Black Ops Cold War: All weapon changes from beta to launch

In the launch update for Black Ops Cold War, Treyarch has specifically fine-tuned SMG’s and AR’s based off Beta feedback.

For the launch of Black Ops Cold War, Treyarch will be releasing a patch to fine adjust weapons based on community feedback. Hot topics since the beta regarding superior SMG range, AR inconsistency and Sniper balancing have all been addressed. Here’s the breakdown.

Assault Rifles

• Tuned general assault rifle performance closer to Krig 6 and XM4 Beta performance for better balance across the class.
• Increased AK-47 recoil.

By far, the fan-favorite in the beta was the Krig 6 and the XM4, which offered superior handling and bullet velocity (travel time) over the other AR’s across the board. Weapons like the AK-47 were overshadowed by the weapons, thus making them dominant.

Using the XM4 & Krig as a baseline for other AR’s will ensure they will all perform well across the board. The AK-47 recoil increase most likely comes in the form of a tradeoff for more damage, since the weapon hits notoriously harder than the other AR’s.

SMG’s

• Reduced SMG effectiveness at longer ranges to counter the dominance of the class seen in the Beta.

In the Black Ops Cold War beta, SMG’s like the MP5 and Milano had great range and capabilities. While they offered lower damage than Assault Rifles, the increased handling and movement speed more than made up for the difference. Players more often ran SMG’s and scored kills at ranges most suitable for AR’s.

• Read More: Treyarch dev says all CoD games have had SBMM, says it can be ‘tuned’

This change hopefully will balance the playing field between the AR and SMG classes.

Sniper Rifles

• Adjusted aim assist to feel smoother yet require more skill and precision.
• Slightly increased sniper rifle ADS times.
• Sniper scope glint will now display more regularly.

In the beta, snipers felt very “snappy” with aim assist on controllers. This gave controller players a bit of an edge when sniping, making it a bit easier for them to compete with PC players. Unfortunately, this led to some negative feedback from prominent snipers like FaZe Dirty and FaZe Kitty.

Snipers are getting aim assist in Cold War and I'm bummed… makes it easier for everyone

— Dirty (@FaZeDirty) October 7, 2020

I genuinely enjoy Cold War. My only complaint besides the obvious SBMM strength, is the inconsistency in sniper damage. I'm literally getting hitmarkers to the neck, that should never be a thing.

If anything nerf the ADS (slow it down) or remove aim assist, not the damage.

— Kitty (@FaZe_Kitty) October 10, 2020

Now with the most recent adjustments, the goal seems to make sniping more skillful on controller, and also make it less fast-paced (quick scoping) by increasing the ADS times.

Additionally, increasing the Sniper scope glint will give players increased alertness to Snipers at a distance.

With these changes, we can expect to see the meta being changed from the beta in the final game.