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Call of Duty: Black Ops 4's Blackout is free-to-play on all platforms this month

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News by Shabana Arif Contributor
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Treyarch's Black Ops 4 update sees battle royale mode, Blackout, go free-to-play until April 30 and the new Alcatraz map is live on PS4.

The April 2 update for Black Ops 4 sees new features and content across every mode, including the close-quarters Alcatraz map announced yesterday for PS4 players, and Zombies: Ancient Evil - the last chapter for the mode this season - available on all platforms. Blackout is now also free-to-play on all platforms until the end of the month.

Treyarch shared a summary of the update on Twitter, but the patch notes have been detailed in full on Reddit.

Over in multiplayer, the Barebones playlist rolls out on Xbox One and PC, "with no Specialist Weapons, Special Issue Equipment, Gear, or Operator Mods allowed". Meanwhile, PS4 players will get to experience the fan-favourite Infected starting on April 9.

Here are the patch notes courtesy of Reddit:

SUMMARY

  • Blackout
    • New Alcatraz map now live on PS4.
    • Blackout Free Access now available on all platforms through April 30.
    • After Action Report updated to provide additional info after each match, including new Challenge progression.
    • Homewrecker melee weapon now available in Contraband Stashes on Xbox One and PC.
  • Zombies
    • “Ancient Evil” now live for Black Ops Pass holders on all platforms.
    • Server Pause now available for online private match hosts on consoles.
    • Splitscreen Pause now available for local splitscreen matches on consoles.
    • New Zombshell Perk now available on Xbox One and PC.
    • New Elixirs now available on Xbox One and PC: Suit Up, Dividend Yield, Talkin’ Bout Regeneration, Bullet Boost, and Quacknarok.
    • New Talismans now available on Xbox One and PC: Glowing Phylactery and Battered Dragon Scale.
  • Multiplayer
    • Barebones game mode now live on all platforms.
    • Barebones Moshpit continues as Featured Playlist on PS4 and added as Featured Playlist on Xbox One and PC.
    • Hardcore Barebones Moshpit, Stockpile, Mercenary Deathmatch Moshpit, and One in the Chamber (Strife with Stiletto Operator Mod) added to Featured category on all platforms.
    • Various stability improvements.
    • World League Hub
    • League Play Events now span the course of the entire week.
    • Bonus pool is now spread out through the entirety of an event (no longer daily bonuses with rollovers).
    • Increased penalty for intentional teamkilling in League Play matches.
  • General
    • Free Weapon Crate with guaranteed free MKII Signature Weapon now available in the Black Market on Xbox One and PC.
    • Voice calibration setting added to PC.

ALL PLATFORMS

Blackout

  • Free Access
    • Access to Blackout is free for a limited time for all players on PS4, Xbox One, and PC through April 30.

Multiplayer

  • Game Modes
    • Featured category updated to include:
    • Barebones Moshpit
    • Hardcore Barebones Moshpit
    • Stockpile
    • Mercenary Deathmatch Moshpit
    • One in the Chamber (Strife with Stiletto Operator Mod)

PS4

The following updates are live on PS4, with other platforms to follow:

Blackout

  • New Map: Alcatraz
    • Alcatraz map now available in Blackout on PS4, added as Featured Playlist.
    • Quads with 40 maximum players per match.
    • Up to 5 total redeployments per player before the final circle, as long as one member of the squad remains alive at the time of each redeploy.
    • Deploy via portals into close-quarters combat on Alcatraz island.
    • New named destinations, including the Warden’s House, Docks, New Industries, and Cellhouse.
    • Players can pick up Wall Buy weapons throughout the map that disappear after pickup.
    • New Zombies-themed weapon available in the Mystery Box.

PS4 AND XBOX ONE

The following updates are now live on consoles, with PC to follow:

Blackout

  • After Action Report
    • AAR now provides additional info after each match, including Challenge progression.
  • Weapons
    • Purifier
    • Increased Purifier damage against zombies.

    Multiplayer

    • Game Modes
      • Barebones
      • Added new health regen UI.
      • Resolved an issue where the After Action Report would show Defeat even if the player was on the winning team.
    • Maps
      • Gridlock
      • Improved collision near the western spawn.
    • Stability
      • Various stability improvements.

    World League Hub

    • Weekly League Play Events
      • Each League Play Event now spans the course of the entire week.
    • Bonus Pool
      • Bonus pool is now spread out through the entirety of an event -- no longer daily bonuses that rollover day-to-day.
    • Teamkill Penalty
      • Players who kill teammates 6 times will now be kicked from League Play matches.

