The Dropshot

WARDOGS Season 2 came out on October 15, and two days later Bulkhead said its faster progression was the wrong call. Players had Tier 4 armor and main battle tanks within days, so the wipe never really felt like a fresh start. Bulkhead isn't doing another reset. They're bringing Season 3 forward instead.

We go through the Season 2 patch notes first: the TCX SPR, PP-19 Bizon, M14 and new LMG, Molotovs, the level 4 helmet nerf, the rain weather preset, squad intent, the Wager vendor, and the new anti-air vehicle. Then the drama. The Lone Star cash and XP bonus worked so well it got pulled after a day, players who used the driver exploit to get tanks early got 24-hour bans and lost their progress, and Joe Brammer is in the replies.

Raz thinks bringing Season 3 forward is the right move. Jake thinks Bulkhead should have seen this coming and is worried they're already trying to please everyone. We also talk about a time-gating idea for gear and the 209K players still on Steam.

Then the Modern Warfare 4 campaign. It's getting called the best since MW2019, and Raz still doesn't care, because nobody plays Call of Duty for the campaign. Plus DMZ, and why Call of Duty should split Warzone and DMZ into their own games.

0:00 - Intro

1:39 - What's on today

2:20 - Patreon trivia night + upcoming games episode

4:40 - WARDOGS Season 2 is here

5:41 - Big Bear and Mount Ski Bump

6:49 - GTA 6 final trailer

8:01 - Season 2 patch notes: four new guns

10:19 - Words we learned from video games

12:10 - Molotovs and rangefinder batteries

14:31 - Defibrillator PSA

15:03 - Level 4 helmet nerf and suppression

17:12 - New vehicles and anti-air

19:22 - New buildables and rain

21:01 - Gold bars and the Wager vendor

23:25 - Squad intent, loadouts, pre-match football

26:31 - The Lone Star faction experiment

31:58 - T-shaped vs Y-shaped spawns

35:01 - Compound bow, controller fixes, faster leveling

37:10 - Blue bonus pulled: "We f***ed up"

42:03 - Driver exploit bans

46:52 - Limited mode servers

48:53 - Is Bulkhead's honesty refreshing?

52:25 - The X post: Season 3 is moving up

54:35 - You can't please everyone

58:23 - "Nobody is enjoying the climb"

1:01:35 - Fix idea: time-gating gear

1:06:21 - Joe's replies and the Twitter crybabies

1:13:17 - Tarkov and how long seasons should be

1:17:19 - 209K players: does the drama matter?

1:22:57 - MW4 campaign early access and the staggered launch

1:26:00 - Best CoD campaign ever?

1:28:12 - Two campaigns: Korea and Price

1:30:00 - Movable optics

1:31:06 - Best since MW2019 (and BO7's floating head)

1:32:05 - The JoeWo face and DMZ dread

1:33:39 - Split Call of Duty up

1:38:04 - The campaign's one silver lining

1:39:07 - Wrap: gloating next week

_Note: timestamps may be slightly misaligned on podcast apps (but not on YouTube) due to dynamic ads._

The podcast is available wherever you listen to podcasts, and ad-free & early access versions - as well as bonus episodes - are available to all of our Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/thedropshot) supporters. We stream the podcast live on our YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/c/thedropshotpodcast) every Saturday morning at ~9 o'clock Pacific Time. We typically start the stream 30 minutes early to answer viewer questions, banter, and chat. Links for everything are below. Thanks for checking us out!

🔹Streaming schedule (Pacific time):

🔸Saturday ~9 AM: Gaming news and stories of the week

🔹The Dropshot:

🔸Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thedropshot

🔸Donate: https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=YVR98VF4S945G

🔸Website: https://www.thedropshot.com

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We go through Activision's MW4 DMZ Deep Dive Part 2 blog post, the full guide to the Forward Operating Base (FOB), section by section. Part 1 is on the Patreon.

Some of it is a real step up from DMZ 1: there's finally a stash, an actual DMZ cash economy, a vendor with rotating stock, weapon manuals you have to find and extract to unlock gunsmith builds, and three operator trait trees (Warfighter, Scout, Survivalist) that play pretty differently from each other.

The rest is where it falls apart for us. Minor traits are randomized, and prestige traits are random too, so you can't build the operator you want. Your bank is capped at a maximum amount of saved cash. Loot auto-breaks down into four crafting resources, and mission items get their own slot. The bounty system marks "Wanted" players on the tac map for everyone nearby while assimilated squads stay hidden. And the $100,000 cargo plane infil costs twice as much as the helicopter while doing less.

We also get into DMZ orders, survival kits and the Vault Edition, lieutenants and commanders on the Boss Board, the 3D printer, deployment options, and why this is the reason the show isn't a Call of Duty podcast anymore. Early access starts October 20th. We think it won't last past November.

