Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 gets better as Treyarch reverts this controversial Zombies change

4 new elemental wonder weapons, The Bastard Swords, come to Citadelle Des Morts.

Zombies players, rejoice, for your cries have been heard.

That's the crux of the latest update for Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, with developer Treyarch sharing details on what players can expect to change on Thursday. The team is reverting the changes to the Zombies Directed Mode that went into effect on January 3 while admitting that "...we don't always nail it the first time."

"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," the team explains.

Treyarch also noted that sometimes issues are more complicated than expected, meaning the teams need longer to fix certain bugs or exploits. The Vermin double-attack bug and the Terminus Speedrun fix are both unpatched for now, but are on the docket to be fixed with Season 2 kickoff on Jan. 28, 2025.

You can find the other patch notes for today's update below:

Global

• Characters
  • 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

• 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%.
• LTM Highlights and Adjustments
  • Dead Light, Green Light
    • Added Liberty Falls to map selection.
    • Increased round cap to 20 before Exfil.
• Stability
  • Various stability fixes.

Black Ops 6 is off to a strong start

While there's a number of issues that still need to be addressed, this patch is good to see, and hopefully some of these changes being rolled back will make for a smoother Zombies experience.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is the first title in the franchise to be included day one in Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass, helping raise subscription spending while also managing to be the best-selling game of October and November 2024 in the U.S.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is currently available on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Windows PC, PlayStation 5, and PlayStation 4.