Call of Duty: Ghosts is getting its first set of premium DLC today called Onslaught. It's available exclusively for the Xbox 360 and Xbox One with the other platforms getting it at a later, undisclosed date. Included with the map pack are a handful of versus maps that can also be played in the game's squads co-op modes.
The real focus of Onslaught for co-op gamers is the first set in the story arc of the Extinction campaign. Similar to the "story" we saw in Black Ops with its zombies mode, Extinction will follow a set of characters as they uncover the mystery of the aliens.
Here's the byline from the DLC.
At a remote facility in the Alaskan wilderness, the shadowy Nightfall Program has been researching the origins of the "Alien" threat. When the scientists lose control, a small team of elite soldiers must retrieve the intel, exterminate hordes of hostile creatures, and survive a three-story tall terror unlike anything they've faced before.
Notice alien is in quotes? Foreshadowing! Here's the trailer. It looks cold. It's also cold outside. Can't we just get a nice tropical environment?
Along with the new content comes a new patch which fixes a whole mess of things with Ghosts. The extinction mode itself has a ton of tweaks allowing for more consistent Trophies and Achievements, better XP notifications, and bug fixes like giving players actual weapons and ladders to use that weren't showing up. Here's the full list of patch notes on the update that is out now on Xbox 360, Xbox One and PC. The PS3 and PS4 update is out tomorrow.
Hotfixes
- Killstreak count maintained across rounds in Search and Destroy, Search and Rescue and Blitz.
- Shorten countdown timer for Clan v Clan playlist.
- Extinction alien balance adjustments.
New Features
- PLAYLIST UPDATE: Gun Game replacing Heavy Duty.
- PLAYLIST UPDATE: Adding Hunted FFA.
- PLAYLIST UPDATE: Add eSports Rules to Clan v Clan (except friendly fire), and 1-4 persons can join.
- Added Heavy Duty health options to Private Match.
- IED damage adjustment based on player stance and IED location (for damage reduction: jump over IEDs below you, go prone for overhead IEDs).
- Added Operation progress bar to the After Action Report that pops up after MP matches.
- New MP lobby menu music.
- Social feed addition.
- New stick layout options for Southpaw.
- Disable party chat in Search and Rescue, Search and Destroy and Infected.
- Added 5 new Prestige Ranks to Extinction.
- Customization for player appearances (Create a Soldier) added to Extinction.
Stability
- Fixed Sniper animation issue that could break the viewmodel.
- Load time improvements for Flooded, Strikezone, Warhawk.
- Fixed a couple bots related performance issues.
- Fixed loss of functionality issue that would occur when two crates were stacked if player attempted to capture bottom crate.
- In Private match, disable "Start Match" if party members are missing selected map.
- Fixed rare case of incorrect bot display amount in Private match.
- Various spawn improvements.
Anti-Cheat
- Prevent players from using more loadouts than normal.
- Block users from sharing camos and reticles that aren't previously unlocked.
- Anti-cheat prevention improvements.
Weapon / Perk Balance
- Dead Silence/Amplify Adjustment - Dead Silence completely silent including equipment, sliding, and footsteps. Amplify users can still hear a scaled down version of the footsteps and sliding sounds.
- Slight AK12 Increase on view kick.
- Adjusted reload times on L115 and USR.
- Reduce burst fire cool down of MSBS.
eSports
- Removed stalls caused by the host changing loadout in eSports games.
- Silent plant, silent defuse in Search and Destroy.
- Added killstreak count to eSports scoreboard.
- Improvements to MLG Broadcast mode for highlighted players.
- Added Domination flag capture bar to Broadcast mode.
- Added R3 to toggle enemy player outlines in Broadcast mode.
- Prevent eSports players (except COD Caster) from switching to 3rd Person Spectate cam.
- Added ability to select players when mini-map is enlarged in eSports.
- Fixed FOV issue that occurred in Broadcast mode.
- Fixed functionality issue that occurred if both thumbsticks were pressed while spectating a mantling player.
- Fixed issue which kept eSports rules enabled after losing internet connection.
- Add notification when spectated player gets a kill in Broadcast mode.
