14 DAY TRIAL // The heart of the Call of Duty series is the multiplayer modes and developer Treyarch faces a significant challenge with Black Ops 2 because it has to innovate in order to satisfy old-term fans while also offering a simple experience for newcomers.
John Rafacz, the director of communication at Treyarch, talks about how his team plans to balance the game and make sure that very different individuals are able to play together.
He tells Gamasutra that, “Boot Camp is a mix of human and AI players versus a mix of human and AI players for full XP credit for the first ten levels. You are actually ranking up. Beyond level 10, once you pass that threshold, you start earning half XP. Then there’s bug stomp which is just you and your buddies wailing on the AI.”
“If you mix in those three modes of play, you find a real safety zone. You can play with your load outs, figure out what kind of player you are, hone your skills,” he argues.
Treyarch is also making sure that the entire matchmaking system in Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 is more solid and manages to put together in the same game players who are close in terms of skill and ability.
Rafacz emphasizes how teamwork is the greatest advantage in the upcoming first-person shooter and the team has put in place a number of rewards that will be specifically aimed at those who sacrifice their own performance in order to deliver the best results for their own team.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 will be launched all over the world on the PC, the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360 from November 13.
The game also has a Wii U version that will be offered when the new Nintendo console is launched.