Black Ops 6 is back in open beta and the developers have made a ton of changes, including nerfing the Jackal PDW, spawn changes, and audio improvements.
Despite the beta and its new Omnimovement system being very well received, players were not happy with spawns, weapon progression rates, and the Jackal PDW that dominated the meta.
The beta will go live on September 6th at 10AM PST and will be available to everyone. You don’t need to pre-order or purchase Xbox Game Pass to play. Not only will you be able to reach level 30 and unlock new weapons and gear, but the developers have also revealed all the changes they’ve made following feedback from the first weekend.
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The full patch notes for Black Ops 6’s open beta are here.
BO6 Open Beta Patch Notes
global
Progress
The level cap has been increased to 30. New unlockable content: Level 21: Blast Trap (Lethal Gear) Scavenger (Perk – Enforcer) Level 22: Interceptor (Scorestreak) Fast Hands (Perk – Strategist) Level 23: Sleeper Agent (Field Upgrade) Cold Blooded (Perk – Recon) Level 24: Combat Axe (Lethal Gear) Tack Mask (Perk – Strategist) Level 25: Level 26: Gunfighter (Wildcard) Forward Intel (Perk – Recon) Level 27: Gearhead (Perk – Strategist) Level 28: Decoy (Tactical Gear) Ninja (Perk – Recon) Level 29: Chopper Gunner (Scorestreak) Level 30:
New unlockable rewards: Level 23: “Truth is a Lie” loading screen Level 27: “Beta Expert” animated calling card Level 30: “Bug Smasher” XM4 weapon blueprint
Multiplayer
weapons
Weapon Swap Speed
We’ve seen your feedback regarding weapon swap speeds, and we agree. We’ll be reducing weapon drop times across the board, improving overall swap speeds. Players looking for even faster swap speeds can try out the Fast Hands Strategist Perk in week two of the Beta.
Assault rifles, submachine guns, shotguns, LMGs, marksman rifles, pistols and launchers will all have a drop time reduced by 50ms. Sniper rifles will also have a drop time reduced by 100ms.
Movement Speed
We’ve made some small tweaks to the base movement speeds of all weapon classes to make them better positioned relative to each other, primarily focusing on movement speed and ADS movement speed as they come into play during combat.
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Overall, we’re happy with the usage and performance of the weapon class we saw in Beta Weekend 1, as well as the cap on movement pace that SMGs offer, so these adjustments will keep SMGs intact while improving other classes across the board. We’re careful not to speed up the game too much, and we’ll continue to monitor and evaluate game data and feedback.
Another notable change here is melee sprint speed – we want players to feel motivated to pull out a dedicated melee weapon as a way to traverse the map, and we also want to allow melee users to keep up with other players sprinting with ranged weapons for a sneaky body shield or finishing move.
Related:
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Movement speed adjustment
Weapon Category
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Adjustment
Assault Rifle
ADS crouch speed increased from 1.75m/s to 1.88m/s. Movement speed increased from 4.14m/s to 4.29m/s. ADS movement speed increased from 3.07m/s to 3.23m/s.
Submachine gun
Crouch speed increased from 2.31m/s to 2.77m/s
Shotgun
ADS crouch speed increased from 1.63m/s to 1.75m/s. Movement speed increased from 4.14m/s to 4.29m/s. ADS movement speed increased from 3.07m/s to 3.23m/s.
LMG
ADS crouch speed increased from 1.14m/s to 1.3m/s. Movement speed increased from 3.71m/s to 3.86m/s. ADS movement speed increased from 2.31m/s to 2.46m/s.
Marksman Rifle
Crouch speed increased from 2.41m/s to 2.49m/s. ADS crouch speed increased from 1.37m/s to 1.55m/s. Movement speed increased from 3.76m/s to 3.99m/s. ADS movement speed increased from 2.9m/s to 3m/s.
Sniper Rifles
Crouch speed reduced from 2.41m/s to 2.31m/s
pistol
Crouch speed decreased from 2.9m/s to 2.84m/s. ADS crouch speed increased from 1.88m/s to 2.24m/s. Movement speed increased from 4.47m/s to 4.52m/s. ADS movement speed decreased from 3.94m/s to 3.81m/s.
Launcher
Crouch speed reduced from 2.44m/s to 2.18m/s
Melee Attack
Crouching speed increased from 2.9m/s to 2.95m/s. Jogging speed increased from 5.16m/s to 5.31m/s. Sprint speed increased from 6.93m/s to 7.16m/s. Super Sprint speed increased from 8.41m/s to 8.66m/s. Movement speed increased from 4.47m/s to 4.62m/s.
