Word of advice to Activision: Closing the forum thread with leaked information about the next game in your most popular game series doesn’t mean that information is going to disappear from the Web. If only it were so.
A detailed description of Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 was posted in the official Call of Duty: Black Ops forum earlier this week. While Activision quickly removed the information, MP1st noted that the thread’s cache is still out there with all the succulent morsels of information still tucked safely inside.
According to the post, the Treyarch-developed Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 will be out on Nov. 6. A new game mode called “Escort” will be introduced wherein a player will have to be guided safely by others to two or three different areas on various maps. Escort matches will be broken into rounds and the round is over if the escorted player dies. While Kill Confirmed and Drop Zone modes will be back in Black Ops 2, Team Defender and Infected will be left out this time around.
Black Ops 2 will also release alongside Call of Duty Elite 2.0. The upgraded version of Activision’s membership service will rename the combat statistic tracking record as “Elite Stats,” and a new lobby will be established for clan matches. Clan Tournaments can also be set up in Elite in version 2.0.
There is also a large number of details on competitive multiplayer tweaks in the post as well, including changes made to the Pointstreak system (Black Ops 2 will follow Modern Warfare 3’s system) and Prestiges (there will be 15 prestige levels as in the first Black Ops.) The game will also institute a new version of the Perk Pro system. An improved combat training mode will be added to help players acclimate to the rigors of competitive play without getting constantly shot down by human beings. The aggressiveness of AI opponents in the training mode will no longer be dictated based on how long it takes for them to start shooting.
Full details can be read in the cache of the original post.
Given how mundane many of the details are, it’s very possible that these details are legitimate. The nearly ten-year cycle of annual Call of Duty entries means that, like other video game perennials, improvements to the games are becoming more and more incremental. Activision certainly lent authenticity to the leak but rushing to remove it as well.
