Treyarch Release Day One Recap of the ‘Blackout’ Private Beta – Item Picking, Armor, Friendly Fire, and More

Albert Petrosyan

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 developers Treyarch have released a recap of Day One of the ‘Blackout’ battle royale Private Beta.

The recap highlights and covers a variety of in-game mechanics from Blackout that many in the community have discussed and given feedback about, including Item Pickups, Quick Equip Menu, Armor, and Friendly Fire.

Treyarch have picked up on the feedback and chatter, and have begun looking into said aspects of the game and how they can be adjusted, changed, and fine-tuned to ensure that the Blackout experience remains fresh and fun.

This recap is part of what Treyarch promised would be constant communication between the developers and player-base, and it seems that they are already delivering on that promise.

The developers have even lined up two fixes to go live tomorrow that will help streamline the Quick Equip Menu and its usage process.

  • Item Pickups: We’ve seen several comments suggesting that the item pickup time is slower than expected. We’ll be updating the game to make pickup speeds as fast as possible without interfering with reloading, and make it easier to pick up items without looking directly at them. PC players will also be able to map keys to instantly pick up items when the Blackout Beta goes live on PC later this week.
  • Quick Equip Menu: Some players have had trouble performing certain actions while the Quick Equip menu is open. We have two fixes set to go live around 10AM PT tomorrow (Tuesday) that will help with this: Quick Equip will auto-close if you don’t do anything in it for 5 seconds, and auto-close and prevent from opening when using the Recon Car. For future reference, the Quick Equip menu can be closed by pressing down on the d-pad.
  • Armor: Much like the early days of the MP Beta, we’ve seen some online discussion about the utility of Armor in Blackout. We’re keeping a close eye on Armor’s performance during the Beta.
  • Friendly Fire: We’re aware that friendly fire allows your teammates to take you out – by mistake, or in some unfortunate circumstances, on purpose. While we always recommend choosing your Duo and Quad partners wisely, we’ll keep an eye on teamkilling throughout the Beta and consider other options. We’re also collecting stats on players who damage their teammates with friendly fire and have a security team monitoring those players for offenses that are outside the bounds of the occasional accident. Play nice out there.

Players can keep these tips in mind and use them in Blackout in order to find more success and maybe even a match victory. 

  • Infiltration: To achieve maximum distance when dropping onto the map in your wingsuit, try pointing straight down until you hit 60 meters/second, then level out. Pulling up past the horizontal position will cause your descent to slow.
  • Heal on the Move: You don’t need to stop moving to heal! This can be a real game-changer when you’re under fire and low on health.
  • Weapon Breakdown: Need to drop your weapon’s attachments quickly? Try hovering the cursor over your weapon in your inventory, then drop all attachments to break your weapon down.
  • Base-Jumping Off Structures / Re-deploying Wingsuits: There’s been some confusion out there about how to re-deploy your wingsuit to base jump during a match. Make sure that you’re high enough above the ground and simply sprint towards your desired location, then press and HOLD the jump button.
  • Twitter: @Treyarch and @ATVIAssist
  • Console: Depending on the technical issue, you may be given the opportunity to “report a problem” directly on your console. If that happens, please do so, as it helps us track down the source of issue.
  • Survey: After you’ve played the Beta, you will be given the opportunity to provide us with direct feedback through a survey. Stay tuned for a link at the end of the Blackout Beta period.


The Blackout Private Beta is currently live on Playstation 4 until September 17. Players on the Xbox One and PC will have to wait until the 14th-17th to try out the Private Beta. The beta on PC will become open from September 15-17.

Source – Reddit