Ranked play sits at the heart of Call of Duty and has for some time, but it isn't returning just yet.
With it being a high stakes competitive shooter, there's a huge skill ceiling. If you're looking to know about Ranked Play and what Sledgehammer Games is working on, this is what you should know.
Latest - Ranked Play DELAYED
Unfortunately, Treyarch have identified an issue with Ranked Play and have announced that they are delaying its implementation.
They have promised a further update soon and that resolving the issue is high priority.
Sledgehammer back from holiday break
Over on their Twitter, Sledgehammer announced that they were back from their break and working on the game fully. In this, they documented some changes they will be making soon.
This is a good sign for the future and proves they're listening to the community.
When does Ranked Play arrive in Vanguard?
Unfortunately, we don't have any confirmation to suggest when Ranked Play is going to be added to Vanguard - all we know is the following, a tweet that states that it's coming this year:
Thankfully, the CDL season and Vanguard Season Two are both scheduled to start during the same week. We're under the impression that Ranked Play is going to be an important part of the new content added to Sledgehammer Games' Call of Duty game at the start of Season Two.
The Season Two update is expected to release on February 3rd - the first weekend of the 2022-23 CDL season is expected to get underway on February 4th. The dates line up, but take this suggestion with a pinch of salt until we know more.
Are there going to be any rule changes?
At the moment, we don't know the specifics of Vanguard's Ranked Play - due to the fact that nothing has been announced.
In the past, we've seen weapons and attachments limited in Ranked Play playlist modes and there's often an effort to reflect the official CDL ruleset in-game. This means we could see some maps missing and only a few game modes available when Ranked Play arrives in Vanguard.
In Black Ops Cold War, the Ranked Play settings enabled - or rather disabled - the following:
- All LMGs, Shotguns, Launchers, and Tactical Rifles are banned from Custom Classes;
- Stim Tactical and Decoy Tacticals are banned from Custom Classes;
- C4 Lethal and Throwing Knife Lethal are banned from Custom Classes;
- Dual Wield attachment is prohibited from use in Custom Classes;
- Only ArtillerScorestreak and Cruise Missile Scorestreak are enabled;
There are a few other rules but you get the idea - this is going to be a boiled down Call of Duty experience where skill should rule and the bias of the weapon's balancing issues should be reduced.
For more articles like this, take a look at our Call of Duty and More page.