CoD: Black Ops Cold Patch Notes Change Prestige And Leveling Ahead of Vanguard Season 1

Black Ops Cold War may be last year's Call of Duty, but the game received an update on December 6 to synchronise Military Ranks and Prestige Levels ahead of Vanguard's Season 1. The patch notes also detail nerfs for the Marshal pistol and include new unlock challenges for past DLC weapons.

Synchronized Leveling With Vanguard

Starting on December 8 with the launch of Vanguard's Season 1, Military Rank and Prestige progression will be synchronized with Vanguard across titles. This means players will begin the season at the Military Rank or Prestige Level they've currently reached in Vanguard, or Military Rank 1 if they haven't played Vanguard yet. From there, players will be able to progress through Vanguard Military Ranks across Black Ops Cold War, Warzone, and Modern Warfare to unlock weapons, equipment, killstreaks, and other seasonal content for use in Vanguard and Warzone.

Additionally, each new Prestige Level will award players with a Prestige key, tier skip, emblem, and sticker in Black Ops Cold War, and once they’ve reached Season Level 50 in Season 1, they’ll unlock the exclusive "Duck Hunt" Shotgun Weapon Blueprint to use in Vanguard and Warzone.

Lifetime Prestige And Master Ribbons

This update adds the new "Lifetime Prestige" display to Black Ops Cold War and Warzone at the start of Season 1. This immortalizes a player's total number of Prestige Levels earned across previous seasons and in Vanguard, meaning players can display how many times they have Prestiged across titles.

Players can also continue their Prestige Master Ribbon progression. Each season, a new Prestige Master ribbon will be added to the current six Black Ops Cold War Prestige Master ribbons. Players can progress their Prestige Master ribbons in Black Ops Cold War, Vanguard, Warzone, and Modern Warfare by reaching Prestige Master at Season Level 200.

Prestige Shop Updates

All 27 of Black Ops Cold War's Prestige icons will be unlocked and available to anyone who has earned the rewards throughout previous seasons, and players will be able to equip any Prestige icon they've acquired as long as they reached Prestige Master at least once in a current or previous season. Players will no longer need to be Prestige Master in the current season to access their custom Prestige icons in the Prestige Shop.

Players will continue to earn Prestige Keys in Black Ops Cold War at every 50 Season Levels even after Vanguard Season 1 begins, allowing everyone to keep unlocking Prestige Shop content after Black Ops Cold War's Season 6.

Weapon Tuning, Unlock Challenges, And Zombies Updates

Treyarch includes a bit of weapon tuning in this update to nerf the powerful Marshal pistol. This weapon tuning includes a nerf to the Marshal's damage range, an increase to its damage drop-off, and a nerf to its Dragon’s Breath and Extended Barrel attachments.

This new patch adds unlock challenges for the weapons in Black Ops Cold War's final battle pass, which are the .410 Ironhide shotgun and the Grav assault rifle. The unlock challenges are available in both multiplayer and zombies for anyone who didn't earn them by leveling up the battle pass. It also unlocks all previously classified Black Ops Cold War Season Challenges. This means the challenges can now be completed by players who hadn’t revealed them over the course of previous seasons.

The patch notes mention stability and bug fixes for Zombies, including improvements for the Forsaken and Mauer der Toten round-based maps as well as Outbreak. Plus, the addition of Onslaught Containment and Onslaught Deprogram modes for offline Zombies players.

The full patch notes can be found below, as shared by Treyarch.

Vanguard's Season 1 is set to arrive as a number of employees at Raven Software take part in a walk-out in protest of surprise contract terminations within the QA team that began late last week. And this Call of Duty content continues as Activision Blizzard faces lawsuits and other investigations related to alleged sexual harassment and discrimination against women.

