Confused CoD: Vanguard players desperate for faction uniforms

Nathan Warby
Call of Duty: Vanguard character holding rifle

Call of Duty: Vanguard has been criticized for its lack of identifiable factions throughout its Beta. Now, a Reddit video has shown that similar character models are causing confusion among players.

Players taking part in the Call of Duty: Vanguard Beta have raised several potential issues with the next CoD title, from the mini-map to the distortion that affects aiming.

But one of the biggest complaints coming out of the Beta is the lack of factions like the Allies and Axis, which are pivotal to a World War II setting.

The debate is heating up once again, as players have claimed that similar character uniforms for the Vanguard Factions are causing chaos in multiplayer matches.

Vanguard characters in a line

In a post entitled “Why we need faction uniforms,” Reddit user KiraElijah uploaded a video that seems to prove that Sledgehammer’s decision to make teammates and enemies look almost identical is leading to cases of mistaken identity.

In the video, the player aims out of a window and scores a handful of rapid kills. When they stop aiming down the scope, they find that an enemy player crouched at the same window.

The enemy was utterly unaware that they were directly next to a rival player, and it led to a quick death that they almost certainly didn’t see coming.

Other fans responded to the post, reporting similar instances where they had “no clue” whether they were running with enemies or teammates. The issue of there being no specific uniforms for Vanguard Factions seems to be more evident on smaller maps where there are many players in an objective.

Some Beta players have even tied altering their settings to try and make visibility better and stop any confusion.

“I’ve changed the settings in color customization. I basically just made the enemy color a brighter red,” said one user. “It helps but doesn’t fix the issues.”

The reason for Sledgehammer removing Vanguard factions is currently unknown. Still, it has been speculated it could be to do with promoting more character customization or distancing the devs from controversial topics like the Axis in WWII.

call of duty vanguard minigun killstreaks

It remains to be seen if the developers will react to the communities complaints and add a better way of recognizing enemies.

As Call of Duty: Vanguard is still in its beta phase, there is plenty of time to make changes before its release date.

For more Call of Duty: Vanguard news, check out all of the maps revealed by a new leak.

Image credits: Activision

About The Author

Nathan is a Senior Writer for CharlieIntel and Dexerto, primarily covering FIFA and Call of Duty, as well as general gaming news and guides. After leaving university with a degree in Sports Studies and a master's degree in Magazine Journalism, he took on a role as a local news reporter before moving into games media. You can contact Nathan by email at [email protected].