Call of Duty: Vanguard Has Made Improvements to Visibility, Movement, Weapons, and More After the Beta

It’s been a little over a month since the beta for Call of Duty: Vanguard wrapped up, and developer Sledgehammer Games clearly got quite a lot of feedback to work with in that period. The developer explained in a recent update on its website that in the time since then, based on all the feedback from the game’s beta, the studio has made various changes and improvements to the experience.

The long list of changes spans several categories, including various visibility tweaks and changes, improvements to audio, adjustments made to movement, spawns, and weapons, and much more. Interestingly enough, the “Low Profile” Perk has been removed from the game, and has instead been replaced by a new Perk called “Ninja”, which allows you to have silent footsteps at all times. You can get a full list of the changes below, as provided by Sledgehammer Games.

Call of Duty: Vanguard releases on November 5 for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Head on over here to check out the roadmap for the first season of content following launch.

Visibility

Distortion effects were removed from muzzle flash and we reduced smoke emitted when firing a weapon
Completed a pass on muzzle flash placement/coverage when aiming down sights
VFX Environment ambient placement for better sightlines
Removed the droplets of water that get all up in your face when it rains
Various bugs have been fixed including a bug where certain optics would stop enemy and friendly HUD icons from displaying while ADS
We’ve fixed cases of nametags appearing through Destruction
Lens flare reduced across all maps (we nerfed the sun)
We will continue to refine VFX, Lighting, and UI into launch and monitor player feedback surrounding the various topics of visibility.

Audio

Audio received a complete mixing and content overhaul to address community feedback from the Public Beta, including more audible footsteps, player and non-player weapons, and map environment content
Footsteps are silent when players ADS, Crouch Walk, or have a Perk / Field Upgrade equipped which silences movement
Fixed a bug that caused shots after the first shot to be too quiet
Operator quips occur less frequently
Asked Butcher to chill out. VO lines are less frequent

Spawns

A bug resulting in unpredictable spawns in Patrol has been fixed as well general tuning of spawn logic globally
We will continue to refine spawn logic over time to improve spawns in matches with higher player counts

Movement

Grenades and incendiaries no longer slow movement speed of players
A cap has been placed on max suppression effects
Changes have been made to animation times including weapon swap speeds and throwing of equipment (ie: Gammon bombs can be thrown more quickly)
Sprint out times have been sped up and re-balanced
Dev Tip: Dauntless, a perk that players didn’t have access to in Beta, makes players immune to movement reducing effects

Weapons

Shotgun lethality has been improved
Effective Range of most Shotguns, SMGs, and Pistols have been reduced (SMGs and Pistols were overperforming at range and Shotguns were adjusted down due to increased lethality overall)
Hipfire spread has been adjusted on most guns (mainly to add more consistency across weapon categories)
Tradeoffs on barrels, magazines, and stocks have been reduced
Ammo types were rebalanced to include more tradeoffs
Squashed bugs affecting Weapon Progression and Detailed Stats
Dev Tip: Vanguard’s version of the smoke grenade works differently than previous games. You’re fully hidden from distant enemies, but can be seen at closer ranges allowing you to close the distance between you and the enemy and hunt them down with close-quarter combat builds.
Dev Tip: Try setting your mount options to use ADS rather than ADS+Melee. It’s not for everyone but it’s a powerful way to become more accurate in an instant while staying out of harm’s way. It can be combined with blind fire for some great results.

Killstreaks and Field Upgrades

Friendly Spy Planes and Counter Spy Planes will no longer appear overhead
Spy Planes and Counter Spy Planes move slower and are easier to hit
Counter Spy Planes have a shorter duration
Health has been reduced on Spy Planes, Counter Spy Planes, and most placed Field Upgrades
Death Machine and War Machine have swapped costs
Glide bomb is easier to control
A max timer has been added to the Radar Jammer and Field Mic Field Upgrades
Bugs resulting in graphical corruption of the Attack Dogs have been fixed – no more Dognados

Perks