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Call of Duty: Black Ops 6Season One is here and delivers with it the usual staples of a new Call of Duty season. New maps, weapons, game modes, paid bundles, and, of course, a new Battle Pass. However, the Battle Pass has undergone another transition that fundamentally changes how you progress and earn rewards.
Not everything has changed. There’s still 100 Tiers to work through, new weapons remain free, progression remains based on time played rather than your skill in a match, and it’s still time gated. There’s also still enough earnable CoD Points to purchase future Battle Passes. What has changed is the design of the Battle Pass and how you move through each tier.
Review: Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
Does Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 right the ship and deliver one of the best Call of Duty experiences in years or does it crumble under pressure?
How it Used to Work
The Battle Pass was first properly introduced in Call of Duty: Black Ops 4. From Black Ops 4 through Call of Duty: Vanguard, the Call of Duty Battle Pass functioned linearly. There were 100 Tiers, and you’d unlock items one-at-a-time in a pre-defined order. The major change between Black Ops 4 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2019 was the distribution of free weapons, from Tiers 50 and 100 in Black Ops 4 to Tiers 15 and 31 in Modern Warfare.
The first major change happened in the shift toCall of Duty: Modern Warfare II, where Infinity Ward threw out the linear design in favor of a Map design. The map was split into 20 Combat Sectors with 5 items in each. Completing a sector would unlock the adjacent Sectors next. Players would earn Battle Pass Tokens to spend on the unlocked Sectors they wanted. This system carried forward intoCall of Duty: Modern Warfare III.
Gone With the Wind
The Map design of Modern Warfare II and III are gone. Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 has altered the Battle Pass into a hybrid of sorts, blending the original linear design with the adjacent unlocking of the Map design. Dubbed the “Page” system, the new Battle Pass is presented linearly, but with an option to skip to different Pages after certain conditions are met. Do note though, if you don’t own the Battle Pass, items will only unlock in a linear order.
Like the Map design, each Page has a set number of items that must be unlocked before you’re about to acquire the High Value Target. You can unlock items on a Page in any order you want, though you do NOT have to unlock all tiers on a Page to jump to the next one.
Can I Jump to Any Page?
Kind of. The non-linear aspect to the Page design is that you don’t have to complete an entire Page before the next one unlocks. Instead, you’ll only need to acquire a certain amount of tiers before a new Page unlocks. For example, without making any progress in the Battle Pass, you would only need 7 tiers claimed to unlock Page 3 and 22 tiers for Page 6.
There is one way to unlock and Page on the Battle Pass, but it will cost you real-world money. The $29.99 BlackCell bundle includes a BlackCell Page Unlock, giving you access to any Page on the Battle Pass. Unfortunately, that is the only way to do this.
How Much Does all This Cost?
While unlocking items and the design of the Battle Pass has changed, the pricing hasn’t. You’ll still be able to get the Battle Pass for 1100 CoD Points, and there’s enough earnable CoD Points in the Battle Pass to get a future Battle Pass. Those with more CoD Points to spare can opt for the Battle Pass Bundle, which includes 20 Battle Pass Tokens, making it easier to get to Page 3 and acquire the first of the two new weapons.
As Activision Blizzard is now owned by Microsoft, the previous deals with PlayStation have ended. In terms of the Battle Pass, that now means that the 5 additional Battle Pass tokens PlayStation owners got from the Battle Pass and BlackCell bundles have been reduced to 20 on Xbox and PC.
Here’s every option available when choosing a Battle Pass:
Aside from the usual two new weapons, the Battle Pass also includes Operator skins, Weapon Blueprints, Emblems, Loading Screens, Charms, Gobblegum, and other cosmetic items. The majority of rewards (minus Loading Screens and Gobblegum) are usable in both Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and Call of Duty: Warzone.
All Weapons in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
Rocket launchers, assault rifles, pistols, sniper rifles, and more await you in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is the next entry in Activision’s FPS franchise, and it is expected to launch in 2024.
