Call of Duty: Vanguard Beta Begins Sept. 10, Patch Notes Released

The Call of Duty: Vanguard Beta is set to begin Friday, Sept. 10, 2021, Sledgehammer Games announced Thursday.

Building off Vanguard's Champion Hill Alpha, its Beta will introduce four new maps, six game modes, and various other features to players for the first time. Additionally, the Beta is said to feature a wide array of gameplay enhancements based on player feedback and internal data from the Alpha. Here's a breakdown of the Call of Duty: Vanguard Beta Patch Notes.

Changes From Alpha to Beta

Visual Updates

• Refined the damage overlay when injured to help maintain visibility.
• Reduced the density of sun fog.
  Increased the rim light around players to help separate them from the background.
  Adjusted overall exposure—aka we turned up the lights.

Audio Tuning

• Enemies and teammates footstep volume slightly increased.
• Enemies and teammates weapon volume slightly reduced.
• Announcer volume and callout frequency reduced.
• Global MP mixing pass to improve informative audio for gameplay.

Champion Hill

• Tuned spawn locations and adjusted overall spawn logic. Hopefully, this should eliminate any more Angela & Dwight spawn scares.
• Done away with that one spawn in Courtyard that forced you to have 3 seconds of awkward eye contact with your opponent. You know the one.

Fixes in the Pipeline

• We identified a destructible wall in Champion Hill with a mismatched collision model. Even though it appeared as a solid wall, there was a hole allowing the raycast to pass through and show nameplates.
• Note: Nameplate visibility works by doing a raycast from you to other players. If there’s something blocking it, the nameplate shouldn’t be visible. Please keep this in mind while playing and make a report if something seems off.
• We are aware there are more nametag and aim assist-related issues and have an ongoing investigation on how to resolve them. Gameplay clips have been a great resource for our teams to find and squash these problems, so keep them coming.

Beta Content

Maps

• Champion Hill
• Hotel Royal
• Gavutu
• Red Star
• Eagle's Nest (weekend 2)

Modes

• Champion Hill (Solos, Duos, Trios)
• Team Deathmatch
• Domination
• Kill Confirmed
• Patrol (Kicking off Saturday of Weekend 1)
• Search and Destroy (Weekend 2)

Weapons

• Champion Hill: Weapons are persistent through matches. There are ten upgrades per weapon, each adding one attachment. There will be three rotating weapon sets, featuring 2 ARs, 2 LMGs, 2 snipers, 2 shotguns, and 2 pistols.
• Core Multiplayer: For Core MP, you'll be able to level up weapons to level 30.
  PlayStation players will get +2 custom loadout slots (12 total, 10 for other platforms).

Features

• Combat Pacing is a feature that allows players to select the intensity of their games. Player count is determined by map size to achieve the intensity described in the Combat Pacing System. Player counts will vary.
• Tactical: These are the lobbies that franchise veterans know well. This is the experience that you're used to with classic Call of Duty combat timing. Tactical Combat Pacing is always 6v6.
• Assault: Balanced combat pacing that gives you enough room to breathe and a lot of targets to kill. In Beta Weekend 1, player counts will vary between 20-28 players.
• Blitz: High-action lobbies where the intensity is cranked up to frenetic levels. Prepare for plenty of combat when choosing to join a Blitz. In Beta Weekend 1, player counts will vary between 28-48 players.

Operators (Each will have one finishing move)

• Daniel Takeyatsu
• Roland Zeimet
• Lucas Riggs
• Polina Petrova
• Wade Jackson
• Arthur Kingsley

The future dates for the Call of Duty: Vanguard Open Beta will reportedly be revealed soon.