In the latest update for Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, Treyarch has responded to community feedback by reversing the controversial change to the Zombies Directed Mode. This update, released on January 9, not only reverts the zombie spawn delay but also addresses several issues in the Citadelle des Morts map and significantly enhances the Shadow Rift Ammo Mod, aiming to improve the overall player experience.
The January 3 update had introduced a change to Directed Mode on the Citadelle des Morts map, which extended the time between rounds and the delay between zombie spawns after five looped rounds at round 15. This adjustment was met with frustration from the community, as it hindered players' ability to farm kills and complete camo challenges effectively. Concerns were also raised about potential further restrictions on XP gains and rewards, but Treyarch has confirmed no such plans exist, responding promptly to the community's feedback.
The patch notes for the January 9 update confirm the reversal of the Directed Mode spawn delay change, returning the delay to approximately 20 seconds at most after five looped rounds. This move was made in recognition of the community's sentiment that the change was "not fun." Additionally, the update includes various fixes for Directed Mode on Citadelle des Morts, ensuring smooth progression and quest completion without glitches related to stamps. It also resolves visual effect glitches and crashing issues associated with the Void Sheath Augment for Aether Shroud.
Furthermore, the update brings significant buffs to the Shadow Rift Ammo Mod, increasing the activation rates for normal, special, and elite enemies to 20%, 7%, and 7% respectively, when equipped with the Big Game Augment. The cooldown rate for this mod has also been decreased by 25%, making it a more formidable choice for players.
Looking ahead, the patch notes indicate that Black Ops 6 Season 2 will kick off on January 28, promising additional bug fixes and changes in a new update. Until then, players have the opportunity to complete the Citadelle des Morts main quest in Zombies and earn rewards before the end of Season 1 Reloaded.
Call of Duty Black Ops 6 January 9 Update Patch Notes
GLOBAL
Characters
- Addressed an issue where Maya’s “Joyride” Operator Skin would not be visible past 70 meters.
UI
- Addressed some visual issues with the Events tab.
Audio
- Addressed an issue where audio was not playing for Event milestone banners in-game.
MULTIPLAYER
Modes
- Red Light, Green Light
- Increased XP awarded from match bonus.
Stability
- Added various stability fixes.
ZOMBIES
Hey everyone, let’s talk about those changes from January 3rd. The team is always focused on making Zombies fun and rewarding (it’s why we make video games!), but we don’t always nail it the first time.
Some fixes for bugs or exploits can become lower priority as more important issues come up, and some need to be held for an update further down the line. Last Friday’s changes to Big Game for Shadow Rift, the Shock Charge speedrun step for Terminus, and Directed Mode spawn delays after 5 looped rounds are prime examples of these.
We know it’s not fun to see a “fix” multiple weeks later for something that wasn’t bothering you in the first place, so we’re reverting the Directed Mode changes, giving Shadow Rift four new buffs, and scheduling a fix to allow speedrunners to safely use the Shock Charge tactic in Terminus again. The first two are live now, with the speedrun fix needing some extra testing before it goes live.
Thanks to everyone for the reports of visual FX not showing properly in Citadelle des Morts and crashes that can happen when you’re using a sword while Aether Shroud is active with the Void Sheath Augment. The team produced fixes for these bugs shortly after they popped up, and they’re live today.
Maps
- Citadelle des Morts
- Addressed an issue where using the Void Sheath Augment for Aether Shroud with one of the Elemental Swords would cause the match to crash.
- Addressed an issue where many visual effects would stop playing.
- Directed Mode
- Addressed an issue where guidance would be incorrect if a player disconnected with a stamp.
- Addressed an issue where guidance would be incorrect each time a new stamp spawned.
- Addressed an issue where picking up Solais after a stamp was spawned could prevent quest progression.
Modes
- Directed Mode
- Removed the extended time between rounds and the delay between spawning zombies after five looped rounds at the round cap.
Ammo Mods
- Shadow Rift
- Activation Rates
- Normal enemy activation rate increased from 15% to 20%.
- Special enemy activation rate increased from 5% to 7%.
- Elite enemy activation rate with Big Game Augment equipped increased from 5% to 7%.
- Cooldown Timer
- Decreased cooldown by 25%.
- Activation Rates
The Big Game Augment for Shadow Rift was never intended to one-shot Elites, but we know it worked like that for months and we heard you about this latest change taking too much away from Shadow Rift overall. So, we’ve added four buffs to make Shadow Rift activate more frequently, including a 25% cooldown reduction, to keep it powerful and fun to use.
LTM Highlights / Adjustments
- Dead Light, Green Light
- Added Liberty Falls to map selection.
- Increased round cap to 20 before Exfil.
With the launch of Dead Light, Green Light, we wanted to ease players into the LTM with a single map and a 10-Round cap before Exfil to make sure the majority of players had a chance to be successful without feeling they needed GobbleGums to survive. Basically, a bite-sized experience that’s not too punishing. Looks like it was too easy and over too soon for a lot of you!
Starting today, we’ve added Liberty Falls to the map selection and extended the round cap to 20. After that, we’ll plan Week 3’s round cap extension based on how crazy the community wants the challenge to get.
Stability
- Various stability fixes.
Sometimes bugs appear fixed in testing but turn out to still be an issue in the live game after the patch goes out. This sucks for everyone involved, and it can lead to inaccurate patch notes, which we never want. The Vermin double-attack bug is one of these, and like the Terminus speedrun fix, the proper solution for it unfortunately can’t be implemented as quickly as some of the other items listed above. Look for both of those fixes when Season 02 launches on Jan. 28.
