black Ops 4's less than expected sales (or popularity) was related to its post launch monetization, absence of a traditional campaign, and half-assed hero shooter mechanics. (I believe it had game breaking bugs at launch, but that's standard for many AAA games now, unfortunately.) Or maybe just Call of Duty fatigue, I cannot say for sure

BO4 was far from perfect and most people slept on it, however it's three main modes(Multiplayer/Blackout/Zombies) are all unique for COD, you can only get this kind of experience from this game. Hence why there is still a small, dedicated community for BO4, where as Vanguard and MWII/III were already dying out before their year was up. Sales and player numbers aren't a "gotcha" you think it is, for this game or any other.

 

[The Ugly One]

Key words: when used and balanced properly. Abilities/ultimates do not work for a game like Call of Duty because of its lower TTK and reliance on killstreaks.

Even when done right, it still fundamentally changes the game. From WaW onward, my go-to setup for Domination was a smoke grenade + C4. Then BO4 comes around, removed the smoke entirely (until the ninja came out), and turned the grenade into a timed "power," and now everything is completely different.

It seems like not a big deal, but it felt like a bigger change to the gameplay than AW's boost packs were.

From my research, the common consensus to Black Ops 4's less than expected sales (or popularity) was related to its post launch monetization, absence of a traditional campaign, and half-assed hero shooter mechanics. (I believe it had game breaking bugs at launch, but that's standard for many AAA games now, unfortunately.) Or maybe just Call of Duty fatigue, I cannot say for sure.

• Unwelcome changes to fundamental gameplay
• No campaign
• Terrible aesthetics
• Flanderized 3-lane maps
• Awful weapon balance

 

[The Last Stand]

XDefiant did nothing wrong, it only failed due to Ubisoft's incompetence. The growing pains it had were nothing special that other GAAS shooters don't have, and it was definitely less broken than your average COD game these days on release.

It failed to be a game people wanted to play.

XDefiant failed to grab ME because of its desync issues, horrible progression system and cringe-inducing character quips. What is aspires to be and the final product are two different things.

 

[Local FloRida-man]

I just bought blops 1 and have been playing through the old zombies maps again and man... I really miss when zombies wasn't about stupid cthullhu shit. I miss when the vibe was "ghost story with military men thrown in" not "alien squid invasion with Buffy characters." I actually even miss when we didn't know everything. Whenever I see the words "Dr. Monty" or "apothicons" i just think "wow, that sounds really fucking stupid"

I think I'll replay some blops 2 maps too. I used to despise them, but the tranzit crew have grown on me, especially after how blops 4 fumbled them so hard. They were certainly more interesting than the current crew of black man, eyepatch man, dike, and other dike.

 

[30+GameOvers]

View attachment 6845740

XDefiant failed to grab ME because of its desync issues, horrible progression system and cringe-inducing character quips. What is aspires to be and the final product are two different things.

Fair enough. The actual moment to moment gameplay was king, but it's obviously not for everybody. I couldn't care less about the characters, it's more of a "this is what we have to work with" when you make a crossover shooter of modern Ubisoft franchises. Technical issues, on the other hand, there really is no excuse, but from what I heard it effected some people more than others. COD is still much worse on this front, especially since SBMM now actively controls your lag as well, skill based ping if you will.

I just bought blops 1 and have been playing through the old zombies maps again and man... I really miss when zombies wasn't about stupid cthullhu shit. I miss when the vibe was "ghost story with military men thrown in" not "alien squid invasion with Buffy characters." I actually even miss when we didn't know everything. Whenever I see the words "Dr. Monty" or "apothicons" i just think "wow, that sounds really fucking stupid"

I think I'll replay some blops 2 maps too. I used to despise them, but the tranzit crew have grown on me, especially after how blops 4 fumbled them so hard. They were certainly more interesting than the current crew of black man, eyepatch man, dike, and other dike.

The original zombies team was headed by Jimmy Zelinsky, who quit writing zombies around Buried. Mob of the Dead and Origins onwards it was Blundell's show and it is really obvious when the change happened. Now, we have nu-Zombies under the head of Craig Houston, and lord only knows where he will lead us. I will say this: The ending of BO4 zombies is worth going thru the cthullhu cringe, since there is a good payoff to it. Shame that Chaos never got off the ground, and instead we got Dark Aether as a follow up, but if you stop playing the mode after "Tag Der Toten" you will miss out on nothing.

