The Black Ops Cold War Crossplay Open Beta begins at 10AM PT on Oct. 15th, and it’s packed with plenty of new content to enjoy with friends on PS4, Xbox One, and PC throughout the weekend. In addition to the updates we made since the start of the PS4 Beta based on player reports and feedback, we’re delivering new maps, modes, weapons, Scorestreaks, Perks, Wildcards, equipment, and more this weekend, as well as a list of new tuning changes and gameplay updates below.

Once again, thank you to everyone for all the feedback so far! The data and input we receive over the course of both Beta weekends will help the team to continue to improve the overall experience as we get closer to launch on November 13th.

2XP + 2X WEAPON XP BEGINS OCT. 16TH

Starting Friday, Oct. 16th, we’re enabling 2XP and 2X Weapon XP for everyone throughout the rest of the Crossplay Open Beta weekend! 

We’ve heard your feedback about wanting to try out more attachments on the weapons available in the Beta, and with even more weapons joining the fray as we increase the level cap on Thursday and Saturday, we’re cutting the time it takes to level up your weapons in half. Enjoy!

UNLOCK A NEW SMG BLUEPRINT FOR LAUNCH

As a reminder, everyone who reaches Level 10 in the Beta will unlock the “Mutual Animosity” SMG Weapon Blueprint at launch, which comes equipped with multiple attachments ready to go on day one.

INTRODUCING FIRETEAM: DIRTY BOMB

Ten squads. Forty players. Total mayhem. This weekend, drop into our biggest Multiplayer experience in Black Ops Cold War across two massive maps in Fireteam: Dirty Bomb. You and your squad will fight off nine other Fireteams to collect uranium, locate Dirty Bombs, deposit your uranium, and detonate the bombs to spread radiation across the map and take the win before anyone else.

Detonating Dirty Bombs will trigger radiation zones that expand across a section of the map, causing radiation sickness among players caught in the fallout. Radiation sickness has 3 levels:

• Weakness: Disables all of your Perks.
• Fatigue: Reduces the effectiveness of health regen.
• Internal Bleeding: Causes damage over time, eventually leading to death.

Be sure to steer clear of radiation zones and scavenge for resources between Dirty Bomb detonations! Look for Caches containing useful items like Armor Plates, Self Revives, Scorestreaks, and the Uranium Pouch, which increases the maximum amount of uranium you can carry at a time from five pieces to 10.

Get more info on Fireteam: Dirty Bomb and the Fireteam spawn system at our “New Ways to Play” blog, and watch the new trailer above to get a taste of what’s on the menu this weekend.

NEW MAPS: RUKA AND ALPINE

With the addition of our new Fireteam: Dirty Bomb experience comes the arrival of our two biggest, most detailed maps yet in the Black Ops Cold War Beta: Ruka and Alpine, both available throughout the Crossplay Open Beta.

In Ruka, ten Fireteams battle through a vast forest using the trees and other natural elements as cover. This massive map offers a variety of locations to explore, including a Spetsnaz training ground complete with an obstacle course, wooden cabins, hidden bunkers, and more to discover. True to the spirit of the Fireteam experience, Ruka was designed as a massive sandbox to play in with your friends any way you’d like. Get ready to drop in!

Set on the side of a snow-covered mountain, Alpine offers players opportunities for a huge range of engagements in our second large-scale Fireteam map. Between the long sightlines of the ski slopes and the close-quarters action among the manmade structures scattered across the mountainside, Alpine provides multiple ways to take down opponents and dominate the map. Be sure to explore every nook and cranny during the Beta to get a leg up on the competition at launch.

NEW TOOLS OF THE TRADE

With the level cap increase to 31 at the start of the Crossplay Open Beta, players will be able to rank up to unlock new weapons, Perks, equipment, and more to deploy on the battlefield. These include:

• WEAPONS: LW3 - Tundra sniper rifle, QBZ-83 assault rifle + more
• PERKS: Cold Blooded, Flak Jacket
• SCORESTREAK: Napalm Strike
• WILDCARD: Gunfighter
• EQUIPMENT: Molotov
• CUSTOM CLASS: Slot #10

Then on Saturday, Oct. 17th we’re raising the level cap again to 40 for even more content to unlock:

• WEAPONS: RPD light machine gun, RPG-7 launcher, Magnum pistol + more
• PERKS: Quartermaster, Ninja
• SCORESTREAKS: Air Patrol, Chopper Gunner
• WILDCARD: Perk Greed
• EQUIPMENT: Decoy, Semtex
• FIELD UPGRADE: Jammer

MORE MODES: HARDPOINT AND CONTROL

We’re also adding Hardpoint and Control in the Crossplay Open Beta! Long-time players have known Hardpoint since its introduction in Black Ops 2: two teams fight to control a the Hardpoint (or “hill”) as it rotates throughout the map. Stay inside the Hardpoint and keep the other team from contesting to earn points.

In Black Ops Cold War, you’ll see a visual indicator showing where the next Hardpoint will appear 10 seconds before the next push begins. Coordinate with your team to reach the score limit, or earn more points than the other team before time runs out to win. Check out Hardpoint this weekend on Cartel, Miami, Satellite, and Moscow.

On Saturday, Oct. 17th, Control joins our selection of 6v6 modes in the Crossplay Open Beta. We’re excited to bring back this Black Ops 4 fan-favorite, where opposing teams fight to capture or defend two objectives on the map or wipe out the other team before running out of lives.

Each team of up to six players has 30 lives distributed among the team, injecting a new layer of strategy for both attacking and defending teams. Jump into Control this weekend on Cartel, Miami, and Moscow and let us know what you think.

