Summary
The new Tactical Pets introduced toCall of Duty: Modern Warfare 2andWarzonein Season 5’s Blackcell bundle are being called out for providing players with unfair “pay to win” advantages. Season 5 ofCall of Dutyadded several new operators to the playable roster, including the return of Phillip Graves from theModern Warfare 2campaign and a celebration of 50 years of hip hop with popular musicians Snoop Dogg, Nicki Minaj, and 21 Savage.
Call of Duty’spremium cosmetic Blackcell bundles were first introduced earlier this year during the third season ofModern Warfare 2and were widely criticized for costing players an outrageous price tag of $30. The bundles not only include the main operator, but also Blackcell-themed variant skins for all the otherCall of DutyBattle Pass operators, as well as a bevy of other weapon skins and smaller items. One of Season 5’s new operators, available exclusively as part of the already controversial Blackcell bundle, is named Arthur and comes with a military German Shepard dog companion named Merlin. This Tactical Pet doesn’t roam freely, but is instead strapped to the player character’s back.
RELATED:Call of Duty: Warzone Ban Wave Removes 14,000 Cheaters
During the opening days of Season 5, players have been pointing out that the Blackcell-exclusive Merlin pet can give players an unfair advantage. CharlieIntel posted a video on Twitter of aplayer inWarzonecamping in the corner of a building behind a riot shield. In the video, two enemy players without a Merlin dog run by the camping player without being alerted to their presence. Shortly after, a third player, this time with the Merlin pet strapped to their back, runs through the room and past the player, but doubles back through the room a few times, eventually noticing the player in the corner and eliminating them. The camping player noticed that each time that enemy player ran by them the dog on their back growled, hinting to the Blackcell player that the camper was nearby.
It’s unclear whetherCall of Dutyintended for the Tactical Pet cosmetic to provide players with an audio advantage or if this only happens with campers.Modern Warfare 2’s High Alert perkalready does something similar, giving players a visual directional hint when an enemy player is aiming at them. If Merlin’s growls are unintentional, it shouldn’t take much to change them to be a randomized pattern or disable them entirely. This may not be as big of an issue if Tactical Pets weren’t exclusive to the hugely expensive Blackcell bundle and instead widely available for players to earn in-game.
Since Season 4 ofCall of Dutybriefly introduced temporary Temp-V field upgrades toWarzonewhich gave players superhero-like abilities in-line with some of the characters fromAmazon’sThe BoysTV series, perhaps Merlin’s growl could also be turned into a field upgrade as well, available to all players inWarzone,Modern Warfare 2, or both. It’ll be interesting to see whatCall of Dutydoes to address Merlin’s pay-to-win concerns and if the issue will be resolved by the expected mid-season “Reload.”
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.
MORE:Call of Duty 2023 Could Give Black Ops Cold War The Wrong Kind Of Competition
