The act of Prestiging in a Call of Duty game brings with it little in the way of public fanfare, instead rewarding the player with bragging rights for having committed to the experience. Call of Duty: WWII developer, Sledgehammer Games, is hoping to change the way unlocking a Prestige level feels, and it will integrate with the game’s new social place, ‘Headquarters’.
There’s a lot to look forward to with the latest Call of Duty. Its promise to go “back to its roots” has the setting shifted back to World War II, the first time a Call of Duty game has been set in the era since 2008’s World at War.
Its War multiplayer mode introduces new story-based online play, while its new Headquarters feature seems to take a page out of Destiny‘s book by encouraging players to interact and socialise in an online space within the game.
The introduction of Headquarters is ultimately what is driving a lot of Call of Duty: WWII‘s progression and reward features, and Sledgehammer is hoping to celebrate each player’s individual achievements on a grander scale.
Speaking with GamesRadar, Sledgehammer co-founder, Michael Condrey, said Headquarters was really a pillar of the Call of Duty: WWII reward system.
“I think for multiplayer specifically, the act of Prestiging is really powerful – all these times you’ve Prestiged and you can largely only do it, historically to date, offline in your own home with a little bit of fanfare,” Condrey said. He is of course referring to the act of moving into a “Prestige” level once you’ve reached the level cap. Doing so brings you back to square one, but you’ll be given a snazzy Prestige icon for bragging rights: the more unique and special the icon, the more experience you have.
The only problem is that, aside from that icon being seen publicly in a pre-match lobby, there’s not much in the way of fanfare. Condrey explained how Sledgehammer is hoping to up the ante in this regard.
“Now you have a place to really celebrate that achievement in public, amongst dozens of your friends and community members,” he said, referring to Headquarters. “So, yeah there’s a lot more to come on Headquarters – as both a social and activity driven space that really showcases and celebrates your achievements and your personality.”
Perhaps most interesting about the unveiling of the game last month was the reveal of Headquarters, a special online feature that Sledgehammer says is unlike any social feature we’ve seen in a Call of Duty game before.
Headquarters is a social space in which players connected to Call of Duty: WWII‘s online servers will be able to interact.
Seeing as Call of Duty shares a publisher with Destiny, it’s unsurprising that Headquarters sounds a lot like the latter’s Tower social feature.
The Tower in Destiny was a social activity and location within the walls of The City, where Guardians could interact with each other, visit vendors, or turn in quest items.
It’s clear that Activision is hoping to bring the feature to all of its games as a means of enhancing the social element of the experience.
“Imagine a Call of Duty space that provides that anchors you in World War 2, and continues your social engagement and your attachment to your avatar in a really transformational new space with other community members,” Condrey said.
It seems as though Headquarters will take the Call of Duty‘s staple bragging rights feature in Prestige to a whole new level.
“Now you have a place to really celebrate that achievement in public amongst dozens of your friends and community members,” Condrey said.
It’s unclear how exactly Headquarters will incorporate and celebrate in-game achievements, but when Condrey was asked if Prestige advancement would be recognised by placing the player on a pedestal, Condrey replied: “Yeah … that kind of thing.”
You can watch the official reveal trailer for Call of Duty: WWII below, which showcases in-game footage for Sledgehammer’s epic, which launches November 3 on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC.