As Call of Duty: Warzone's popularity continues to surge, fans have begun to establish a proper competitive meta for the game. Infinity Ward's latest effort into battle royale for the franchise has proven itself as a truly unique and different battle royale experience, and as players determine what loot is viable and what's not worth using, there's one particular feature fans have found to be pretty divisive.
Players with enough cash in Call of Duty: Warzone have the ability to purchase any of their custom loadouts among the other usual fare of killstreaks and equipment upgrades. Battle royales don't typically allow players to bring in their own customized weapons right out of the box, a differentiating feature in comparison. As such, many have come to criticize the feature as game-breaking because and restricts competitive play to certain tactics.
Loadouts' Most Vocal Criticism
Perhaps the most vocal criticism of custom loadouts in Warzone so far has come from Ninja, one of the most popular battle royale streamers of all time. He took to Twitter last week voicing his opinion on the custom loadout feature, to which he believes eliminates any sense of variety from the game.
Of course, there are plenty of people in Ninja's mentions on both sides of the argument, whether loadouts should exist as is or be nerfed/modified for the future of Warzone. It's certainly a first for battle royales to give so much player agency in what weapons/equipment players can use in game. Obviously players in other battle royale games would be able customize their loadouts, but that was contingent on what weapons, equipment, modifiers, etc., that players found in the map itself, instead of equipment players unlock and use at their own will. That element of consistency can aid in viable Warzone squad/team composition, which can be essential in battle royale games. There's a conversation to be had if such loadout freedom fits within the battle royale archetype.
Are Loadouts Game-Breaking?
The concept of loadouts on its own isn't inherently game-breaking per se, but it's vastly different in comparison to other battle royales like Fortnite or Apex Legends. The main issue with loadouts in Warzone becomes the balance between consistency and lack of variety, as battle royale games without loadouts have existed on the premise of RNG, or the random nature of loot drops. Players are forced to have an adaptable playstyle to survive, which means competitive players are practicing a basic sense of familiarity with all weapons and equipment. Successful players know how to use and optimize any weapon or piece of equipment players find to their advantage.
Loadouts drastically change this RNG concept, but doesn't inherently eliminate any sense of variety in the game. Obviously things like thermal scope snipers and mid-range ARs are arguably the best and most common loadout weapon types, but it doesn't restrict player agency. Every player has their favorite weapon, or at the very least a preference on what equipment players prefer to use in Call of Duty in general. Depending on what attachments or perks are selected, how the game is played can drastically differ player-to-player. Allowing players to have more elements of choice in battle royale can shift the competitive meta drastically, but it doesn't invalidate any sense of variety specifically.
The main detractor from loadouts is the lessening of importance on loot in Warzone. Loot soon becomes something of a choice in desperation, rather than a primary focus of the gameplay. Warzone's Contracts fill a similar role in changing the gameplay focus of the battle royale, but it still doesn't change the end goal of being the last one/squad standing. Different weapons serve different purposes, and allowing players to choose and unlock their loot through Cash should be a reward for their efforts. Every player starts on equal footing anyway, just like any other battle royale, and earning Cash to buy loadouts isn't game-breaking by any means.
Potential Adjustments for Loadouts
Now is there room for proper balancing of loadouts as they currently exist in Warzone? Absolutely. Infinity Ward is likely keeping an eye on how quickly the average squad gets enough Cash to purchase their own custom loadouts. From there it can also monitor how often/quickly a squad opts to purchase and deliver a custom loadout to them. Should Infinity Ward's development team determine that loadouts are too easy to obtain early-on, an obvious change would be that development simply increase the cost to purchase custom loadouts from Buy Stations in Warzone. It'd be interesting to see the data on how custom loadouts are affecting Warzone's win conditions since release.
Assuming an increase in cost simply doesn't cut it, Infinity Ward could also impose some slight perk or equipment limitations for loadouts. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare initially designed and balanced loadouts to be a uniform system that could be used in all game modes, whether that was standard multiplayer, Spec Ops, or Ground War. Battle royales can be fundamentally different from other multiplayer shooter modes/games, which could mean an opportunity for separate balancing, something top players like Shroud have noted as a balance concern for the future. Warzone is its own standalone experience from Modern Warfare, so it wouldn't be a bad call assuming vast imbalance becomes a greater concern.
Imbalance concerns in Warzone's loadouts haven't drastically affected the game thus far. Other than some gripes with sniping and camping, a problem Modern Warfare has had in the past, loadouts in Warzone have been a welcome innovation to the battle royale genre. Currently loadouts still don't drastically affect how the game is played, they're just another competitive edge players can use for the ultimate goal of surviving to the end. Until some specific loadout criteria becomes a serious problem, loadouts have no reason not to remain a primary feature in Warzone's battle royale.
Call of Duty: Warzone is available now on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.