Weapon and gear variants in Call of Duty: WW2 will be cosmetic only, server tickrate upgraded to 60Hz

Sledgehammer Games revealed a number of small, but very exciting, details about Call of Duty: WW2 that tackle some longstanding problems.

Call of Duty: WW2 represents a big change for the series, not just because of its WW2 setting, but also thanks to the many fresh features developer Sledgehammer Games is implementing that should make the experience better compared to past entries.

One thing in particular fans grew to hate in the most recent games is loot drops, for the simple reason that weapons came with varying stats. This eventually screws up the meta thanks to the complete reliance on luck to get the “good” weapons. The trend started with a Sledgehammer game: Advanced Warfare, but the studio will not bring it back in Call of Duty: WW2.

In a recent Reddit AMA, studio head Michael Condrey was asked about supply drops by multiple users. The studio co-founder confirmed that all weapon and gear variants in the game won’t come with different stats.

“Yes. All weapon variants and gear variants in Call of Duty: WW2 supply drops are cosmetic only, so there are no stat-based variants in play,” said Condrey. What’s more interesting, though, is that the game will offer players a path to earning these items that doesn’t rely on RNG.

“We’re also offering players Collections and Collection Bounties, giving a direct path for our community to earn items through all modes of [multiplayer] and Headquarters play.”

Headquarters is the new social space in the game, a first for the series. Each Headquarter supports up to 48 players, and there’s a number of activities you can take part in through it, apart from showing off, of course.

Another sticking point for the Call of Duty community is server lag. Though the causes for a poor online experience in any game are too many to list here, there’s one thing in particular that at least helps when you’re trying to isolate the issue. That being server tickrate.

In short, a tickrate is the number of times the server sends and receives data to/from the client. Call of Duty servers have traditionally had a tickrate below 60Hz, often as low as 20Hz. In Call of Duty: WW2, server tickrate will go as high as 60Hz, according to Condrey.

The only caveat here being network bandwidth. “We update packets at 60 times per second in both directions when network bandwidth allows,” the studio head confirmed.

This doesn’t automatically preclude peer-to-peer connections for the game, as Call of Duty has been relying on a hybrid system since Ghosts. What it does say is that when you have good enough bandwidth, and the game decides to throw you on a dedicated server, it’ll be much better than when the same thing happened in the previous games.

Call of Duty: WW2 is out November 3 on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

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