Patch Notes/Call of Duty: Black Ops III v1.11

C.O.D.E. Valor Calling Cards

 * The C.O.D.E. Valor Calling Cards are available for purchase in the In-Game Store.
 * The complete The Call of Duty™ Endowment (C.O.D.E.) Valor Calling Card Set includes three exclusive, animated calling cards each depicting epic scenes from military action across the sea, air and land to help honor those who have served in the armed forces. 100% of Gross proceeds received by Activision will be donated to the Call of Duty Endowment and will help Veterans find high quality jobs. Visit callofdutyendowment.org to learn more.

The Giant

 * The Giant is available for purchase in the In-Game Store.
 * Zombies returns in all of its undead glory with ‘The Giant,’ a research facility featuring the weapon-upgrading Pack-a-Punch Machine. Re-live the chaos of Treyarch’s classic ‘Der Riese’ Zombies map, picking up the Zombies story with Dempsey, Nikolai, Richtofen, and Takeo where Origins left off.

Introducing Blackjack

 * Our Black Market vendor sits on the sidelines no more – Blackjack is making his Multiplayer debut! Blackjack is now available for mercenary work.
 * Complete both Weekly Contracts and you will be rewarded with a Mercenary Contract that allows you to hire Blackjack for a limited time (60 minutes of game time). *
 * Earning, activating and using Blackjack’s Mercenary contract services is the exclusive domain of Public Matches. Blackjack is not available in Custom Games or Arena.
 * * When a 60 minute period expires during a game, players will be permitted to finish that game as Blackjack. This increment is a gameplay tunable and is subject to change, if needed for balancing purposes.
 * Blackjack’s control of the Black Market provides access to all Specialist Weapons and Abilities and he will utilize his unique talents as a mercenary to acquire them in-game.
 * Rogue
 * Playing as a Rogue, Blackjack trades kills for power and once powered up, will be able to use the Specialist weapons of his targets.
 * The Power Meter functions differently than other Specialists’ meters. Blackjack must get kills to fill the meter. On the kill that gains full power, Blackjack will gain access to the weapon of the Specialist that he killed, and that will become the active weapon in the power meter.
 * When Blackjack kills additional Specialists with different weapons, an option to “Flip” the coin to the new weapon will appear and will update with each new kill of a different Specialist, meaning that Blackjack can hunt for weapons. For example, if Blackjack puts down Seraph to earn Rogue, he will receive the Annihilator. If Blackjack then puts down Spectre next, the Ripper appears on the coin, and so on.
 * Gambler
 * Playing as Gambler, Blackjack overclocks his power systems to earn and activate a random Ability from his Specialist deck at an accelerated rate. Which Ability comes next is in the hands of fate.
 * Blackjack is willing to gamble. If you want to take your chances, you can press left on the D-pad to redraw another random ability.
 * In the even that you don’t activate Blackjack’s Mercenary Contract before completing your next Weekly Contract, don’t worry. You can stack Mercenary Contracts and activate them whenever you choose.
 * Side Bets
 * Once you’ve activated a Mercenary Contract, Blackjack will spice things up with a little side bet that challenges you to do your best with Rogue or Gambler. Complete the Side Bet challenge before the Mercenary Contract expires and you will earn a calling card from Blackjack’s hidden contraband.

Daily and Weekly Contracts

 * A Daily Contract consists of a single challenge that you must complete before the next day. Complete the Daily contract to get Cryptokey rewards. Daily contracts cycle every 24 hours at 10am Pacific Time.
 * A Weekly Contract cycles every 7 days (Monday-to-Monday at 10am Pacific Time) and consists of two separate challenges. Complete both Weekly Contracts during this window of time to reap the rewards – Cryptokeys and a special Mercenary Contract that can be activated to use Blackjack in-game.

Custom Leaderboards

 * Custom games leaderboards provide a way for players to track stats from Custom Games to see how they are doing over a number of games played. These stats are separate from all online stats and only reflect stats from Custom Games.

Codcaster

 * CoDCaster now supports 12 Custom Team Color Variants.
 * Updated X-Ray Shader for improved visibility and readability.
 * Fix for Custom team identities not appearing properly on the loading screen.
 * Updated the indicator for the current round for round-based game modes.
 * Capture The Flag, Hardpoint, and Uplink in-game FX now support Custom Team Color Variants.
 * Custom Colors currently being used by the other team now appear with a locked icon.
 * We now display all attachment info for weapons that have more than 3 attachments.

