Call of Duty: Warzone patch introduces in-match events, new contract type and a 50v50 mode

The Call of Duty: Warzone Season 4 patch is here.

Following a one-week delay, Season 4 has now officially kicked off in Call of Duty: Warzone and Modern Warfare.

Today's patch is big, clocking in at 40GB (45GB for premium) on PC, 32.5GB on PS4, and 44.4GB on Xbox One. The size of the update is intentionally large because it's an attempt to reduce the game's overall size, and the size of future patches. Although you'll be downloading 40-ish GBs, console players will only see a 4GB increase to the install size.

There is, however, a bug that shows the download size to be 84GB on consoles. This is too big, and Activision is looking into it. Now, onto the major changes.

In-round dynamic events are the biggest new addition to Warzone. There are three of these, but only one can happen randomly in the time between the first free loadout drop and the Gulag closing - so mid-game. The three being introduced today are: Jailbreak, Fire Sale, and Supply Choppers.

When Jailbreak kicks off, all players who died earlier in the match will respawn. This goes for anyone still in the Gulag, and even those who lost their Gulag. So long as you're still spectating, you'll spawn back in.

Fire Sale heavily discounts most items at Buy Stations for 60 seconds, and makes teammate buybacks completely free. The 80% discount goes for everything, except Loadout Drops, which remain at $10,000.

Supply Choppers is a PvE-style event that spawns an armoured helicopter that drops high-quality loot when destroyed. The helicopter has a lot of health, but won't shoot back. Some of the loot you can get from destroying it includes UAVs, armor and ammo boxes, gas masks and Cash. Choppers only stick around for a limited period of time, regardless of whether or not they're destroyed.

Warzone players should also be on the lookout for the new Contraband Contract. These have a chance to spawn after one of the existing Contracts is completed. They take the shape of a briefcase. When picked up, you'll need to take it to a helicopter extraction spot that'll be marked on your map - similar to Cash deposits in Plunder.

You'll want to chase these Contracts, too, because successfully extracting the briefcase permanently unlocks a weapon blueprint for you to use across the game's different modes, similar to the Bunker 11 Easter egg.

Warzone Rumble is the last major addition to Warzone. Respawns, vehicles and loadouts are enabled in this 50v50 mode. You'll also be happy to know that Solos, Duos, Trios and Quads have all stuck around.

There doesn't appear to be any balance changes, but you'll find the new seasonal weapons as floor loot thanks to a loot refresh. Modern Warfare owners can look forward to the Barakett Promenade map on Ground War, and Scrapyard in regular MP. Scrapyard even has its own 24/7 playlist.

Read on below for the full change log.

General fixes

• Fix for some players not receiving their Season 3 emblem.
• Fixes to help reduce players encountering Error Code 13-71. If you still experience this after today’s update, please reach out to Activision Customer Support.
• Fix for a bug where the Ghost Perk was not hiding players from the Heartbeat Sensor when viewing the Killcam.
• Fixed an issue where some players were unable to activate a Nuke after getting the appropriate number of kills.
• Fix for a bug where the 4th Operator Mission for Talon, “Complete 2 Warzone Plunder Matches” was not tracking as intended.
• Fix for an issue where some players could find long wait times when attempting to load into Ground War matches.
• Fix for a bug where neutral Hardpoints were appearing yellow instead of grey.
• Various exploit fixes across multiple maps.
• Fix for the Officer Challenge, “Get 20 kill while crouched” not tracking properly for some players.
• Fixed a bug where the white health regen was triggering on downing other players even if Quick Fix wasn’t equipped.
• Fix for an exploit where players could sometimes call in duplicate UAVs.
• Added new weapon perks to the Specialist Bonus (the bonus earned after getting 8 kills while specialist is active): Frangible-Disabling, Frangible-Wounding, Mo'Money, Recon, Heavy Hitter, FMJ, Presence of Mind.
• Fixed a bug where players were unable to perform executions when on some elevated surfaces.
• Fixes to help prevent an issue where players were able to move before the match countdown timer completed.
• Fixes to help prevent against black graphical corruption issues some players were seeing.
• Fix for the “For the Cause” grip tape not appearing properly on the base M4.
• Improved stability fixes for PC.
• Fixes to help prevent issues with voice chat.

Weapons

• Lowered ammo count for reload warning on belt fed LMG.
• Fixed bug with HDR and Sleight of Hand where reloading would not give ammo to the player.

Warzone

• Loot Update: New weapons and updated Blueprints! Be on the lookout for the Fennec, CR-56 Amax, Renetti, and more.
• Fixed a bug where the Recon Contract could spawn inside an Ammo Supply cache, making it unusable.
• After completing the Contraband Mission and calling in the extract helicopter, players could shoot the helicopter without receiving hitmarkers and the helicopter would remain on screen indefinitely.
• Fixed a bug where players were able to drop their weapon in the Gulag.
• Fix for an exploit where players were able to duplicate Self Revive kits.

Spec Ops

• Fix for a bug where a player was stuck in 3rd person gameplay.
• Daily Challenges are now displayed alongside Multiplayer and Warzone challenges.
• Fixed an issue where unlocking an Operator skin in Co-Op would not unlock the base skin for that Operator as well.
• Fixed a bug where the game would not end correctly if the last player alive used Team Revive immediately before dying.

Spec Ops Survival

• Fix for being able to duplicate the Juggernaut Suit Munition minigun.
• Fix for rare instances of waves not ending properly.
• Fixed an exploit on St. Petrograd where players could fully hide from soldiers behind a bar.