In a minor update primarily aimed at rectifying bugs, Warzone subtly modified the dynamics of the final circles by eliminating the redeploy flares feature.

Raven Software and its support studios have a track record of making influential changes to Warzone. A remarkable example was the change implemented in August when the player tally on Al Mazrah was dropped from 150 to 100.

In defense of the reduction, the Warzone team rationalized that the move would deescalate the chaos of the matches, offer improved matchmaking times, enhance pre-game lobby speeds, and generally improve game quality.

In the present update, the developers have chosen to further refine the game tempo by getting rid of redeploy flares. Let's examine the motive behind this decision.

Warzone Phases Out Redeploy Flares

The addition of redeploy flares in Warzone arrived during Season 4. This Field Upgrade empowered a player to bring back an arbitrarily chosen squad member to the combat zone. Redeploy flares could be obtained via loot crates, ground loot, or purchased from buy stations.

While the Field Upgrade maintained an engagement level for team members, it also came with its set of drawbacks. Post-redeployment, the team members would loiter in the air during the last circle to dodge enemies, and teams would stockpile the Field Upgrade to facilitate an easier win.

The game's developers highlighted that this "created situations lacking competitive counter strategies, particularly in the final stages of a Ranked Play Battle Royale match".

This imbalance in competitive strategy led the devs to finally decide to completely abolish this feature.

Here is the digest of the full patch notes for MW2 and WZ's October 4 update.

Bug Solutions

• Revoked an issue causing players to be returned to the main menu while attempting to access the "Manage Files" section under settings
• Rectified a significant bottleneck occurrence during transitions to certain menus from COD HQ
• Resolved an issue causing the Battle Pass After Action Report not to play correctly if Auto Redeem was activated
• Corrected a problem where the ISO 9 Mastery Completionist Charm showed an inconsistent Charm
• Mutated a fault where players could be thrown back to the main menu while browsing Tracer Pack: Witchcraft
• Eliminated a bug causing the Dual Kamas model to go missing in the Red Haunt Blueprint preview
• Fixed a problem where locked camos could be applied to weapons before they were obtained
• Resolved an issue where the TR-76 Geist Mastery Completionist Charm incorrectly presented the FR Avancer

Bug Fixes for Warzone

• Resolved an issue that prevented the completion of the mission 'Thinning the Herd' as Konni Group no longer appeared on Al Mazrah in DMZ
• Rectified a clipping issue with certain melee weapons on the Operator’s wrist during a DMZ match transition
• Fixed an inconsistency with Skin Indicator tiles for various Operators

Match Rule-set Updates

• Redeploy Flares have been eliminated.

Insights from the Team: Redeploy Flares often resulted in situations that lacked competitive counter strategies, especially during the final stages of a Ranked Play Battle Royale match.