Opinion: Post-launch DLC weapons should not be exclusively in Supply Drops

So…we think it’s time we talk about the whole Supply Drop situation and Call of Duty right now. There is a lot of talk about and discussion about the implementation of Supply Drops in Call of Duty: Black Ops 3. At launch, it worked perfectly. The items in the Supply Drops were cosmetic only, and it provided a direct in-game currency to get the items.

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That’s the first set of new items in the Black Market and the launch of COD Points. Now still there is no problem here. Cosmetic items do not effect gameplay, and to be honest, do no matter if you don’t want it. Treyarch did so something else right here too: ability to burn duplicates to re-gain Cryptokeys. Something that was not available in Advanced Warfare.

Here, Activision announces new weapons are coming to the Black Market. The all new MX Garand Assault Rifle and Marshal 16 Shotgun-Pistol. (Side Note: we do not count the melee weapons as actual game-changing weapons as they do not effect gameplay at all. They are just cosmetic variants of the combat knife). This takes us right back where we were with Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. (The difference between Advanced Warfare and Black Ops 3 all along was that weapons were part of Supply Drops in Advanced Warfare since Day 1. That was an integral part of the game.) All new weapons coming to Supply Drops and Supply Drops only. While you can get these weapons from the Cryptokeys, the rate at which you earn those keys is greatly reduced compared to what you would think they could be.

Now, it would be more justifiable to have weapons in the Supply Drops if there were some weapons also coming with the DLC packs. But Awakening (DLC1) had none. (We do not know yet if the remaining three DLC packs will have weapons, and if the DLC packs do, then maybe this whole thing can be justified.) For Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, DLC pack 1 and 2 contained new weapons. Season Pass owners got some new weapons because of this. While Activision never advertised new weapons in the Season Pass for Black Ops 3, so there’s no promise that the have to deliver them, Activision is making it harder to justify players buying the Season Pass pre-launch. For Ghosts and Advanced Warfare, Activision advertised new weapons in the Season Pass, and they did deliver upon that promise.

Possible Solution #1: All of the post launch weapons should be available as a purchase in Supply Drops. For those that want the cosmetic items, they can keep getting Supply Drops and still have a chance of getting the weapons, alongside the cosmetic items. For those that do not want the Supply Drops, they can get the weapons directly. This seems like a win-win situation here. There will be a larger player base having new weapons as more people will buy them separately.

Possible Solution #2: Activision can put some weapons in Supply Drops only, but also release other new weapons as a separate purchase. Here, a reason exists to continue to get Supply Drops, but there is also other weapons to get in a different way.

While Call of Duty: Ghosts did not have Supply Drops, Activision/Infinity Ward did sell DLC1 and DLC2 weapons as a separate purchase for those that just wanted the weapon, so this is something Activision has done before. The cost of weapons does not matter at this point. Probably a $3.99 price would work for many, but just the fact that weapons are available as a separate purchase would appease to the fan base.

We want to see Call of Duty succeed. We built this site because of our passion and love for the Call of Duty franchise. The Supply Drop base system is good. It’s a nice way to earn all of the new gear, taunts/gestures, and more. But they need to let the weapons — something all the fans really want (and care about) — be available in the supply drops and available separately.