Warp zone engaged: Is the new COD mode ready for Esports ?

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Emma
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Over half a million viewers on Twitch and Youtube: The release of the new Call of Duty Battle Royale makes an impression. Does it have the potential to replace Fortnite?
With a huge hype the download for Call of Duty Warzone started yesterday at 4 pm for all Modern Warfare owners. Of course, all the big streamers like Montanablack, DrDisrespect and Shroud also played the new mode.

The launch went very smoothly for such a big release, except for a few problems with the lobby search. The servers remained stable despite the huge rush. There were no gamebreaking bugs. So far, so commendable – Infinity Ward seems to have learned from other developers’ mistakes.

What does Warzone offer?
There are many things that had long disturbed other Battle Royales (BR) like Fortnite or PUBG. Warzone does some of it better, as was already shown at the first play. A huge factor with the previous BRs is the search luck at the beginning of each round. If you find a good weapon directly, you can usually take out some of the freshly landed players without them being able to defend themselves.

This works differently in Warzone: Each player lands equipped with a pistol and shield and can fight directly. Even if an initial fight fails, your own life can be restored by the new Gulag mechanism (see below). So don’t hang your head when you get a false start.

But also Warzone offers mechanics at the beginning of the match, which should be discussed at least: If you cut your parachute earlier, you can shoot with the starting pistol at other players who are just about to land. This could be seen as an unfair advantage, but also as a trick that requires good aim and skill. It remains to be seen how the community will decide.

Death is not the end
Compared to other Battle Royales, Warzone has a rather fast time to kill and rather simple weapon handling. Since you can die relatively quickly with 150 players on the map, there are several ways to avoid death in the current 3v3 mode.

Of course, you can also bring unfighting Teammates back into the game if they are not yet completely killed. This takes about five seconds, during which both players are defenseless. However, you can buy a self-healing kit for $4500 at the so-called buying stations. With this you don’t need a teammate to help you get back up. The item can only be used once per death.

But even if you are completely taken out of the game, there are two ways to get back in. The first time you are taken to the so-called Gulag. This is a zone on the map where dead players play 1v1 matches. The winner may rejoin the match.

If you lose the fight in the Gulag or die more than once in the round, your team must resurrect you at a buy station. This also costs $4500 and is only possible once per station.

Movement and Loot
With the vehicles known from Groundwar, such as ATV, SUV and the truck, the own team can flee from the very strong gas faster than on foot. But this also involves risks: The vehicles make a lot of noise, on the minimap enemy vehicles are marked red. So you quickly become a target.

Also the helicopter can be found at some spots in Warzone. This allows players to quickly cross the entire map and land on roofs. However, you can be seen from everywhere at the same time, and the often found rocket launchers make life difficult for the pilots, which also makes this vehicle risky.

That’ll take us right to the launch system. In contrast to Black Ops 4-BR Blackout there are no single attachments to find and backpacks to loot. Thus, plumbing is much faster and “space problems” don’t really matter: Two weapon slots, one tactical and one lethal grenade, up to five