0:00 - Intro

1:50 - DMZ 2 Blog Post Part 2

3:18 - Patron Hangout and D-Rock's Trivia

5:06 - Trunk-or-Treat

6:54 - The Forward Operating Base (FOB)

11:05 - Active Duty Operators

13:18 - Finally, a Stash

14:35 - Survival Kits and Bounty Board

16:58 - Boss Board: Lieutenants and Commanders

19:53 - The Vendor and DMZ Cash

21:41 - Gunsmith and Weapon Manuals

24:23 - Dog Tag Case

25:08 - Operator Station, MIA and Buybacks

31:24 - Warfighter, Scout, Survivalist Trait Trees

39:32 - Minor Traits Are Randomized

54:06 - Warfighter Traits (Quick Fix, Possum)

58:50 - Scout Traits

1:00:17 - Survivalist Traits and Last Stand

1:07:13 - Operator Prestige: Random Traits

1:18:40 - DMZ Orders and the Stash

1:21:50 - Your Bank Is Capped

1:27:37 - Loot Breaks Down Into Four Resources

1:30:50 - Loadouts, Backpacks and Mission Slots

1:34:44 - Survival Kits and the Vault Edition

1:37:24 - Bounties: Killers and Hunters

1:46:56 - Most Wanted Leaderboard and Tac Map Marker

1:51:05 - The 3D Printer

1:53:29 - Boss Board Details

1:54:32 - Vendor and Gunsmith

1:58:16 - Deployment Options: Helicopter vs Cargo Plane

2:01:27 - Why This Isn't a CoD Podcast Anymore

2:05:15 - Could DMZ 3 or 4 Be Good?

2:08:09 - Is This the Last DMZ?

2:09:16 - To the YouTube Commenters

2:15:47 - CoD Needs New Studios

2:17:25 - Wrap-Up and Bets

2:21:49 - Outro

_Note: timestamps may be slightly misaligned on podcast apps (but not on YouTube) due to dynamic ads._

The podcast is available wherever you listen to podcasts, and ad-free & early access versions - as well as bonus episodes - are available to all of our Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/thedropshot) supporters. We stream the podcast live on our YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/c/thedropshotpodcast) every Saturday morning at ~9 o'clock Pacific Time. We typically start the stream 30 minutes early to answer viewer questions, banter, and chat. Links for everything are below. Thanks for checking us out!

🔹Streaming schedule (Pacific time):

🔸Saturday ~9 AM: Gaming news and stories of the week

🔹The Dropshot:

🔸Website: https://www.thedropshot.com

🔸Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheDropshotPod

🔸Discord: https://discord.gg/B4Nsarq

🔸YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/thedropshotpodcast

🔸Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thedropshot

🔸Donate: https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=YVR98VF4S945G

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🔸YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@jakedown

#TheDropshot #DropshotPodcast #GamingPodcast #PodcastClips #DMZ #MW4 #ModernWarfare4 #CallofDuty #ExtractionShooter #Warzone #Tarkov #ArcRaiders #DMZ2 #CODNews #MW4DMZ #DMZEarlyAccess #HotTake #GamingNews #PodcastLife

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GTA 6 isn't even out yet and the Miami Heat are changing their name for it. On November 18th, the night before launch, the Heat become the Vice City Heat — new jerseys, a new court, a "Welcome to Vice City" sign, all on ESPN. Raz and Jake try to figure out what Rockstar paid, why the NBA said yes, and why Coca-Cola still bothers advertising at all.

Then the GTA 6 ESRB rating drops, and it says more than Rockstar has: decapitation and dismemberment, strip club private dances, and cocaine you can carry around and snort straight off your hand. Plus the NFL fining a guy for a fake beer celebration and cutting straight to a Bud Light ad.

Also: Steam's record $1.7B September, why gaming is the most cost-effective hobby on earth, Gears of War: E-Day, MW4 and DMZ, and everything changing in Wardogs Season 2 — progression wipe, rain maps, trait system, and the economy rebalance.

And to close it out: David Grusch's alien species lineup on Joe Rogan. Grays, 7-foot reptilians, "very beautiful" blue-white beings. Jake is convinced there are alien bases in the ocean and that we've explored way more than 5% of it. Raz brings up the Antarctic. Nobody wins.

0:00 - Intro

1:08 - Pre-show recap: does texture even matter?

2:35 - Patreon shoutouts

4:18 - What we're playing: Blood of Dawnwalker & Tarkov

5:55 - Open-world fatigue is real

9:38 - Crusader Kings 3 & a W for targeted ads

13:53 - GTA 6 is six weeks away

14:22 - The Miami Heat become the Vice City Heat

20:21 - The NBA's squeaky-clean image

25:16 - Why does Coca-Cola still advertise?

32:51 - What did Rockstar actually pay?

35:43 - GTA 6 ESRB rating: M for Mature

37:24 - Buying Vice City as a kid

38:15 - What the ESRB rating reveals

40:43 - Snorting coke off your hand in GTA 6

43:04 - NFL fines a fake beer, airs a Bud Light ad

47:12 - Will your nose collapse in GTA 6?

49:24 - Steam's record-breaking September

52:08 - Gaming's up

54:19 - Gaming is the best hobby, prove us wrong

1:00:18 - Real friends from video games

1:02:55 - Why Steam is a great company

1:05:54 - Ace Combat 8 & the origin of "Razinon"

1:06:33 - Gears of War: E-Day

1:08:39 - Star Wars Galactic Racer? Skip.

1:09:37 - MW4 & everything hinges on DMZ

1:10:55 - Wardogs Season 2: the progression wipe

1:12:38 - Rain maps: snipers and helis nerfed?

1:16:37 - Night matches in Wardogs?

1:17:11 - Economy rebalance: infantry needs a buff

1:19:47 - Give us a loadout builder

1:21:22 - Teased: anti-air, Molotovs & jets

1:23:02 - David Grusch on Joe Rogan

1:24:00 - The alien species lineup

1:29:41 - Disclosure before Trump's term ends?

