CoD: Vanguard Patch Notes Reveal Beta Improvements

Call of Duty: Vanguard hits the market on November 5th, but developer Sledgehammer Games has already released patch notes with the latest changes from the beta. Players can expect the launch version of Vanguard to feature improved audio, smoother gameplay, and even a new skill.

Sledgehammer Games says the goal of the Vanguard beta “was to give players a faster, smoother gaming experience at launch.” To achieve this goal, the developers reduced the speed of the weapon change / pickup animation, as well as increased and rebalanced the sprint time.

In addition, a new perk will be added to Vanguard at launch, the classic Ninja perk, which provides players with silent footsteps at all times. In the beta version of the game, the Ninja perk was not popular as footstep sound was very weak, but Sledgehammer Games describes the “big changes” made to Vanguard’s soundtrack, including increased footstep sound, reduced speaker frequency, and more.

The patch notes also address some of the beta’s visual issues, including fixing muzzle flash distortion and reducing the amount of smoke emitted when firing weapons. Too bright lens flares have also been reduced.

Players can also expect Vanguard performance improvements across all platforms. The alpha and beta versions of Vanguard were frustrating for some players on older consoles such as the PlayStation 4. Performance improvements include fixing glitches that resulted in pixelation, lighting issues, and graphical corruption during the beta.

The full patch notes provided by Sledgehammer Games can be found below.

In addition, here are all the details of the Vanguard post-launch content announced on October 28th and the new Warzone Pacific Caldera map.

Call of Duty: Vanguard releases November 5 for Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PS4, PS5, and PC. The new game will be released at a time when Activision Blizzard is facing a lawsuit from the state of California over alleged harassment and discrimination against women.

Visibility

• Fixed muzzle flash distortion effects and reduced the smoke emitted when firing weapons
• Finished muzzle flash placement/coverage when aiming down
• VFX Environment placement for better aiming
• Removed water drops that fall on the face during rain
• Various bugs have been fixed, including a bug where certain optics were preventing the HUD icons of enemies and friends from being displayed during ADS.
• Fixed cases of badges appearing when destroyed.
• Reduced lens flare on all maps (we reduced sun glare).
• We will continue to refine the VFX, lighting, and UI prior to launch and monitor player feedback on various visibility topics.

Audio

• Audio has been completely overhauled in terms of mixing and content to accommodate community feedback received during the public beta, including more sonorous footsteps, player and non-player weapons, and map environment content.
• Footsteps become silent when players use ADS, Crouch Walk, or have a field perk/upgrade that muffles movement.
• Fixed a bug due to which the shots after the first shot were too quiet
• Operator replicas are less common
• They asked the Butcher to cool down. Voice cues sound less

Spawns

Fixed a bug that caused unpredictable spawning in the Patrol, as well as a general tweak to the spawning logic on a global scale.
Over time, we will continue to improve the spawn logic to improve spawning in matches with a large number of players.

Movement

• Grenades and incendiaries no longer slow players’ movement speed
• Introduced a limit on the maximum effect of suppression
• Made changes to animations, including the speed of changing weapons and throwing equipment (i.e. gammon bombs can be thrown faster).
• Sprint times have been sped up and balanced.

Developer Tip: Dauntless, a perk that wasn’t available to players in the beta, makes players immune to movement speed impairing effects.

Weapon

• Improved shotgun lethality
• The effective range of most shotguns, SMGs, and pistols has been reduced (SMGs and pistols were too effective at range, and shotguns were reduced due to an increase in overall lethality).
• Hip fire spread has been adjusted for most weapons (mostly to add more consistency to the weapon category).
• Reduced loss of barrels, magazines and pads.
• Ammo types have been rebalanced to include more trading options
• Fixed bugs affecting weapon progression and detailed statistics

Developer Tip: Vanguard’s version of the smoke grenade works differently from previous games. You are completely hidden from distant enemies, but can be seen at closer distances, allowing you to close the distance between you and the enemy and hunt them down with close combat formations.

Developer Tip: Try setting your mount options to use ADS rather than ADS+Melee. It’s not for everyone, but it’s a powerful way to instantly become more accurate while staying out of range. It can be combined with blind fire for great results.

Killstreaks and Field Upgrades

• Friendly spy planes and counter-spy planes will no longer spawn overhead
• Spy planes and spy counter planes move slower and are easier to hit
• Counter-spy planes have a shorter duration
• Health reduced on spy planes, counter spy planes and most field upgrades
• The cost of the Death Machine and the War Machine has been swapped
• Gliding Bomb is now easier to control
• A maximum timer has been added to the radar jammer and field microphone.
• Fixed a graphical corruption bug for Attack Dogs – no more Dognados 🙁

Perks

• The low profile has been removed and REPLACED with Ninja.