‘Call of Duty: WWII’ Does Away With Create-A-Class System

Call of Duty: WWII

Call of Duty: WWII is returning the the theater that made the series famous with its latest installment. After venturing off into space with the last installment, Call of Duty: WWII promises a return to the series roots with combat mostly ground-based.

We know the single-player campaign will include the D-Day invasion, along with fighting in France, Belgium and Germany, and will even feature the voice talents of Josh Duhamel as Sgt. William Pierson.

However, the main draw to most Call of Duty titles is its multiplayer and all we knew about that before today is it will feature fast-paced combat across famous WWII locations. We learned more about the multiplayer today through a blog post featuring a Q&A with Sledgehammer Games.

Here’s the complete Q&A:

@Predadente Are they covering all theaters of war, or just Europe?

Glen Schofield, co-founder and studio head of Sledgehammer Games: We focused on the European theater of war, because we wanted to deliver a deeply personal story that conveyed what it was like to be a soldier in those ranks at that time. In order to tell that story, we needed to focus on a tight-knit group that started together, fought together, and struggled together over an extended period of time.

Which led us to The Fighting First, perhaps the most famous infantry division in all of U.S. military history. Their story was a perfect narrative vehicle because it covered a massive amount of ground in the European theater and they were involved in some of the most iconic battles of WWII. We wanted to tell that story, and we wanted to tell it well.

@Keith_NRX5 During the campaign will you stay as one character, or will you go through multiple? #CoDWWII

Glen Schofield: The story follows Red Daniels and his squad. Red grew up on a farm in a small town, and his journey is one of personal growth that takes us through some of the most dramatic and iconic moments of the war. He is a young recruit who is seeing his first real combat during the invasion of Normandy. While the main story will follow Red, you will play as a few other characters Red encounters, including a female French resistance fighter named Rousseau.

Josh Chapman (via Facebook): What sort of unique single player features will there be? …. willl we be interacting with the environment and and vehicles in a meaningful way during the campaign?

Glen Schofield: Good question. In our story, you’ll notice a big emphasis on teamwork. You will learn to rely on your squadmates, and they will rely on you – for example, you’ll see features like ammo toss and health packs, and we’ll be revealing other new innovations as we get closer to launch. Furthermore, the mechanics and physics of the vehicles will be more realistic. AI is another area of focus, and with the new squad mechanics, we wanted smarter characters that interact with you in a more realistic and meaningful way.

@KempskiWWE Will we see a variety of nations in multiplayer?

Michael Condrey, co-founder and studio head of Sledgehammer Games: Yes. World War II was a global conflict that affected nearly everyone on the planet. Men and women of all nationalities contributed to the effort in many important ways. Our game showcases a broad and diverse ensemble cast in all modes of play.

@MrsNewbhero Will there be any new game modes in multiplayer? Or maybe even bringing back s&r or blitz

Michael Condrey: In developing the combat for Call of Duty: WWII, the key word was “grounded.” We looked at it like a return to the roots of the series, a chance to revisit what made Call of Duty a cultural milestone – an old-school battle that takes advantage of new gaming technology.

I’m super excited to talk more about multiplayer, but it’s not time just yet. What I can say is, expect authentic WWII weapons, iconic battle locations, and a ton of new ways to compete. We’re even working on a new way for players to interact in a social space that is brand new to Call of Duty.

Also, one of the most exciting new modes in our multiplayer experience is War Mode, which we can talk about a bit. The goal with War Mode was to create new ways to immerse players in iconic, PVP WW2 battles. War Mode is just that, a narrative based mode where Allied and Axis soldiers clash in team-driven assault & defend gameplay in the fight for strategic objectives. We partnered with Raven Software for development on War Mode. It’s a fun new mode, and an important component of bringing our overall vision to life. We couldn’t be more excited to be revealing several of our new multiplayer features for the first time at E3.

@COD_INTEL100 What will the create-a-class system be in multiplayer? And will we see never-before-seen perks?

Michael Condrey: We’re days away from E3 2017 and the team at Sledgehammer Games can hardly wait to share more on our multiplayer plans. We’re particularly looking forward to revealing more on Divisions. Divisions fundamentally redefines how players invest in their Multiplayer soldier career. Replacing the create-a-class system, players choose from five iconic World War II divisions each with specific basic combat training, division training and weapon skills. We think it’ll intrigue Call of Duty series veterans, and we can’t wait for our fans to see it for themselves.

The thing that caught our eye was the inclusion of Divisions. Instead of using the Create-a-Class system that was introduced with Call of Duty 4, the series is doing away with that and introducing a whole new method of leveling up online. With E3 coming this weekend, the developers didn’t share much more than that but they mentioned Call of Duty series veterans will be intrigued by it.

A new mode is coming to Call of Duty: WWII called War Mode. This mode will pit players against each other in a team-driver assault and defend gameplay in the fight for strategic objectives. This sounds to us somewhat like a mixture between Battlefield’s Conquest and Rush game modes. Again, Sledgehammer Games didn’t share much more information with us due to E3 coming up.

All this new information has given us a lot more to look forward to when E3 hits. What excites you most about this news? Let us know in the comments below. Call of Duty: WWII releases for the Xbox One, PS4 and PC on November 3, 2017.