Modern Warfare – Battle Pass Review

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Play the Game. Level Up. Earn Rewards.

The tagline is simple. Or so they say!

The Battle Pass in Modern Warfare is a set of specific rewards that change every time Modern Warfare refreshes its season. A Season is a specified amount of time that you have to unlock and play all the latest content. For example, this “season” sees the addition of Rust, a favoured Modern Warfare Multiplayer map.

Battle Passes are a pay to play objective; it costs 1000 COD Points/Coins, or 2400 if you want to skip all tiers to 100 and instantly unlock everything!

For 1100 Cod Points in the UK it costs £8.49, in the US it costs $9.99. Now you’re going to be paying double that if you want to skip it altogether.

Contents

The Battle Pass is essentially 100 new unlocks that aren’t available through regular play.  These range from weapons, such as the Grau 5.56 and the Striker 45, unique weapon blueprints (so pre-made customised weapons), operator skins, XP tokens, watches, emblems and more. 

This season, however, sees a new operator we all know and love return as a Battle Pass exclusive, Ghost. The iconic SAS operator from Modern Warfare 2, with one of the most shocking end game sequences to date. (He does look a little different too)

The Battle Pass also includes 1,300 additional Call of Duty Points; this is probably the best thing about the pass as it technically allows you to buy the pass every season, after only spending the one time. However, you would need to complete all 100 tiers to accomplish this, and you have a limited amount of time to do it in. 

Progression

Playing for one hour will unlock a tier, roughly speaking, so over 100 hours of gameplay to unlock every reward. This also changes depending on a particular factor; if you’re any good! You also have around 60 days to complete this.

If you’re not playing well, however, and are having a slump mid-game, then your XP won’t progress and neither will your Battle Pass (or at least it seems that way for me). Likewise, if you’re destroying everyone, you’ll do slightly better. In a fair estimation, I’d say you need to play at least 2 hours EVERY DAY to complete the 100 Tiers. If you miss a couple of days because of work, sickness or travel, then you’re going to have a hard time catching up. I spent a few days away and have struggled to get into a position that will allow me to complete the Battle Pass before the season ends.

Worth it?

Something being worth it has many connotations to it.

Do you have time to grind 100 hours in your spare time?

Do you have £8.49 to spend on a AAA title you’ve already spent £50+ on?

Do you play for fun or to stand out from the crowd?

The one saving grace of the Battle Passes is the “free” Cod Points you get if you complete it. This will allow you to play every Battle Pass for the price of one if you manage to finish them all before each season end. 

However, if you don’t manage to finish the pass, everything you’ve unlocked stays, but everything else vanishes. I suppose the biggest annoyance would be that Ghost, the specific operative most people bought this pass for, has his unique customisable options at Tier 100!

Oh, and the Battle Pass doesn’t give you access to all the other bundles they’re selling separately either, so that’s more money to spend if you wanted to of course!

To find out what I thought about Modern Warfare 2019, click here for my full review.