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Vanguard Season Two Updates

by Sledgehammer Games

Vanguard Season Two is dropping on February 14th and we’re excited to share all of the updates we’ve made to Vanguard’s Multiplayer experience. 

First, we’ve made some improvements to network connection stability and fixed multiple crash points that should result in better overall connectivity. We’ve also squashed a number of bugs that were affecting modes, bundles, weapons, perks, and progression tracking.

To prepare for Season Two, today we released a preliminary patch. We are aware that with this, some of the content and features planned for later in the season have made it out into the wild. Weapon inspects aren’t quite ready for primetime, but we hope you enjoyed the preview. We’ll follow up when this feature is ready to go live! 

The big Season Two update also includes a huge Zombies content update from our partners at Treyarch, who are also bringing Ranked Play to Vanguard. You can read up on the top Zombies updates here, and stay tuned to the Call of Duty official blog for more deets on Ranked Play Beta.

Before we dive into all the changes made to Multiplayer, here’s a high-level summary of the new content coming your way soon.

NEW SEASON 2 CONTENT

New Maps: 

  • Casablanca
  • Gondola

New Mode: 

  • Ranked Play Beta. 
  • Arms Race (more to come later in the season!)

New Killstreak:

  • Ball Turret Gunner for 12-kill streak 

New Lethal Equipment:

  • Sticky Bomb: A grenade that sticks to surfaces before detonating.

New Perks:

  • Armory - Perk 1: A direct counter-Perk to Engineer, Armory is ideal for Operators who use more than just their weapons in combat, namely placeable Demolition Charges, concussion mines, and placeable Field Equipment pieces.

  • Mechanic - Perk 3: Mechanic provides a reasonable buff to Field Upgrade charge time, making it a must-have for completing challenges related to them or for Operators who love using them.

Upcoming Seasonal Event:

  • Valentine’s Event - Feb. 11-17

For more information about all the seasonal content listed here, check out the official Call of Duty Season Two content blog.

MULTIPLAYER UPDATES

Stability

  • Made several improvements to player textures and animations that resulted in Packet Burst spikes. 

  • Stability improvements should result in better connectivity and lower crash rates. The time to connect to Online Services should also be reduced.   

  • Fixed a bug that resulted in disconnecting during MVP Highlight Animations.

Maps

  • General

    • A thorough pass on map environments has been completed to fix objects with unintended collision, issues with portaling through the ground, and to remove out-of-map exploits.

  • Champion Hill

    • There will no longer be two consecutive buy rounds at the beginning of every Champion Hill Duos 2v2 private match.

    • A bug has been resolved that resulted in players losing Perk and Field Upgrade functionality in Private Matches if they played a match in Champion Hill previously.

    • Spawn improvements have been made for teams of three.

Modes

  • Control

    • Fixed a bug that resulted in matches ending prematurely after a spectator disconnects.

    • Late match joiners are now able to spawn in when lives are available.

    • Swapping to spectate/different teams now consistently updates the lives left.

    • The last player alive warning now consistently appears.

  • Private Matches

    • Silent Plant Option now works in Search and Destroy Private matches (fixed Feb 3rd).

Progression

  • Seasonal Challenges

    • All players can now unlock Season 1 Mastery Cards after completing all challenges.

    • Field Specialist challenge is now tracking for all players.

    • Counter Measures challenges are now tracking consistently for all players.

  • Operator Challenges

    • The Diamond operator skins will now unlock for Barbarian and Shadow operators.

  • Welgun 

    • Gold and Diamond camos are now unlockable after completing all weapon Challenges.

  • Launchers 

    • Ground based Killlstreaks now count towards the 'Deadeye' camo.

Weapon Adjustments

  • Throwing Knife

    • Distortion VFX have been removed.

Equipment

  • Incendiary Grenade

    • Fixed a bug that caused additionally visuals to appear when Incendiary Grenades are used.

    • Number of Incendiary Grenade uses are now tracked in your combat record.

Perks

  • Dauntless

    • Suppression no longer applies to players with the Dauntless perk when the player is hit by shots.

Killstreaks

  • Glide Bomb

    • Fixed a bug that resulted in graphical corruption when Attack Dogs were killed by a Glide Bomb.

