Activision has announced the annual Halloween event, and the players are already in the frightening storm. The Haunting event is now live on Black Ops 6 and Call of Duty: Warzone with both the content and Quad Feed Double XP event running until October 16. This means that while fighting the creepy creatures introduced in the game, players will be able to earn experience for weapons and battle passes at a double rate.
Nevertheless, players’ reactions have been different, just as with every CoD update. The official Call of Duty account announced the event with demon and scream emojis and promised nightmares let loose, as it was mentioned in the tweet. While some users find the Halloween event thrilling, others raise some very serious and even less fun issues that are “haunting” the game.
To begin with, many users have complained about the problem with the Black Cell battle pass. User halo5428 was unhappy that he “Just bought black cell yet it’s saying I haven’t….??”, which is pretty annoying because you are spending real money for just cosmetics. Another user, shadegh0st, reported a case where he could not enter Black Cell even after trying to buy it, and syv_talismaner went one step further with the statement that they have been unable to use any of the last three Black Cell blueprints since Season 4 Reloaded was released. That is a long time passing on paid content just… unusable? Ouch.
Cheaters are still around and causing problems. Player LarryCo33418590 was blunt: “Still rampant with cheaters…” which is true, and the problem is still escalating, particularly during the Halloween event when many users are playing. The Halloween feeling is snuffed out quickly as you are shot by someone who, without a doubt, is using aimbot.
Players are also giving the actual content of The Haunting event a sideways glance. Different players are dissatisfied with the modes presented, and a lot of criticism has happened with the demands for Zombie Royale and “Casual Z” mode being dubbed as soft. One user, Waqyyy, expressed his dissatisfaction quite thoroughly saying that the update feels “useless” and “pointless,” even mentioning the features that are missing like jump scare loot boxes, night mode battle royale, and ghosts on the map. The user, in particular, wanted to know, “What happened to dying and coming back as a zombie?” which is a good question to ask.
The last big question that players are going through now is about Jason’s location. User _jason112 has been posting a series of comments asking about Jason Voorhees and is getting more and more impatient with each tweet. “WHEN CAN WE BUY JASON!” “Where is Jason?” “Please put him out please” – this person is very much into the Friday the 13th slasher’s character and is trying hard to be one of the kids. Some users were also asking about Chucky, inquiring whether he is an operator skin or a new character.
Still positive answers were mixed in with the negative ones too. Although limited because of travel plans, DustyRaging answered “W ima grind as much as I can.” Players are also pleased with the Double XP event, which is a great support to level up their weapons and battle passes before the season ends.
Technical problems were also brought up in the comments on the posts. A user, Dexter’s Desciple, complained that “the battle pass token incentive notification is back after every fucking game and lobby change” which is correct, and those never-ending notifications can be extremely frustrating when you are just trying to play.
Some users, on the other hand, are already looking towards the future. Oukeith84 hinted at what to expect next with the tweet “Twas the night before Battlefield 6…” which, ouch, that is quite a harsh statement to make about CoD. KodyDarko even stretched it to say that one should not be surprised if they get the “YOU WILL TAKE IT TOO FAR AND COMPLETELY END COD LIKE THAT FRIDAY THE 13th GAME!” which is an overstatement but it is impossible not to appreciate the fervor.
The community is clearly split between those players who are ready to dive into the Halloween-themed content and those who think the update was a failure due to lack of content. It is not uncommon that CoD updates are accompanied by drama—the developers release new content, some players like it, others criticize it, and the rest just join the argument going on in the comments section.
Still, the Haunting event is on until October 16 with nice double XP so if you are able to overlook the issues (or just get lucky and not face them), there is a bit of spooky enjoyment waiting for you. It is up to every player to decide if it is worth going through the possible headaches… The Call of Duty cycle goes on, just as it always has. PlayStation and Xbox players are both experiencing the event across platforms.
