We recently sat down with Warzone pro Jukeyz on his first impressions of Warzone 2. We spoke about the map, the gameplay changes, and the improvements we still want to see.
Warzone 2 has been out for a few weeks now, and it seems to be quite popular. But there are tons of issues that are dividing the community right now. Reddit and Twitter are getting wildly tribal, so we spoke to a pro instead. We sat down with Jukeyz and spoke to him about the game from a pro-players perspective. Where does he stand on all these issues, and most importantly, is he having a good time?
Interview With Jukeyz
We've seen a divide in the community between players who think the skill-gap has been lowered, and those who think it's been raised in Warzone 2, where do you stand?
I actually think it's raised the skill-gap, at least from a pro's perspective, because trying to get loads of kills, and wipe whole squads without dying, has become much harder. But for casuals it might seem easier to kill each other without slide-cancelling in the game. So for casuals the skill-gap might be lowered, but for pros against other pros it's definitely raised the skill-gap. You just have to play a lot smarter now if you want to go for high-kill games. You have to be slower and smarter.
Speaking of how you should play in Warzone 2, let's touch on the meta quickly, what have you been going for?
My gun is the RPK at the moment, that gun is amazing, but the RAAL is really good as well.
And what have you been running with that?
An SMG, well it's an AR technically but the Kastov-74u. The Fennec is probably the most broken right now, but I like using something I'm good at and enjoy using, which is the 74u. Although, if I was playing a game against pros I probably would use the Fennec for when you need to win those 1s.
Have you been bothering with sniping in Warzone 2?
It's pointless. Actually just today, I picked up a sniper and kept hitting these guys in the head, it gives you 50 points but not even a knock.
Would you like to see the TTK extended? We've seen that be a real issue with the community.
Yeah, the TTK needs raising, definitely. Although, I feel like the more I play, the less it bothers me. Obviously if it's the first game on, and I get smoked really quick I might find it ridiculous, but the more I play it the more I get used to it.
And, of course, we have to ask: are you going for a nuke?
That's what I was trying to do literally right before this interview. We got five wins, and we had three attempts to do the nuke but failed them. But the wins were the easy part, wait till you have to run around with that nuke on your head...
Do you like the map? What do you think of Al Mazrah?
I love the map, the map is the best thing about it. All the different buildings and the POIs are amazing.
We love it too, but it's definitely pretty big for 150 players, possibly too big?
Increasing the player count would be the best way to fix that problem. It is massive, but I like how big it is. I'm still finding new spots and thinking "What is this? Where I am?", and I'm enjoying having to learn all these new places. But yeah, player increase would definitely make it more active.
What do you think of map-splitting, a good addition?
I like it, and haven't had any big problems with it. Well, actually, there have been times where I've been in kill races, and we were in a bad zone, and they were in a good zone, and I couldn't get across. But as a casual it's not bad, it's fun.
Not appearing as red-dots on the mini-map was a big controversy in MW2, and it carried across to Warzone 2, but no one is talking about it. Does it bother you?
I haven't really noticed it to be honest, probably because people were always running suppressors in Warzone 1 anyway. And I've got a good headset, I can hear where the bullets are coming from and head towards them.
Speaking of a good headset for Warzone, what do you make of the quiet footsteps in Warzone 2?
Footsteps need fixing, no-one's headset is good enough to hear them right now. The devs need to fix it asap.
All of these changes are definitely more than we expected for Warzone 2, probably least popular among the changes is the looting system. How have you found looting? Are used to the new system yet?
Oh no, I'm not used to it yet. I'm not picking up enough ammo, I find myself looting on the floor in the middle of gunfights trying to find more. And if I'm in a kill-race I just don't have time for it. I need to be able to keep going.
So overall then, are you generally quite happy with Warzone 2?
I love the game. I'm over the moon with it.
When Warzone 1 first came out I was one of the best players off the get-go, and it wasn't fast-paced then, no one was slide-cancelling or using the right guns, but I was on it right away. I made the slow-paced game fast. And I feel like Warzone 2 is in the same place, so I feel ready for it.
And to end, maybe some more tips for our readers. Especially for the players going for high-kill games, where are the hot locations? What's your favorite drop?
The hottest might be Observatory, but I prefer Hydro, you can get so many more kills there, and it's easier to play. In the Observatory there's loads going on, and you can get picked from anywhere.
What about opening contracts, are you going straight for Bounties or bothering with the Safe-Crackers?
Well, Bounties give decent cash but if you land on a Safe-Cracker and your team land on the first couple of safes, you've already got double the money of your opponents. That's probably the play, so you can get on weapons quickly.
We'll make sure to try it, thanks again for talking to us!
That was our interview with Jukeyz, and we have to admit, we're really glad pros are enjoying Warzone 2. They do a huge amount for keeping the game relevant and popular.
If you want to follow Jukeyz' meta advice, here are loadout guides for the RPK and AK-74u:
- The Best Warzone 2.0 RPK Loadout | A Strong LMG
- The Best Warzone 2.0 Kastov-74u Loadout | A Great Short-Range AR
Oh, and if you need to get those weapons unlocked still, the fastest way to grind is by picking up a copy of Modern Warfare 2.
And if you do get into MW2's multiplayer while you're grinding: