CoD pros want to see a major change made to Specialists in Black Ops 4

We are nearing the halfway point of the Call of Duty World League season and professional players are still asking for changes to be made to Specialists in Black Ops 4.

While the fundamentals and game modes of competitive Call of Duty have been pretty straightforward over the years, the addition of Specialists in recent titles has thrown a twist into how things work. 

While the pros and cons of Specialists is always a topic up for debate, one things that most pro players have come to agreement on, at least in Black Ops 4, is that there is a serious flaw with how Specialist abilities are earned during matches. 

Currently, the time it takes for player to unlock Specialist’s abilities is based on both score and time spent alive, which means that players will ultimately get to use the ability during a match even if they are doing poorly.

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Most pro players have a serious problem with this system and contend that earning Specialist abilities should be based only on a player’s score and not the time they’ve spent alive. 

With how powerful and game-changing a single Specialist’s ability can be, many players argue that the current system is both unfair and unbalanced, as a player who is performing poorly during a match should not be able to benefit from their Specialist’s powerful ability. 

eUnited’s James ‘Clayster’ Eubanks gave a good example of this when recounting a recent match against Evil Geniuses.

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“Alex {Arcitys] had 4,000 score and didn’t have his Vision Pulse,” he tweeted. “Goon [Goonjar] had 2,300 and had his because he was alive longer than Alec. Mindblown.”

Similarly, Midnight Esports’ Rasim ‘Blazt’ Ogresevic pointed out how his former G2 Esports team had lost a crucial Search and Destroy  in the CWL Pro League Qualifier against Red Reserve when Rhys ‘Rated’ Price got to use an Annihilator against them despite having gone 0-7 up to that point.

Red Reserve ultimately went on win the Losers Bracket round three match, eliminating G2 from Pro League contention, and ultimately going on to qualify themselves. 

Here are some others from the CoD esports scene who would like to see Specialist ability earn rates to be based solely off score.

While there is no doubting that most pro players agree with this idea, the big question remains as to whether Treyarch and the CWL will give in and make this highly requested change.

Of course, if the change does end up being made, players will have to quickly adapt and make adjustments, as there are only a few months and major events left until the end of the Black Ops 4 season.