In Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0, gunfights can end in less than a second. In fact, some weapons have the potential to down a player in less than 400 milliseconds, which is wildly punishing in a mode that can last upwards of 25 minutes. While this isn’t an inherent flaw, many elements around the fast time to kill (TTK) are disproportionately slow, such as aim down sights (ADS), reload times, and other animations. It’s demoralizing to spend so long playing a match, only to get taken out in mere milliseconds by a player who happened to be aiming in your direction.
As Warzone 2.0 begins to roll out tweaks, there’s one thing I’m hoping to see changed: an increase in the TTK to match other battle royale games like Fortnite or Apex Legends — or at the very least, to match the original Warzone.
Give me a break
Players have complained about the fast TTK since the first Warzone game, so much so, that Activision and Raven Software actually increased the default player health from 100 to 150. With three armor plates equipped, your max total health could be as high as 300.
In Warzone 2.0, your max health is capped at 250 (100 base health, and 50 per plate). However, you can only apply three plates if you acquire a 3-Plate Vest. The default max number of plates you can wear is two. So, throughout the match — especially during the early stages — it’s common to come across enemies who only have 200 health, which means they’ll go down in an instant. But even at 250 health, it still feels far too fast, especially when you consider just how slow some of the weapons are in terms of movement and ADS times.
But it’s not just the weapons that feel slow. Many animations — such as applying an armor plate — are just painful to sit through, especially during a firefight. You also can’t run while plating anymore, which might not sound like a big deal, but you’d be surprised how often this will lead to your demise.
Warzone 2.0 doesn’t allow you to quickly cancel out of animations either — like reloading — meaning you’re often committed to many interactions even if you don’t want to. So, if you happen to use a killstreak, reload, sprint, or interact with the world while an enemy is around the corner, you’ll be a sitting duck, at least momentarily — which, in this game, is all it takes to go down.
Above, you can see an example of a fast gunfight. Imagine being taken out that quickly after 20 minutes. With more health, this player might’ve had a chance to react.
Since many players are well aware of how easy it is to get caught off guard, many have acclimated to a slower-paced play style — one that feels vastly different from what you might’ve seen in the original Warzone. Now, it’s far more common to encounter players who are way too afraid to even move out of a building, slowing the game’s pacing to a halt.
Bumping the base health to 150 (just like in the original) would solve some of the game’s pacing problems. With more health, players would be encouraged to take more risks and move around the map. As it stands, there’s far too much downtime during each game and it has to do — in part — with players moving around slowly. And who can blame them?
If you get unlucky while mantling up onto a ledge, you’re out of the game. Having more health could punish players less for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Sure, you should be at a disadvantage if your back is turned to an opponent, but with more health, you would at least have some time to react — and with enough skill, perhaps live to see another day.
