Black Ops 6 players demand buffs to “useless” headshots
ActivisionBlack Ops 6 players are demanding that Treyarch increase the damage values of headshots in multiplayer, as many feel that they’re not being rewarded enough for hitting accurate shots.
Although they’re all part of the same franchise, each Call of Duty sub-series has its own hallmarks and nuances. Infinity Ward tend to go the realism route, while Treyarch games have an arcade quality that makes them feel unique.
As part of this, headshots in the Black Ops series usually don’t offer as much bonus damage and this has continued in Black Ops 6. When you look at the damage profiles of many of the game’s weapons, especially Assault Rifles and SMGs, landing a headshot only grants you around two to five points of extra damage compared to the chest or limbs.
Although there is an extra multiplier for consecutive headshots, this often secures the kill with just one less bullet. For example, when using the XM4 at 25 meters, it takes five chests shots for a kill, while headshots take four.
This minute difference has left players like ‘nothing_in’ on Reddit asking, “What’s the point” of hitting headshots? Plenty of other fans responded, calling for a buff to the headshot multiplier.
“Why the actual f**k does shooting people in the head not deal significantly more damage? Practically every single FPS ever made has mechanics that encourage and reward headshots,” argued one angry player.
Another added: “Treyarch loves having useless headshot mechanics for anything that’s not a sniper. Absolute garbage game design. Headshots should work exactly how they did in the older Modern Warfare games.”
While the low damage is frustrating enough anyway, players also argue it makes the camo grind more of a slog, as getting 100 headshots is the first step for each gun.
“I get that they wanted to make the TTK more ‘consistent’ in multiplayer but if you’re gonna make us go for headshots for camos then those headshots better be rewarding,” argued another player.
Treyarch have explained their reasoning for reducing the effect of headshots in Black Ops 6, the main one being that they want a consistent TTK from fight to fight. They addressed this in a Steam post after the beta, which led to the introduction of the consecutive headshot multiplier.
However, players clearly feel that this still doesn’t reward them enough for their accuracy, so we’ll have to wait and see if the devs make further adjustments in future updates.