SMG Adjustments
weapon
Adjustment
Jackal PDW
Max damage reduced from 29 to 26 Max damage range reduced from 15.24m to 14.61m Close/medium damage reduced from 23 to 22 Close/medium damage range reduced from 22.86m to 17.78m Medium damage reduced from 22 to 18 Medium damage range reduced from 29.21m to 26.04m Minimum damage reduced from 19 to 15 Slightly increased display when showing kick strength and kick deviation. CHF barrel headshot multiplier increased from 1.2 to 1.4
The Jackal PDW’s natural strengths are best-in-class handling and moderate maneuverability, balanced by a slower rate of fire compared to many other automatic rifles in the game. It was overperforming at mid-range, so we’ve increased the damage falloff and slightly increased recoil as the range has decreased. Max damage and headshot multipliers for the CHF barrel have been adjusted to maintain the same hit-to-kill numbers when using attachments.
C9
Medium damage range increased from 25.4m to 27.31m
We feel the C9 is well positioned as a well-rounded SMG with a solid rate of fire. It has more horizontal recoil than other SMGs, so we’ve increased the medium damage falloff range.
Marksman Rifle Tuning
weapon
Adjustment
SWAT 5.56
Disabled burst fire queuing, which was queuing an additional burst if the fire input was activated at any time during a previous burst or on the cooldown of a burst.
This is a small change to improve control of the Swat 5.56 (and future burst weapons).
Attachments
The Rapid Fire attachment now correctly displays the recoil penalty, and the attachment description has also been updated to indicate the trade-off.
map
General
Adjusted general spawning logic to enable additional valid spawns in certain scenarios. Adjusted spawning logic across multiple maps with the goal of reducing the frequency of spawns being reversed.
Our long-standing definition of a “bad spawn” is when a player deals or receives damage within 3 seconds of spawning. This is the cornerstone of how our spawning system is built, and it remains the same regardless of map size or game mode. We use this metric (and others) to track bad spawn rates in Black Ops 6. So, during Beta Weekend 1, if a player dealt or received damage within 3 seconds, we saw it.
For example, the worst spawn rate among Week 1 Core Moshpit entries was Skyline’s Domination, at 4.2%. This means that 4.2 out of 100 spawns resulted in someone dealing or receiving damage within a 3 second window. We’re generally happy with our averages, but recognize that they include worst-case scenarios, and will continue to evaluate them throughout the life of the game.
We also recognize that everyone’s definition of a good or bad spawn is different, and it’s not just limited to combat situations. For example, did you spawn too many times at a hardpoint? Or why are you spawning on the same side of the map as the enemy team? A comprehensive spawn system and the placement of spawns within the map is critical to the flow of a match. Our goal for Black Ops 6, like every Black Ops game to date, is to have a predictable spawn system that allows you to engage enemies head-on while still allowing you ample decision-making time after respawning. This includes allowing time to engage before preparing to engage.
For the second week of the Open Beta, we made additional tuning changes across multiple maps with the goal of adjusting overall spawn logic and improving predictability and time to engage. We know there is still work to be done, and we will continue to crunch the data, evaluate your feedback, and play the game with you to reach our own conclusions on how to continue making positive progress.
Scorestreaks
RC-XD Improved handling and general ease of use. Watchdog Heli Hellstorm Increased damage radius of cluster bombs.
Device
Lethal Equipment Thermo Grenade Reduced the ignition delay of the explosive.
Movement
Slightly increases the time it takes to land prone or on your back while sliding. Slightly increases all mantle speeds. Slightly decreases the time before movement is allowed after landing prone from a dive. Slightly increases landing friction from a dive prone.
Progress
Weapon XP Increased Weapon XP earned and reduced the time it takes to level up weapons. Weapon XP rates observed in Week 1 were slower than expected. Daily Challenges Fixed an issue that caused the Daily Challenge countdown timer to display an incorrect reset time. Progress towards the “Get 50 eliminations with the Scout special ability equipped” Daily Challenge now tracks correctly. General Beta rewards earned in a match now appear in the After Action Report.
audio
Increased the volume of player weapon fire. Further tweaks to footstep volume. Reduced the volume of impact sounds when taking damage. Fixed an issue causing Shotguns to play more hit sounds than intended. Fixed an issue causing explosion sounds to not play during normal gameplay. Fixed an issue causing some sounds to not play during Best Play. Re-enabled the audio occlusion system on PlayStation 5 that was previously disabled.
Best Play
Adjusting the underlying best play logic allows for more diverse and interesting best play selections.
Interface
Improved stability across various menus and the HUD. Addressed various localization issues.
setting
When using a keyboard and mouse, users should no longer experience the issue if they switch the ADS transition timing to “Immediate.”
General
Increased the duration of pre-match lobby votes to give players more opportunities to participate in them when returning to the lobby after a match. Reduced the amount of camera motion for Dynamic Death Cameras.
Stability
Improved Skyline stability. Improved training course stability. Improved overall server-side stability.
Source: Activision
