How Treyarch Can Take the Call of Duty League to New Heights
When it was revealed that Treyarch would be taking over as the lead development studio for the 2020 Call of Duty release, many fans of competitive Call of Duty filled their heads with some form of optimism given the track record of the developer supporting all of its titles with some form of competitive elements since Black Ops 2.
It’s no secret that Infinity Ward has failed to support CoD esports to its fullest extent. As we head towards the end of the Modern Warfare game cycle, there are still several flaws in the competitive game, including an incredibly inconsistent spawn system that seems to change on a daily basis, instances of Trophy Systems failing to block utility and a metagame that hasn’t changed since the release of the game back in October.
Treyarch has a prime opportunity offer extensive support with the release of the new game and here is how it can elevate the CDL to new heights in its second season of competition.
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Constant Support
Towards the end of the Black Ops 4 season, Treyarch added the Galil into the game specifically to create more weapon variety when it came to the Assault Rifle (AR) metagame. The developer has always been an advocate for Call of Duty esports and is often more involved than Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer Games when it comes to creating the most competitive version of the game.
If the CDL and Treyarch co-operate to create a balanced set of rules, map pool and game modes, there is a real opportunity for CoD 2020 to be the title that is best optimised for competitive play.
Support between the two parties should minimise the need for some form of gentlemen’s agreement, a hot topic throughout the Modern Warfare season which has seen a variety of weapon attachments unofficially restricted by players rather than the official ruleset. The agreement has even seen the automatic Tactical Sprint setting added to the list, making it the first in-game setting to be restricted for professional play. If Treyarch and the league can work together to keep the game balanced and keep as many items off the ban list, it opens the door for a variety of tactics and equipment that can be used for a variety of situation rather than the same two or three weapons throughout the entire season.
Click to enlargeMap Design
It’s safe to say that the best maps on Modern Warfare are the reworks of the maps from previous titles and the maps that currently feature in the current season of play are some of the worst there has ever been. The combination of poor spawns, “tactical” doors on the entrance of nearly every building and inadequate map design makes Modern Warfare an extremely hard game to understand from the perspective of a spectator.
Synonymous for creating some of the best maps in the history of the franchise, Treyarch’s experience traditional map design comprising of three lanes with multiple chokepoints are almost always the perfect map design for competitive play bar a few exceptions.
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Weapon Variety
Alongside good, competitive maps, weapon balance is key for a good competitive title. As mentioned earlier, the M4A1/MP5 meta has existed since last October and there have been no changes at all and when a team or player tries some form of unorthodox strategy, they get critiqued for it.
Treyarch titles have always had at least two or three ARs viable for competitive play alongside two sub-machine guns – one that usually performs extremely well in close quarters while the other has better performance at medium-range.
It’s important to keep most weapons viable and balanced to keep the game feeling fresh and to encourage a range of strategies.
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In-Game Incentives
To the credit of Modern Warfare, the in-game cosmetics for each of the 12 franchises are a welcome addition after them either being omitted from the game entirely or being poorly produced. In nearly every single game of the public playlist or Warzone, there are players representing the teams with an Operator skin or using the team camouflages.
To maintain the strong start of increasing the awareness of the league through various in-game incentives, Treyarch has the chance to push this one step further, by adding exclusive CDL cosmetics that can be earned by finishing a ranked play season in a certain place or a limited-time team camo after they’ve won an event. There are several ways Treyarch can go to keep people interested in the competitive side of the game and if it brings Activision even more money into the bank, it’s surely a win-win situation.
After Florida Mutineers player Chance “Maux” Moncivaez stated that Treyarch has already begun to make contact with players regarding esports for CoD 2020, he stated that fans should be “hopeful” regarding the new release. Let’s hope he’s right when the full game releases later this year!
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Image via Treyarch