1:31:31 - Underwater alien bases

1:32:15 - "We've only explored 5% of the ocean"

1:38:01 - Map our own planet first

1:39:40 - Why would aliens be beautiful?

1:40:19 - Outro

1:41:05 - Post-credits: the James Cameron argument

_Note: timestamps may be slightly misaligned on podcast apps (but not on YouTube) due to dynamic ads._

The podcast is available wherever you listen to podcasts, and ad-free & early access versions - as well as bonus episodes - are available to all of our Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/thedropshot) supporters. We stream the podcast live on our YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/c/thedropshotpodcast) every Saturday morning at ~9 o'clock Pacific Time. We typically start the stream 30 minutes early to answer viewer questions, banter, and chat. Links for everything are below. Thanks for checking us out!

🔹Streaming schedule (Pacific time):

🔸Saturday ~9 AM: Gaming news and stories of the week

🔹The Dropshot:

🔸Website: https://www.thedropshot.com

🔸Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheDropshotPod

🔸Discord: https://discord.gg/B4Nsarq

🔸YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/thedropshotpodcast

🔸Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thedropshot

🔸Donate: https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=YVR98VF4S945G

🔸Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedropshotpodcast/

🔸TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thedropshotpodcast

🔹Razinon:

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🔸Twitter: https://twitter.com/razinon

🔸Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/razinonttv

🔹Jakedown:

🔸Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/jakedown_

🔸YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@jakedown

#TheDropshot #Dropshot #DropshotPodcast #GamingPodcast #GTA6 #GrandTheftAuto6 #ViceCity #Rockstar #Wardogs #Steam #PCGaming #MiamiHeat #ESRB #DavidGrusch #JoeRogan #UAP #Aliens #Podcast #GamingNews #HotTake

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Microsoft just handed the next mainline Halo to Activision, and two guys who ran a Call of Duty show for years have thoughts. Raz has been saying for five years that Halo should have made a battle royale, and he explains why it might already be too late. Jake makes the case that Halo is in such a bad spot that new developers can't make it worse, and asks what Call of Duty's monetization playbook will do to it.

Then Warzone's new operator skin toggle: MW4 lets you swap every Nicki Minaj and Squid Game skin for a grounded military operator, but only on your screen. Is that the best of both worlds, or a way to please nobody? Plus Call of Duty getting Community Noted, MW4's locked carry-forward guns, and the rumored Game Pass tier with ads.

GTA 6's $400 collector's edition doesn't come with GTA 6. We go through every item in the box, and it turns out to be a cocaine bundle. Rockstar's Miami takeover, the city council vote on GTA 6 beach umbrellas, and whether this is the first video game that could actually move crime numbers.

Also: the WARDOGS price increase drama, Sombra moving to support in Overwatch, and Arc Raiders adding a PvE-only mode.

0:00 Intro

3:11 Patreon news and the hangout recap

8:51 Raz on Twitch and Pathfinder

10:30 Why Raz always plays evil

15:05 The BG3 dog dilemma

16:36 Remember Craigslist?

17:42 Halo is a Call of Duty studio now

20:07 Halo should have made a battle royale

22:46 Can Activision save Halo?

26:55 Bring back Forge mode

33:35 First CoD thing in the next Halo

35:57 The Halo show and video game movies

41:10 Obsidian, Rare and the Xbox shuffle

42:24 Is Xbox still a console company?

43:40 Game Pass with ads

48:27 Warzone's operator skin toggle

50:16 MW4's locked carry-forward guns

54:43 Call of Duty gets Community Noted

1:00:35 Would we turn the toggle on?

1:03:16 GTA 6's $400 collector's edition

1:05:40 It's a cocaine bundle

1:12:43 Rockstar's Miami takeover

1:16:01 Miami Beach votes on GTA 6 ads

1:20:37 Spotify x GTA 6

1:23:56 The biggest entertainment launch ever?

1:25:11 Why everyone plays evil in GTA

1:26:04 Does GTA 6 marketing even matter?

1:28:46 WARDOGS price hike drama

1:31:47 Sombra moves to support

1:37:18 Arc Raiders adds a PvE mode

1:41:00 Abandon hope, Arc Raiders fans

1:46:51 Wrap-up: Halo of Duty

_Note: timestamps may be slightly misaligned on podcast apps (but not on YouTube) due to dynamic ads._

The podcast is available wherever you listen to podcasts, and ad-free & early access versions - as well as bonus episodes - are available to all of our Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/thedropshot) supporters. We stream the podcast live on our YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/c/thedropshotpodcast) every Saturday morning at ~9 o'clock Pacific Time. We typically start the stream 30 minutes early to answer viewer questions, banter, and chat. Links for everything are below. Thanks for checking us out!

