Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 introduces new weapon ban system in competitive play

During Gamescom this week, Treyarch outlined the plans and features for competitive and ranked play in Call of Duty: Black Ops 3.

Black Ops 3’s system for ranked competitive play is called “Arena,” and like most ranked systems, the more you win the higher you’ll climb the ranks all the way up to the elite Masters Division.

New to competitive and private match play, however, is a Bans and Protects system which allows each player to vote to either ban or protect a specific piece of content from Create-a-Class, Scorestreaks, or Specialists.

The new system “creates a meta-game around selection of content,” Treyarch explained, and adds “a new layer of strategy to competition, while supporting the empowerment of competitive organizations and individuals to restrict content based on their own tournament guidelines.”

In competitive Arenas and tournaments, there’s a Specialist Draft — a separate system that puts a limit on the number of Specialist weapons or abilities in a single match. As revealed before, Black Ops 3’s multiplayer no longer puts you in the role of a random soldier, but instead a Specialist with a unique special weapon or ability that can be unlocked through a miniature score streak. The Specialist Draft, a pre-match selection process similar to Dota 2 or League of Legends, adds another layer of strategy by allowing no more than one of each Specialist weapon or ability on a team.

As someone who has never played Call of Duty competitively, I can’t comment too much on the proposed changes, but as a casual enjoyer of multiplayer, I’m excited for the addition of Specialists as it adds a new layer to Call of Duty’s multiplayer gameplay.

Treyarch promises more “exciting news” about additional features, leagues, and seasons in the months ahead, but for now let us know what you think of the new Bans and Protects system and Specialist Draft.