It looks like for the first time in years, Call of Duty is trying new things. Some people might say that it’s still not trying enough new things, but the fact that it is at least stepping outside of the strict structure the series has been following for years cannot be disputed. One of ways it looks to be doing that is how Call of Duty: WWII will handle community aspects, and apparently, the game takes cues from World of Warcraft in that area.
In a recent interview with Eurogamer, Sledgehammer boss and co-founder Michael Condrey went into some detail about Headquarters, and how the feature derives inspirations from World of Warcraft’s Orgrimmar. “Remember the first time you went to Orgrimmar in World of Warcraft?” Condrey said. “Remember that first time experience when you did your quest and you leveled up and you earned all these great rewards and then you walked into Orgrimmar and it was a bustling city of people with all these activities that made it a community, whether it was the guy who was just showing off his max rank, all purple mounts or people going to mail, or people gifting each other things? That sense of community was something we felt Call of Duty hadn’t capitalized on yet. That’s what our attempt with Headquarters is.”
Condrey then went on to talk about just what kinda of quests and rewards this feature will entail. “Your divisions officer may say, hey, it’s time for you to head into battle,” he said. “Go compete in War and be successful, bring back that success and we’ll give you a reward. Some will be social quests. It might be a quest that sends you to the Nazi zombies experience, or compete in the 1v1 or create your first emblem.”
It definitely seems like the game’s community and online aspects could benefit a great deal from Headquarters, which seems like a neat little hub area for the game. The idea of daily quests being handed to you for actual, tangible awards from the area also seems like an interesting prospect. It remains to be seen just how well this neat idea will be executed though. We remain optimistic for now.