Call of Duty developer Infinity Ward recently announced it was extending Modern Warfares Season One until 11 February. This means players whove maxed out their Battle Pass unlocks or officer rank progression are stuck stalling at the top for another few weeks. But what about those whove barely scratched surface?
Officer progression and challenges are free. If youre a completionist who hasnt maxed out yet, this delay is good news for you. Especially if you purchased the Battle Pass and havent had time to unlock all its goodies.
But what if you hadnt considered the Battle Pass until now? Will you have enough time to get any bang for your buck before Season Two starts?
Lets take a look at the numbers. Weve got 20 days, give or take, depending on what part of the planet youre reading this from. And if you havent already purchased the Battle Pass and unlocked most of it, well assume Modern Warfare isnt your passion. Unless youre about to take some time off to go on a three-week bender, youll probably put no more than three or four hours a day into the game, with a total of somewhere between 50 and 100 hours before the clock runs out in February.
The Battle Pass costs $10 and comes with 100 tiers of content. You can also purchase a bundle that automatically unlocks the first 20 tiers (so you can start on tier 21) for $24. Skipping any single tier costs $1.50.
The included content is mostly cosmetics, double-XP tokens, and Call of Duty Points. If all you care about is playing new maps and game modes, you dont have to purchase anything. But for those of us who just want another carrot to keep things interesting, the initial investment yields enough Call of Duty Points to purchase the next Seasons Battle Pass with a bit of change left over if you can squeeze all of the content out of it before the season ends.
I hadnt considered the Battle Pass before because I dont have a lot of time to invest in the game. But, having played sporadically since launch, Ive managed to unlock quite a few items in the free Battle Pass tiers, and the $10 investment would retroactively unlock the paid tiers I skipped so. Im still not sure.
Ill be lucky if I can sink 50 hours into the game and my experience has been that I can move up a tier in about an hour of multiplayer (I dont play the co-op game mode, sorry). Im not sure if the grind gets harder as you go, but the Double-XP tokens could make it worth my while.
Modern Warfare is an excellent game, and the decision to keep maps free makes the additional paid content easy to swallow for what it is: a fun little meta-game for hardcore players with disposable income. But that same $10 would pay for a month of Xbox Game Pass or most of a months subscription to Humble Bundle.
Who am I kidding, Ill play more Modern Warfare over the next 20 days than anything on Game Pass right now. Ill probably buy it. How about you?