The Call of Duty has dropped another loud podcast episode from Vegas, featuring none other than Nolan North, the famed voice actor behind several beloved characters, including Zombies’-Richtofen, T.E.D.D., and who knows what else. The official Call of Duty Twitter account retweeted the great news about the arrival of Nolan North to CODPOD. Treyarch soon joined in to discuss multiplayer issues and impart key pieces of information about Black Ops 7 Beta, even sharing code for players. The CoD community really needs to know about this huge thing, especially now, during the beta, when everyone is scouring for news.
My God, Nolan North’s entrance means a lot to the much older Zombies crowd. This guy voices none other than Richtofen, the arguably most recognizable character of the whole mode. I am sure his voice is etched into so many wild undead stories, and with his involvement in the podcast, Treyarch may have something interesting lined up for the undead aspect of Black Ops 7. Treyarch is spilling out all the hot beta info and codes, so it’s obvious they’re building hype fast and trying to weigh feedback.
The meme is, ironically, the exact opposite of the responses to that tweet. Half of the community is going crazy, while the other half feels like starting a riot. Meanwhile, Tyler seemed very agitated with his comment: “Did I just fucking not do that??” Confusing but so intense at once. Hopping on this, Fadedshadow95 went off: “If u guys do not remove sbmm I will refund this game im not doing another year of sweats just sweating none stop and ur trash matchmaking system.” The spotlight was obviously on skill-based matchmaking; the players are far from shy in demanding its removal.
Adam Unknown quietly stepped back to go into a very long rant demanding Treyarch bring the map Turbine back from Black Ops 2, along with very specific instructions on how to balance it, including movement speed being in sync with kill time and changes to the perk tier to make stealth viable again. So it turns out that at least some players do indeed have very deep thoughts about how to “fix” the flow of this game. Meanwhile, JensLegends clearly could care less: “You guys failed once again. Every year it’s a huge disappointment. You guys do not learn from past mistakes…” and he even dragged BF6 into the conversation, which is kind of rude.
Then there is the beta info regarding the experience itself. Frozenheart gave a very detailed rundown of his experience in Zombies survival mode for rounds 26 and 36. He noticed zombies move faster starting in round 1 than in the older games and that power purchase nearly requires a decent gun, which almost forces you to grab the shotgun off the wall. He also said that salvaging and essence collecting both feel slower than in Black Ops 6, which makes moving forward harder. These are the kinds of hands-on feedback that are interesting gems during a beta.
Some, however, are not thriving. FantaCocacolaaa went on and on about how it keeps crashing. “Yo how about we actually get a functioning game that doesn’t crash every 2 nanoseconds??? This shit is fucking infuriating with this trash ass 2nd app beta.” Stability is important, and constant crashing during this beta is sounding warning bells for the full release. Next, Iker3329_ was stressed about some playlist issue, begging Activision to just chuck Overload off the main playlist so they can play normal modes without that “bullshit.”
Players are threatening to jump ship. Isoleitor1 tweeted that “this beta just feels like a damn DLC. Same story all over again. I’ve been buying every CoD since 2007, but this year you’re not getting a dime out of me or my squad.” FinnMcRaven then chimed in with, “Good riddance,” to this, declaring that he’s deleted all CoD and Warzone files from his PC in preparation for BF6. Now, that’s some serious fallout.
On the flip side, Devy🦍 clapped back at critics with, “Skill issue🤣🤣 BO7 is the much better cod of the 2 fr,” so that means there definitely are those who are having a nice happy time in the beta. Then Buster Cherry just thirsts for more: “Season 6 news the haunting?” So it looks like some are already thinking ahead for future content.
The tweet about beta codes is pretty savvy of Treyarch: giving out codes gets people talking, which in turn means a larger population playing the beta, which basically translates into a ton of fresh data for them to plow through come launch. However, scribbling about all the SBMM complaints and crashes and balance issues is far from it. They need to get this cleared up before they can even think about winning back the community skeptical.
There is so much going on around one podcast episode. Nolan North alone is a nostalgia trip; yet, the real thing is down there in the trenches with the players testing out the beta. Their feedback, affirming and painfully critical, will become the mold into which Black Ops 7 will be shaped. Whether Treyarch actually listens and certainly implements some of these changes could very well be the deciding factor for this year’s CoD to be big or just another flashpoint for the never-ending hype-backlash cycle. But for now, the beta is live, and all eyes are glued on whether the final product can live up to the legacy. PlayStation and Xbox players alike are watching closely.
