The first beta for Call of Duty Vanguard shows where there are still construction sites: Many players have problems with audio, spawns and more. Developer Sledgehammer promises improvement.
The Open Beta of CoD Vanguard has been extended and the more it is played, the more large and small construction sites crystallise (which is the whole point of a beta). We take up the biggest points of criticism from the community and explain what’s behind them!
These are the 5 big wishes of the Beta players
Introduce factions
What are the criticisms? Vanguard is doing away with the long established faction system. This had previously clearly demarcated the parties in the match. Now, however, identical operators play on both sides, causing confusion in hectic situations. Under the title “Why we need factions”, a beta player shows a devastating confusion on Reddit, as it happens more frequently without the time-honoured demarcations between players:
https://www.reddit.com/r/CODVanguard/
In other Reddit threads users join the call for a faction system and even CoD expert and Youtuber TheXclusiveAce dedicates his own video to the topic – earning many thousands of thumbs up.
The decision against factions in CoD Vanguard also seems outlandish because of the scenario: without a border between the Allies and the Axis powers, a WW2 game loses a lot of atmosphere, critics argue.
What do the developers say? So far, the developers have not revealed whether and how a faction system will be added. Since such a system could require a great deal of development effort, it is difficult to imagine such a change in the short time between beta and release.
Better visibility
What is being criticised? The poor visibility of opponents was also often a problem in CoD Cold War. Something similar is currently evident in Vanguard. This time, however, it is not the muddy textures that annoy players, but the on-screen effects in combat.
On the one hand, many are bothered by the large amount of blood that becomes visible on their own screen as soon as they are hit. This restriction of vision made it quite difficult to still react, especially in combination with CoD’s fast time to kill.
The other problem, which mainly occurs when shooting, is shown by CoD expert TheXclusiveAce in the video. Muzzle flash and smoke sometimes massively interfere with the view:
What do the developers say? Developer Sledgehammer Games is taking note of the criticism from beta players. On Twitter, they assure that they are grateful for the feedback and that the issues will be addressed in upcoming updates:
➕ Increased the frequency of Blitz and Assault matches in Quick Play for higher intensity gameplay
➕ Added Blitz Team Deathmatch as a Featured Playlist
— Sledgehammer Games (@SHGames) September 11, 2021
Eradicate audio bugs
What is criticised? Most notably, there are problems with gunshot sounds and footsteps: many players report that they can’t hear shots that fall a few feet away from them. Sometimes the whole game sound is very muffled, no matter what settings are used.
Also, in CoD it is important to hear the footsteps of approaching enemies – but this is exactly where Vanguard still has problems. Sometimes these sounds are completely missing, which can lead to an enemy suddenly appearing next to you out of nowhere.
What do the developers say? Sledgehammer has already responded to the numerous reports of audio bugs, promising improvements on Twitter: “We’re aware there’s lots of discussion about visibility and audio. Stay tuned, we will be announcing some of our planned updates this week.”
Exactly how the sound issues will be resolved is not yet known. However, it is likely that there will be an update to this effect before the launch of the open beta on 16 September.
Customise spawns
What is criticised? Especially in the new game mode Patrol it happened all the time that players spawned directly behind enemies. Or in front of their muzzle. Or right next to a mission object. Apparently the spawn points were set completely randomly.
What do the developers say? This problem has already been attacked with a patch that improved the spawns. The update went live while the PlayStation beta was still running, which many fans see as a positive sign. The announcements for Warzone also give hope:
Improve the maps
What is criticised? It’s not uncommon for new maps to get little love from CoD players at first. But this time many agree on very specific points: many maps that are officially designed for 6vs6 turn out to be too big for that.
In addition, the new destruction feature does not seem to be fully balanced yet, many players report that it opens up unfair flanks in some cases. In Vanguard, wooden barricades and walls can be shot to pieces.
The snow-covered map Red Star in particular has received a lot of criticism, especially with regard to visibility. As the CoD portal ModernWarzone reports, it is especially difficult on the LastGen consoles:
First hands on impression with #Vangurd 👇
• Red Star’s visibility is horrendous on PS4 Pro
• Red Star is not a 6v6 map and shouldn’t be in the 6v6 playlist
• PS4 pro is having a lot of framerate issues in busy areas and stutters in gunfights
• Gavutu is a good map— ModernWarzone (@ModernWarzone) September 10, 2021
What are the developers saying? The developers have already announced that the visibility problems will be improved in an upcoming update. It is still unclear whether and how exactly individual maps will be changed after the feedback of the players. We expect official information on this in the next few days.
Sledgehammer already thanks the players for their constructive criticism, which allows them to improve the game:
A note about feedback:
We see it all. We welcome it all. We consider it all.
Be constructive and descriptive. Share your reasoning with us. We're listening.
Thank you for sharing your feedback with us and tagging @SHGames. I hope you enjoy #Vanguard Beta day 2!
— Gabe Hernandez (@gabehernandez) September 11, 2021
“A note on feedback: we see everything. We welcome everything. We consider everything. Be constructive and describe in detail. Share your rationales with us. We listen. Thank you for sharing your feedback and tagging @SHgames. Hope you enjoy Day 2 of the Vanguard Beta!”
We’ve also tried out the multiplayer ourselves. How well it plays and why CoD stands out from Battlefield this time:
CoD Vanguard finds its way back to old multiplayer strength without imitating Battlefield
Have you played the Vanguard beta on PlayStation? Or are you waiting for the PC weekend? Do you have any specific suggestions for improving CoD Vanguard? Feel free to tell us about them in the comments.