- Fixed text overlap bug that occurred when mini-map was enlarged.
- Better team identification in the MLG hud.
- Fixed killfeed color bug that occurred for spectators.
- Prevent crashes when COD Caster changed teams quickly.
- Restrict Ghillie Suits when eSports rules enabled (replaces with different game models).
- Fixed a Broadcaster Mode bug where the preset camera indicator wasn't getting reset between rounds.
- Add a kill feed to Broadcaster mode.
- Added team names to in-game scoreboard for Broadcast mode.
- Restrict Tracker Sights in eSports rules.
- Restrict Danger Close in eSports rules.
- Additional Broadcast mode fixes (better team identification in the HUD, simplified Scoreboard toggle, etc).
- Additional eSports fixes.
Additional Fixes
- Adjusted difficulty of slide based operations.
- Reduced lean, point blank & rescue reticle challenge requirements.
- Search and Destroy bomb plant and defuse timers no longer wait for the weapon swap before starting.
- Fixed matchmaking issue in Squads.
- Display new icon in Operations when re-rolling Operations.
- Fixed rare cases of losing Sentry Gun killstreak when killed while placing.
- Menu fix for Operations.
- Fixed bug that would show improper time value in match countdown timer.
- Maniac, Juggernaut Recon and the Michael Myers are invisible to tracker and thermal sights.
- Fixing bug where the playercards in Squad Reports were only updated if you went into the friends list or squad mode first.
- Defaults loadouts correctly reflect the actual loadout in Private match.
- Free For All scoreboard adjustment.
- Fixed Trinity Rocket cancellation issue.
- MP Lobby improvement for Character Display.
- Combat Knife stats accuracy improvement.
- Fixed friends list shuffle that would occur for clans that had members across platforms.
- Killcam no longer goes underground on Warhawk.
- Improved audio ambient system in Multiplayer.
- Fixed Squads issue that would change mode icon when playing with a split screen guest.
- Fixed core playlist selection reset issue.
- Private match loadout bug fix.
- Additional customization options added for Infected in Private match.
- Improvements to Infected game mode.
- Optimization to generic UI elements.
- Fixed issue that could occur when squad member had specialist set as streak reward.
- Fixed minor VFX issue.
- Fixed under water killstreak exploit.
- Increased XP earned from completed Operations.
- Fixed issue that occurred when leader would leave clan.
- Fixed Bromance Clan Op issue.
- Fixed viewmodel loss issue in Safeguard.
- Fixed rare challenges issue in Safeguard.
Extinction
- Fixed issue where some achievements could not be earned when moving from current generation to next generation platforms.
- Optimized some FX to improve game stability and performance.
- Fixed Trinity rocket issue where black/white overlay would remain on screen.
- Fixed Trinity rocket issue where laptop could not be put away.
- Improvements to the "Leper" challenge so that it appears closer to players.
- Added "COD Account" selection to the Extinction menu to improve account linking for Extinction players.
- Fixed bug where the "Death Machine" could obtain specialty ammunition.
- Fixed issue where players defaulted to pistol after revival.
- Fixed issue with accepting invites from custom Extinction matches where players would lose menu focus.
- Fixed issue where double XP was not resetting when going into solo, custom or split screen lobbies.
- Added a double XP icon to the Extinction lobby for when double XP is active.
- Fixed trophy issues where players could not plant any more trophies even though it had not been depleted after throwing a hypno-knife.
- Fixed issue where Feral Instincts would not default back to normal view after it depleted.
- Added the rank and icon to the Extinction end game scoreboard.
- Fixed issue where challenge timer would not appear when joining a game while a challenge is active.
- Fixed issue where Relic bonus was not appearing in the end game scoreboard.
- Balancing tweaks to the Sentry Gun and Death Machine abilities.
- Added ranks to the in game splash notification message when a player ranks up.
- Added player Patches to splash notifications for deployment items.
- The Riotshield icon now tracks ammo while the shield is stowed.
- Fixed issue where players would have no weapon on ladders.
- Fixed issue where players would lose their weapon after getting off a ladder.