Yesterday evening, Treyarch released patch notes for Black Ops 2’s latest PC update. The update has fixed an issue with the game’s screenshot feature and tightened up the boundaries of its new Zombies map, but it’s not these problems that have driven players to bombard studio design director David Vonderhaar’s Twitter account with death threats.
No – that would be the three imperceptible gun balance tweaks.
Multiplayer Game Balancing
- AN-94: Damage slightly reduced.
- DSR 50: Rate of fire reduced.
- Ballista: Rate of fire slightly reduced.
The DSR 50 is a bolt-action sniper rifle that fired every 0.2 seconds. It now fires every 0.4. Its rechamer time was one second. It is now 1.1.
“Not sure these fractions of seconds are worth the threats of violence,” wrote Vonderhaar. “Guns have powerbands and learning curves. Over time, both change. As one goes up, so does the other. That’s the short answer to ‘why now’.”
In other words: these sort of changes are par for the course in multiplayer shooters, where the relative power of various weapons frequently doesn’t become apparent until months after release.
“This has happened with every Call of Duty game that’s come out for the last few years, and it will continue to happen,” wrote Activision blogger Dan Amrichin a post entitled ‘Stop threatening game developers’. “A gun’s stats being adjusted should not be a surprise to anybody at this point.”
“Yet Vahn often gets told he should die in a fire or kill himself or is a horrible person,” Amrich added. “If anybody thinks for a second that this is okay, it is not.
“If you enjoy your games, have a little respect for the people who make them — and stop threatening them with bodily harm every time they do their job.”
Hear hear. This site’s N system was founded on a belief that for hobbyist players – those of us who feel the effects of every change in our favourite games – a single line in some apparently nondescript patch notes can be big, meaningful news. That said, a sense of perspective comes highly recommended.
On that note, here are Black Ops 2’s July 23 patch notes in full. What do they mean to you?
Multiplayer Issues Addressed
- Improved stability when pressing controller buttons during a Theater mode screenshot.
Multiplayer Game Balancing
- AN-94: Damage slightly reduced.
- DSR 50: Rate of fire reduced.
- Ballista: Rate of fire slightly reduced.
Die Rise
- Players are no longer able to access unintended areas using the Trample Steam and the Elevator.