  • Mortar Barrage

    • Fixed a bug that resulted in the flare and smoke VFX from previously called-in Mortar Barrages temporarily re-appear.

    • Deploying the Mortar Barrage will no longer force-switch the player's weapon.

  • Flamenaut

    • Activating the killstreak and getting killed at the same time will now grant you the killstreak.

Field Upgrade

  • Fix a bug with Deployable Cover that resulted in constant screen shake.

Bundles & MTX

  • Year of the Tiger  

    • Players who purchased this Bundle but did not receive the Tiger Blueprint, should now have the item.

  • Red Reactor Mastercraft 

    • Tracers are now displayed on weapons as intended.

  • Graveyard Shift Mastercraft

    • “Ashed” tracers will now display correctly when applied to the Ore Sniper Rifle.

  • Animalistic

    • Fixed a lighting bug with the Aquatint SMG that cause unintended lighting effect.

  • Santa Slay

    • The Lucas Operator outfit, “Yarn Burner”, is no longer invisible for some players.

UI/UX

  • A bug has been fixed that stopped players being unable to select a weapon when editing Prestige weapon classes.

  • Prestige player progression is now viewable and tracking properly.

  • Watch preview is no longer missing from the Battle Pass menu.

Misc

  • A bug resulting in Play of the Game not playing or ending early has been fixed.

  • Quips no longer play after an Operator is dead.

  • Free Trial players should no longer encounter the error "This content is only available in the full game.
     

Welcome to Vanguard Zombies: Season Two

New Zombies Content

  • New Hub Map: “Terra Maledicta”

  • 3 New Arenas: Corrupted Lands, Eastern Desert, Hall of Truth

  • 2 Wonder Weapons: Decimator Shield and Ray Gun

  • New Ally: Vercanna the Last

  • New Enemy: Zaballa the Deceiver

  • New Artifact: Wand of the Wilds

  • New Objective: Sacrifice

  • New Covenant: Artifact Ward

  • New Story Quest & Narrative Intel

  • New Weapon Support: KG M40, Whitley

  • 3 New Pack-a-Punch Camos in “Terra Maledicta”

  • 20 New Season Challenges

  • Various stability improvements and bug fixes

Season Two delivers a massive new Zombies experience with “Terra Maledicta,” the new hub map set in Egypt featuring gateways to three new Arenas: Corrupted Lands, Eastern Desert, and the Hall of Truth. Players will take on a new Story Quest, wield the Decimator Shield Wonder Weapon, and uncover new narrative intel throughout Professor Krafft’s mission to defeat Kortifex the Deathless. Revive your squad with the newest Artifact from Vercanna the Last, survive the all-new Sacrifice Objective, and face off against one of Kortifex’s “Sisters of Agony,” Zaballa the Deceiver.

From an entirely original Dark Aether locale built exclusively for Zombies, to the return of side Easter Eggs and the classic Ray Gun, there’s plenty of zombie-killing content for veterans and newcomers alike. Zombies players can also tackle 20 new Season Challenges, three new Pack-a-Punch camos, and a host of gameplay improvements and fixes for Artifacts, Objectives, Support Weapons, and more.

Before the season starts, players can get their hands on the new Artifact Ward Covenant and the Ray Gun on February 10th. For the full Season Two experience, jump in on February 14th when the rest of the new content goes live. Note: Server Pause issues for Vanguard's dedicated servers are still undergoing testing; as always, solo players who want to take a break can pause while playing in Offline/Local. 

Read on below for the full list of Season Two Zombies patch notes.

Zombies Patch Notes

Maps

  • "Terra Maledicta"

    • New Zombies experience located in Egypt available on Feb. 14th.

  • Arenas

    • Three new Arenas available in "Terra Maledicta": Eastern Desert, Corrupted Lands, and Hall of Truth.

Story Quest

  • New Story Quest available in "Terra Maledicta" starting at 9AM PT / 12PM ET on Feb. 14th.

New Intel

  • New narrative intel available in "Terra Maledicta" to advance the Dark Aether story.

