Over the last five years or so, Battle Passes have become a staple of the online gaming market. Popularized byFortnite, Battle Passesare often a win-win for both fans and developers. For eager fans, they can drop a little bit of cash and earn a plethora of cosmetic rewards, and for developers, they can earn a consistent stream of revenue, which is especially important for free-to-play titles. Though they obviously aren’t as important as actual gameplay mechanics, a Battle Pass can make or break a free-to-play game, and luckilyCall of Duty: Warzone 2’s is pretty good.
Releasing over five years ago,Fortnitehas had plenty of time to perfect its Battle Pass system, and over the years plenty of other games have borrowed from its example. That being said,Call of Duty: Warzone 2’s Battle Passdiverts from the competition quite a bit, introducing a non-linear progression system that gives the player an impressive amount of freedom.
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How Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0’s Battle Pass Compares to Fortnite and Apex Legends'
Call of Duty: Warzone 2’s Battle Pass takes a non-linear approach. In previousCall of Dutyentries, includingthe firstWarzone, the Battle Pass was a simple, linear line of rewards, where players would unlock a tier, and move on to the next, one reward at a time.Apex Legendsfollows the same structure, with players earning Stars that unlock the next reward along a linear line.Fortnitehas a fairly similar system, but gives players slightly more freedom, letting them unlock the rewards of a tier in any order they see fit.Fortnitealso lets players obtain rewards from any other tier they’ve unlocked, so long as they have enough Battle Stars, letting players prioritize the items they really want.
Warzone 2offers a lot more freedom than its competitors. Here, players begin at a starting tier called A1. There are five rewards in the tier, and once players unlock all five using their Battle Pass Tier Skips, they can then move on to the next tier. Taking the form of an overhead map, each tier is connected to at least two other tiers. For instance, tier A1 is connected to both tier A2 and A3. Once A1 has been completed, players can then choose to unlock rewards from either of these two connected tiers, and that’s true for any adjacent tiles thereafter.Call of Duty: Warzone 2takesFortnite’s concept of prioritizing rewards, and turns it up to 11, letting players bounce between a vast number of reward tiers simultaneously.
When it comes to what each Battle Pass actually has to offer,Warzone2’s is more similar toApex Legends'. WhileFortniteonly gives players cosmetic rewards such as skins, emblems, sprays, and Back Blings, bothWarzone 2andApex Legendsoffer a little more, giving players rewards that actually affect gameplay. BothApexandWarzonegrant players an array ofXP boosts in their Battle Passes.Warzone 2’s rewards go one step further, giving Battle Pass owners a few exclusive weapon blueprints that can be used inModern Warfare 2’s multiplayer and inWarzone 2.
All three of these free-to-play battle royale games also offer some free rewards as part of their Battle Passes.Fortnite’s free offerings are clearly shown at the side of each page of the Battle Pass, often giving players 20 free cosmetic items, and even a few hundred V-Bucks.Apex Legendshas its own dedicated free Battle Passpath, which gives players some Apex Coins, a few cosmetics, and some Apex Packs.Warzone 2follows suit, offering some freeCoDPoints, skins, calling cards, emblems, and more.
Call of Duty: Warzone 2is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