    Zombies

    • Server Pause
      • Hosts of online private matches can now pause the game mid-match for all players.
    • Splitscreen Pause
      • Players in local splitscreen matches can now pause the game mid-match on consoles.
    • Ancient Evil
      • Addressed various issues that could sometimes cause the Wonder Weapon to become unusable.
    • Miscellaneous
      • Addressed an issue that caused duplicated character icons to appear in the End Game screen.
    • Stability
      • Various stability improvements.

    XBOX ONE AND PC

    Multiplayer

    • Game Modes
      • Barebones
      • Barebones added as Featured Playlist.
      • 6v6 with no Specialist Weapons, Special Issue Equipment, Gear, or Operator Mods allowed.
      • Equipment is now single-use with no cooldowns. Equipment is fully charged on each respawn.
      • Spawn Select disabled.
      • Playlists include Team Deathmatch and Domination.

    Zombies

    • Maps
      • Ancient Evil
      • New “Ancient Evil” map added for Black Ops Pass holders.
    • New Perk
      • Zombshell
      • Basic zombies have a chance to explode when killed, leaving behind a contamination field that slows enemies and increases damage dealt to them.
      • Modifier: Players with the modifier are ignored by zombies while standing in the contamination field. Weapon reload speed is increased.
    • New Elixirs
      • Suit Up (Epic)
      • Player and nearby teammates get full Armor, which lasts until destroyed.
      • Instant activation.
      • Dividend Yield (Legendary)
      • Some of the points earned create additional bonus points for all players.
      • Instant activation. Lasts 5 minutes.
      • Talkin’ Bout Regeneration (Rare)
      • The player’s health constantly regenerates while moving.
      • Instant activation. Lasts 4 minutes.
      • Bullet Boost (Common)
      • Applies or re-rolls an alternate ammo type to the player’s current weapon (if supported). Weapon damage is not affected.
      • Instant activation.
      • Quacknarok (Classic Whimsical)
      • Zombies now wear a duck float with hilarious results.
      • Instant activation. Lasts 5 minutes.
      • NOTE: Quacknarok is a durable Elixir rather than a consumable Elixir.
    • New Talismans
      • Glowing Phylactery (Epic)
      • Start the match with an extra self-revive.
      • Battered Dragon Scale (Legendary)
      • Activating your Special Weapon gives increased armor, which lasts until destroyed.

    Blackout

    • Contraband Stashes
      • Homewrecker melee weapon now available in Contraband Stashes.

    PC

    Multiplayer

    • Weapon Tuning
      • Submachine Guns
      • Cordite - Increased sprint-out speed.
      • Daemon 3XB - Extended 6-shot range from 8 meters to 11.5 meters.
      • MX9 - Increased ADS-out speed, and increased sprint-out speed.
      • Saug 9mm - Increased sprint-out speed.
      • Switchblade X9 - Increased magazine size from 26 to 30, and players now spawn with 3 extra magazines instead of 2.
      • Assault Rifles
      • KN-57 - Extended 4-shot range from 16 meters to 17 meters, and extended 5-shot range from 46 meters to 57 meters.
      • Tactical Rifles
      • ABR 223 - Increased ADS-in speed, ammo increased from 30 to 36, and extended 4-shot range from 32 meters to 38 meters.
      • Sniper Rifles
      • Paladin HB50 - Increased magazine size from 5 to 6, and reduced reload speed.
      • SDM - Increased fire rate.
      • Pistols
      • RK 7 Garrison - Increased damage. Now takes 1 less bullet to kill at all ranges.
      • Mozu - Extended 3-shot range from 19 meters to 24 meters, extended 4-shot range from 25 meters to 32 meters, and extended 5-shot range from 32 meters to 38 meters.
      • Strife - Increased fire rate.
    • Friendly Fire
      • New Friendly Fire system added to all World League and Hardcore game modes:
      • Ricochet Friendly Fire is now enabled for the first 15 seconds of a match or round.
      • After the first 15 seconds, the first 3 teamkills will be true friendly fire, where the victim will take full damage.
      • After the first 3 teamkills, any subsequent damage dealt to a teammate will ricochet back to the attacker instead of damaging the teammate.
      • Once transitioned to the Ricochet system, further Ricochet teamkills will incur an escalating respawn delay penalty.
      • The player will then be allowed 3 Ricochet teamkills before being removed from the match.
      • Damaging a teammate who is planting or defusing a bomb will ricochet damage back to the attacking teammate in World League.
    • XP
      • Increased XP earned for all Scorestreak kills to 100 XP.
      • Increased XP awarded for killing the K9-Unit to 100 XP.
      • Increased XP awarded for Ice Pick Shutdown to 100 XP.
      • Increased XP awarded for destroying an RC-XD to 100 XP.
      • Increased XP awarded for killing a Swat Team unit to 250 XP.
      • Increased XP for the Forward Position Medal to 250 XP.
    • Game Modes
      • Kill Confirmed
      • Increased score for collecting an enemy dog tag in Kill Confirmed to 100.
      • Search and Destroy
      • Addressed an issue where spectating in Search and Destroy could cause team colors to display incorrectly on the scoreboard.
      • Heist
      • Addressed an issue where the end of the round pips could be on the wrong team.
    • Specialists
      • Nomad
      • Added pathing and spawning improvements for Nomad’s K9-Unit.
      • K9-Unit now properly takes damage from Razor Wire.
      • Outrider
      • Players hit by a fully-charged Sparrow shot will now properly hear the impact sound of the bolt.
    • Perks
      • Tactical Mask
      • Players with Tactical Mask who have been downed by an enemy Tempest no longer chain to teammates after the Tempest status effect wears off.
    • Scorestreaks
      • Care Package
      • Addressed an issue where being killed while claiming a Care Package could cause issues with controllable Scorestreaks.
      • Addressed an issue where the Care Package would not drop from the helicopter if a player called it in along the water in Madagascar.
    • Custom Games
      • Addressed an issue where the Bonus Maps tab was not appearing in Offline Local Games.
      • Fixed a crash in Custom Games related to turning the Specialist Draft off.