🔹Streaming schedule (Pacific time):

🔸Saturday ~9 AM: Gaming news and stories of the week

🔹The Dropshot:

🔸Website: https://www.thedropshot.com

🔸Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheDropshotPod

🔸Discord: https://discord.gg/B4Nsarq

🔸YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/thedropshotpodcast

🔸Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thedropshot

🔸Donate: https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=YVR98VF4S945G

🔸Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedropshotpodcast/

🔸TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thedropshotpodcast

🔹Razinon:

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🔸Twitter: https://twitter.com/razinon

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🔹Jakedown:

🔸Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/jakedown_

🔸YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@jakedown

#TheDropshot #GamingPodcast #PodcastClips #GamingTalk #Halo #Activision #Xbox #Warzone #MW4 #CallOfDuty #Overwatch #ArcRaiders #WARDOGS #GTA6 #GTAVI #GTA6CollectorsEdition #GamePass #GamingNews #HotTake

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Call of Duty is done with Black Ops, and Modern Warfare 4 is the "epic conclusion" of the Task Force 141 story. We think it's the smartest call Activision has made in years. It only matters if the next series changes the game as much as jetpacks did, and a new name and new villains won't do that.

We also make a prediction: Call of Duty will copy WARDOGS. It happened with PUBG and Warzone, then with Tarkov and DMZ, and now WARDOGS has sold over 2 million copies and peaked at 428,000 concurrent players on Steam. Raz guarantees Infinity Ward is already being told to build it.

Also covered: WARDOGS one week into early access, the drill-spam meta, the mortar complaints, why we still think no monetization is a mistake, and the Bulkhead CEO crunch controversy (we don't see the problem). Then GTA 6 Online reportedly landing in 2027, why the PC version probably comes with it, and what GTA 6 does to MW4 and WARDOGS in November. We finish with WoW Forever, Aion 2, and an investigation into whether any elves have round ears.

Raz still wins either way.

0:00 - Intro: Big Jacob of Nibiru

2:05 - Patreon hangout & Death by AI

6:01 - WARDOGS one week in: 2M sold, 428K peak

9:24 - Balance complaints & the drill meta

13:40 - There Will Be Blood is overrated

15:01 - Bulkhead devs on Twitter & the loadout fix

17:16 - Mike Tyson's impregnable defense

20:09 - You either love a game or you're good at it

23:29 - No monetization is still a mistake

30:38 - Still in the honeymoon phase

33:07 - WARDOGS CEO crunch controversy

38:26 - Treyarch is done with Black Ops

42:20 - CoD needs a jetpack-level shake-up

46:33 - Future setting vs. grounded CoD

49:24 - Prediction: CoD will copy WARDOGS

57:08 - DMZ2 is going to fail

1:01:41 - CoD fans: don't get excited yet

1:03:53 - Wolverine hand-holding & NICKMERCS on Tarkov

1:06:30 - Why extraction shooters must be hardcore

1:10:22 - Mads Mikkelsen & MW4

1:11:07 - Does Raz come back to CoD?

1:15:53 - GTA 6 Online in 2027

1:21:52 - GTA 6 PC will launch with Online

1:24:15 - What GTA 6 does to MW4 & WARDOGS

1:30:47 - WoW Forever enters beta

1:32:45 - The elf investigation

1:34:49 - Aion 2

1:37:49 - Outro

_Note: timestamps may be slightly misaligned on podcast apps (but not on YouTube) due to dynamic ads._

The podcast is available wherever you listen to podcasts, and ad-free & early access versions - as well as bonus episodes - are available to all of our Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/thedropshot) supporters. We stream the podcast live on our YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/c/thedropshotpodcast) every Saturday morning at ~9 o'clock Pacific Time. We typically start the stream 30 minutes early to answer viewer questions, banter, and chat. Links for everything are below. Thanks for checking us out!

🔹Streaming schedule (Pacific time):

🔸Saturday ~9 AM: Gaming news and stories of the week

🔹The Dropshot:

🔸Website: https://www.thedropshot.com

🔸Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheDropshotPod

🔸Discord: https://discord.gg/B4Nsarq

🔸YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/thedropshotpodcast

🔸Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thedropshot

🔸Donate: https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=YVR98VF4S945G

🔸Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedropshotpodcast/

🔸TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thedropshotpodcast

🔹Razinon:

🔸Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/razinon

🔸Twitter: https://twitter.com/razinon

🔸Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/razinonttv

🔹Jakedown:

🔸Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/jakedown_

🔸YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@jakedown

#TheDropshot #GamingPodcast #PodcastClips

Gaming topics: #WARDOGS #CallOfDuty #BlackOps #ModernWarfare4 #Warzone #DMZ2 #Bulkhead

#GTA6 #GTA6Online #Treyarch #WoWForever #Aion2

#GamingNews #HotTake #Prediction #GamingTakes

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WARDOGS launched into Early Access on Thursday, peaked at roughly 340,000 concurrent players on Steam, went straight to the #1 seller spot — and got review bombed down to Mixed at the same time. Raz has 8.5 hours in since launch. Jake has 0.0, because Tarkov currently has him in a chokehold. So this one is a split: what WARDOGS actually plays like two days in, and what the launch looked like from the back of a 138,000-person queue.

We get into whether a negative Steam review about a queue is a legitimate review, what Bulkhead actually did to fix the bottleneck overnight, Valve's rate limits, the wrongful ban wave, and the accusation that Shroud and every other big streamer got whitelisted while paying customers sat in line.

Then it turns into the streamer economy: TimTheTatman calling WARDOGS boring and getting cooked for it, ARC Raiders reportedly offering him six figures to come back, and whether paying a streamer $100,000 actually sells a single copy. Plus the drill strat that's quietly deciding matches, and why $40 for forty hours is the cheapest hobby on earth. One of us thinks most people never read a review before they buy. The other refuses to believe it.

