Activision Blizzard has released the patch notes for Season 1 for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III and Call of Duty: Warzone that will bring the new Battle Pass, improvements, fixes and balance changes.
Battle Pass
A brand new Battle Pass will be arriving together with Season 1 bringing a variety of Operator Skins, Weapon Blueprints and more.
New Weapons
The following weapons are new to the entirety of Modern Warfare III offering as of Season 1.
- Assault Rifles
- RAM-7: Exceptionally compact, this bullpup assault rifle sports a lightweight, polymer frame and is chambered in versatile 5.56. Unlockable via Sector A7 of the Season 1 Battle Pass.
- Sniper Rifles
- XRK Stalker: Stalk your prey and lay them out with this tactical sniper rifle chambered in .50 Cal. Unlockable via Sector A4 of the Season 1 Battle Pass.
- Launchers
- Stormender: This state-of-the-art weapon system fires a localized EMP on a slight delay. Destroys tactical and lethal equipment and temporarily disables other electronic devices. Unlockable via Sector A12 of the Season 1 Battle Pass.
You can find the full breakdown of the new weapons and Season Pass in this blog.
Attachments
In addition to the abundance of Modern Warfare 3 Attachments coming alongside the Weapons list above, Players will see a brand new type of Attachment called Aftermarket Parts. These are unique Attachments that are typically linked to a specific Weapon or class of Weapon, as detailed in this blog.
Multiplayer – UIX
- New Features & Quality of Life
- Player health and stamina are now represented by dynamic bars on the HUD.
- Note: This feature is only available in Multiplayer and Zombies.
- Faction assignment will now appear as a splash at the start of each match.
- Added Upper Legs Damage and Empty Reload Quickness statistics to the Details widget in the Gunsmith.
- Player health and stamina are now represented by dynamic bars on the HUD.
- Bug Fixes
- In Search and Destroy, hovering a bombsite on the Tac-Map will no longer reveal when a player is actively defusing.
- Addressed an issue that caused the application to freeze while editing a Loadout.
- Resolved a crash that could occur prior to viewing an After Action Report.
- Addressed an issue that caused a crash while reporting a player.
Gameplay – Movement
- Added a delay following multiple rapid stance transitions to prevent exploitable repetition.
- Crouch to Stand: 150ms
- Prone to Stand: 600ms
A delay to stance transitions was introduced to combat a movement exploit commonly referred to by players as “snaking.”
Zombies – Season 1 Content
- Story Act and Mission
- Act IV and a new Story Mission are immediately available for all players at the start of Season 1.
- A massive gateway has appeared in the Exclusion Zone. Investigate the area and engage in new end-game content.
- Dark Aether Rifts
- Dark Aether Rifts bring rewards to those who brave their challenges.
- These otherworldly labyrinths are located inside the Dark Aether, where players and their squad have a limited time to complete a series of increasingly chaotic objectives to earn exceptional rewards. Find Sigils to enter the Dark Aether Rifts and face a new level of challenge!
- Dark Aether Rifts are unlocked by solving a hidden quest, which activates after completing the new Season 1 Story Mission.
- Dark Aether Rifts bring rewards to those who brave their challenges.
Weapons
- The Scorcher’s launch ability will automatically fire when a player reaches their maximum charge under low ammo conditions.
- DG-58: Addressed an issue that prevented camos from applying in the customization tab in loadout menus.
- All Weapon Cases: Closed a duplication exploit.
Warzone
Season 1 brings a massive drop of content, including five free Weapons, four new Multiplayer Maps, multiple Modes, the next Zombies story chapter, the arrival and integration of Call of Duty: Warzone and the new Urzikstan map, an all-new 100+ Tiers of Battle Pass content to earn, BlackCell, and more. The following patch notes summary pertain primarily to Global changes made to all Call of Duty Modern Warfare III titles and those made exclusively to Warzone. More details about the patch can be found in this blog.
Urzikstan New Large Map
Positioned in Western Asia, nestled on the eastern border of the Black Sea and bordering Al Mazrah, Urzikstan is steeped in rich, turbulent history and only recently emerged from the oppressive rule of dictator Roman Barkov. With enhanced mobility being another key pillar of our design, Urzikstan is interspersed with a variety of new and returning traversal options, including vertical ascenders, horizontal ziplines, redeploy drones, and even a mobile point of interest – the driveable train. More details about Urzikstan can be found in Tac Map Atlas.
Gulag New Map
This brand new 1v1 Gulag named “Silo” is characterized by its stark, symmetrical layout that not only enhances player immersion but ensures equal opportunities for both contestants to redeploy to the field. This new arena is also rich in loot, strategically placed to encourage exploration and adding an additional layer of resource management and strategy. List of new features that elevate this Gulag is in this blog.
Modes – Battle Royale
This is the Battle Royale experience that Players have become ever so familiar with since Warzone’s launch in 2020. Players infil, scavenge for weapons, equipment, and other resources while preparing for the impending conflict. The map’s playable area gradually shrinks over time, forcing survivors into closer proximity – upping the ante. The ultimate objective? To be the very last squad standing when the smoke clears.
- New Map: Urzikstan, Player Count: 100, Match Length: ~20 Minutes=
Read more about all 4 modes in detail in this blog.
Playlist
Find out more information about the upcoming Playlist in this Warzone Trello Board.
Gameplay – Features
- Classic Red Dots: Firing unsuppressed weapons causes Operators to momentarily appear as a red dot on the minimap.
- Reload Cancel / Segmented Reloads: You can now reload cancel if there are bullets in the magazine. When performing an empty reload it will utilize reload checkpoints to give the best of both worlds.
- Improved Water Combat: Alongside the dedicated Backup Pistol, improvements have been made to water visibility such that it is now easier to see targets both when in and out of the water.
Read the full patch notes on gameplay updates in this blog.
Movement
Movement and rotation opportunities on Urzikstan have been key focuses of its design. In the new chapter of Warzone, Players will find themselves with several Multiplayer Perks that are simply enabled by default at all times:
- Tac Pads: Improves slide distance and allows for full ADS while sliding, along with increased stance transition speeds.
- Commando Gloves: Enables reloading while running.
- Quick-Grip Gloves: Increases your weapon swap speed.
- Climbing Boots (Partial): Increases climbing and mantling speed aspect.
NEW MOVEMENT
- Tactical Stance: A weapon stance that can be Toggled into, grants faster mobility at the cost of accuracy.
RETURNING MOVEMENT
- ADS While Sliding
- Players can now aim down sights and shoot while sliding as a default behavior.
- As an improvement, players can optionally toggle tac stance while sliding.
Known Issues
Below is a list of issues that we are aware players will encounter at the launch of Season 1.
- The new Perk called Flex currently appears as “Faculty” in the menu.
- Resurgence Rotation map visual is not appearing in the UI to show what map is currently active.
- Players can temporarily work around this by seeing the active map in the matchmaking screen.
- The AAR will show the default Calling Card instead of the Calling Cards equipped by the Player.
- A Player detonating a bomb drone may encounter an error in some instances.
- Although detailed in the patch notes above, Killcam pings will not be active until later into launch week.
- If a player crashes out of Private Match and is given the option to rejoin, they will not connect.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III and Call of Duty: Warzone is available for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and PC. The full patch note can be found in this blog.
