Opinion: Call Of Duty: Black Ops Cold War League Play Is Terrible

On February 8, Call of Duty developer Treyarch released the hotly-anticipated League Play for Black Ops Cold War, a mode that had been heavily requested since the launch of the game on November 13, 2020. 

With expectations from the passionate community extremely high after 12 long months without any form of a competitive playlist, players were expecting Treyarch, the developer that has provided the most support to the competitive scene, to provide the most complete iteration of League Play ever seen.

After just a few days of playing, Treyarch appears to have completely missed the boat in regards to what the player base wanted from a competitive playlist. Despite League Play containing exactly the same maps, game modes, and rules that the Call of Duty League (CDL) uses, the unrewarding and confusing ranking structure rehashed from Black Ops 4’s measly attempt at a competitive playlist has left several players, including myself, extremely disappointed.

 

League Play: At Least It's Something...

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Although there are several things wrong with Black Ops Cold War’s take on a competitive playlist, Treyarch implementing some form of mode is already a big step forward compared to what Infinity Ward offered on the 2019 reboot of Modern Warfare. 

The competitive nature of matches complete with official rules does make a welcome change from the public lobbies that have been injected with a hefty dose of skill-based matchmaking. Having some form of League Play, even though it isn’t ideal, is certainly better than no League Play altogether. 

Black Ops Cold War League Play is a terrible attempt at a competitive playlist and a huge step backwards compared to just a few years ago when Call of Duty: World War 2 offered a comprehensive, clear, and understandable ranked playlist. 

 

Matchmaking: A Shambles

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After spending several hours attempting to decipher the three unrewarding layers of progression, I eventually completed my placement matches with a solid four wins out of a possible five. Expecting to be placed in one of the higher skill divisions on offer, I found myself placed in Expert, the top 30% of players. Not bad, but not great. 

As professional players completed their placement matches, it turns out Expert is a rather impressive rank to achieve. Florida Mutineers player Joseph “Owakening” Conley managed to win all five of his placement matches alongside an impressive kill-to-death ratio often only to be placed in Competitor, the lowest of the five skill divisions. How can a player competing against the very best players in the world receive the lowest rank in League Play?!

Once I got placed, the difficulty of matches varied drastically. The first game in my respective ladder was a 250-0 whitewash on Hardpoint while the next match was a hard-fought defeat in a close Control match. Competitive Call of Duty pioneer and Treyarch Multiplayer Designer David Vonderhaar took to Twitter, explaining that there could be issues influencing matchmaking. He went on to say that he may reveal some of the factors that determine the skill level of players and how matchmaking works but opted to hold back in case even more criticism was hurled in his direction.

Considering Treyarch has had over three months to create the best competitive playlist that Call of Duty has ever seen, this is certainly one of the worst iterations of a ranked playlist that has been added into the franchise.
 

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Ranking System: Complex And Unnecessary

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The vast majority of triple-A titles release with some form of competitive playlist that is simple to understand, and contains a clear path to the top rank. For some reason, the Call of Duty franchise has never been able to implement such a playlist, much to the annoyance of those after an alternative to casual matches. 

As I mentioned earlier, it took me nearly three hours to fully understand the three layers of progression and their respective functions. Skill divisions determine your skill in relation to other League Play players while Gems can be earned to increase your League Play Rank. The higher you place in your 50-player ladder, the more Gems you earn, resulting in a faster increase in Rank. The Gems are a totally unnecessary feature to League Play. What’s wrong with a simple ELO number that is calculated based on wins and losses and you get placed in a division ranging from Bronze all the way to the Top 500? World War 2’s ranked playlist was way ahead of its time and would’ve been the perfect addition to Black Ops Cold War. If it isn’t broken, then why not implement it across the board and have it within the game as soon as it releases?

As a whole, the ranking system is one of the most unrewarding systems that I’ve ever seen. With only Calling Cards and Rank icons to change rather than having to work your way through the ranks, is there really any point to attempt to reach Rank 30?

Once I managed to reach Master Rank 1 all the way back when Black Ops 2 first released League Play, it felt like a great achievement that I was able to show off to other players. If I told someone that I was Rank 30 on League Play and had a flashy Calling Card and Emblem, the likelihood of them caring is slim to none.

The likes of VALORANT and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) are prime examples of how a ranked playlist should be implemented into a game. With a clear path to the top, and cool names such as Radiant and Global Elite used to showcase your immense skill at a game, how hard can it be for Call of Duty to follow a similar system rather than disappoint one of its most committed areas of the community on an annual basis?

Is There Any Chance Of Change?

The chances of Treyarch implementing drastic changes to its League Play mode are extremely unlikely, much to the disappointment of those that are simply on the lookout for a fun and rewarding take on competitive Call of Duty.

For those players wanting a taste of World War 2’s ranked playlist, the servers are still online, and I would highly recommend jumping into some ranked matches to fully understand the mess that Treyarch has created.

While it is positive that League Play is finally in the game, it’s left a sour taste in the mouths of competitive players that such high hopes for Treyarch to take League Play to new heights, especially with the second season of the CDL kicking off in just a few days.

 

Images via Treyarch | Eurogamer