Modern Warfare developers have been criticized for making the game’s best weapons, the Grau 5.56 and the Bruen Mk9, extremely difficult to unlock in Warzone, with some even labeling it ‘pay-to-win.’
Following the latest weapon balance changes on June 29, the Bruen Mk9 and the Grau 5.56 have come out on top, quickly becoming the go-to options for tons of Warzone players and content creators.
However, unlike many other weapons in the game, both of these guns have been added post-launch and require players to complete some difficult tasks to unlock them.
To unlock the Grau you need to eliminate five players with an assault rifle in a minute, 25 times, and for the Bruen, you will have to get three LMG kills when an enemy is near a smoke, 15 times.
The Grau and the Bruen’s tasks are infinitely easier in Modern Warfare’s multiplayer mode, making them quite difficult for free-to-play Warzone players to complete.
These challenges and the latest changes faced a lot of criticism, something also highlighted by Forbes. These pick-of-the-bunch weapons had been “effectively paywalled,” because it’s so much easier to unlock them by paying $60 to access the full Modern Warfare game.
the bruen and the grau are best guns on the game and sadly we can’t get them due to impossible requirements i don’t own moderne warfare i only play warzone it’s supposed to be free and i support the game by buying the battlepass i am not interested in buying 60 eur game this is impossible!! fix pls byu/anasszniti inCODWarzone
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As these weapons can take quite a while to unlock through Warzone’s playlists, players such as u/anasszniti have claimed that they have a significant disadvantage against those who have purchased the full Modern Warfare title and that they would need to do the same to keep up.
“The Bruen and the Grau are best guns on the game and sadly we can’t get them due to impossible requirements,” they explained, “I don’t own Modern Warfare, I only play Warzone it’s supposed to be free.”
Another Warzone player u/frank-ocean- also expressed their frustrations with the “pay to win” weapons, suggesting that the developers should add Warzone specific challenges or they will “hurt their player base in the long run.”
Infinity Ward has not commented on the debate around these weapons and how they’re unlocked. But, they have revealed plans to add more LTMs in Warzone, such as Rumble, which can make these challenges a bit easier outside of regular multiplayer.