Anyone that has ever played multiplayer on Call of Duty would know that despite the games popularity it has always been flawed. After progressing to the top level the plays has been ‘awarded’ with the option to gain access to a new icon but loose all progress they have made on. After the player got themselves to a point where they have everything just the way they wanted; all of that progress was taken away from them if they wished to show off their skills and playtime with a new prestige icon. In other words, once you’ve reached the top, you are kicked straight back down to the bottom to do it all over again. Now that’s the kind of repetitive gameplay that gets a little old year after year; players can only get to the top spot so many times to have all their rewards taken away and it gets boring. Now, that old prestige system has been gutted and replaced with a system that won’t penalize players for reaching the top in the upcoming release, Black Ops II. Sounds great doesn’t it? Maybe so and maybe not, this system sounds rewarding but is it really hiding new problems that will surly arise?
First let’s start with the positives; this system is rewarding to the player as an individual. Once you have unlocked a reward it will no longer be taken away from you and you will be able to get those cool looking new icons that everyone brags about. If there is a gun you like using, you can keep using that gun, leveling it up, personalizing it and every time you use that gun it will be at the level you left it on with the look you wanted. As a player, you will get to personalize how you play the game with the equipment you used and it will be yours. It is a brand new secure feeling that has never came with any Call of Duty game. You are using what you want to play the game, bettering your skills with how you want to play and that process will continue and of course feel rewarding instead of somewhat disappointed.
Now for the negative, this new system is also flawed. By allowing players to keep their rewards, they are naturally getting better at the game which makes it difficult for people who do not play Call of Duty everyday to keep up with the ‘COD everyday’ type of player. There are some players who enjoy playing a casual game of Call of Duty multiplayer a few times a week, and then there are the types of players who end up playing Call of Duty multiplayer all day every day. The more a player plays a game, usually, the better they get. In this case, if there was the chance that a player with a lesser amount of time or skill got paired with the player who lives COD, it would be pretty likely who would win since that player will have all the weapons and other upgrades that they have worked towards. Of course, players with similar skill levels are supposed to be placed together in any online match; however, that is often times not the case. So in the circumstance that the seasoned pro is placed with a casual player, that player who plays the game more often will have even more of an advantage over the lesser skilled player; making the game come across as a little unfair.
What are your thoughts on Black Ops II new prestige system? Are you all for the rewards or would you prefer them to keep the old system of playing. Let’s just hope they can keep the players who don’t have as much time more separated than they have in the past so they don’t get destroyed online and so it’s not a constant cake walk for the other players! It’s important to keep the players feeling rewarded but it’s also important to not forget about the “little man”. The old system supported the fact of a newer player trying to run with the big dogs by forcing those with a high skill level to re-upgrade but also leaving that good player feeling disappointed. The new system feels like an every-man for themselves and hopefully the casual COD players will survive… hopefully… but unlikely. And as for the prestige hungry players out there, keep on keeping on, this could be the best multiplayer experience in any Call of Duty to date!
Losing everything when you prestige is pretty much what prestige is about. What is the point of prestiging now when they can just add another cap or automatically prestige for you? I find this somewhat confusing but only time will tell if this is good or not.
I believe that the new system is better since it still allows you to use the old system if you want, but you can now keep all your progress if you want. That makes for a big incentive to prestige, considering you can’t unlock all content in your first prestiging. Combining that with how unlocks work (each time you level up you can unlock whatever you want of an unlocked category), league matchmaking (which assigns all MP players a league rank besides their normal rank, that helps to avoid having pros vs. noobs), and the fact that equipment does not make a player (a pro using the default classes still can beat a n00b with custom clases). Finally you can keep your progression and continue prestiging. We’ll see how that works.