0:00 - Intro

1:53 - Welcome to Episode 604

3:04 - Patron Shoutout + the "What Is Hardcore?" Bonus Ep

5:47 - 8.5 Hours vs 0.0 Hours

7:16 - 340K Players, Mixed Reviews

7:57 - First Impressions: "Varied"

10:41 - The 12-Kill SKS Run

13:33 - What Changed From the Beta

15:14 - Why Jake Hasn't Touched It

16:31 - Tarkov Has Him in a Chokehold

19:28 - The Recon Grind and Starter Gear Pain

24:07 - "The SKS Isn't Good"

27:47 - Looting Better Gear Off No-Lifers

28:01 - The Queue: 138,000th in Line

29:24 - Review Bombed to Mixed

32:55 - What Did They Actually Do to Fix It?

38:38 - Did Streamers Skip the Queue?

43:12 - The Miami Nightclub Argument

47:53 - Valve Rate Limits and the CEO's Panic

50:18 - Wrongful Bans and Where Refunds Start

54:33 - Bulkhead Are Gamers and It Shows

56:00 - The CEO Reacted to a Whole Review Video

58:14 - Joe Brammer's Pea-Shooter Sniper Excuse

1:01:08 - Is a Launch-Day Negative Review Legit?

1:05:04 - Which Streamers Are Still Playing

1:06:01 - TimTheTatman Says WARDOGS Is Boring

1:11:41 - Should Streamers Care What Chat Wants?

1:17:40 - Will Anyone Still Be Playing in a Week?

1:20:25 - ARC Raiders Offered Him Six Figures

1:24:24 - Do Paid Streamers Actually Sell Games?

1:34:24 - Cutting Boards vs Video Games

1:42:34 - The Project Zomboid Counterexample

1:43:18 - Make a Good Game, People Will Play It

1:45:51 - $40 for 40 Hours

1:53:54 - Tabling the WARDOGS Deep Dive

1:54:56 - The Drill Strat Is Winning Games

1:57:38 - How the Meta Is Already Shifting

2:02:31 - Starting Late? Here's the Play

2:03:26 - Looting Your Teammate Before Reviving

2:04:54 - Do We Recommend WARDOGS? + Outro

_Note: timestamps may be slightly misaligned on podcast apps (but not on YouTube) due to dynamic ads._

The podcast is available wherever you listen to podcasts, and ad-free & early access versions - as well as bonus episodes - are available to all of our Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/thedropshot) supporters. We stream the podcast live on our YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/c/thedropshotpodcast) every Saturday morning at ~9 o'clock Pacific Time. We typically start the stream 30 minutes early to answer viewer questions, banter, and chat. Links for everything are below. Thanks for checking us out!

🔹Streaming schedule (Pacific time):

🔸Saturday ~9 AM: Gaming news and stories of the week

🔹The Dropshot:

🔸Website: https://www.thedropshot.com

🔸Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheDropshotPod

🔸Discord: https://discord.gg/B4Nsarq

🔸YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/thedropshotpodcast

🔸Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thedropshot

🔸Donate: https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=YVR98VF4S945G

🔸Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedropshotpodcast/

🔸TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thedropshotpodcast

🔹Razinon:

🔸Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/razinon

🔸Twitter: https://twitter.com/razinon

🔸Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/razinonttv

🔹Jakedown:

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The first FPS Games Show happened, and the two biggest things in it both came from the guy who's had Escape from Tarkov in beta for a decade. Nikita opened the whole showcase with Fragmentary Order — sci-fi, Unreal Engine 5, maps four to five times the size of Tarkov's, and a promise that it'll be "more complex, more punishing, more painful."

Then Battlestate turned around and launched a publishing arm for hardcore games nobody else will fund, with devs keeping their full IP. We go deep on both: whether a game more complex than Tarkov is a game anyone actually plays, why Tarkov's bloat (two types of croutons, twenty types of Keter ammo) is the thing a fresh start fixes, and why every extraction shooter after Tarkov has failed for the same reason — they weren't hardcore enough.

Also: Bulkhead built this entire showcase because a trailer slot elsewhere runs $300,000 for 60 seconds, then immediately fumbled their own big Wardogs announcement into a clip contest. Plus Tarkov's PvE player base hitting 50%, and Star Wars Zero Company. Timestamps below. Let us know if Fragmentary Order is going to be a bust or a banger.

0:00 - Intro

2:35 - The FPS Games Show

4:21 - The Wardogs beta and what's coming at launch

7:03 - Fragmentary Order: first impressions

9:03 - Tarkov's three real problems

10:52 - It's not Battlestate — Nikita's new studio

12:50 - "More complex, more punishing, more painful"

18:33 - Tarkov's bloat problem

20:09 - How sci-fi is this actually going to be?

25:55 - "Not an extraction shooter" — Nikita's combat simulator

30:18 - Why Unreal Engine 5

37:41 - Is there a release date?

43:14 - When will Fragmentary Order actually be playable?

45:21 - Tarkov is old and it looks it

48:47 - Battlestate Games is a publisher now

58:09 - What does a game publisher actually do?

1:02:04 - "Make hardcore live forever" — mission or marketing?

1:04:27 - Extraction shooters aren't dead, arcade shooters are

1:08:00 - Does this change the Tarkov roadmap?

1:12:44 - $300,000 for 60 seconds

1:14:42 - Genre showcases vs. the big generic ones

1:19:28 - Bulkhead's Wardogs announcement flops

1:23:15 - Who actually wins the $100K?