Groups Beta

 * Friends and Group Members are now differentiated in the Quick Join List by color.
 * Common Groups will display when highlighting a Player in the Quick Join.
 * Shared Primary Groups will be denoted by a badge and text.
 * Contextual Presence will now display whether a Player is a Friend or Group Member.
 * Individual’s joined Groups can now be viewed via inspecting their Player Details.
 * Primary Groups are now displayed in both the Player Details screen and Player Identity Screen in Friends/Recent Players
 * The Groups tab will now display appropriate messaging when UGC privacy settings restrict use of the feature.
 * When inspecting a Player’s Groups, the targeted Player’s Identity, Emblem and Calling Card will appear in the top right-hand corner.
 * Addressed an issue where individuals would appear multiple times in the Quick Join if multiple groups were shared between the Players.
 * Marking a Group as Primary will now update in the Player’s UI immediately.
 * Deleting a group Member will remove them immediately from the Quick Join list.
 * Banning members from a Group will now immediately be reflected in-game.
 * Addressed issue where Group Leaderboards would only display 101 or 102 players, even if the Group had more members.
 * Corrected issue where Groups Leaderboards would start at “2” as opposed to “1.”
 * Fixed issue where the success notification for editing a Group Leaderboard would appear blank for a short period of time.
 * Resolved a bug where banned players could not be re-invited to a Group.
 * Message is now shown when Groups are disabled due to content or chat restriction settings. Previously, the Groups Tab in the Social Menu would be hidden altogether.
 * Improved cursor functionality when highlighting ‘Ban Members’ or ‘Showcase Permissions’ under the ‘Admin Settings’ for Groups.

General

 * Eclipse maps added to Core, Hardcore, and Bonus Playlists.
 * Awakening Playlist replaced with Eclipse Playlist.
 * Eclipse maps are present in the Combat Record/Leaderboards.
 * Improved stability when returning to the lobby from a Custom Game.
 * Adjusted ordering of options in Player Details view.
 * Fix for Calling Cards stopping their animation after they’ve taken focus for a while in the Calling Card menu.
 * Implemented Invite Only setting for Party Privacy.
 * Music Tracks option in the Options Menu has been enabled.
 * Fix for users unable to go online when they had large Black Market inventories and 1,000+ members in a Group. This would result with users receiving an ‘Alphabet Soup’ error after pressing certain button combinations at the Sitting Bull screen.
 * Increase the Timeout period when pulling the fastfile/playlist/etc. to 60 seconds.
 * Reorder how Groups information is pulled when first logging into the game.
 * Localizations added for Custom Game – Hardcore game mode options.
 * Marking a Group as a primary will now update immediately.
 * Fixed an overlapping text issue in Portuguese after the user purchased the Season Pass.
 * Fixed map rotation for Domination in the Mercenary Moshpit
 * Core Uplink Playlist will now include Eclipse maps, as originally intended.

General Gameplay

 * Addressed an issue where Challenges completed during a Double-XP promotion would not display the actual XP amount earned in-game and in the After-Action Report. The correct amount of XP was still being awarded to the end user, however.
 * Improved dedicated server performance and stability while in-game.
 * Locked-on missiles now damage the HATR Scorestreak
 * Fixed an issue where EMP Grenades were unintentionally providing a hitmarker or damaging enemies with Hard Wired
 * Resolved an issue where intermission camera between rounds would be located outside of the playspace.

Game Modes

 * Search & Destroy / Demolition
 * Cleaned-up the gameplay and engagements around the bombsite in Search & Destroy and Demolition via the following:
 * Closed the center gap between the bomb crates.
 * Slightly lowered the lid to help increase target recognition on players standing behind the lid. Note, players will still be safe/not visible when crouching behind the bombsite.
 * Increased the emissive lights on the bombsite to make it more visible.
 * Uplink
 * Further improvements to picking up a dropped Satellite Drone.
 * Custom Games
 * Improved pathing for Bots in Custom Games.
 * Official Hardcore Variants added to Custom Games.

Specialists

 * Nomad
 * Nomad’s Rejack ability will now properly have a smoke effect when used while a Power Core Scorestreak is in effect.

Create-A-Class

 * General
 * Fixed an exploit where Players were able to equip the incorrect perk type into a perk slot and/or could equip the Heat Wave specialist ability as a Secondary Weapon.
 * Pistols
 * Marshal 16
 * Reduced range.
 * Attachments
 * Optics & Grip
 * Fixed an issue where Optics and Grip did not stack recoil reduction properly.
 * Optics and Grip can now be stacked properly for increased recoil reduction.
 * Adjusted Optic recoil reduction values to compensate for this fix.
 * Acog
 * Reduced recoil reduction.
 * Varix
 * Reduced recoil reduction.
 * Thermal
 * Reduced recoil reduction.

Perks

 * Hard Wired
 * EMP grenades that detonate within range of an enemy with Hard Wired no longer produce a hit marker.

Maps

 * Verge
 * Fixed an exploit where Ruin was able to use his Overdrive ability to access unintended areas of the map.
 * Players are no longer able to use the metal beams on the center bridge as exploitable spots.
 * Addressed Talon Scorestreak pathing over the river.
 * Improved visuals with the underwater pipe path, leading to the caves in the center of the map.
 * Fixed collision issues with the large central bridge.
 * Addressed an issue where Players were able to mantle outside of the intended gameplay area.
 * Improved spawn locations during Gun Game or Free-For-All matches.
 * Improved pathing for Bots in Custom Games, where they would get stuck in areas of the river/stream bank.
 * The Southern bridge Hardpoint objective can no longer be captured from the outer side of the Northern walls.
 * Fixed an exploit where Players were able to stand on the side of a building on the East section of the map.
 * Addressed an issue where Players were able to unintentionally position themselves in a rock pile under one of the bridges.
 * Fixed Player collision with the back of the boat, in the South end of the map.
 * Fixed Talon Scorestreak pathing in multiple areas of the map.
 * Rift
 * Fixed a collision issue with the window of the cargo train.
 * Updated bullet collision for mid-section model.
 * Improved visuals with the stairsteps on the East platform.
 * Spire
 * Fixed a collision issue with the bottom portion of the buildings near the Northern catwalk.
 * Knockout
 * Players are no longer able to go prone in the corner near the starting area spawn (next to the temple/water area).
 * Hunted
 * Fixed an issue where Players were able to reach an exploitable area on top of the waterfall.
 * Resolved an issue where Players were able to mantle to unintended areas near the cave.
 * Splash
 * Players are no longer able to mantle into the ticket booth near the starting spawn location.
 * Breach
 * Fixed an issue with Players being able to go over the wall just North of the Palace.
 * Skyjacked
 * Addressed a bug where if the User got a final Kill Cam with the bomb explosion on a match of Search and Destroy or Demolition, the Kill Cam screen would appear black until the explosion ended.
 * Rise
 * Adjusted Hardpoint objective markers and capture radius for 1st Hardpoint zone.
 * Spawn logic improvements.
 * Stronghold
 * Adjusted trees between the driveway and firepit to resolve an unintended line of sight.

General

 * Resolved a bug that prevented Public Matches from posting to the Maps Leaderboards.
 * Players are now able to earn weapon XP on permanently unlocked weapons.
 * Resolved a bug that blocked players from being able to purchase a fourth perk after being revived by the Phoenix Up GobbleGum.
 * The Music Tracks feature now functions in the Zombies menu.
 * Fixed a bug that blocked the player from earning weapon XP when using the Bowie Knife.
 * On the House GobbleGum is now capable of rewarding any perk found within the current map.
 * Fixed a stability issue using the skip forward functionality in Theater mode.
 * Added various stability fixes for host migration.
 * Danger Closest now protects the player against elemental zombies.
 * Addressed a loss of functionality that occurs when players acquire and activate a GobbleGum simultaneously.
 * Addressed an issue with the Widow’s Wine perk persisting after being revived.
 * Fixed a consistency issue with player identification colors after a player leaves an active game.
 * Resolved several player anim bugs with reviving and reloading.
 * Fixed several UI bugs in the zombies menu.

Zetsubou No Shima

 * Addressed an exploit where Players could become invulnerable if they dropped the lab cage on another Player.
 * Fixed an issue where spore effects would permanently stay on screen.
 * Addressed an issue where zombies could become invisible.
 * Fixed an issue where Players could break progression during the Takeo boss fight.
 * Balanced door/barricade costs when playing solo.
 * Fixed an issue causing the KT-4/Masamune to consume double the ammo when performing a 3-charge shot.
 * Fixed an issue where Players would lose their money and weapons after respawning from a clone plant.
 * Addressed an issue where Players could fall through the map if eaten by a Thrasher.
 * Balanced Thrasher health during higher rounds.
 * Fixed various issues with Spider Bait.
 * Fixed an issue where Players could fall out of the map while riding the elevator.
 * Fixed an issue where the Lab cage would get stuck when using the Lightning Shield bash.
 * Fixed an issue where spiders would get stuck in the trap plant during the Golden Bucket quest
 * Addressed exploits related to dropping down ladders with teammates.
 * Resolved an issue where spiders could potentially spawn in as a zombie.
 * Fixed an exploit where Players were able to significantly reduce the kill requirements needed to charge the Skull of Nan Sapwe.
 * Fixed various death barriers around the level.
 * Addressed several instances where Players could get outside of the map.

Der Eisendrache

 * Resolved an exploit allowing indefinite use of the Ragnarok DG-4.
 * Fixed a bug that prevented the electrical trap from dealing damage to the player under certain conditions.
 * Addressed a stability issue when activating a Der Wundersphere while getting downed simultaneously.
 * Resolved various exploits that allowed the player to exit the playable space.

The Giant

 * Fixed a bug that caused players to spawn inside the Pack-A-Punch chamber when using the Anywhere But Here GobbleGum.
 * Addressed an area where players could see outside of the map.
 * Resolved an issue with Zombies becoming stuck behind barricades throughout the map.
 * Resolved several issues with the DG-2.

Shadows of Evil

 * Fixed a bug causing players to be penalized for taking the Apothicon Servant while holding a sword.
 * Fixed a rare stability issue that occurs while completing rituals.
 * Resolved various exploits that allowed the player to exit the playable space.
 * Fixed a death barrier issue that would occasionally occur when entering the Junction.
 * The Margwa can now open multiple heads at once.

Safe House:

 * Animated Calling Cards will now appear correctly when viewed in the Data Vault.