Against all odds, Warzone 2.0 and Modern Warfare 2’s battle pass is very good

Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0 – and by extension, modern warfare 2 – It has an excellent battle pass. One of the best I’ve seen in recent years, since Fortnite popularized the monetization method and we’ve seen reward-based progression incentives proliferate across the industry. Unlike other battle passes we’ve seen, there’s a huge amount of player control over what you unlock and when, which means we all start getting different items at different times and can prioritize certain items over others.

For example, if you play primarily as the operator Callisto and want to get more skins for the late pre-republic Franco-Spanish descendant of France’s royal family, you can choose to do so. You can ignore certain weapon skins or unlock them on your path to get your new operator skin, but that’s your choice. You are in control. You can choose where to spend the tokens in the battle pass.

Isn’t that a better setup than, say, Overwatch 2, the most recent game that drew user complaints due to how egregiously monetized and slow its battle pass is? Isn’t it better to be able to say ‘hey, I want more guns!’ and be able to get to work unlocking more weapons? I know, as I understand the slow-forming meta of Modern Warfare 2 and Warzone 2.0, that I want to have as many options available as soon as possible. And unlocking a ‘professionally tuned’ shotgun to take with me to the new Shoot House playlist has been a dream. Watch and learn, Blizzard; your Activision friends are embarrassing you.

And, it’s important to remember, this is only Season 1. The first time Warzone 2.0 and Modern Warfare 2 are having this. As it is, there are 20 “Combat Sectors”, each of which has five rewards. There is also a Bonus Sector (marked on the map as A0) that unlocks five additional rewards (including Season 1 Main Operator Zeus) if you purchase the Battle Pass. You can play for free, but your reward tracks are severely limited if you choose to do so; However, that is normal in any game set up with a battle pass.

What I quite admire is the inclusion of the Victoria Sector; a final zone where you can break down the barriers when you complete all 20 sectors of the battle pass. This special final area rewards players with the golden “Olympus King” model of Zeus, a new M4 weapon model called “Mortal’s Bane” (which looks silly, by the way), and 300 COD points.

That last one, that’s important. I’ve been playing quite a bit of Modern Warfare 2 over the past few weeks, and ever since the battle pass launched earlier this week, I’ve been amazed at how willing Activision is to give away premium currency. There’s a bundle I have in mind in the shop: Tactical Human 1.0 with a Nova skin dressed in sportswear and some cool weapons, and it’s 1800 coins. I have 1600 right now…all from the Battle Pass.

Compared to Overwatch 2, this is painless and a great value. I would have never set foot in the CoD store otherwise (I don’t care much for skins, despite what this page wants you to believe) and yet here I am, opening the store and browsing between matches because I have Some. spare coins that would otherwise go to waste.

All this for less than £9 in a battle pass? It’s great. Yes, the token-earning process you need to go through to unlock items can be a bit slow here and there, but between the objectives of Warzone and Modern Warfare 2 they speed things up and provide a nice cadence as you bounce between modes… I really can’t complain.

I’m currently working on the MultiVersus, Overwatch 2, Marvel Snap and Call of Duty battle passes; there are plenty vying for my attention (plus no less than three games to be reviewed). And I keep coming back to Modern Warfare 2. That says a lot to me. Activision has a lot wrong with it, but this… this might be the best thing they’ve done in a long time.