NEW PLAYLIST: COMBINED ARMS MOSHPIT

Want to get the most out of our new 12v12 experience on Weekend 2? Jump into the new Combined Arms Moshpit to play a mix of 12v12 Domination and Assault modes on Cartel, Armada, and Crossroads. With crossplay enabled all weekend long, there’s never been a better time to squad up with your friends and rack up those Scorestreaks.

GAMEPLAY UPDATES

In response to player feedback and game data from last weekend’s PS4 Beta, we’ve made a new round of gameplay updates and tuning changes to movement, weapons, attachments, and more. For our PC players joining us this weekend, there’s also a list of known issues and workarounds to be aware of.

Movement

• Reduced the speed of the initial slide impulse and slightly shortened slide duration.
  • During the PS4 Beta, we found players over-relying on sliding to traverse ground quickly or engage in close quarters, making it difficult to target players in the open. Our goal is for sliding to function as a smooth transition to cover, escape, or transition to a crouching stance. This weekend’s changes result in a snappier slide that better fit our goals for the mechanic. 
• Significantly reduced slide speed with the Duster Stock attachment equipped.
  • In Weekend 1, the Duster Stock attachment accounted for massive slide speed increases that didn’t fit into our more grounded combat loop. With this new change, Duster Stock now offers a modest improvement in slide speed that is more balanced with other attachment offerings.

Weapons

• Milano 821
  • Reduced damage falloff range.
    • This update causes the 4-hit kill range to turn to 5 hits at 12.8 meters, down from 19.2 meters during the PS4 Beta.
• AK-47
  • Slightly reduced recoil.
    • We’d like to see the AK-47 remain a top contender for assault rifle picks, and it was barely edged out by the XM4 and Krig 6 in the PS4 Beta. By reducing its recoil, we’re giving AK-47 users a better opportunity to compete.
• M16
  • Increased time between bursts from .216s to .233s.
    • This weapon’s high lethality and well-rounded attributes allowed it to over-perform even outside of its intended role during the PS4 Beta. This change keeps the M16’s power and accuracy while requiring more precision.
• Type 63
  • Reduced recoil.
    • Our new recoil system tuning made this weapon a bit too difficult to hit multiple shots on target. We’ve toned down the recoil to make it more effective as the precision weapon it was meant to be.
• RPD
  • Slightly reduced hipfire spread.
    • While the RPD can be effective at long range, we’ve improved its close-range reliability compared to the PS4 Beta.
• Gallo SA12
  • Adjusted medium-range damage to require three hits to kill instead of two at mid-range.
    • This was an extremely effective secondary throughout the PS4 Beta. With this tuning update, it will still take two hits to eliminate an enemy within a short range, just not quite as far out.

Attachments

• Agency Suppressor
  • Reduced some recoil bonuses.
    • This attachment came with too many strengths without enough tradeoffs during the PS4 Beta, particularly with how much it reduced recoil. This update reduces some of those bonuses while still making them notably beneficial.

Field Upgrades

• Field Mic
  • Reduced the range at the Field Mic can detect players who are crouching, ADS walking, or moving but not sprinting.
    • During the PS4 Beta, this Field Upgrade did not incentivize counter-play as much as we were planning for. The Field Mic will now be less effective at detecting footstep noise from players who move more slowly.

Equipment

• Frag Grenade
  • Reduced the damage on the outer half of the Frag Grenade’s splash damage radius.
    • While we expect Frag Grenade usage to drop significantly in the Crossplay Open Beta as more Wildcard and lethal options open up, we also agree with the feedback that frags resulted in kills a little too often.

Known PC Issues and Workarounds

• Mouse Wheel Input Delay defaults at 0, which is lower than intended.
  • Workaround: The player can adjust the value for the mouse wheel delay input in Settings. Recommended default value is 80.
• When many audio devices are available, it is not possible to view or select the last one from the drop-down list.
  • Workaround: These audio devices can be selected using the keyboard.
• Some players on AMD GPUs may experience frequent packet burst spikes during gameplay. 
  • Workaround: Lowering the Graphics Settings can alleviate the severity of this issue.

CROSS-PROGRESSION CONFIRMED

If you’re wondering if your progress carries over from platform to platform during the Black Ops Cold War Beta: the answer is yes! Once you’ve linked your accounts at CallOfDuty.com, you’ll keep your progression and unlocks between consoles and PC in the Beta. And for those who participated in the PS4 Beta last weekend, that progression carries over to the Crossplay Open Beta this weekend.

For those playing on PC this weekend, you can get all the details on minimum/recommended specs and pre-load info here.

GET EARLY ACCESS WITH TWITCH DROPS

If you’re still looking for Early Access for Oct. 15-16 on Xbox One or PC (and haven’t been following our frequent Beta code drops at the Treyarch Discord), no worries. Watch any streamer playing Black Ops Cold War with Twitch Drops enabled on Twitch from 10AM PT Oct. 15th to 11:59PM PT Oct. 16th for a chance to grab a code of your own. Get all the details at the Call of Duty blog here.

SEE YOU ONLINE!

This weekend’s Crossplay Open Beta starts Oct. 15th for all PS4 players and for Early Access digital pre-orders on Xbox One, and PC on Battle.net. On October 17th, the Crossplay Open Beta opens up to all players across platforms through 10AM PT on Monday, October 19th. 

Pre-order digitally here and jump into the Crossplay Open Beta as early as possible. See you online all weekend long!

- Treyarch

* GAME FEATURES DESCRIBED ABOVE ARE BASED ON CURRENT IN-DEVELOPMENT FEATURES THAT ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE BASED ON FINAL DEVELOPMENT CHANGES AND/OR GAME TUNING OR UPDATES THAT MAY REMOVE OR MODIFY SOME OR ALL OF THE ABOVE FEATURES.