In Season 2, everyone’s starting fresh
One of the standout additions to Warzone 2.0 is the Escape from Tarkov-inspired extraction mode, DMZ. Players have had a blast over the past few months checking out everything the new game type has to offer, completing challenges, and joining the Faction of their choice. However, some fans aren’t too thrilled to hear that all of their Faction progress and inventory items (Contraband and Keys) will be entirely reset with the introduction of Season 2.
What’s with the wipe?
This news was tucked away in a master post on the official Call of Duty blog that’s outlining what to expect from Season 2’s upcoming changes. “All-new missions” are on the way along with the reset, and the Call of Duty team says that they “will be detailing all the need-to-know intel for DMZ ahead of Season 02 in an upcoming blog.”
While some players feel frustrated they’ve lost all their progress, it’s important to remember that wipes like these are a common practice in extraction shooters. Players who have been playing for longer and/or have amassed a healthy arsenal of powerful weapons will be at a great advantage over players who are jumping in for the first time, so a reset every few months helps keep everyone on a more level playing field. DMZ and extraction modes already feel like they bear some roguelike DNA, and with regular progress wipes, I think of it almost like a larger-scale roguelike every time you have to start over.
Other changes on the way
Some other changes that will be coming along with the Faction progress wipe include some bug fixes, particularly crashes, as well as further tuning of features like enemy AI, spawn points, and mission difficulty. AI will be less powerful, spawn in fewer numbers, and have more damage fall off at range, among other tweaks. Spawn points will be moved to areas that don’t feel as isolated and have more loot — the devs made decisions on where to move the infil points based on “gameplay data.” The biggest changes to mission difficulty will be to make it easier for players to access a second Insured Weapon Slot, and to turn down the difficulty of earlier missions because the “Faction Mission difficulty ramp was too aggressive for many players.”
After getting hit with a delay, Warzone 2.0 Season 2 is now scheduled to drop on February 15, 2023. There are a ton of new features coming along (or coming back) with the update, including the Resurgence game mode, the 1v1 Gulag, and a “brand new small map.” We can also expect some new multiplayer maps, modes, and weapons for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II‘s multiplayer.