      • World League Hub

    • New Ranks
      • Added Ranks 21-30 to League Play.
    • UI
      • Players will now get a notification that they’ve received a Calling Card when they reach ranks that award them.
      • Rank up animations will now start at the player’s current rank instead of their final rank.
      • Players in the Top 5 will be labeled as “Top 5” instead of “Top 10” in their League Play Event results screen.
    • Create-a-Class
      • Addressed an issue with restricted items appearing in Custom Classes.
      • Addressed an issue where restricted Scorestreaks could appear as selected.

    Blackout

    • Weapon Tuning
      • Submachine Guns
      • Cordite - Increased sprint-out speed.
      • MX9 - Increased ADS-out speed, and increased sprint-out speed.
      • Saug 9mm - Increased sprint-out speed.
      • Switchblade X9 - Increased magazine size from 26 to 30.
      • Sniper Rifles
      • SDM - Increased fire rate.
      • Pistols
      • RK 7 Garrison - Increased damage. Now takes 1 less bullet to kill at all ranges.
      • Strife - Increased fire rate.
    • Map
      • Reduced glare intensity when looking toward the sun in the original Blackout map.
    • Weapons
      • Outrider’s Sparrow can now be found in Supply Stashes.
    • Equipment
      • Zero’s EMP Disruptor grenade can now be found in the Blackout map.
    • Vehicles
      • Added co-pilot support for the Little Bird and the Cargo Truck.
      • Made improvements to Muscle Car collision to fix instances where a Muscle Car driver was unable to kill enemies.
    • Low-Population Regions
      • Added Australia and New Zealand to low player population group with consolidated playlists for faster match start times and better matchmaking.
    • Customization
      • Addressed an issue with various camos not appearing properly on the MX9 Tactical.
    • Stability
      • Fixed a rare crash that could occur when swapping and equipping an item.
    • Miscellaneous
      • Re-enabled the ability to hold the Use button continuously to use multiple Armor Plates and activate Perks without needing to release the input.
      • Removed blur from the Victory Screen.
      • Addressed instances where characters’ lobby animations could become corrupted.
      • Addressed an issue that prevented mode-specific loading screen tips from being properly displayed.
      • Addressed an issue where users could find Seraph’s Annihilator inside of a Supply Stash.

