Call of Duty pros livid about changes & bugs discovered in silent update

Theo Salaun

Call of Duty League players have discovered a set of secret changes to the game that were pushed through in a silent update and are now furious with developers for a lack of transparency.

After the CDL thrilled its players by granting them a 60hz GB integrated ladder to scrim on instead of the former 12hz servers, the league’s professionals are now bothered by concerns with a contrastingly unprofessional update that they didn’t know was coming. 

The NBA has never secretly changed the distance of the three-point line or the points allocated per free throw (partially because the players’ union would never allow it). But Infinity Ward’s spontaneous change to Call of Duty’s spawn locations and Trophy Systems is now being dubbed yet “another infamous silent spawn patch” by legendary veteran, the Dallas Empire’s Ian “Crimsix” Porter.

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The spawn changes are infuriating for the game’s top players, as teams devise entire game-plans around what spawns they want to secure or force their opponents into. Changing these without telling anyone about it can be seen as a disservice to the hours these players have poured in.

This is evidenced by Trei “Zer0” Morris of the London Royal Ravens, who had a simple, yet emphatic response to the spawn changes: “Cannot believe my eyeballs on what we are dealing with this year.”

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As for the changes that wholly impact everyone – not just professionals – there seems to be a bug caused by the latest unspoken update in which Trophy Systems now no longer do their job.

Dylan “MadCat” Daly of the Royal Ravens was one of the first to notice this, tweeting, “Now trophies don’t work, I’m laughing myself into tears here.” As evidenced by these reactions, players would much rather hear about prospective changes beforehand rather than discover them during games.

Nick Nolson, who plays with Daly’s Challengers team, was quick to provide evidence of the equipment bug, showing a clip in which a grenade thrown well within the traditional range of his deployed Trophy System manages to pass by unscathed and kill him.

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While Crimsix has posited that the spawn changes and removal of Domination’s “last-second ticks” may only be on the CDL’s scrim servers, he remained dissatisfied and asked that changes be “relayed through the proper channels” in the same Twitter thread.

Changing the game is fine, even encouraged, as CoD pros are quick to settle on “Gentlemen’s Agreements” when developers are slow to enact changes—but the league’s players appear to prefer that adjustments happen transparently and following open dialogue. 

About The Author

Théo is a former writer at Dexerto based in New York and built on competition. Formerly an editor for Bleacher Report and philosophy student at McGill, he fell in love with Overwatch and Call of Duty — leading him to focus on esports for Dex.