Update, November 22: After server troubles delayed their release, microtransactions are now available in COD: WWII.
Call of Duty’s microtransactions have finally arrived in Call of Duty: WW2. Server issues had previously delayed the arrival of COD Points to the game.
Still on the fence? Here’s our Call of Duty: WW2 PC review.
Call of Duty: WWII has been available since November 3, but COD points weren’t due for release until last week, on November 14. Unfortunately for Activision, server troubles took priority, so the previous schedule had to be delayed – it’s no use having microtransactions if no-one can get into the game to buy them.
COD Points work in COD: WWII in exactly the same way as any other COD game they’ve appeared in so far (they first appeared in Call of Duty: Black Ops). You can buy them with real money, with prices starting at $1.99 for 200 points, and going up to $99.99 for 13,000 points. As is usually the case with things like this, the more points you buy at once, the better value they become.
200 points can be exchanged for one Rare Supply Drop for either the multiplayer or Zombies version of the game. For the most part, these contain weapon skins, or bonuses like 10% extra XP.
Update November 14, 2017:COD: WWII devs Sledgehammer Games havegiven an update on their efforts to stabilise the game,applied a patch to its PC version,and delayed the rollout of COD Points.
Its clear how much work Sledgehammer have put into rescuing the latest Call of Duty from what’s been a pretty rough launch. The PC update makes a number of bug fixes, multiplayer updates, and weapon rebalances, while a return to dedicated servers is being tested on consoles.
The PC update adds support for Discord, and for the forthcoming December season of Ranked Play. Issues around screen hitching, FOV resets, and frames-per-second locks have also been fixed, and various connectivity optimisations made. The BAR, STG-44, FG-42, and machine pistol have all been nerfed, while the Bren LMG, LMG bipod, and Walther toggle action shotgun have all been buffed.
Sledgehammer also urge you to make use of the player report system to combat cheaters. To do this, go to the Social tab, select the player you suspect of cheating, and then the ‘Report Player’ option.
You can readthe PC update in full on Steam. A more general update has also been posted on Reddit– this claims that certain disconnects, stat losses and lobby freezes should have been fixed in a patch (though some players are still reporting these issues in the comments), and announces the extension of double XP until 10:00 Pacific today. It also outlines Sledgehammer’s ongoing efforts to restore dedicated servers, but so far their testing of these has been confined to console.
Finally, COD Points, the series’s real money microtransactions currency, were due to be activated today. That will now take another week to happen while Sledgehammer sort everything out:
As an update to an earlier announcement, the COD Points live date has been shifted to November 21. As a digital edition owner, your bonus of 1,100 CP will be awarded at that time. Thank you for your patience.
— Activision Support (@ATVIAssist) November 14, 2017
It’s been a really messy launch so far, but we have to say, it’s pretty impressive to see how much Sledgehammer have done since we last checked in just 24 hours ago (see original story, below). They must be literally working around the clock.
Original story November 13, 2017:Call of Duty: WWII launched last weekto strong sales, but there’s a lot left to be desired on the technical side. Developers Sledgehammer Games have acknowledged various issues in a new blog post and outlined some measures to deal with them, along with a reaffirmed commitment to PC players.
COD:WWII got a patch on Friday last week, which resolved a number of launch issues, but it also introduced some new ones. These forced Sledgehammer to move the game to peer-to-peer servers. They say “the game is stable,” but are aiming to return to dedicated servers as their highest priority. Testing for data-gathering and diagnostic purposes is underway in the US now.
The Headquarters social space remains a solo experience for the time being, but you can invite friends if you’re feeling lonely. It should return to its intended 48-player population when dedicated servers are brought back online, so Sledgehammer ask that you “hang in there.”
Here’sthe post by Sledgehammer, which concludes with a specific promise to PC fans:
“We also want to reinforce our commitment to PC fans. We have the next PC Title Update ready to go, but we believe we need to work through the issues noted above first – many of which also affect PC players. For this reason, we’ll wait a bit longer before deploying the patch to the PC in order to ensure everything is the way it needs to be first.”
As technical foulups go, there’s one more that has been received more positively. Sledgehammer accidentally triggered triple XP instead of double for the weekend’s scheduled event. They say it’ll return to normal on Monday morning, which we presume is Pacific time, so you’ve got a few more hours left.
You’re right, it’s not. We accidentally triggered 3XP. So grind while you can this weekend while it’s on. Monday AM it goes back to normal.
— M.Condrey in WWII (@MichaelCondrey) November 11, 2017
Despite these issues, Gfk Chart-Track – who track the UK’s physical videogame sales – say Call of Duty: WWII is on course for the strongest second week of sales in the last two years. They don’t count digital sales, but it nevertheless appears that the latest COD is off to a great start.