Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0 DMZ mode will have a new Exclusion Zone and important changes

A new Exclusion Zone is coming to the DMZ along with others important changesbut Secured Weapon Slots and permanent unlocks are here to stay.

It’s been an exciting first season of DMZ, with the team at Infinity Ward watching and playing alongside you. We’ve seen players chase down weapon crates, hunt down enemy squads, solve Building 21, and explore the many enclosed spaces of Al Mazrah. We’ve enjoyed the heart-stopping exfiltrations, the high-stakes boss fights, and the mayhem of impending radiation contracts. We celebrate your proximity chat clips and assimilation feature to group up and work together…or not work together!

With our sights set on Season 02, we wanted to share more details about what’s to come within our growing DMZ ecosystem and how we plan to continue to evolve the experience.

Season 02 Locations

Ashika Island

The new Ashika Island map coming to Warzone 2.0 is a brand new Exclusion Zone for DMZ. Players will infiltrate the island’s shores before fighting their way inland. The infiltration takes place under a dense fog that can affect combat by providing cover for both the operators and the occupying force: Shadow Company… but what could they be doing here?

There is much to discover in the Ashika Island Exclusion Zone, including:

• A new Weapon Box
• A new Boss: The Bombmaker
• New dangerous enclosed spaces to access and explore
• And much more!

Building 21

In Season 01 Reloaded, we introduced Building 21 with a unique Access Card and a timed infiltration window. In the Season 02 missions, the agents return to Building 21 as another Exclusion Zone option. If you need access cards to Building 21, be sure to look for the following (in Al Mazrah or on Ashika Island):

• SAM Site boxes
• Chopper Boss Boxes
• buy stations
• Legendary Boxes (Orange)

Traders should be prepared for strong resistance at Building 21; It is recommended to equip yourself before heading to this place!

Al Mazrah

There is also news to explore in Al Mazrah, with updated information indicating, among other things, the crash of an unknown aircraft in the Sattiq cave complex. The fight between the White Lotus and the Legion continues… perhaps the operators can take advantage of this factional animosity?

refresh and reboot

We previously announced that Season 02 will include a reset and update to faction missions. This is exactly what it entails:

• Contraband weapons inventories will revert to starting weapons.
• Key inventories will be emptied.
• Faction missions and their progress will be reset to make way for an updated mission set that incorporates all exclusion zones.

Last week we confirmed:

• Secured Weapons slots unlocked through the progress of previous faction missions will not be reset. However, if you didn’t unlock an additional secured slot in Season 01, the new Season 02 requirements to do so will take much less time.

To clarify any progress from Season 01:

• All Season 01 Boss and Mission rewards – for example, previously purchased Al Mazrah Weapon Crate rewards – will not reset, with the exception of Contraband and Keys.

Why are we making this update?

• Mission progress in Season 01 was too hard, too fast. With Season 02 we made sure that the challenge and time requirements of each mission are more balanced.
• The Key Stash will now be able to contain mission-specific items that you must pick up from one Exclusion Zone and take to another. This allows us to have more time for missions that use all of our Exclusion Zones.
• With the new mission set, we are able to use multi-location missions that send players to Al Mazrah, Ashika Island, and Building 21. The mission update consists of new missions, updated missions, and missions that we felt worked really well since launch. Season 01.

In order to complete this reset, the DMZ may need to go offline for a few hours before Season 02 launches. More details on that to come soon.

New faction: Crown

The holders of Modern Warfare II they will also have access to mission orders for a completely new fourth faction, Crown. This British group is shrouded in mystery, but they have certainly piqued the interest of Black Mous…..

Again, this faction will only be available to holders of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II.

Recently Shared Changes

We recently detailed some of the changes coming to the DMZ in Season 02, but we’re including them here as well with some additional context:

enemy adjustments

In Season 01, the DMZ AI was challenging, but the difficulty ramp was often steep and some players found themselves overwhelmed. With Season 02, we’ve introduced a number of balance changes to adjust the types of AI that spawn, the number of AIs that spawn, the accuracy of ranged AIs, and much more. All of this should provide a challenging yet manageable play space that still commands respect from the player for enemy combatants in the DMZ.

Developer Update: We can assure you that AI combatants in the DMZ are not to be taken lightly.

spawn points

We are adjusting some of Al Mazrah’s infiltration points to improve the early game experience based on gameplay data. Starting at a point where your squad feels isolated or without opportunities for loot and contracts is not the best experience. These adjustments should improve spawn points across the map.

Developer Update: In addition to moving infiltration points, we have also made changes to exfiltration locations, bosses, and Stealth Delivery in Al Mazrah.

Mission difficulty adjustments

Data and feedback showed that the Faction Mission difficulty curve was too aggressive for many players, and that the demanding challenge ultimately made it very difficult to unlock the second Secured Weapon Slot (by completing all Tier quests). 3) in Season 01. We have adjusted all the difficulty scale in the Missions as the Levels progress. The next level Missions will still be quite challenging even for the experienced operator, but we believe that more direct access to an additional Secured Slot will provide a better gaming experience for all players.

Crashes

We know that crashes are especially impactful in the DMZ if you lose your contraband items and weapons as a result. Addressing these crashes is a priority for Season 02 and we are committed to further stability.

future seasons

The upcoming seasons will bring more changes and new content to the DMZ. While DMZ is still in Beta, we hope to continue receiving feedback to shape future iterations of the game. We do not intend to apply an update to the missions every season. Instead, we’re excited to try different approaches each season, to continually improve the DMZ experience. We will talk more about this in the future.

We’re excited for you to jump into Season 02 on February 15! Stay up to date on all things #ModernWarfareII and #Warzone2 by following the Infinity Ward and Call of Duty channels.