1:25:18 - Everything else from the show

1:26:39 - Road to Vostok, Ready or Not, Hell Let Loose

1:28:30 - Beautiful Light

1:32:49 - Gray Zone Warfare is "entering alpha"

1:34:50 - Tarkov PvE is 50% of the player base

1:40:05 - Is seasonal PvP actually worse?

1:47:11 - Star Wars Zero Company

1:53:50 - Grievous vs. Darth Maul

1:55:21 - Outro

_Note: timestamps may be slightly misaligned on podcast apps (but not on YouTube) due to dynamic ads._

The podcast is available wherever you listen to podcasts, and ad-free & early access versions - as well as bonus episodes - are available to all of our Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/thedropshot) supporters. We stream the podcast live on our YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/c/thedropshotpodcast) every Saturday morning at ~9 o'clock Pacific Time. We typically start the stream 30 minutes early to answer viewer questions, banter, and chat. Links for everything are below. Thanks for checking us out!

🔹Streaming schedule (Pacific time):

🔸Saturday ~9 AM: Gaming news and stories of the week

🔹The Dropshot:

🔸Website: https://www.thedropshot.com

🔸Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheDropshotPod

🔸Discord: https://discord.gg/B4Nsarq

🔸YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/thedropshotpodcast

🔸Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thedropshot

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#TheDropshot #GamingPodcast #PodcastClips #FragmentaryOrder #EscapeFromTarkov #Tarkov #BattlestateGames #Nikita #ExtractionShooter #WARDOGS #Bulkhead #FPSGamesShow #ARCRaiders #ZeroCompany #StarWars #UnrealEngine5 #GamingNews #FPS #HardcoreGaming #HotTake

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We played the Modern Warfare 4 beta this weekend — including Warzone and the new Zodiac Resurgence map — and it took about fifteen minutes to know it was over. Not "this year is mid" over. Over over.

This is the episode where a podcast that ran on Call of Duty for 600+ episodes says out loud that it's done. Raz makes the case that nothing else in an FPS matters if you can't see or hear the enemy, and everything else — weapon levels, perks, pipe climbing, the spawns everyone's arguing about on X — is fixing a leaky bathtub while the house burns down. Jake breaks down why CoD only takes from him now, why the lobbies are nothing but sweat, and the exact point where min-maxing your controller, your router and your ZIP code stopped being worth it.

Also in this one: the Zodiac verdict (better than Area 99, roughly Haven's Hollow), the weekend 2 nerf pass, the 60% negative Steam reviews, why Warzone was in the beta at all, and a DMZ 2 prediction we're standing behind. Then a palate cleanser — Star Wars Zero Company, permadeath, and a first playthrough Raz completely ruined — plus a brutal Tarkov week, the Tarkov roadmap, GTA 6's Netflix look, and WARDOGS.

Jake wanted it to be good. Raz stopped wanting that years ago. This time they agree.

0:00 - Intro

1:10 - New patrons and the latest bonus episodes

3:26 - Our first patron Discord hangout (and Death by AI)

6:10 - "The MW4 Beta Broke Us"

6:22 - How fast did we know?

9:25 - "If I can't see the guy, nothing else matters"

10:17 - The raging inferno analogy

14:55 - "Call of Duty is dead"

15:10 - Jake: CoD only takes from me now

20:49 - Everyone is min-maxing (and moving for zero ping)

23:26 - SBMM, the missing casuals, and sweat-only lobbies

26:03 - Splitgate Reloaded and the death of 6v6 arcade shooters

27:40 - Warzone: the audio, the visibility, the haze

30:12 - Rolling the dice on what bullshit you get this year

31:28 - Bring back Caldera — at least it was different

37:28 - The first thing that felt wrong: audio

37:54 - Weekend 2's nerf pass: Tac Sprint, slides, TTK

40:44 - 60% negative Steam reviews and the player drop

41:52 - The Zodiac verdict vs. Area 99 and Haven's Hollow

42:50 - Why was Warzone in the beta at all?

47:16 - No custom loadouts, and the guns aren't fun to shoot

49:07 - "Activision devs do not play their own game"

50:18 - The one dev we ever ran into in Warzone

53:34 - The Quick Fix perk they "fixed" twice

57:07 - "Where does that put us? I give you Zodiac"

59:12 - Skipping a year, or actually done?

1:04:14 - What it would take to get us back

1:07:00 - Call of Duty is your old restaurant job

1:08:08 - "I want everyone that works there to suffer"

1:09:00 - It's a leadership problem — fire Infinity Ward

1:13:02 - Prediction: MW4 three months after launch

1:16:06 - The DMZ 2 prediction

1:24:17 - Palate cleanser: Star Wars Zero Company

1:32:45 - Permadeath, injuries, and squad bonds

1:34:36 - "This playthrough is fucked"

1:36:57 - Is it the Star Wars or the game underneath?

