As part of today’s Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 Global eSports Reveal at Gamescom, Treyarch detailed some of the new competitive features launching with the PS4, Xbox One, and PC versions of the game on November 6. This year, Black Ops 3 will introduce a completely reimagined ranked play system, expanded control over the types of weapons, gear, and Specialists players can leverage in each match, and numerous upgrades to the CODcasting experience. Recap the broadcast via the replay and intel below:
In the tradition of Call of Duty: Black Ops II's League Play, Call of Duty: Black Ops III offers Arena mode, a competitive game mode for the most hardcore players in the Call of Duty community. Arena follows the same rules as the Call of Duty World League, which features its own ranking system and game settings. Arena also includes limitations. A group of Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 players on a single account are the first to reach Master Prestige rank in the new game's multiplayer, and discovering what surprises it offers. Dec 05, 2015 This video is unavailable. Watch Queue Queue. Watch Queue Queue. As such, the rank displayed in Black Ops 4 is based on a more rewarding persistent rank system that always allows players to progress from event to event. The higher you finish in events, the faster you will progress through the system, and your success will always be reflected in your rank.
- Arena is the Black Ops 3 system for ranked competitive play, where consecutive wins earn players into progressively higher ranks up to the elite Masters Division.
- Specialists introduce a new dynamic to multiplayer with powerful weapons and abilities that can be earned over the course of a match. The Specialist Draft is a pre-match selection process, designed for Arenas and tournaments, in which each team is allowed no more than one of each Specialist weapon or ability, encouraging teams to plan each player’s role strategically for the mode of play.
- The new Bans and Protects system creates a meta-game around selection of content. With this system, each player gets one (or multiple) votes that they can use to either ban or protect a specific piece of content from Create-a-Class, Scorestreaks or Specialists. This adds a new layer of strategy to competition, while supporting the empowerment of competitive organizations and individuals to restrict content based on their own tournament guidelines.
- Black Ops 3 brings big changes to the CODcaster Mode for commentators and viewers. Casters can specify which settings they want to use when the game starts in the pre-game lobby and change the settings in-game as well. Also for casters, the new Quick Settings menu grants access to the most commonly used caster tools on the fly, allowing for speedy changes to be made right in the middle of the action. For spectators, watching competitive Call of Duty is about the teams. Casters can now specify team names and primary team colors - overriding the default, in-game faction names. Additionally, the loadout widget has been overhauled to allow casters to visually illustrate details about specific players’ loadouts and equipment configurations. Black Ops 3 also supports recent innovations in Call of Duty such as full-screen view and X-Ray mode.
- Black Ops 3 marks the return of fan favorite competitive modes including the fast and frenetic Uplink mode, where players face-off in an effort to send a satellite careening into the enemy’s goal. Additionally, perennial favorite modes Search and Destroy, Capture the Flag and Hardpoint are set to make their return as part of the Black Ops 3 multiplayer mix.
For more from Gamescom, stay tuned to the Activision Games Blog and be sure to follow @Activision, @CallofDuty, and the developers @Treyarch on Twitter.
In the tradition of Call of Duty: Black Ops II's League Play, Call of Duty: Black Ops III offers Arena mode, a competitive game mode for the most hardcore players in the Call of Duty community. Arena follows the same rules as the Call of Duty World League, which features its own ranking system and game settings. Arena also includes limitations on which maps are available for each game mode and restrictions on Scorestreaks.
In Arena, players are ranked strictly on wins and losses. The Arena ranking system is simple:
- Players rank up by winning matches.
- A total of 20 Ranks can be achieved. The highest Rank is called Master Division.
- Each win grants a player one star toward the next Rank.
- Conversely, players lose one star for losing a match. Also, players who lose too many times without stars can lose Ranks.
- Once a player earns all of the stars for a particular Rank, one more match must be won to progress to the next Rank.
- The higher the Rank, the more stars (and wins) required to reach the next Rank. For example, going from Rank 1 to Rank 2 requires three stars (four wins). Going from Rank 7 to Rank 8 requires five stars (six wins).
- At the end of each Season, each player gets two stars for each Rank.
- Players who have not played Arena mode for two Seasons have their rank reset to 0.
Please note: the end of the Season is defined as Midnight UTC/GMT / 8:00 PM EDT / 5:00 PM PDT on the last day of the month.
Each Arena match is 4 vs 4 and played on select maps and in select game modes. The following is a breakdown of maps eligible for each game mode, as well as mode-specific setting and conditions:
Hardpoint
- Breach
- Evac
- Fringe
- Stronghold
Search & Destroy
- Breach
- Evac
- Fringe
- Hunted
- Infection
- Redwood
- Stronghold
Regardless of game mode, the following may not be used in Arena matches:
- UAV
- Care Package
- H.A.T.R.
- XM-53 rocket launcher
Each game mode has its own set of settings and restrictions. Players can control a host of pre-match conditions, settings specific to each game mode, and in-game settings related to health, damage, and spawning.
Black Ops 3 Pc
Players can be subject to temporary probation from Arena matches for not fully completing a match or being kicked.
Black Ops Games Ranked
On top of Ranks, players who participate in Arena matches also earn XP that counts toward multiplayer XP. Players can also earn Calling Cards in a Season by ranking up or completing specific challenges during a Season.