black ops 4 blackout

Black Ops 4 Upcoming Changes Include a Body Armor Nerf and Rebalanced Minimap

The Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 beta has just concluded this week, and fans had a number of issues with some of the features. With the Black Ops 4 beta, developer Treyarch introduced audiences to a number of new ideas they’re bringing to the latest Call of Duty in October, such as a Gear system in multiplayer. Based on player feedback from the beta, it looks like the developer is making a fair few significant changes to the game concerning Body Armor, Fog of War, and more.

Treyarch went into detail about these changes on their Black Ops 4 beta recap page on Reddit. The Body Armor was probably most requested change, or at least the feature that got the most complaints. As a new equippable Gear piece,  the armor received a lot of angry feedback due to how much extra damage players could take, with seemingly no vulnerabilities. It deflected all damage and gave anyone who equipped it a lot of free hits.

Well, it’s been nerfed. Explosives can shred it, damage is merely reduced rather than deflected entirely and there will now be an extra 25 bonus points for killing a player in armor. However, while Treyarch says it’s listening to and acting on player feedback, the developer also commented that it felt some of the complaints about Body Armor were a bit exaggerated, and “made it feel a lot worse than it actually was.”

The minimap will also see improvement. In the beta there was a Fog of War, which only got revealed as players explored the map, but fans felt it was too powerful as it revealed everything in circle around the player. Now it will get rebalanced, and players will only be able to reveal the fog of war in a cone based on their line-of-sight. Treyarch is also improving the Tac-Deploy system, which creates a second spawn point for teams but proved too powerful. To fix this, they’ve now shortened the length of time it’s active and lengthened the cooldown time.

Other changes coming include showing loadouts in killcams, and free cursor UI navigation in addition to D-pads, which is especially important on PC. There’s no word on whether these changes will only be coming in the final release of Black Ops 4, or if they’ll be ready for the Blackout beta due next month. It’s most likely that will bring in a whole host of brand new complaints, however.

Upcoming Releases

Tactical, beautiful, and wholly unique, the GOTY-winning sci-fi RTS returns with Homeworld 3. Assume control and battle through fleet combat in dazzling, fully 3D space while the award-winning story unfolds on a galactic scale.
The sequel to the award winning Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, Senua returns in a brutal journey of survival through the myth and torment of Viking Iceland. Intent on saving those who have fallen victim to the horrors of tyranny, Senua faces a battle of overcoming the darkness within and without.
Inspired by the beauty of the natural world around us, Everwild is a brand-new game in development from Rare where unique and unforgettable experiences await in a natural and magical world. Play as an Eternal as you explore and build bonds with the world around you.

Reviews