The Real Reason Dr Disrespect Is Worried About Black Ops Cold War

The first weekend of Call of Duty: Black Ops – Cold War's open beta will begin very soon. While there is obviously a lot of anticipation regarding the new game, there is one thing in particular that has made fans a little bit wary of how it'll play. Black Ops – Cold War has apparently made some changes to the way that the series' "Ninja" perk works.

Over the years, the Call of Duty series has seen a few different perks that help to silence a player's movements throughout the map, those being Ninja and Dead Silence. In most games where it makes an appearance, Ninja reduces player noise by up to 75%. Some games have Ninja only silencing player footsteps, while others have made it so that upgraded versions of true perk reduces every sound made by players. This means that actions like falling, mantling, and reloading are essentially reduced to being noiseless. In a few games, Ninja also makes it so that players can hear their enemies even clearer, making it almost impossible to sneak past a player with a fully upgraded Ninja perk.

However, the newest iteration of the Ninja perk seems to make the game a little less challenging than previous installments. CoD fan site Charlie INTEL, reports that Ninja has completely replaced Dead Silence. Now only that, but the alpha testing for the game revealed that the new version of Ninja enables players to actually sprint without making much noise at all.

This has been a point of contention for many people, even before the beta has begun. Dr Disrespect weighed in on the matter when it was brought up by pro gamer Davis "Hitch" Edwards, who tweeted, "One concern I have going into Cold War is the lack of a silent footsteps perk ... I don't understand why COD is going away from it... the best games had complete dead silence."

Dr Disrespect responded, "Agreed. [Black Ops 1] sound design was the best IMO. " As proof of this, the Doc described how the original Black Ops had more subtle sound responses for certain actions and situations. His example was that the player character's belt buckle could accidentally knock up against a metal ladder while they were climbing it. This would result in a specific sound. This not only showed an amazing attention to detail on the part of the developer, but it also encouraged players to be more stealthy in their approach.

OpTic Gaming's Austin 'SlasheR' Liddicoat had an interesting take on the situation. He agreed that the changes to these perks were not exciting for longtime players. He also insinuated that the Ninja perk was being altered as a way of bringing in newer, less experienced players, which he referred to as "scrubs."

It should also be noted that movement noise has already been a point of contention for Call of Duty players for the past several months. In particular, one of the biggest complaints lodged toward Call of Duty: Warzone has been the fact that the noise made by characters on the move has been wildly inconsistent. Even with a perk like Dead Silence active, players either clomp around, causing a ruckus, or they are quieter than a mouse.

In fact, Dr Disrespect himself has been quite outspoken in his frustration with Warzone's sound problems. Back in April, shortly after Warzone's initial launch, Dr Disrespect considered Warzone's audio to be its biggest problem. He said at the time, "Worst audio design ever in the history of first-person shooter games: I think it's this game, I really do."

With that kind of vitriol aimed at the sound issues in another Call of Duty title, it makes sense that the Doc would be feeling extra wary about changes being made to the Ninja perk. After all, even the Two Time Champion might have a hard time securing a victory when the game itself is working against him.

The news of the Ninja perk change isn't the first time that Call of Duty: Black Ops – Cold War has caused a bit of controversy in recent weeks. Black Ops – Cold War's confusing upgrade path from current-gen consoles to the upcoming PS5 and Xbox Series X is also proving to be an issue for fans. While that whole fiasco may end up continuing to confound customers, there is still hope for this latest issue to be resolved.

It seems as though alpha testing feedback has led to snipers being tweaked in Cold War, which shows that the developers are actively listening. Hopefully the problems with the Ninja perk will be addressed before Black Ops – Cold War's official release.