Let me start by saying this isn’t a hate post, I’m actually really excited for Black Ops 7 Zombies – the maps, the atmosphere, the overall vibe all look fantastic and I think a lot the changes they have made from bo6 are extremely positive. That said, I really don’t think the rarity system needs to still exist and I genuinely scratch my head at why the devs still have it in the game from a game design stand point.
Rarity feels like a redundant duplicate of Pack-a-Punch. Both are just color-tiered upgrades that boil down to one thing: increasing damage. People argue it’s needed to balance the loadout system, but Vanguard already proved it isn’t – that game’s mix of rarity + pack worked fine. In fact, it worked better because you could swap weapons late game without sinking a massive 50k points just to make a new gun viable.
I’ve also seen people on twitter claim the new change of aether tools in the mystery box will help fix this, but honestly.. how?. The whole purpose of the box is to switch weapons, not to gamble on a slim chance of upgrading what you already have. If I want upgrades, salvage already fills that role much more consistently.
Overall, BO7 looks great, but I think Zombies would be stronger if we didn’t have rarity layered on top of Pack-a-Punch but I’m open to discussion for someone to counter my points I’ve made.