Treyarch has announced its plans for integrating the upcoming Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War with Call of Duty: Warzone, and last year’s Modern Warfare. While most of the announcements Treyarch made were already hinted at, there was one surprise: the Prestige system is coming back to Call of Duty.
Prestige is a system in Call of Duty that lets players restart the leveling process once they’ve reached max-level in multiplayer. While the system has been in most Call of Duty games released in the last 13 years, it wasn’t in Modern Warfare (2019) or Warzone. But in Black Ops Cold War, Treyarch is reviving the system with a slight twist.
Once the first season starts in December, players’ levels from across all three active games in the series (Black Ops Cold War, Modern Warfare, and Warzone) will have their levels reset, then merged as they start down a new path called Seasonal Officer Progression. Players will be able to earn progress toward their level and their Prestige in any of the three games, but Black Ops Cold War will have unique challenges that can make ranking up faster. These levels will be a new seasonal version of Prestige system that will allow players to unlock unique and legacy rewards.
Each new Seasonal Prestige will have four Prestige levels that players can gain throughout the season, depending on what level they reach. For season 1, players will get the first Prestige at level 50, where they’ll also unlock a special weapon blueprint, and then again every 50 levels, until they unlock all four Prestiges that are available each season at level 200. After each season, your level will reset and you’ll be able to start earning levels and Prestiges again.
Black Ops Cold War will also feature an earlier pre-season version of Prestige that will last from the game’s release on Nov. 13, until the first season begins in December. This early Prestige will have players start progressing through the traditional military ranks, as they normally do in Call of Duty games, up to level 55. After level 55, players will jump into the Prestige system, where they’ll gain Season Levels all the way up to 100. Players will be able to earn three Prestiges in the pre-season, starting with Prestige 1 at Season Level 1, then a blueprint and Prestige 2 at Season Level 50, and finally Prestige 3 at Season Level 100.
While this new Prestige system may include a lot of changes for Call of Duty veterans it should still be nice to have the system back in one form or another. Even better, Seasonal Prestige should give players something they’re always working towards across of the Call of Duty games, rather than getting stuck at the level cap like they are right now.
Players can start earning their Black Ops Cold War pre-season levels when the game launches on Nov. 13, while the first Call of Duty combined season will launch sometime in December.