Wonder Weapons

  • Ray Gun

    • Ray Gun Wonder Weapon available via the Mystery Box and loot drops on Feb. 10th.

  • Decimator Shield

    • Available via the Story Quest in "Terra Maledicta."

    • Added to the Mystery Box once it has been obtained from the Story Quest.

    • Offers players superior protection and the unique Decimation Blast ability.

New Ally

  • Vercanna the Last

    • New Dark Aether entity available, featuring the Healing Aura ability via her Artifact, the Wand of the Wilds.

Enemies

  • Zaballa the Deceiver

    • New enemy type added to "Terra Maledicta" and "Der Anfang."

Objectives

  • Sacrifice

    • New Objective type available in "Terra Maledicta," and added to "Der Anfang" at a later date.

    • Keep the Syphoncores from feeding on undead essence to stop the hordes from being unleashed. Prevent zombies from filling all three Syphoncores to stop the dark ceremony and complete the Objective.

  • Void

    • Modified the way the Objective complete XP bonus is awarded when returning to Stalingrad after a Void Objective in "Der Anfang."

  • Harvest

    • Closed exploits related to the Sin Eater in "Der Anfang."

Artifacts

  • Healing Aura

    • New upgradable ability available via Vercanna the Last's Artifact.

    • Tiers:

      • Tier I - The Wand of the Wilds summons Vercanna's Life Energy to instantly heal yourself and allies to full health.

      • Tier II - Knock down normal enemies and stun Sturmkriegers near each player.

      • Tier III - Revive all downed allies.

      • Tier IV - Revived allies have their lost Perks returned.

      • Tier V - The Life Energy persists at each location for 10 seconds and continues to heal and revive players.

  • Energy Mine

    • Energy Mine now triggers the Splatterfest Covenant.

  • Frost Blast

    • Frost Blast Tier I now freezes Sturmkriegers.

  • Aether Shroud

    • Addressed an issue where players weren’t being ignored by zombies after activating Aether Shroud immediately following a Self-Revive.

Covenants

  • Artifact Ward

    • New ability with three rarities added to the Altar of Covenants on Feb. 10th.

    • Equip for a chance to trigger your Artifact for free when hit by a melee attack from the rear.

    • Rarities:

      • Rare: Being hit by a melee attack on the back has a chance to trigger your Artifact

      • Epic: Being hit by a melee attack on the back has a higher chance to trigger your Artifact.

      • Legendary: Being hit by a melee attack anywhere has a higher chance to trigger your Artifact.

Weapons

  • Season Two

    • KG M40 and Whitley available in Zombies loadouts once unlocked via the Season Two Battle Pass.

  • Unlock Challenges

    • New Weapon Unlock Challenges added to Zombies for the Cooper Carbine and Gorenko Anti-Tank Rifle.

  • Support

    • The Warmachine and Deathmachine can now be obtained from the Mystery Box, chests, and as loot drops from enemies. 

    • Addressed an issue where critical damage was not being correctly displayed for the Warmachine.

  • General

    • Addressed various issues with attempting to swap out a melee weapon for a weapon from the ground.

Pack-a-Punch Camos

  • New Camos

    • Three new camos available at the Pack-a-Punch machine in "Terra Maledicta."

  • General

    • Pack-a-Punch Camos in "Der Anfang" are now animated.

    • Pack-a-Punch Camos now properly apply to Weapon Blueprints, weapons found in the Mystery Box, and weapons dropped by enemies.

Challenges

  • Season Challenges

    • New Season Challenges available at the start of Season Two.

    • Addressed an issue where the Season One Mastery Calling Card was not displayed correctly.

  • General

    • Addressed an issue where Launchers and the Combat Shield were not correctly contributing to certain Challenges.

    • Addressed various UI issues related to Challenges.

Stability

  • Fixed various stability issues related to Covenants, Objectives, Perks, Power-Ups, and Equipment
     

SEE YOU ONLINE!

As always, we’ll continue to collect feedback from all the corners we can find it. Have constructive feedback? Please let us know your thoughts!

You can also report a bug or leave feedback about Call of Duty: Vanguard in this survey.

Best of luck out there!

Sledgehammer Games 

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