‘Call of Duty: WWII’ temporarily ditches dedicated servers

By Gabe Gurwin Published November 13, 2017

Official Call of Duty®: WWII Insider – Top 5 Tips

Call of Duty: WWII is one of our favorite games in the series, and a large part of that is its simple and addictive competitive multiplayer component. It’s undeniable, however, that the game has suffered from connectivity issues since it launched a few weeks ago, and these issues have kept players from fully enjoying the game. To combat these problems, developer Sledgehammer Games has rolled out a few changes, including temporarily disabling dedicated servers.

“While our previous game update, which released early Friday, [November 10], solved several critical needs, unfortunately it also had an adverse effect on server performance,” said Sledgehammer in an update. “As a result, we moved to [peer-to-peer] servers. Overall, the game is stable, however we know that P2P brings things like host migrations and other issues that make for inconsistent gameplay experiences.”

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For now, the peer-to-peer system means that the Headquarters social space will remain antisocial — unless you manually invite another friend to join you, you won’t be able to see any other players. This stops solo players from completing one of the game’s early social challenges, which requires them to commend another player within Headquarters.

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Sledgehammer said in the update that it continues to identify issues with players disconnecting from the game server, and once it has completed its testing, dedicated servers will begin to return. Any changes, however, will arrive first to console players before making their way to PC.

“This is only the beginning, so thank you for playing,” Sledgehammer added. “We won’t rest until we resolve everything we can for the community.”

The disconnecting in Call of Duty: WWII hasn’t been a huge issue for us personally, but when it does occur, it’s frustrating. One round of the game’s horror-heavy Zombies mode was about to conclude when the connection was lost, erasing all progress we had made up to that point, including work toward completing certain challenges.

Call of Duty: WWII is now available for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. It is enhanced on the new Xbox One X console, with higher resolutions making it the best place to play the game outside of high-end gaming PCs.

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Former Digital Trends Contributor

Gabe Gurwin has been playing games since 1997, beginning with the N64 and the Super Nintendo. He began his journalism career…

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The best Perk-A-Colas in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6

A screenshot from Call of Duty: Black Ops 6's zombies mode.

There's nothing more refreshing than taking a nice big swig of a Perk-A-Cola during an intense Zombies match with your pals in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6. Besides tasting great (we assume), these colas empower you with buffs that will keep you alive until the later rounds. These bonuses are just as important as the Pack-A-Punch, but come in a wider range of flavors. It is possible to stack them all, but that gets expensive very fast so you need to be thrifty about choosing which ones are most valuable early on. These colas come in eight different types that may or may not be worth your Essence to chug. If you want to know which ones are the best in Black Ops 6, check out our ranking.
Best Perk-A-Colas in Black Ops 6

We're ranking these Perk-A-Colas based on their base bonuses, not any additional effects you can get if you Augment them, from best to worst.
Jugger-Nog
You can never go wrong with the classic Jugger-Nog. Increasing your health by 100 is useful for the entire duration of a Zombies mode, but especially in the early rounds. Going down is at best a major setback and at worst a cascade into defeat. This extra health allows you to get out of a bad situation that would otherwise end your run.
Quick Revive
This Perk has two components, with the less useful one being the ability to revive teammates 50% faster. Ideally, that shouldn't be needed but is nice. However, what makes it rank so high is the 50% shorter delay on health regen. Your health will come back over time in Zombies but at a dreadful pace. Starting to heal faster means less time running and kiting zombies around and more time in the action helping the team.
Speed Cola
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Stamin-Up
These zombies aren't the shambling types. They will chase you down like sprinters, and some of the monstrous ones can outpace you even at full tilt. Stamin-Up sounds like it would let you run for longer, but actually just lets you run faster since you have no limit on sprint in Black Ops 6. Positioning is everything in Zombies so being able to get where you need to be faster is never a bad thing, especially if it's a downed teammate bleeding out.
Deadshot Daiquiri
Every zombie has a weak spot, which is most often the head. Deadshot Daiquiri makes a critical hit hurt even more than normal, plus increases your auto-aim on those weak points when you aim down sights (ADS). That second part shouldn't factor much if you've got good aim, which is why this is only a decent Perk-A-Cola.
PhD Flopper
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Elemental Pop
When Elemental Pop works, it's great. The problem with it is that you can't rely on it. It gives a small chance on every shot you take to add a random ammo mod effect, which is cool but impractical. If you have spare Essence on you, sure, it won't hurt you to have, but it isn't something that will turn the tide for you or your team.
Melee Macchiato
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Zombies shambling in Black Ops 6.

There are two kinds of people in this world: those who play Call of Duty and those who don’t. For three glorious hours, I was finally part of the former. Then it all came crashing down in a hail of gunfire.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is out now and it's being hailed as a return to greatness for the struggling series. Critics have praised features like its game-changing Omnimovement and welcomed the return of round-based Zombies mode. The star attraction, though, is this installment’s campaign. After years of experimental failures, Black Ops 6 delivers a straightforward political thriller full of eclectic missions. It’s a great premise, one that allows developer Raven to goof around with a “gone rogue” story featuring characters like Russel Adler.

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Soldier holding weapon in Modern Warfare II.

Few video game series are as influential and popular as Call of Duty. The annualized franchise throws players into fast-paced battles across various historical time periods -- along with fictional eras as well. Call of Duty has taken us to World War II, the Cold War, a modern setting, and even to the future.

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