Call of Duty: Vanguard update removes Assault Combat Pacing, changes player counts — full patch notes

Sledgehammer Games is always tweaking Call of Duty: Vanguard, as any developer ought to do for an ongoing multiplayer game. Previous patches have reworked guns to be more balanced or enticing to use, and today’s update has a dose of that too. It’s mostly focused on multiplayer services, though.

As revealed in the patch notes on Sledgehammer’s site, the biggest change in the May 16 update is the removal of the Assault Combat Pacing filter, which could previously be found in Quick Play and featured playlists. This should improve overall map rotation, because even though it only accounted for “5% of players” when they chose what to play, it was disproportionately affecting the rest of multiplayer. Hand-in-hand with this are changes to headcounts on all maps. You’ll notice a difference in team size next time you jump into either Tactical or Blitz Combat Pacing.

Also included in the update are some fixes for camo challenges, specifically for the recently added Nikita AVT assault rifle and M1916 marksman rifle. You can see the corrected requirements, along with the complete patch notes, below.

Call of Duty: Vanguard May 16 Patch Notes

Multiplayer

Feature Update

• Assault Combat Pacing filter removed from Quick Play and Featured Playlists
  • This change intends to improve diversity in map rotation. Although Assault Combat Pacing is the choice for just 5% of players, its impact on matchmaking cannot be understated. By removing this option, we aim to improve map rotation across all Quick Play playlists. We will be monitoring your feedback and game analytics to assess if this change has made the desired improvements. Give it a try, and let us know how you feel. 
• Minimum and maximum player counts for Tactical and Blitz Combat Pacings have been tuned. We made these changes to ensure that Tactical serves as a classic Call of Duty experience and Blitz satisfies those looking for high-intensity gameplay. Details on player counts are below.

Camo Challenges

• Nikita AVT (Assault Rifle)
  • Corrected the requirements for multiple Camo Categories.
    • Pack Tactics: 40/80/120/160/200/240/280/320/360/400 Eliminations
    • Surgical: 5/10/15/20/25/30/35/40/45/50 Headshots
    • Predatory Ambition: 5/10/15/20/25/30/35/40/45/50 Multikills
    • Reptilian: 3/6/9/12/15/18/21/24/27/30 Bloodthirsties
• M1916 (Marksman Rifle)
  • Corrected the requirements for multiple Camo Categories.
    • Pack Tactics: 30/60/90/120/150/180/210/240/270/300 Eliminations
    • Predatory Ambition: 5/10/15/20/25/30/35/40/45/50 Multikills
    • Reptilian: 3/6/9/12/15/18/21/24/27/30 Prone Kills
    • Wildcat: 5/10/15/20/25/30/35/40/45/50 Holding Breath Kills