Call of Duty Warzone Rumored Ural Mountains Map Is Cancelled

Rumors of an upcoming Ural Mountains map for Call of Duty: Warzone have been circulating for months. While those rumors do have a degree of truth in them in that the map did exist, it turns out it was never meant for Warzone. As reported by Charlie Intel, the map was supposed to be for a new version of Blackout battle royale mode within Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War instead, which obviously didn’t end up happening. Now that Blackout has reportedly been cancelled to continue supporting Warzone, the full Ural Mountains map no longer exists either.

The rumors originally stated the map would be made up of larger locations from Black Ops Cold War multiplayer, including Alpine and Ruka. The latest leaked image, originally from June 2020 but only now appearing online, shows a map that combined all of the Fireteam map locations (among a few additional points of interest) into a single large-scale map:

https://twitter.com/_Nanikos_/status/1378988998039769093

The map features a Blackout UI/interface because it was originally intended for a revamped Blackout mode due to return in Black Ops Cold War. According to a podcast by VGC, the mode was scrapped due to the unexpected success of Warzone. Once Activision realized how popular Warzone had become, it was fully integrated into the Black Ops Cold War universe and more resources are being allocated to help the game grow.

The newest rumors and leaks now suggest Warzone will be getting a revamped Verdansk map for Season 3. The map’s landmarks are supposed to rewind to a 1980s Cold War-era theme, although it’s thought the overall layout of Verdansk will remain the same. There are also rumors of an in-game event towards the end of Season 2, beginning on April 22, (Editor’s Note: New official teases seem to hint at something happening April 21) that will help transition players into the new map.

In the meantime, Warzone has received another smaller balancing update today as part of Season 2 Reloaded. The update tweaks a couple of weapons and attachments, as well as fixing the Camo Challenges for the R1 Shadowhunter. You can see the patch notes in full below:

Call of Duty: Warzone April 6 Patch Notes

GENERAL

The Camo Challenges for the “R1 Shadowhunter” now appear correctly for the Geometric, Flora, and Science Camo Categories.

WEAPONS

Cold War Tactical Rifle Charlie
- Recoil strength has been increased.
  - Burst weapons ride a fine line between inefficient and oppressive. The intent of this change is to maintain the weapon’s identity of being a powerhouse while making it a bit more difficult to wield. Right now we feel it is too easy to stay on target given how lethal it is. We will continue to monitor the performance of the Tactical Rifle Charlie and make additional changes if necessary.
FFAR 1
- ADS speed has been decreased.
  - The FFAR is a jack of all trades. It has the damage profile and range of an AR as well as the fire rate of an SMG. The FFAR’s wholesale efficacy has it edging out SMGs at ranges we’re not satisfied with. Ideally, the FFAR fulfills the role of a mid-range dominator while falling prey to weapons that excel in short-range engagements. We are bringing the FFAR a bit more in line with what you might expect from an AR—damage and range at the cost of handling.

ATTACHMENTS

Rear Grip attachments that showed ADS speed pros should now properly increase ADS speed.
Fixed a bug with the Groza where the 16.5” CMV Mil-Spec barrel would bypass damage falloff.
Fixed a bug with the Ember Sighting Point where the XM4 and AK-47 had their ADS speed increased rather than decreased.
Fixed a bug with the Salvo Fast Mag where the FFAR 1 and M16 were not having their ADS speed decreased.
The Pelington 703 Wrapped Suppressor effects should now be properly represented in the stat bar.

Note that all of the adjustments above are exclusive to Warzone and do not translate to Black Ops Cold War.

[Source: Twitter via Charlie Intel, VGC, Raven Software]