    Zombies

    • Weapon Tuning
      • Submachine Guns
      • Cordite - Increased sprint-out speed.
      • MX9 - Increased ADS-out speed, and increased sprint-out speed.
      • Saug 9mm - Increased sprint-out speed.
      • Tactical Rifles
      • ABR 223 - Increased ADS-in speed.
      • Sniper Rifles
      • Paladin HB50 - Reduced reload speed.
      • SDM - Increased fire rate.
      • Pistols
      • Strife - Increased fire rate.
    • Global
      • High-Round Stability
      • Fixed a rare crash that could occur when displaying certain text strings, particularly during high-round matches.
      • Perks
      • Closed a Mule Kick exploit that allowed players to acquire more than one Wonder Weapon on several maps.
      • Improved the clarity of the description for the Stamin-Up Perk.
      • Special Weapons
      • Addressed an issue that sometimes caused the XP bar to display an inaccurate value while charging up a weapon.
      • Armory
      • Addressed an issue causing the Cordite Zero G Mastercraft menu to display incorrect visual stage information for the weapon.
      • Create-A-Class
      • Addressed an issue that prevented the model preview from updating appropriately when switching between tabs in the Talisman and Elixir Menus.
      • Lobby
      • Addressed an issue that prevented the Solo button from functioning until the selection was unselected and back to the button after backing out of a match.
      • UI
      • Addressed an issue that caused the self-revive prompt to remain visible in the Options menu.
      • Addressed an issue that sometimes prevented a player’s name from being displayed properly while reviving.
      • Addressed an issue where Prestige Master icons remained locked after reaching the appropriate level.
      • Host Migration
      • Addressed an issue that would rarely cause host migration to fail, resulting in the match ending.
      • Addressed an issue that prevented being able to join an applicable game in progress after the match had migrated hosts.
      • Addressed an issue that caused Perk icons on the HUD granted by the Perk Up Elixir to disappear after migrating hosts.
      • Addressed a rare issue that caused certain lights to turn off after migrating hosts.
    • Custom Games
      • Stability
      • Fixed a crash that could occur when acquiring a Perk reward with all Perks disabled.
      • Custom Rules
      • Addressed issues that caused several custom rules for the Enhanced AI category to function incorrectly.
      • Addressed an issue that caused the Headshots Only custom rule for basic zombies to apply to all enemy types.
      • Added better descriptions that detail which enemy types are affected by option groups in the Enemies Menu.
    • Miscellaneous
      • Gauntlets
      • Addressed an issue that prevented rewards from being granted when players disconnected before the end of the match.
      • Addressed an issue that prevented weapons with the Kill Counter or Clan Tag attached from counting as a weapon without attachments on “Hellcatraz”.
      • Addressed an issue that rarely prevented Pack-A-Punch sound FX from playing while upgrading a weapon on “Hellcatraz”.
      • Added a HUD indicator to inform users that they cannot fire while aiming down sights with the Brazen Bull during the “Shoot From The Hip” round on “Veni, Vidi, Zombie!”
      • Rush
      • Addressed an issue that caused zombies to stop spawning during the third defense location if the user was downed before the timer ran out.
      • Blood of the Dead
      • Closed multiple exploits in locations that could be exploited to avoid danger from zombies.
      • Addressed an issue that caused visual FX on the Warden’s Key to stop appearing when switching targets.
      • Addressed an issue that caused loss of functionality when spawning a Spoon while the Ragnarok DG-5 was equipped.Addressed an issue that caused certain boards to become unrepairable.
      • Dead of the Night
      • Fixed a crash that could occur when hitting a Bat with the Ethereal Razor equipped.
      • Voyage of Despair
      • Addressed an issue that prevented progression of the Portal Pass side quest when using alternate ammo types during the vent step.
      • Addressed an issue that prevented progression of the Skeleton Rider side quest if the Shields Up Elixir had been used.
      • Tutorial
      • Rearranged columns on the scoreboard for consistency compared to other game modes.

    GENERAL

    • Voice Calibration
      • Added a Voice Calibration feature in the Audio settings. Players can press the record button to hear their voice alongside a volume indicator to adjust their chat volume to their preference.
    • Flinch
      • Reduced the maximum amount of flinch a player can exhibit while not aiming down sights.
    • Reactive Camos
      • Reactive Camos are now available on all guns, not only on those with Gold camo unlocked.
      • Reactive Camo starts wrapped on all guns.
      • Any weapon can be used to complete the unwrap requirement.
    • Theater
      • Fixed a crash that could occur when skipping through playback of Blackout matches.
      • Fixed various crashes related to playing back Zombie Gauntlet footage.
      • Addressed an issue where facial animations could stop during playback and rewind.
      • HUD elements should no longer appear when playing back Hardcore Blackout footage.
    • Mesh Mines
      • Increased the height of the Mesh Mine trace in Multiplayer and Blackout for more consistent detonations.
    • Paintshop
      • Addressed an issue where the scroll indicators were cut off if the player had more than 10 paintjobs.
    • UI
      • Addressed an issue in the Social menu where player Emblems and ranks weren’t displaying correctly.

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