Summary
WhenTreyarch’sMatt Scronce tweeted on Sunday that a nerf forCall of Duty: Black Ops 6’sbustedRecon Combat Specialty was “Incoming,” no one thought it would be this quick. Alas, here we are.
On Monday, Black Ops 6’s biggest post-launch patch was deployed. The patch,which was outlined in the Call of Duty blog, addresses many of the concerns that players had initially presented, though not without some caveats as well. Chief among the changes are the Recon Combat Specialty, Snaking and Headshots.
Recon Is No Longer As Busted
As The Gamer outlined on Sunday, the Recon Combat Specialty was essentially servingas a built-in cheat code for players. Its presence made the game, particularly matches on small maps, especially frustrating. Now, via the Nov. 4 patch, that’s changing.
Per the patch notes, the duration that enemies are highlighted post respawn has been shortened to 1.5 seconds from 2 seconds. The blog notes that “An additional reduction will be coming before Season 01,” meaning it can and likely will be curbed even more.
Stop Snaking, Please
Another major element of the patch is Treyarch adjusting stance cooldowns to prevent snaking. For the uninitiated, snaking is a movement in which a player quickly transitions from crouch to prone to standing behind cover, essentially making it harder to be detected by an enemy while also maintaining full view.
Well, that’s no longer going to be a problem. With the stances each receiving cooldowns, the effectiveness of snaking has been reduced. As Treyarch kindly put it, “enough snaking.”
Headshots Are A Headache
A final noteworthy element of the patch is the reworking of headshots altogether. Per the notes, Assault Rifles will have a lessened impact when it comes to headshots at close range, while Sub-Machine Guns are receiving a mid-range effectiveness boost.
For example, the headshot multiplier on the AK-74 has been reduced from 1.3 to 1.15x. That change, in particular, has not sat well with fans, with many taking issue with how hard headshots already are. “I understand not having huge headshot multipliers, but it is very frustrating how they seem to be making headshots as weak as possible,“one user wrote.
That’s particularly noteworthy as the skin unlocks all revolve around headshot challenges. “To me, if you’re going to make headshots have such little benefit, then at least tweak the military camo challenges so they don’t all require headshots,“one player suggested.
Of course, just as quickly as Treyarch were to patch things, they can obviously buff things equally fast. And with Black Ops 6 still technically in its “Preseason,” things will most certainly change.
