OpTic Scump & FormaL explain how to fix Black Ops Cold War League Play

Liam Mackay
Scump and Formal bocw

Members of OpTic Gaming including Seth ‘Scump’ Abner and Matthew ‘FormaL’ Piper have explained how Black Ops Cold War’s League Play system could be improved.

Fans have been divided over Black Ops Cold War’s League Play system since its launch on February 8. On one hand, it offers a competitive 4v4 experience with a much more balanced weapon and equipment pool. On the other, many find the ranking system confusing and unrewarding.

During an OpTic Gaming round table discussion alongside OpTic Hitch and H3CZ, CDL pro players Scump and FormaL discussed how Treyarch could fix Black Ops Cold War’s League Play.

Cold War League Play emblems

Offer League Play rewards as incentives to play

Hitch and FormaL discussed how there’s no incentive for a casual player to play League Play. Currently, League Play offers calling cards and emblems to players who consistently finish at the top of their ladders, but Hitch, FormaL, and Scump don’t feel this is enough.

Scump said that Cold War’s League Play won’t “bring any outsiders in,” and FormaL and Hitch continued this train of thought. Hitch brought up that there should be gear and “cool ranks” to grind for, and FormaL feels that even offering Double XP weekends in League Play would bring in more players.

FormaL elaborated on offering ranks, making reference to Valorant and how players are grinding to reach the top tier of its ranked system, but there’s nothing to grind for in Cold War. If the game launched with a “dope-a**” ranking system for players to grind, “that’s how you bring in new people,” explained FormaL.

A standardized League Play Elo system

Although admitting they don’t know the inner workings of Activision and its companies, the OpTic boys also felt that Call of Duty’s League Play would benefit from a standardized Elo system across all titles. Scump and FormaL brought up Halo and CoD: WWII as examples of a strong Elo system and Black Ops 4 and Cold War felt like a step back.

FormaL admits that developing a brand new system in a pandemic may be tough, but he doesn’t see why they can’t ask Sledgehammer Games for the code to their popular system so it can be added to Cold War. H3CZ chimed in, saying he doesn’t know why “whoever has the best League Play doesn’t say: ‘yo, use this algorithm or use this structure’.”

Treyarch’s David Vonderhaar has responded to players’ frustration with League Play, so it’s possible that the system will be revamped in the future.

Image Credit: Treyarch / Zippo