Warzone just released their new playlist rotation for Season 5 R, and I’m sorry to say, players are really upset. I just got mad because someone responded to CharlieIntel’s archived tweet about the basic Battle Royale and Resurgence modes, and the response was pure poison.
There’s one main thing people are saying on loop: “Where is the playlist that was off Vondel, Ashika Island, and Fortunes Keep? The only good thing about maps is GONE.” Simply put, people are sick of the constant rounds of Rebirth and Verdansk as the other maps just seem to disappear.
To describe the map situation on chat, I would screenshot the comment saying, “Rip Vondel, Rip Ashika Island, Rip Fortunes Keep,” which was said with the same idea at least 15 times. The community is very clearly shouting out that this boring map rotation is close to not even interesting. How the hell did Activision manage to mess up something this simple?
And it’s not just about the boring map rotation — the Rebirth Island rotation is the one that triggered the complaints. The first comments that popped onto my screen were, ‘Rebirth Island 🥱🥱🥱’ and ‘ts is dry as hell’ with their crying emoji. There’s anger attached as they release it, so I think I get their point. Sweeping the same two maps over a few dull months grind does kill the fun of the game.
More than that—the squashing of player counts per squad has triggered some other complaints. Why isn’t there a solo, duo, trio, and quad for every game mode? Some anon user went ballistic with, “How fucking hard is it to allow solos, duos, trios and quads for every single fucking game mode it pissed me the fuck off.” I truly feel their pain, it’s the emotion I’m feeling to a T.
It looks like the focus on Ranked Play taking over normal trios is something a few other users mentioned, while multiple users seem to be fixating on it. Again, why can’t they do both? With millions of active players daily flooding the game, there’s no way their servers can’t handle more than one trios mode.
One user chose to sarcastically complain, “a frog could think of a better playlist,” which somewhat lightened the mood. Then again, sarcasm aside, they are on the money. The normal and monotone playlist does feel lazy.
One player brought up the color scheme of Ashika Island, which gives them headaches, while someone else defended it saying it still plays better than Vondel. While map preferences are very subjective, removing options means everyone loses.
One thing is for sure—even positive comments are nearly nonexistent. One user simply said, “Let’s get it! 🔥,” but they’re the exception. The overall sentiment is disappointment and frustration toward the developer’s choice.
A conversation around the map rotation just wouldn’t be complete without addressing the community’s cry for the return of Fortunes Keep. So many comments asked, “We’re never getting Fortunes Keep back huh,” which is paired with the frustration of being let down one too many times. There’s been a good while since the map was taken out and the yearning for that map is very strong.
Strangely, Warzone has some good maps in their back catalog, but they don’t put them to use. It’s like owning a garage full of sports cars and choosing to commute in the same Honda Civic every day. It makes no sense.
There’s even talk among players that Area 99 should be brought back just for the Nuketown event, which indicates that there is a desire for variety, as well as connections between events and maps. Same rotation for months just doesn’t cut it.
Communities within the Warzone want pretty much the same things: maps with variety, proper squad sizes for all game modes, and the devs to take real action on the feedback. Is it going to happen? No one knows. At this point, Warzone players feel completely ignored and, honestly, I get it.
What seems to be the case with the developers is this—if you work on games as a service, you realize that it takes resources to keep a product fresh and diverse. Constantly recycling the same, limited set of content for months makes players lose interest and move on to other games.
For months, the Warzone community has been requesting the same features—now it is on Activision’s hands to either listen or provide the same, boring, tired playlist every season. With the current client retention numbers, I am hoping the former happens before the majority of the community jumps ship.