GLOBAL

Progression

• Synchronized Military Ranks and Prestige Levels
  • Military Rank and Prestige Level progression will be synchronized with Vanguard at the launch of Season One.
  • All players will begin the season at the Military Rank or Prestige Level they have currently reached in Vanguard, or Military Rank 1 if they have not played Vanguard yet.
  • Players can progress Vanguard Military Ranks in Black Ops Cold War, Warzone, and Modern Warfare to unlock weapons, Equipment, Killstreaks, and other content for use in Vanguard and Warzone.
• Prestige Rewards
  • Complete Military Ranks 1-55 to start a new Prestige journey, with new Prestige Levels to unlock across Black Ops Cold War, Vanguard, Warzone, and Modern Warfare.
  • In Season One, players can earn up to Prestige 7 as they progress their Season Level. Four additional Prestige Levels will be added per season.
  • Each Prestige Level awards a Prestige Key, Tier Skip, Emblem, and Sticker in Black Ops Cold War.
  • Reach Season Level 50 in Season One to unlock the exclusive "Duck Hunt" Weapon Blueprint for use in Vanguard and Warzone.
• Lifetime Prestige
  • Lifetime Prestige display added to Black Ops Cold War and Warzone at the start of Vanguard Season One that display the total number of Prestige Levels earned across previous seasons and in Vanguard.
• Prestige Master Ribbons
  • Players can now continue their Black Ops Cold War Prestige Master Ribbon progression. Each season, a new Prestige Master Ribbon will be added to the current six Black Ops Cold War Prestige Master Ribbons.
  • Players can progress their Prestige Master Ribbons in Black Ops Cold War, Vanguard, Warzone, and Modern Warfare by reaching Prestige Master at Season Level 200.
  • Players can now catch up on missed Prestige Master Ribbons each time they earn 200 Season Levels in a season. For example, reaching Season Level 400 will award two Prestige Master Ribbons, if available.

Prestige Shop

• Black Ops Cold War Prestige Icons will be unlocked and available in the Prestige Shop for anyone who earned them in previous seasons.
• Players can now equip any acquired Prestige Icon (1-27) as long as they've reached Prestige Master at least once in a current or previous season.
• Players do not need to currently be Prestige Master to access Custom Prestige Icons in the Prestige Shop.
• Equipped Prestige Icons will no longer be reset at the start of each season.

Season Challenges

• All previous Black Ops Cold War Season Challenges will be revealed and can be progressed by players who hadn't revealed them over the course of previous seasons. Legacy Season Challenges can continue to be progressed in Black Ops Cold War.
• Starting with Season One, players can access and progress new Multiplayer Season Challenges in Vanguard and Warzone, as well as Zombies Season Challenges in Vanguard.

Weapon Unlock Challenges

• .410 Ironhide
  • Weapon unlock challenge added to Multiplayer and Zombies for the .410 Ironhide Shotgun.
• Grav
  • Weapon unlock challenge added to Multiplayer and Zombies for the Grav Assault Rifle.

Weapon Tuning (Dec. 6)

• Marshal
  • Damage
    • Reduced Damage Range from 3.81m to 3.68m.
    • Increased Damage drop-off when fired beyond 3.68m.
  • Dragon's Breath Attachment
    • Now has a -5% effect on Fire Rate.
    • Increased Damage Range penalty from -25% to -35%.
    • Reduced Damage bonus from +17% to +16%.
  • 12.1" Extended Barrel
    • Reduced Damage Range bonus from +20% to +15%.

Lobby

• Updated Lobby theming in Multiplayer and Zombies.

ZOMBIES (DEC. 6)

Forsaken

• Closed an exploit during the Main Quest boss fight.
• Added “Not Enough Essence” prompt to the Arcade Token dispenser when the player does not have enough Essence to purchase a token.

Mauer der Toten

• Addressed an issue where a texture was not appearing correctly after melting the door during the Main Quest.

Outbreak

• Enemies killed by Brain Rot zombies will now contribute toward the Dragon Relic World Event.

Onslaught

• Added Onslaught Containment and Onslaught Deprogram to offline Local play.

Stability

• Fixed stability issues related to the Arsenal.