Blackout paint cans | What are they, where to find them and feedback

The introduction of paint cans within Blackout has caused quite a stir in the Black Ops 4 community. Others simply haven’t figured out their purpose. We discuss what they do, where to find them and how Blackout players have been reacting to them.

What are the paint cans in Blackout for?

Paint cans are required to progress through the new weapon skin system. Unlocking the highly coveted gold, diamond and dark matter skins is completely dependent on finding these paint cans.

However, before you can get to these camos, you’ll need to unlock the other skins first. The cost of the “easiest” skins starts at 5 paint cans. This increases as you progress towards the gold camo.

It isn’t until all of these have been purchased that you can finally unlock the gold camo. The same applies to the diamond camo whereby you will need to unlock gold for every weapon in a specific class. Furthermore, all the diamond camo will need to be unlocked to access the dark matter camo.

Unlike other items, when you die they can’t be looted from you. Therefore, if you accumulate 10 paint cans in a given Blackout game then these will be in your inventory after. They will then be available to spend in the Armory.

Everyone wants dark matter camo in Blackout!

Where are the Blackout paint cans?

Unless you spend your time on Blackout running whilst looking in the sky, you will have inevitably seen lots of paint cans lying around. Paint cans are all over the place.

Their locations vary from sitting on the road to being in among more traditional looting places. So far, their locations appear to be completely random though.

Consequently, Blackout players playing for the sole purpose of finding paint cans don’t have anywhere specific to look.

The best way to find them, quickly, is to hop on a vehicle, preferably the ATV, and drive around sticking to the roads. This is where they are most noticeable.

Given the amount required to unlock dark matter, it is probably best not to focus on them. Instead, stick to playing Blackout normally and naturally accrue them.

Read More: New locations and changes teased for Call of Duty Blackout

Blackout Update Feedback

As with most new features in a game, feedback has varied. The Call of Duty players who are least impressed with the introduction of this new camo unlocking method have been the most vocal though.

The main gripe with the system is the sheer volume of paint cans that are required to progress fully. Of course finding a balance between being too easy and almost impossible isn’t an easy task. It has been estimated that 8,910 are needed to unlock dark matter! Irrespective of how many are needed, there are always going to be players that think it should be easier or harder.

Another complaint is that unlocking the highest levels of camo isn’t rewarding. Previous COD games would require a certain number of kills with a particular gun. Hardcore players are still coming to terms with simply picking up paint cans.

In addition to this players want the hardest items to unlock to represent good gameplay. For example, it stands to reason that if unlocking the “hardest” skins was based on gameplay driven objectives then generally the best players would have them.

David Vonderhaar, better known in the Black Ops community as Lord Vonderhaar, has responded to the criticisms of the new progression system.

Essentially he is arguing that Blackout isn’t, currently, considered as competitive as multiplayer. He also makes a reasonable point where he refers to the grind of getting headshots with different guns. On paper getting those headshots might sound like fun but in reality it could be too much of a grind. No doubt there will be Call of Duty players that both agree and disagree with him.