With the recent launch of Black Ops 2/1 for PS4/PS5, millions of players re surged back into these titles, looking to play the game that we remember and are very fond of, I certainly became excited to play these titles on my PC, but I was aware that the base versions found on Steam were full of vulnerabilities that hackers and cheaters could exploit. I had heard of Plutonium before, and given the current state of the base game, it definitely seemed like the best option to go for on PC.
So, I decided to hop into Plutonium, got it set up and it works, BO2 and BO1's gameplay is there as I remember it! But I was quickly disappointed to see that the full vanilla experience wasn't there. There's quite a few components that are missing compared to the main versions that to me dilute the experience of playing these legendary COD titles. Below is a list of things that I believe could serve the plutonium platform and community well to keep the feel of these titles intact while still keeping what it already does right.
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PUBLIC MATCH AND PRE GAME LOBBIES
One of the biggest reasons as to why the older Call of Duty's are remembered fondly is because of the pre game lobbies, going through the different game modes, searching for a match, getting into a lobby, and quickly taking a look at the different types of players that were loading into the game was awesome and it really added to the experience. Checking people's ranks, emblems, calling cards, stats, having a "nice" chat with the lobby or simply listening from the side. It gave the game a social aspect that enriched it's core alongside it's gameplay. You weren't just loading into a match, you were loading into a mix of different creative people and different types of personalities. It was were the game was able to let people's personal expression shine. All while you were able to quickly fix or change your class up and vote for the next map in rotation to get ready for the match. -
MAKE THE GAME MODES WORK JUST LIKE IN PUBLIC MATCH
When I downloaded Plutonium I expected to be able to play the gamemodes as I remember them, 6v6 modes, 8 player modes, but the majority of populated servers that I happen to encounter in the server browser are 9v9/18 player games, no matter the gamemode. This drastically changes the game since most maps end up feeling too busy or too chaotic given the player count, it makes most modes feel like the same experience all throughout and it robs people from experiencing the modes as they were intended. There's also the fact that certain servers have different rules, some have infinite sprint, others do not, some of them got bots, some of them you can only use certain weapons, the time limit is stretched, the points to win are too. I mean ultimately you end up playing a custom version of a gamemode since match rules are decided upon by the server owners at this time with Plutonium. The game doesn't exactly feel original/back as it was when all of this is altered. Not to say that the servers should be replaced with this, not at all, but I do think there should be a public match option for those who would like to play the different game modes as they were intended. I know that there might be servers who's rules are kept default and with an intended number of players, but it's hard to come by, specially one that's low on ping too. -
MAKE UNLOCK ALL A TOGGLE
Keep unlock all for those who wish to just play the game and enjoy it casually, but for those who like to level up and grind the levels you should keep it as an option to switch back from at any time and keep the level that you had before. Also your calling card customization, emblem, and your create a classes that you had in your non unlock all account version. Almost like a separate toggle-able version of your profile, the one for chill play for when you only want to spend time with friends and not worry about whether or not you have a gun or attachment, and the other that's got your legit level progress for when you do want to level up and grind and unlock stuff. The one thing that should be kept consistent is your stats/"public match career" whenever you toggle, that way players can distinguish from a seasoned player or a new account regardless of if they have unlock all or not.
I believe all of these points could benefit Plutonium if they were to be implemented into their platform. With the recent launch of the PS4/PS5 ports there's been an influx of players looking to play the games that they love on PC, but some of them quickly realize that it's not as they might've expected given the lack of or difference of these points I just mentioned. I am sure some of these requests could be a little hard to implement, after all, I'm not a programmer/developer myself and there might be difficulties on trying to make these things happen, but I did want to bring these points up regardless since I do think they could help improve the experience and I have seen multiple people bring the same points online or on the official Plutonium Discord as of late.
I really do appreciate the work that's been put on Plutonium, without it, older CoD titles wouldn't even be playable on PC and there wouldn't even be a stable community of players that is passionate enough to host their own servers all to preserve and keep the games we like alive.
Thanks.