Call of Duty: Black Ops – Cold War double XP event extended, balance updates on the way

Call Of Duty: Black Ops - Cold War artwork

(Image credit: Activision)

Update: Treyarch have heard the complaints about their double XP event being short, and have extended it by another 24 hours. It'll continue through to 10 am on Tuesday, November 17, Pacific Time. That's 1 pm EST, and 6 pm GMT. Double XP is live now in both multiplayer and zombies mode.

Update: 2XP is currently live in #BlackOpsColdWar MP and will be coming to Zombies later today.To make sure everyone gets their time to grind, we're extending 2XP by 24 hours through 10AM PT Tuesday, Nov. 17! pic.twitter.com/ElWAPpy2nbNovember 15, 2020

Original story: One of the most common complaints following the launch of Call of Duty: Black Ops - Cold War is that the weapon XP takes absolutely forever to grind. It's all over the Reddit, with lots of people blaming it for the dominance of the MP5 submachine gun in multiplayer matches. (It's also possible that the MP5 is just... overpowered. Keep reading for more on that.)

Seems like Treyarch has heard the plaintive cries of CoD players. (That's actually just me.) The game's first round of double XP will start today, November 15th, at 10:00AM PT. That's 1:00PM ET or 6:00PM GMT, for reference. (Lucky Brits, I guess. Likely all off work by then.)

Ready to grind? 24 hours of 2XP in #BlackOpsColdWar begins at 10AM PT!November 15, 2020

"Ready to grind? 24 hours of 2XP in #BlackOpsColdWar begins at 10AM PT!," reads the tweet from the official Treyarch account. It's exciting for those on a full binge with the newest game in their favorite franchise, and no sarcasm here, I fully support you having fun out there. (Please do remember to shower and eat.) However, I would like to politely comment on how dystopian that tweet is. Do y'all remember when grinding in games was considered... bad? But we're celebrating it now? No? Just me? Okay.

Elsewhere on Twitter the game's developers promised that balance updates for weapons and scorestreaks will be "coming in with Season 1, if not sooner." It's also, likely, a comment on the power of Cold War's dominant MP5 submachine gun, with players noting especially often that it's better at long-range combat than Cold War's newly-weakened sniper rifles.

There WILL be Weapon, Scorestreak, and more balance changes coming in with Season 1, if not sooner. Already seeing some interesting trends in the analytics, but it's too soon for conclusions. If you're giving feedback, know that we see it and are taking it into consideration.November 15, 2020

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Jon Bolding is a games writer and critic with an extensive background in strategy games. When he's not on his PC, he can be found playing every tabletop game under the sun.