Vanguard players demand Sledgehammer change “ridiculous” camo challenges

Call of Duty: Vanguard players are demanding Sledgehammer make changes to the game’s weapon camo grind, with players labeling it “ridiculous” and focused on “player retention”. 

Weapon camouflages have been a staple of Call of Duty multiplayer for upwards of a decade, with each weapon bringing a number of challenges to unlock skins.

Unlocking all the camos for a weapon awards players a Gold camouflage, whilst unlocking Gold on a whole weapon class awards players Diamond camo. Once all weapons have been made Gold and all classes Diamond, players unlock the ultimate mastery camouflage, applicable to all weapons.

In Vanguard, the ultimate mastery camo is called Atomic, a multicolored and dynamic skin that makes weapons stand out exactly as fans would like. Getting there, though, is far from simple.

When the game dropped there was widespread confusion as classic challenges like 100 headshots had been replaced by ones far tougher. With snipers, for example, players were expected to accumulate 100 point-blank kills in what can only be described as a ludicrously difficult challenge.

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The complaints have carried over and many new players are echoing them. In a December 30 Reddit post, player ‘Acryn-‘ highlighted just how difficult they are, calling on Sledgehammer to rework them: “As an experienced CoD player I can say that this game has killed grinding for camos. It used to be a fun objective you could do on the side, now you have to dedicate 99% of your playtime to unlocking and doing the challenges for a gun.”

They continued: “Who decided it’d be a good idea to have players sit in the back of the map for 100 long-shots with an SMG, or 100 crouch kills… you shouldn’t have to change your entire playstyle for multiple in-game hours just for a camo.”

Their comments were echoed by many, with one arguing the changes are designed to keep players playing: “It’s designed for one thing only. PLAYER RETENTION. If there are no challenges to do players may not play as much… It also improves the chances of someone buying something from the store.”

Regardless of the reasons behind the changes, the difficulty of the camo challenges is putting many players off, even those with plenty of CoD titles under their belts.