Editor’s Note: A lawsuit has been filed against Call of Duty publisher Activision Blizzard by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing, which alleges the company has engaged in abuse, discrimination, and retaliation against its female employees. Activision Blizzard has denied the allegations. The full details of the Activision Blizzard lawsuit (content warning: rape, suicide, abuse, harassment) are being updated as new information becomes available.
The Call of Duty: Vanguard beta's maps and modes have been detailed by developer Sledgehammer Games, including an all-new mode called Patrol. Players can expect Champion Hill to return from the alpha along with more traditional content like Team Deathmatch on some new maps in the Call of Duty: Vanguard beta. On top of that, it seems Vanguard will also dramatically increase the player count in some of its modes, as well.
The recent Call of Duty: Vanguard alpha was criticized for its movement, gameplay, sound, visuals, and more, but Sledgehammer promises it's working to address some of these issues. The developer noted some of these issues will be addressed in the upcoming beta, so players will be the ultimate judge if the studio's fixes are enough. The beta is planned much larger in terms of content, though, so there will still likely be other issues that players will encounter.
Sledgehammer Games detailed the beta in a new blog post, confirming that four maps (on top of Champion Hill) will be in the game. The fourth map, Eagle's Nest will join the beta in its second weekend. The developer previously confirmed that the Call of Duty: Vanguard beta's dates will run from September 10 - 13 for PlayStation players who pre-order, and a second weekend will run from September 16 - 20 for other platforms. The last two days of that second beta weekend will allow anyone to play, regardless of pre-order status.
Additionally, a new mode known as Patrol will be making its debut during the Call of Duty: Vanguard beta. It's essentially Hardpoint, except the capture point moves around the map instead of swapping between static locations. Team Deathmatch, Domination, Kill Confirmed, and Search and Destroy are also confirmed to be featured in the beta. Players will be able to level up to level 30 in the beta and experience a new feature called "Combat Pacing," which provides three variations of every game type: Tactical (6v6), Assault (20 - 28 players), and Blitz (28 - 48 players). The latter two options, in particular, means Call of Duty: Vanguard's multiplayer mode will be much larger than Black Ops Cold War's in terms of lobby size.
Since Vanguard features about 20 multiplayer maps, it's safe to assume not all maps will be available for each type of combat pacing. Some maps will likely be designed for 6v6 and others for 24 v 24. This is certainly not the first time the series has attempted something like this, though, as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare introduced 100 players into its Ground War mode.
Call of Duty: Vanguard's return to WW2 has some dubious about the title, but if the beta is promising, perhaps it can win some of those skeptics over. The shooter has a lot of competition this year with the likes of Battlefield 2042 and Halo Infinite, so it'll need to be more than just passable in order to really please its core playerbase. Even though the series has historically performed well commercially regardless of reception, if Call of Duty: Vanguard isn't up to snuff, it could suffer in the long-term in comparison to its rivals.
Call of Duty: Vanguard will be available for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and PC on November 5, 2021.
Source: Sledgehammer Games