How Call of Duty is making Zombies more like Warzone with evolving Outbreak mode

Activision has unveiled some big plans for Black Ops Cold War’s Zombies experience, ranging from evolving storylines, in-game events, and more that further push the new Outbreak mode in line with Warzone.

When Outbreak was finally released, no one knew quite how big it would become.

Since the launch, we’ve seen new areas added, new weapons introduced, and plenty of fresh World Events to shake things up. It’s a completely unique addition to complement the traditional Zombies mode in Treyarch’s latest title. Given its surge in popularity, Outbreak is now set to receive a considerable update with more content on the way than ever before.

While some of this content is what you’d expect, other features push the Zombies experience in new directions. Now, more than ever, battling the undead is transitioning into an ongoing spectacle, much like Warzone.

Outbreak’s first Main Quest

Throughout a lengthy May 14 blog post, Treyarch provided a huge info dump on the future of Zombies. Among the considerable amount of new content in the works, the devs highlighted a first for the undead experience – a new Main Quest.

Kicking off at 10AM PT on Thursday, May 20, this is something completely new for not just Outbreak but Zombies as a whole. It marks a clear step into new territory for this side of the CoD franchise.

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As players unravel the mystery in the Ural Mountains questline, the ongoing experience will “set up the story” for the next round-based map in Black Ops Cold War. Similar to how Warzone players engaged with events and modes ahead of content drops, Treyarch has goals of tying everything together.

Playing Outbreak will lead to new “Perks, Wonder Weapons, limited-time modes, and story intel” over the next few months. The experience will consistently evolve throughout Season 3 and 4, providing a “record amount of quest-driven Zombies content.”

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It’s an ambitious undertaking the devs have “always wanted to build.” A proper “interconnected Zombies experience” is something they “never had the infrastructure to pull off” until now.

New Outbreak content in mid-season update

No different from the popular CoD battle royale, this means fans can expect something new almost every time they jump into Zombies moving forward. From storyline teasers to new weapons, areas, and more. All building towards an unprecedented Main Quest that ties in with a brand new map.

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While full patch notes are still under wraps, Treyarch gave an early rundown of what the Zombies community can expect. Below is a full rundown on everything coming in the mid-season update.

Cod Zombies Mid-Season Update: Patch Notes

• Outbreak
  • New Main Quest
  • Orda Encounter World Event
  • Fishing 
  • New Intel Documents, Audio Logs, Radio Transmissions, and Artifacts to discover
• Round-Based Maps
  • “Cranked 2: No Time to Crank” limited-time mode in “Firebase Z” and “Die Maschine”
• Dead Ops Arcade 3
  • New Silverback Slideways bonus map
• Onslaught (PlayStation®)**
  • Onslaught Standoff map + new Intel
  • New limited-time mode
  • New challenge with exclusive Weapon Blueprint reward

New Features & Gameplay Improvements:

• New weapons added to the Mystery Box and Trial rewards in round-based maps and Outbreak:
  • Groza assault rifle
  • MAC-10 SMG
  • Streetsweeper shotgun
  • FARA 83 assault rifle
  • LC10 SMG
  • R1 Shadowhunter crossbow
  • ZRG 20mm sniper rifle
  • Sledgehammer melee weapon
  • Wakizashi melee weapon
  • Machete melee weapon
  • E-Tool melee weapon
• Custom Mod support: Bring custom Blueprints into Zombies via the “Apply Blueprint” feature! Create multiple configurations for every weapon in the game and apply your Custom Mods to all weapons found in a game session.
• New Outbreak Map features: Free cursor support and the ability to Ping the overhead map
• Zombies-specific weapon tuning to increase the overall power of the Black Ops Cold War arsenal
• New Weapon Unlock Challenges: Baseball Bat and AMP63 machine pistol (in-season)
• Rebalancing zombie health at high rounds and scaling Self Revive costs to provide a greater challenge and higher stakes for skilled Zombies players
• Buffing the Pack-a-Punched ZRG 20mm bullet penetration to affect multiple zombies
• Reduced health for the Demented Echo in Outbreak
• New gameplay improvements and bug fixes in Dead Ops Arcade 3