1:37:51 - Reviews, performance, and is it worth $50

1:38:50 - Eight classes, Overwatch combos, and base upgrades

1:44:46 - It should have been co-op

1:45:49 - Tarkov: best raid of the week

1:46:41 - The Customs transit raid that actually worked

1:50:02 - Worst raid: baited in the Reserve bunker

1:53:04 - The KS-23 rat that bled us out

1:54:39 - Camped at D2 twice in a row

1:59:49 - The bathroom extract death

2:02:34 - Why this wipe feels so much harder

2:05:18 - Tarkov roadmap: ranked, revives, simplified GPS

2:08:24 - GTA 6's Netflix extended look

2:10:31 - WARDOGS extraction and PvE prototypes

2:11:00 - Wrap-up

_Note: timestamps may be slightly misaligned on podcast apps (but not on YouTube) due to dynamic ads._

The podcast is available wherever you listen to podcasts, and ad-free & early access versions - as well as bonus episodes - are available to all of our Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/thedropshot) supporters. We stream the podcast live on our YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/c/thedropshotpodcast) every Saturday morning at ~9 o'clock Pacific Time. We typically start the stream 30 minutes early to answer viewer questions, banter, and chat. Links for everything are below. Thanks for checking us out!

🔹Streaming schedule (Pacific time):

🔸Saturday ~9 AM: Gaming news and stories of the week

🔹The Dropshot:

🔸Website: https://www.thedropshot.com

🔸Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheDropshotPod

🔸Discord: https://discord.gg/B4Nsarq

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Two shooter betas dropped on the same weekend, so we played both and came back with very different verdicts. WARDOGS is Bulkhead's 100-player, three-team tactical shooter with a real money economy — you buy your loadout every respawn, you lose money when you die, and it turns out that changes how a match actually feels. Modern Warfare 4 finally dumps omnimovement, removes bloom from hipfire, and put a campaign mission in the beta for the first time ever.

We get into the WARDOGS recon grind and the 5.56 break-action "sniper" that shouldn't exist, the money system and whether it creates real gear fear, three-team fights and whether they actually matter, spawn vehicles as an infinite money glitch, base building and anti-air, and why there is never — not once, not ever — an unoccupied tower. On the CoD side: how the movement feels without omnimovement, no-bloom hipfire on keyboard and mouse, opening-night demon lobbies, whether Warzone and DMZ2 have a chance, and the annual spawns discourse that needs to die. Jake played both. Raz refused to pre-order. Somehow they still ended up disagreeing.

0:00 - Intro

2:26 - How to even get into these betas

2:50 - "I'm not pre-ordering this pile of shit game"

3:23 - Patreon, the FPS lore bonus episode, and the patron hangout

6:09 - Gut check: which beta did we keep loading back into?

6:39 - Jake played the MW4 campaign mission first thing in the morning

8:10 - Opening night of the CoD beta was as sweaty as it gets

11:09 - The WARDOGS recon grind is making the game worse

12:22 - The 5.56 break-action "sniper" that should not exist

13:31 - Two gripes: no free look, and you can't reload while sprinting

15:10 - Recon 10, the Mosin, and a $50,000 unlock

16:41 - There's loot on top of the towers — finding an SV-98

17:44 - What surprised us

18:43 - MW4 movement with no omnimovement

21:48 - So what's actually new in MW4? Pipes and underhand grenades

23:21 - Keyboard and mouse, and the no-bloom hipfire

25:26 - Did we quit a session annoyed? Demon lobbies on day one

26:36 - Ground War and looser SBMM next weekend

27:21 - "The MW4 beta had more concurrent players than BO7's peak"

28:20 - Spawn vehicles and the infinite money glitch

30:25 - Learning to fly the helicopter (badly)

32:19 - Chopper runs are the easiest money in the game

33:50 - Base building, FOBs and anti-air

35:26 - Best moment of the weekend: spawn camping a Lone Star vehicle

36:36 - Pro tip: pack a second optic and hot swap

37:58 - Claymores and tower loot

38:53 - Class leveling and why the grind is a good thing

40:06 - Tanks, attack helicopters, and getting strafed off a roof

43:56 - Do three teams actually change anything?

47:36 - The money system: did it change how you played?

52:01 - Gear fear — "I'm here to PvP"

53:59 - We want there to be consequences to dying

56:06 - Bandages, revives, and running out of resources

58:38 - The crane fight and the parachute escape

1:01:31 - There is never an unoccupied tower

1:03:04 - Shotguns, SMGs, and the two-primary backpack build

1:05:42 - Could a kit ever get too expensive to fight over?

1:09:00 - Armor, AP rounds, and no hit markers

1:10:27 - The SKS chamber bug

1:11:46 - Tac sprint in WARDOGS is driving us insane

1:13:41 - Proning while ADS, and other small friction

1:14:42 - People who refuse to learn a new game

1:19:07 - Who is WARDOGS actually for?

1:21:20 - You can't win if everyone's Bob the Builder

1:22:28 - The one type of player this game won't work for

1:24:39 - Give it a real try before you refund it

1:26:53 - Hesco barriers and why building matters

1:27:18 - MW4 first impressions: movement and gunplay

1:28:38 - The annual spawns discourse needs to stop

1:33:36 - Warzone and DMZ2: the fundamentals are finally sound

1:34:29 - "Will they be good? No" — the prediction

1:35:42 - "It just looks like MW2" is a lazy take

1:37:35 - We are done talking about graphics

1:40:44 - What we're testing next weekend

1:41:10 - Should you buy WARDOGS? And the refund loophole

1:42:11 - Patreon, the hangout, and outro

_Note: timestamps may be slightly misaligned on podcast apps (but not on YouTube) due to dynamic ads._

The podcast is available wherever you listen to podcasts, and ad-free & early access versions - as well as bonus episodes - are available to all of our Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/thedropshot) supporters. We stream the podcast live on our YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/c/thedropshotpodcast) every Saturday morning at ~9 o'clock Pacific Time. We typically start the stream 30 minutes early to answer viewer questions, banter, and chat. Links for everything are below. Thanks for checking us out!

