Sometimes, getting mad gets results. Case in point: Earlier this week, Activision added a new type of contract to the Call of Duty battle royale Warzone, but at the same time quietly removed Bounty contracts, a move that left a lot of players very unhappy.
Bounty contracts give squads that pick them up a limited amount of time to hunt down and kill a player in an opposing squad, for rewards including in-game cash and XP. The approximate location of targets is shown on the tactical map, which really helps to keep things hopping.
Most Wanted contracts are basically the reverse of that, as players who pick them up effectively put a bounty on themselves for every other shooter in the game. Surviving for five minutes with the bullseye on your back gets you a hefty chunk of cash (again, in-game) and maybe more importantly, all your dead squadmates will be immediately redeployed.
It's a high-risk, high-reward strategy, but many players complained that while Bounties encouraged aggression, Most Wanted contracts had the opposite effect: You take the contract, and then you spend five minutes hiding and hauling ass. That's how some of us play battle royales anyway (or is it just me?) but hard hitters who like to mix it up saw it as a move in the wrong direction, and weren't shy about saying so.
A Warzone update released last night grants their wish: Most Wanted contracts are out, and Bounty contracts are back in. I don't really get why the game can't have both (and Activision didn't say), but if it has to be one or the other, Bounties definitely appears to be the more popular choice.
The contract swap-out is the big moment here, but the update makes a few other tweaks and changes too. Courtesy of Infinity Ward, the full patch notes are below:
- Fix for Gunsmith Custom loadouts not appearing in matches
- Removing Most Wanted Contracts from Warzone and adding Bounty Contracts back
- Adjusting the timer from 10 to 15 seconds in 3v3 Cranked Gunfight
- Adjusting out of bounds timer in Infected
- Adjusting the match start timer in Infected so players can join before the Infected countdown ends.
- Fix for a bug where players could get stuck during the infil while loading into a BR match
