10 major changes in CoD Warzone that await you after the Pacific update

On December 6, 2021By Garmin Philip

On December 8th, the big Pacific update of Call of Duty: Warzone arrives. This is the biggest update of the Battle Royale so far and includes a new map, fresh graphics and a long-awaited revision of the anti-cheat system. MeinMMO shows you the most important changes in a quick overview.

What’s going on there? More than 1.5 years after the start of the free Battle Royale Call of Duty: Warzone, the first big new map is due: the Pacific volcanic island “Caldera”.

But the so-called “Pacific Update” is more than just a content update. It’s a realignment. Graphics, anti-cheat, gameplay mechanics – a lot of things in Warzone are being adapted and so that you know what you are getting yourself into, we summarize the most important changes in a few lines and show you links with further information.

If you want to know more about the progress of the update and when Warzone is not playable for 12 hours, you will find all the important information here.

1. New map “Caldera” with a fresh setting

For the first time, Warzone changes its big map and moves from gray Verdansk in the Cold War to the green island of Caldera in World War II. The new map can hardly be compared with the old map – only in terms of size are the holiday paradise and the Eastern Bloc city of Verdansk similar.

There is also a small leap in time, as was the case with the introduction of “Verdansk ’84”. However, this time the year is 1944.

But you don’t have to worry that your “modern” items are no longer worth anything – all weapons from Cold War and CoD MW remain in the game and you can still use your operators.

You can find more pictures, a size comparison and the first trailer of Caldera in our article about the new map:

Everything about the new Pacific map in CoD Warzone – release, pictures & size

2. New story revolves around “Nazi hunt”

The 6 shared seasons with Cold War were about the hunt for the top spy “Perseus”, who was also the subject of the Cold War campaign. We have briefly summarized the season story for you here.

On Caldera you hunt villains again – but this time it’s about Nazis. Some functionaries fled from the impending defeat of World War II and chose the picturesque Pacific island of Caldera for this purpose.

An aged Captain Butcher (known from CoD: WWII) explained to the heroes of Black Ops in a bunker under Verdansk that his hunt together with the Taskforce: Trident on Caldera began:

New trailer shows the beginning of the CoD Warzone story with Vanguard

A second cinematic shows Captain Butcher together with 3 soldiers of the Trident Task Force on the way to Caldera. The uncomfortable trip shows that the inhabitants of the island are not exactly happy about the arrival of the special unit:

3. Warzone gets a graphics update

A very exciting change: Warzone gets a bold graphics update and switches to the CoD engine: Vanguard.

It is not yet entirely clear what effects this will have. Changes to the movement are conceivable and the general feel of the game can differ significantly from the “old” Warzone. This could also change the way perks like “Geist” work.

However, a purely visual update is currently also possible. The Warzone will then largely remain as you know it, but it looks nicer and probably needs less storage space thanks to “texture streaming”.

If you want to see a little bit of the gameplay of the latest CoD, we are going to include a video from the German CoD YouTuber “Fantou”:

4. Gameplay adjustments bring new mechanics

Although not all details about the graphics change and adjustments to the gameplay are known, the developers have already given a little insight. Here are the first adjustments:

Gulag gives you better weapons
Loadouts can only be purchased later
You can walk through shallow water
There are gas canisters and gas mask adjustments
New missions offer fresh mechanics

In addition, the CoD makers talked about minor buffs and nerfs for equipment. As a result, it is known that the heartbeat sensor remains in play, so there is no complete switch to the Vanguard equipment system.

We have prepared more about the changes to the gameplay here:

5 upcoming gameplay changes in CoD Warzone that nobody expected

5. Almost 40 new weapons from day 1

As with the Cold War integration last year, all of the new Vanguard weapons come into play. That’s almost 40 guns. As soon as the Pacific update is online, you can use the new weapons in normal Battle Royale. Also included are:

7 assault rifles
6 submachine guns
4 light machine guns
3 sniper rifles
3 Marksman Rifles
4 shotguns
5 guns
4 rocket launchers

If you want to read more about the weapons from Vanguard and a few tips on which guns you should prepare for Warzone, then take a look here:

6. Airplanes make the island unsafe

Warzone gets new vehicles and there are planes that you steer yourself through the sky.

The aviators are not yet active in the normal Battle Royale, but with the start of Warzone: Pacific, “dogfights” are also part of the Battle Royale repertoire.

“Anti-air trucks” also come into play. With these vehicles you have an effective weapon against the deadly aviators.

However, the new vehicles will be available exclusively in the “Vanguard Royale” mode at the start and it has not yet been confirmed that the planes will also be on the road in normal Battle Royale.

7. Vanguard gets its own game modes

In addition to the normal Battle Royale, there are special modes that are tailored to the new Vanguard. At the start of Season 1 there is the “Vanguard Royale”:

Only weapons from Vanguard are allowed
Airplanes and the anti-air trucks are available

The modes focus on the new content of Season 1 and the Pacific update. Later, an adapted version of booty money will also come into play – “Vanguard Plunder”. So if you want to try out the new planes, check out the Vanguard versions of the modes first.

You can find more about CoD: Vanguard in Season 1 here:

CoD Vanguard & Warzone: Big Season 1 starts on Wednesday – Everything about the release and content

8. Anti-Cheat should ensure a safe battle royale

With the new anti-cheat system “RICOCHET” Warzone wants to clean up and get the problems with hackers and cheaters in the player under control. The system consists of 4 parts:

Serverseitige Analyse-Tools
Improved investigation processes
Increase in account security
Kernel driver on the PC

As soon as the Pacific update is through, you will benefit from all parts of the new anti-cheat and a kernel driver will run on the PC when you play Warzone.

You can find more background information on RICOCHET and answers about the PC driver in our overview article:

CoD Warzone will soon have a new anti-cheat system – this is “RICOCHET”

9. New types of events announced

Not too much is known about this yet. However, with the new engine, the developers should have more options for creating and implementing special live events. A leak indicates, for example, a volcanic eruption (via Twitter).

There should be regular season events and limited-time events with special game modes. It remains to be seen whether the low content density from the first year of the Warzone can be resolved with this. But the developers made it clear that they now have more options and want to use them.

Until the start of the “new” Warzone there are still 3 events in Verdansk. You can find more about the course of the last few days on the old map here:

On Wednesday comes the new map of CoD Warzone – That happens to the bang

10. Unanswered questions: Next-Gen, FoV-Slider, Vanguard-Launcher

Not all gameplay details about the graphics change have been clarified and there are still unanswered questions “outside” the pure gaming experience:

No clear statement for versions on PS5 and Xbox Series
Unclear whether the FoV slider will come on the consoles
Not sure if Warzone switches to the Vanguard launcher

Especially the thing with the FoV slider on the consoles is very important for me personally and a version for the next-gen consoles would certainly please many players. So far, however, there are no firm statements on this. As soon as there is new information, you can find it on MeinMMO.

If you still have questions about the Pacific update in Warzone, feel free to ask them in the comments.

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