 

[The Last Stand]

I just bought blops 1 and have been playing through the old zombies maps again and man... I really miss when zombies wasn't about stupid cthullhu shit. I miss when the vibe was "ghost story with military men thrown in" not "alien squid invasion with Buffy characters." I actually even miss when we didn't know everything. Whenever I see the words "Dr. Monty" or "apothicons" i just think "wow, that sounds really fucking stupid"

I think Black Ops 1 started the whole Zombies lore with the crazy easter eggs. I would love to replay Black Ops 1 if I can find a copy.

 

[The Ugly One]

Should also add that BO4 felt like a huge bait and switch. They hyped up "boots on the ground," making it sound like we were finally going back to normal...and then "Oh yeah plus it's a hero shooter now lol."

 

[Lance 45]

The Call of Duty cycle is falling apart​

Time really is a circle for these clickbait faggots. They've said the exact same shit since 2009 and said "dying franchises" they always talk about are still around and kicking for many more years to come.

 

[Blackstar]

I miss when zombies lore was hidden through radios scattered through the map, interactable objects, and map design like it was done in WaW.

 

[30+GameOvers]

I think Black Ops 1 started the whole Zombies lore with the crazy easter eggs. I would love to replay Black Ops 1 if I can find a copy.

It was actually Der Riese in WaW, the first "modern" Easter Egg was the "The Fly Trap", originally called as such since it distracted players with a side activity that offered nothing in the way of a reward, which could kill them if they weren't careful. In the BO3 remake, this ended up being made into a "proper" Easter Egg required for the completion of the Super-Easter egg and giving all players The Annihilator for the rest of the match.

Should also add that BO4 felt like a huge bait and switch. They hyped up "boots on the ground," making it sound like we were finally going back to normal...and then "Oh yeah plus it's a hero shooter now lol."

There was no "bait and switch", originally the game was a futuristic jetpack title and it was turned into a boot on the ground game at the last moment. If you look in the code, the game still has jetpacks and it even had jetpacks as planned "killstreaks" up until the last minute. This is why everybody is so fast, advanced movement is still there despite jetpacks being turned off. If anyone thought BO4 was going to be a "classic boots on ground game" with no heroes(lol, lmao even, they never hid that aspect in marketing) then that's on them.

 

[Scream Aim Fire]

Been playing Ghosts Multiplayer a bit more; started grinding out unlock points to unlock the rest of the custom characters, starting with the 500 point guy, then moving on down. Couple of things I've noticed nowadays.

Big one is that I've started seeing a few hackers/cheaters pop up on PS4/5; nothing major for the most part, they tend to be fairly "meh", so it's not the end of the game. That said, I did get into a match or two with one guy that kept consistently going 24-0; was fairly obvious he was cheating, given that he was constantly aware of everyone at all times, killcam made it obvious. Still, after I reported him, he never popped up again in any matches; there's enough people still playing TDM at least that you can still swap lobbies.

Aside from that, I've been testing out some different combinations of guns; M27 is still the best, but it's nice to give everything a once-over at least. Been looking into the SMGs and shotguns a bit more; they're not the best, given how big the typical Ghosts map is - most people only have the base game and maybe DLC 1, so you can't really play on the smaller maps - but they're still a decent option if you know when/where to use them. Surprisingly, I've noticed a lot more people adapting/playing on the larger maps now; seen more than half a lobby vote to play on Stonehaven, which is nice.

Funnily/sadly enough, I'm also unironically noticing more stuff in Ghosts after all this time; for instance, never knew there was a diner on the "Octane" map, I always thought the Pawn Shop was the edge. Likewise, found that Ghosts had two Multiplayer maps with the same layout; Strikezone and Unearthed, both of which are copied from the OG MW3's Dome, though they still looked/played differently enough that it never really mattered, unlike MW23 and its multiple versions of Shipment. It's amazing what you can find when you stop and really take a look around, you know?

 

[30+GameOvers]

Well, it's 2025, and you know what that means if you ever played Black Ops 2: Total Westoid Death!

https://callofduty.fandom.com/wiki/Aftermath_(map)

The game took a few liberties, for one the date is wrong, two it wasn't the drone strikes that did LA in but retarded California policies themselves.
Other than that, City of Angeles isn't looking THAT different right now! Maybe if we're lucky, PMCs will free us from the clutches of the glow-in-dark "Black Ops" and White House will catch on fire like in one of the endings, but I doubt it.
Still, that's one more prediction than I would have thought BO2 would make, so you never know...