Every fan-base has its disruptive fans, and unfortunately, quite a lot of the time, they end up being the vocal minority. And while it's imperative that video game communities share their concerns and criticisms, those criticisms have to be realistic and put forward in a non-aggressive way. Unfortunately, a portion of the current Call of Duty: Warzone 2 fan-base isn't really following these rules, and their desires for the direction of the series feel a little ironic when taking into consideration the last few years of complaints.
Launched back in November 2022, Call of Duty: Warzone 2 was immediately quite controversial in the community. While many fans praised the game's new map, its variety of POIs, and the new DMZ mode, those fans also expressed very valid concerns over a few of the game's new systems, in particular its approach to looting. While these concerns are completely valid, and Infinity Ward has spent time and resources to address them, a portion of the fan-base is complaining right now seemingly for the sake of it, with their criticisms being a little too general.
Call of Duty: Warzone Fans Have Fallen Into the Same Complaint Pattern Again
The latest wave of complaints for Call of Duty: Warzone 2 simply states that the game just doesn't feel the same as the first Call of Duty: Warzone. A good deal of these complaints don't really address any specifics of the concern, just simply state that it isn't like how it used to be. In particular, a good deal of fans are currently pleading for the return of Verdansk, Call of Duty: Warzone's very first map.
For anyone that's been in the Warzone community since the beginning, these complaints will seem immediately ironic. Being in the game for quite a while, many fans expressed their resentment for Verdansk toward the end of its life, stating that it was starting to feel stale. And while those complaints were very valid at the time, it's incredibly ironic for those same fans to turn around a few years later and claim that they wish Verdansk would've just stayed, and that Al Mazrah doesn't hold a candle to that original map. Though it's natural to have a preference for maps, some Warzone fans have raised Verdansk up to a pedestal that it was never on during its lifetime.
Unfortunately, this is nothing new for the Call of Duty community. For well over a decade now, many Call of Duty fans have fallen into the same cycle. As a new Call of Duty comes out, fans immediately express their hatred for the game, claiming that the last one was much better. Then, when the next entry comes out, the cycle repeats, with the previously derided game now being some of the fan-base's apparent favorite. It's only after multiple years that some fans return to those past entries and realize they weren't nearly as bad as they made them out to be.
Call of Duty: Warzone 2 definitely has room for improvement, there's no denying that, but rather than actually point out specific points of criticism, many Call of Duty fans just express their blanketed hatred for the game and state that it used to be better. Warzone 2 can only get better with honest, respectful criticism, and it's clear that Infinity Ward and its co-developers are willing to put time and resources into fixing genuine issues that the community has. This constant Call of Duty cycle of blind hate for the current game and revisionist history for older titles needs to come to an end.
Call of Duty: Warzone 2 is out now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X