After gauging player feedback, Treyarch reversed its decision on the controversial Zombies Directed Mode change in the latest Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 update. The new update for Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 also made changes to the Citadelle des Morts map and a certain Ammo Mod to improve the overall player experience.

The January 3 Black Ops 6 update introduced Directed Mode to the Citadelle des Morts map, and Directed Mode received one of its biggest changes yet. The update extended the time between rounds and the delay between spawning zombies after five looped rounds on round 15 of Directed Mode. This change frustrated the community, since it discouraged players from farming kills and completing camo challenges in Directed Mode. Shortly after the update’s release, some players were worried that Treyarch might make more changes to Directed Mode, including limits to XP gains and rewards. Fortunately, this doesn’t appear to be the case, as Treyarch acknowledged the community’s frustration and concerns after the January 3 update.

Treyarch released the patch notes for the newly released Black Ops 6 update on January 9, confirming that the update reverts the Directed Mode spawn delay change in Zombies. The developers want Zombies to continue to be fun and rewarding, and they’ve acknowledged that the change to the zombie spawn delay in Directed Mode was “not fun” for the community. As a result, the change was reversed in the latest update, meaning that the spawn delay is back to being roughly 20 seconds at most after five looped rounds. In addition, various fixes were applied to Directed Mode on Citadelle des Morts, ensuring that players are able to progress and complete the main quest without running into glitches and bugs involving stamps. Visual effect glitches and crashing issues involving the Void Sheath Augment for Aether Shroud were also fixed.

Moreover, the update introduced four new buffs to the Shadow Rift Ammo Mod in Black Ops 6. Normal enemy and special enemy activation rates have been increased to 20% and 7%, respectively. The elite enemy activation date with Big Game Augment equipped was increased to 7%, and the cooldown rate was decreased by 25%, making Shadow Rift a more powerful Ammo Mod going forward.

The patch notes confirm that Black Ops 6 Season 2 will begin on Tuesday, January 28, and there will be more bug fixes and changes to come in a new update releasing that same day. In the meantime, Black Ops 6 players still have time to earn rewards by completing the Citadelle des Morts main quest in Zombies before Season 1 Reloaded ends.

Call of Duty Black Ops 6 January 9 Update Patch Notes

GLOBAL

Addressed an issue where Maya’s “Joyride” Operator Skin would not be visible past 70 meters.

UI

Addressed some visual issues with the Events tab.

Audio

Addressed an issue where audio was not playing for Event milestone banners in-game.

MULTIPLAYER

Modes

Red Light, Green Light

Increased XP awarded from match bonus.

 

Stability

Added various stability fixes.

ZOMBIES

Hey everyone, let’s talk about those changes from January 3rd. The team is always focused on making Zombies fun and rewarding (it’s why we make video games!), but we don’t always nail it the first time.

Some fixes for bugs or exploits can become lower priority as more important issues come up, and some need to be held for an update further down the line. Last Friday’s changes to Big Game for Shadow Rift, the Shock Charge speedrun step for Terminus, and Directed Mode spawn delays after 5 looped rounds are prime examples of these.

We know it’s not fun to see a “fix” multiple weeks later for something that wasn’t bothering you in the first place, so we’re reverting the Directed Mode changes, giving Shadow Rift four new buffs, and scheduling a fix to allow speedrunners to safely use the Shock Charge tactic in Terminus again. The first two are live now, with the speedrun fix needing some extra testing before it goes live.

Thanks to everyone for the reports of visual FX not showing properly in Citadelle des Morts and crashes that can happen when you’re using a sword while Aether Shroud is active with the Void Sheath Augment. The team produced fixes for these bugs shortly after they popped up, and they’re live today.

Maps

Citadelle des Morts

Addressed an issue where using the Void Sheath Augment for Aether Shroud with one of the Elemental Swords would cause the match to crash.
Addressed an issue where many visual effects would stop playing.
Directed Mode

Addressed an issue where guidance would be incorrect if a player disconnected with a stamp.
Addressed an issue where guidance would be incorrect each time a new stamp spawned.
Addressed an issue where picking up Solais after a stamp was spawned could prevent quest progression.

 

Modes

Directed Mode

Removed the extended time between rounds and the delay between spawning zombies after five looped rounds at the round cap.

 

Ammo Mods

Shadow Rift

Activation Rates

Normal enemy activation rate increased from 15% to 20%.
Special enemy activation rate increased from 5% to 7%.

Elite enemy activation rate with Big Game Augment equipped increased from 5% to 7%.

 
Cooldown Timer

Decreased cooldown by 25%.

 

 

The Big Game Augment for Shadow Rift was never intended to one-shot Elites, but we know it worked like that for months and we heard you about this latest change taking too much away from Shadow Rift overall. So, we’ve added four buffs to make Shadow Rift activate more frequently, including a 25% cooldown reduction, to keep it powerful and fun to use.

LTM Highlights / Adjustments

Dead Light, Green Light

Added Liberty Falls to map selection.
Increased round cap to 20 before Exfil.

 

With the launch of Dead Light, Green Light, we wanted to ease players into the LTM with a single map and a 10-Round cap before Exfil to make sure the majority of players had a chance to be successful without feeling they needed GobbleGums to survive. Basically, a bite-sized experience that’s not too punishing. Looks like it was too easy and over too soon for a lot of you!

Starting today, we’ve added Liberty Falls to the map selection and extended the round cap to 20. After that, we’ll plan Week 3’s round cap extension based on how crazy the community wants the challenge to get.

Sometimes bugs appear fixed in testing but turn out to still be an issue in the live game after the patch goes out. This sucks for everyone involved, and it can lead to inaccurate patch notes, which we never want. The Vermin double-attack bug is one of these, and like the Terminus speedrun fix, the proper solution for it unfortunately can’t be implemented as quickly as some of the other items listed above. Look for both of those fixes when Season 02 launches on Jan. 28.