Vanguard's pre-season has been fairly successful, but it's about time for some new content - right? The Season One update is right around the corner and Sledgehammer Games has some fantastic content lined up and a solid update to keep things competitive. If you're looking for the full set of Patch Notes for the Season One update, we've got you covered.
Patch Notes - All the changes coming in Season One
The Season One update is due to release on December 8th - but that doesn't mean all the content listed below is coming on the same day. We'll aim to provide accurate dates where they are available.
New Content - Day One (December 8th)
- New Multiplayer Maps
- Paradise - Medium-sized three-lane
- Radar - Reimagined MW3 Dome
- New Multiplayer Perks
- Serpentine - Reduce incoming damage while sprinting
- Intuition - Players are alerted to nearby enemies, even through walls
- New Lethal Equipment
- Incendiary Grenades - Fire-based explosive grenade
- New Weapons
- Cooper Carbine - Assault Rifle, Tier 15 Battle Pass
- Gorenko Anti-Tank - Sniper Rifle, Tier 31 Battle Pass
- Sawtooth - Melee, Tier 37 Battle Pass
- New Zombies Content
- New Objective - Purge, capture the Control Runes in an area
- New Covenants - 14 new upgrades available from the Altar of the Covenants
- "New" Weapons - Launchers are now available in Zombies
New Content - Week One (Before December 15th)
- New Multiplayer Playlist
- Control - Defend and Attack zones with limited respawns
- New Weapons
- Katana - Melee, in-game Challenges or Store Bundle
Multiplayer Updates
- Gameplay
- Did an overall pass on Mounting. Players reported issues regarding mount height and objects not appearing mountable.
- Weapon Balancing (Coming December 9th)
- General
- Corrected Loadouts using 7 Round Mags so the total ammo count is divisible by 7.
- M1 Garand
- Reduced Recoil.
- Type 99
- Reduced Aim Flinch.
- Reduced ADS Time.
- Retain One Shot Kill potential for chest shots when smaller caliber ammo is used.
- 3-Line Rifle
- Reduced ADS Time.
- Kar98
- Retain One Shot Kill potential for chest shots when smaller calibre ammo is used.
- Sniper Attachments
- Hollow Points now reduce range.
- Top Break
- Using lower calibre ammo now reduces range instead of damage
- Shotguns
- Buck and Slugs
- Reduced ADS speed penalty.
- Reduced headshot multiplier.
- Birdshot
- Reduced headshot multiplier.
- Buck and Slugs
- General
- Gunsmith
- Custom Mods: players can save custom builds.
- Adjusted the camera position when selecting specific weapons or attachments. Players reported the weapon preview was cut off for a handful of attachments.
- In-Game Changes
- Bug where players would load into game with an invisible weapon has been fixed.
- Combat Shields now correctly display skins while stowed.
- Progression & Camo Challenges
- XP
- XP rates have been increased for Snipers.
- 3-Line Rifle
- Bloodthirsty Challenges have been changed to Prone Challenges
- XP
Killstreak Updates
- Mortar Barrage ( Coming December 9th)
- Improves visibility by reducing full-screen smoke effects. As a result, players need to be closer to the barrage to be affected.
- Flamenaut
- Added damage direction indicators for players using Flamenaut.
- Fire Bombing Run
- Fixed issue where players did not see where the fire VFX started, resulting in players taking damage though they were not standing in the flames.
- Attack Dogs
- Fixed a missing VFX path when the whistling animation plays.
- UI
- Performance pass on Killstreak decals to reduce flickering.
Field Upgrade Changes
- Dead Drop
- Fixed a bug where players were continually awarded their top killstreak when using Dead Drop.
- Charge time has been doubled.
- Goliath
- Made it easier to determine if a deployed Goliath is friendly
Challenges Updates
- Fixed an issue with “Grizzled Veteran - Get X Eliminations in Hardcore Mode” not tracking properly.
Progression Updates
- Fixed bug preventing some players from unlocking reticles.
Multiplayer Map Changes
- Demyansk
- Fixed an exploit where players could exit the map.
- Oasis
- Fixed exploits where players could exit the map.
- Tuscan
- Fixed a rare issue where players spawn outside of the map.
- Numa Numa
- Fixed a rare issue where players spawn outside of the map.
- Shipment (Coming December 9th)
- Adjusted spawn logic to prevent spawn traps.
Menu / UI Changes
- Clan UI
- Fixed a bug where player names were blank in “incoming clan requests” if the request was received while in the Clan Request menu.
- XP Notifications
- Players will see a warning when equipping 2XP tokens while a global 2XP event is running.
Zombies Updates
- New Purge Objective
- Purge the Augmentors from existence by capturing powerful Control Runes throughout the area.
- Augmentors will spawn waves of enemies as a defence mechanism as players attempt to capture the Control Runes.
- Survive the enemy waves and successfully capture all Control Runes within the time limit for a perfect Objective completion and bonus rewards (Max Ammo, Max Armor, and Bonus Points power-ups).
- Fail to capture all Control Runes before the time limit expires, and a huge horde of zombies will spawn that must be taken down to complete the Objective with standard rewards.
- New Covenants Available
- Brimstone
- Deal damage to nearby enemies (Rare/Epic/Legendary).
- Deadshot
- Aiming down sights snaps the crosshairs to headshot location on enemies. Bonus damage on the first critical attack for each enemy. Removes weapon sway (Rare/Epic).
- Dead Wire
- Stuns an enemy (Rare/Epic). Stuns an enemy and nearby enemies (Legendary).
- Scrapper
- Gain more Salvage from pickups (Rare/Epic). Gain more Salvage from pickups and Objective rewards (Legendary).
- Swift Vengeance
- Deal more damage the faster you move. Activates shortly after you start moving. Fire while sprinting (Rare/Epic). Activates immediately upon moving (Legendary).
- Brimstone
- Challenges & Progression Updates
- Added new Zombies Career Challenges to the Barracks with unique Calling Card and XP bonus rewards.
- Added 20 Zombies Season Challenges to the Barracks with a unique Calling Card and XP bonus rewards to earn, including a Season One Master Calling Card for completing all 20 challenges.
- Addressed an issue that prevented players from unlocking the Dark Aether Completionist camo.
- Bug Fixes & Stability Updates
- Addressed an issue that prevented Pack-a-Punched Shotguns with 10 Round Drums from reloading all 10 rounds in a single reload animation.
- Addressed an issue that could incorrectly flag un-upgraded weapons as Pack-a-Punch Level 1.
- Closed various exploits including out-of-map exploits.
- Fixed a stability issue related to the Frost Blast Artifact.
- Fixed a stability issue related to multi-kills obtained via Equipment.
You can check out Sledgehammer Games' full set of Patch Notes here.