Black Ops 2 prestige "is not a start over system"

Treyarch design director David Vonderhaar took to the Eurogamer Expo stage this afternoon. He spoke about the prestige system in Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, and how the studio is differentiating it from the rest.

Vonderhaar entered the staged by mocking previous prestige styles.

"Congratulations. Here's a new icon. Repeat the entire game. What? What?"

"This is a very simple example of how we are damned if we do and damned if we do not. Looking back at these mechanics, play 55 levels, hit a button, get a new rank icon, start over," he said.

"I've been thinking about it non-stop, about how to get people to prestige. We kept going about it the wrong way. We kept saying, here are some more rewards if you do it. Here is this extra stuff if you decide to hit the prestige button."

"Then I looked at a graph of the people who play and what happens to them when they hit level 55 or whatever the max level is, and how they drop off, and how few people actually go to max prestige. I know they could go to max prestige because their time play suggests they could have. I have this data. I know this for a fact."

"They just stopped levelling. Maybe it's because we keep taking away everything. Maybe. Maybe that's the reason."

He continued by discussing the changes to Black Ops 2.

"In Black Ops 2 prestige is not a start over system. When you prestige in Black Ops 2 it will not reset your weapon levelling. If you are level four on a gun you will still be level four when you cycle back around to that gun. Same with all your cosmetics, any camo you've unlocked or emblem, all the personalisation, all the fancy backgrounds you managed to achieve, all of that will still be there."

Hooray! Finally! Will this make you prestige more often? Let us know.

Thanks, Eurogamer.