Exploding Cold War care packages set for change after trolls abuse teamkill protection

There are few more well-known features of the Call of Duty franchise than the care package, first seen in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, the voice line, "care package is ready for deployment,"  that greets a player when they earn one has become synonymous with the game.

They have taken on many different guises since their arrival but two things have never changed - they reward players with a random kill/scorestreak and they fall from the sky.

The sight of a care package falling from the sky should be a welcome one. (Picture: u/suicidaljoker7)

They are, of course, back in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and they are much like what has come before but they have one key difference - they explode after use.

Care packages now explode in Black Ops Cold War. (Picture: u/suicidaljoker7)

Why? Well, no one quite knows and it probably wouldn't be an issue except in Hardcore mode where friendly fire is turned on, and player's reduced HP making it a recipe for disaster.

That issue is compounded with Black Ops Cold War's system for punishing teamkillers. After three teamkills players are punished with a delayed spawn, further teamkills will result in a kick from the server.

r/blackopscoldwar - Care packages now explode after someone opens up.438 votes and 42 comments so far on Redditsuicidaljoker7reddit

Then think what a troll, or three, might do with this knowledge and you have a recipe for disaster with players reporting that people are deliberately getting themselves blown up by friendly care packages causing them to get kicked from the server.

Thankfully, Treyarch is aware of the issues with the exploding care packages and the potential to abuse the team kill system.

"We are looking to adjust the detonation sequence so that it will not damage allies when friendly fire is enabled," offered Treyarch's Community Manager.

On the team kill penalties, there is less clear direction on how these could change, but they did clear up how the system is supposed to work:

"The intention is that after 3 teamkills, the offender will experience a respawn delay and subsequent friendly fire will be ricochet. If the offender continues...they will be kicked from the match.

We are currently investigating issues with this system."

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Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War was released on 13th November and is now available on PC, PS4 & 5, and Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S.