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Why Call of Duty Pro Players Are So Excited About Black Ops 4
Top players share hype for the next FPS entry — and what they'd like to see in it.
For many fans, last year's Call of Duty: WWII was a breath of fresh air for the series, looping back on the shooter's origins after years of pushing into futuristic scenarios. But to hear some of the competitive scene's top players talk about it, they can't wait to shift back into the familiar world of Treyarch's Black Ops subseries.
Officially announced last week, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 will release this October and seemingly revisit a series storyline that began in the Cold War and ultimately went as deep as 50 years in the future. The last entry, 2015's Black Ops 3, took place in 2065 and introduced wall-running and jetpack movement to the Black Ops formula — additions that were divisive amongst competitive players. But WWII's move back to pure, boots-on-the-ground action has also had its detractors.
We don't have many hard details about Black Ops 4 just yet: Activision will properly reveal the game at a community event on May 17. But the announcement is already building hype in the esports scene, and we had a chance to ask several pros about it at this weekend's $200,000 Atlanta Open for the Call of Duty World League. Here's why they're so thrilled about the return of Black Ops and developer Treyarch, and what they hope to see from the new game.
Treyarch's track record
Infinity Ward created Call of Duty, along with some of its most iconic experiences (including Modern Warfare and Call of Duty 2), but Treyarch has really taken the mantle as the series' most reliable developer in recent years. That's especially true amongst pro players: nearly every one we spoke with this weekend lit up when asked about Black Ops 4.
While players sometimes cited different games that they love the most, or gameplay elements they most enjoyed, their responses usually hit the same key points: Treyarch makes the best competitive games, and they understand esports better than the other Call of Duty studios. And many of them specifically mentioned Treyarch's game design director David Vonderhaar as a key factor in that success.
"I'm really excited for Black Ops 4. I think it's gonna be amazing," said Seth "Scump" Abner, captain of last season's Call of Duty champions (in Infinite Warfare), OpTic Gaming.
"Honestly, with Treyarch — I don't care what they do with their game. They are phenomenal over there. David Vonderhaar, a good friend of mine; he is one of the developers who sees competitive as a passion and something that he loves, and you can see it in the map design in the game," Scump continued. "That's why I feel like they're so successful, because if you make good competitive maps, it's going to translate well to the public side of things, as well."
Splyce captain Ben "Bance" Bance had a very similar response: "I'm super excited. Vonderhaar makes the best games. Everyone says it in the competitive scene because he just knows what he's doing. He's a fan of esports, and he knows how it works."
For Luminosity player Jordan "JKap" Kaplan, who won one of his two Call of Duty Championships during the Black Ops 3 season, Treyarch's games are the best-tuned of the bunch. The maps are built for competitive strategies, the weapons are on point and the scorestreaks are useful and properly balanced: not overpowered, but also not useless on the lower end of things.
WWII might have been a breath of fresh air to some players, but with Black Ops 4, JKap just wants to see Treyarch continue its successful past formula. "Just more of the same from Treyarch and I think Black Ops 4 will be a good game," he said.
Tuned into esports
As some players mentioned, Treyarch's developers seem particularly attuned to the competitive side of Call of Duty, and pros believe that it shines through in their games. But there's a flipside to that viewpoint — that Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer Games, the other two studios in in the series rotation, don't have quite the same regard for esports.
"Unfortunately, I do feel that way," JKap affirmed. "I think other developers besides Treyarch aren't as focused on esports. Every year, we kind of hear from them, 'Hey, we're focused on esports this year.' And I understand that they are focused on the public side, because that's still the bigger community, but it's tough and it's frustrating sometimes."
Black Ops III was a favorite, but every year brings a new pro game
© Activision
He suggested that there have been balance issues in Sledgehammer's WWII, for example, that have been widely discussed in the competitive scene for months — but they still haven't been addressed. "Finding that balance … I'm sure it's tough for them, but it's also very frustrating for us," JKap added.
Red Reserve player Joshua-Lee "Joshh" Sheppard, whose team made it into the grand finals this past weekend in Atlanta following a gauntlet run through the losers' bracket, suggested that Treyarch is much more open to feedback from the pro community. He specifically said that he's excited about Black Ops 4 because it's "going back to having Vonderhaar make the games and change things for us."
"I think it's more like listening to us and understanding where we come from. We have such a different point of view to the casual players," he said, citing differences in opinion between pro and casual players about weapons, for example. "We all obviously understand the game. We have to look much further into it; it's in our job. We understand it, and they listen to us."
As for other Call of Duty developers, Joshh suggested that their efforts to seek and then act upon feedback from the pro community just don't measure up to what Treyarch has done in the past. "I don't think they agree much or are as bothered," he added. "They still do support us, but I think Treyarch is much better at listening and actually adapting."
What they want
At this point, we know little about Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 beyond when it's releasing, which platforms it's coming to, and which studio is making it. Marcus Sellars, a self-billed industry insider who has notched some correct predictions of late, tweeted in February that Black Ops 4 would be the next Call of Duty, and that it would be set in "modern times" and be a "boots-on-the-ground" experience. He also mentioned a Switch edition of the game, which Activision has not yet announced.
If true, sticking with WWII's boots-on-the-ground approach would break from Black Ops 3's "advanced movement" shift, and the debate between classic boots action and the futuristic jetpack play has sometimes split the community. Rise Nation player Tommy "TJHaLy" Haly, whose team won CWL Atlanta this weekend, is in favor of skipping the aerial antics for the next Black Ops. "I hope it's boots-on-the-ground, but we'll see," he said. "Black Ops 2 is one of my favorite games, so I'm happy for Treyarch to be back in the rotation."
Are BO3's jetpacks back, or will BO4 remain grounded? We'll find out in May
© Activision
EnVy player Donovan "Temp" Laroda, who suggested that Call of Duty: WWII is "really boring," said he's looking for Black Ops 4 to spice things up a bit. He wants maps that are not only more colorful, but also better suited to competitive 4v4 play than those in WWII — and a class system like the Specialists in Black Ops 2 and Combat Rigs in Infinite Warfare. Also, he really wants some fresh weapon camouflage options. "I'm tired of looking at a gray gun. All the colors in [WWII] are bad," he said. "They're like gray — everything is gray."
His EnVy teammate, captain Austin "SlasheR" Liddicoat, is definitely onboard with the camo request. "A big thing I want to see are camos for the teams," he affirmed. "They had it previously in Black Ops 3. I want to see an EnVy camo on a gun again, or OpTic, FaZe — all of these camos, so we can rock it at the tournaments and fans can get the camos as well."
Whether Black Ops 4 is boots-on-the-ground or has jetpacks, and whether it's set in the modern day or far-off future, the change in setting should enable a lot of gameplay options and abilities that the historically-accurate WWII setting effectively nullified. At CWL Atlanta, caster Miles Ross told us that he would welcome a return to the jetpack-assisted days of the previous couple Call of Duty games, along with all the other high-tech tweaks that came alongside.
"There's a division between the commentators and even the players — some of us really enjoyed watching that form of Call of Duty. I, for one, miss the specialists and the payload abilities. I miss seeing the Heat Waves, the camos, the FTL plays," he said. "As a storyteller, on the heartbeat monitor, that was a spike where something really exceptional could happen and a game could turn on its head. I'm looking forward to that in a competitive sense, if that comes back."
It's about WWII, too
For some players, the excitement for Black Ops 4 also comes from a place of disappointment or frustration with Call of Duty: WWII. We also spoke with players about WWII and the state of the competitive game and heard of a lot of mixed reactions — with some calling WWII's boots-on-the-ground action dumbed down and overly simplistic compared to past games.
We saw plenty of thrilling action in Atlanta last weekend, including the grand finals battle between Rise Nation and Red Reserve EU — but some pro players suggested that WWII's maps aren't well-tuned for competitive play, and that as mentioned before, some significant balance issues remain unaddressed. We'll be getting more in-depth on those subjects very soon in a separate article.
Even if WWII has underwhelmed some competitive players, there is still genuine enthusiasm around Black Ops 4 itself, even with almost nothing announced about the game. Treyarch's track record makes them the widespread favorite Call of Duty developer amongst pro players, and the Black Ops series stands tall in the minds of many of the game's competitive stars.
"I'm really excited for Black Ops 4. I think Treyarch makes the best competitive games," said Luminosity's JKap, before listing off his top three favorite Call of Duty games: Black Ops 2, Black Ops 3 and then the original (in that order). "Black Ops 4: I assume it'll be in the top four — hopefully No. 1. I truly do have faith in those guys."
And that widespread excitement could translate into a banner 2019 season for the Call of Duty World League. As EnVy's Temp suggested, "It's gonna be a good year. Everyone knows that when Black Ops comes out, Call of Duty is gonna have a lot of hype around it."
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