🔹The Dropshot:

🔸Website: https://www.thedropshot.com

🔸Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheDropshotPod

🔸Discord: https://discord.gg/B4Nsarq

🔸YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/thedropshotpodcast

🔸Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thedropshot

🔸Donate: https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=YVR98VF4S945G

🔸Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedropshotpodcast/

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Episode 600. On August 21st the Modern Warfare 4 early access beta, the WARDOGS closed beta, and Call of Duty NEXT all land on the same day — and the two games are asking for wildly different amounts of money.

We go through everything Activision is cramming into the MW4 beta: a playable campaign mission called Entrenched, six multiplayer maps, the return of Ground War, and a brand new Warzone Resurgence map called Zodiac. Then we put odds on whether any of it actually works over a single weekend. Spoiler: 20%.

Omnimovement is gone. We get into what replaced it, whether removing it was a gameplay decision or a marketing one, and why "you can climb pipes now" is the funniest thing Infinity Ward has ever put in a press release.

On the WARDOGS side: $39.99 Early Access on September 10, over a million Steam wishlists, and a promise of no in-game monetization that came out of one very bad Reddit post. We argue that the promise is a mistake — and that the most consumer-friendly thing a game can do is just be good.

Plus DMZ2, aim assist, and why Infinity Ward is about to be spread way too thin.

0:00 - Intro — 600 episodes

2:09 - Patreon free trials all August

4:02 - Patron hangout: August 28th

5:30 - Two betas, one Friday

6:49 - MW4 beta dates and the pre-order wall

7:44 - A campaign mission in a beta — a CoD first

10:23 - The battle dad theory

13:24 - Discord Nitro gets you in free

15:28 - All six multiplayer maps

16:06 - Ground War is back

20:24 - Zodiac: a new Resurgence map in the beta

23:56 - Modes, and the ones held back

25:33 - 19 weapons and a fake pre-order camo

26:59 - "It's gonna be a buggy fucking disaster"

28:51 - Putting the odds at 20%

31:13 - Why I win either way

33:23 - No more omnimovement

33:48 - Climbing pipes is just a ladder

35:58 - Was omnimovement actually better?

40:22 - Mantling as the Warzone middle ground

43:06 - What actually makes you a casual?

51:12 - WARDOGS

51:50 - Closed beta August 21–23

53:30 - Three maps at launch? We're skeptical

55:14 - The one thing WARDOGS is missing

56:54 - $39.99 Early Access, September 10

58:34 - September is not summer

1:00:32 - No monetization in Early Access

1:00:48 - The Reddit post that caused it

1:05:19 - "Consumer friendly" doesn't mean this

1:09:25 - The upside of by-gamers-for-gamers

1:10:09 - When to tell your fans to fuck off

1:19:09 - Is $40 the right price?

1:21:21 - 800,000 Steam wishlists

1:22:38 - Make that a million

1:26:39 - This puts Bulkhead on the map

1:28:22 - MW4 vs WARDOGS, side by side

1:29:25 - Which beta are you actually excited for?

1:31:27 - DMZ2 is the real unknown

1:34:58 - A piece of toast and not enough butter

1:40:03 - Aim assist is why I don't play CoD

1:42:55 - In defence of shit-can lobbies

1:46:13 - The August 21st collision, revisited

1:49:42 - What we've been playing

1:49:51 - Overwatch: bronze 5 to gold 3

1:54:43 - They added a rank called Emerald

1:57:27 - First team kill of the wipe

1:59:44 - Cope shotguns Jake from ten feet

2:04:24 - Tarkov level 35 and the Lighthouse rework

2:06:14 - Outro

_Note: timestamps may be slightly misaligned on podcast apps (but not on YouTube) due to dynamic ads._

The podcast is available wherever you listen to podcasts, and ad-free & early access versions - as well as bonus episodes - are available to all of our Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/thedropshot) supporters. We stream the podcast live on our YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/c/thedropshotpodcast) every Saturday morning at ~9 o'clock Pacific Time. We typically start the stream 30 minutes early to answer viewer questions, banter, and chat. Links for everything are below. Thanks for checking us out!

🔹Streaming schedule (Pacific time):

🔸Saturday ~9 AM: Gaming news and stories of the week

🔹The Dropshot:

🔸Website: https://www.thedropshot.com

🔸Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheDropshotPod

🔸Discord: https://discord.gg/B4Nsarq

🔸YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/thedropshotpodcast

🔸Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thedropshot

🔸Donate: https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=YVR98VF4S945G

🔸Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedropshotpodcast/

🔸TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thedropshotpodcast

🔹Razinon:

🔸Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/razinon

🔸Twitter: https://twitter.com/razinon

🔸Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/razinonttv

🔹Jakedown:

🔸Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/jakedown_

🔸YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@jakedown

#TheDropshot #GamingPodcast #PodcastClips #ModernWarfare4 #MW4Beta #CallOfDuty #WARDOGS #Bulkhead #Warzone #GroundWar #Omnimovement #DMZ2 #CODNext #EarlyAccess #EscapeFromTarkov #Steam #GamingNews #HotTake #FPS #PCGaming

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices