Call of Duty: Warzone is officially offline. Here's EXACTLY when you can play it again.

Call of Duty: Warzone returns to its roots with Verdansk map for Season 3.
Call of Duty: Warzone returns to its roots with Verdansk coming back as the battle royale's big map for Season 3. (Image credit: Activision)

Call of Duty is the death and taxes of gaming. A reliable constant that is always there when you need it. Even the 20+-year-old COD titles like 2009's Modern Warfare 2 remain online today. So it's a bit of a surprise as a COD journalist that I'm typing the following sentence: Call of Duty: Warzone is currently offline.

When will Call of Duty: Warzone servers come back online for Season 3?

The servers for Call of Duty: Warzone are expected to come back online on April 3 at 9AM PT/12PM ET.

The current server downtime is to allow Raven Software, Treyarch, and the rest of the Call of Duty: Warzone team to make the necessary changes to restore Verdansk as the official Big Map, replacing Urzikstan.

Call of Duty: Warzone servers will return on April 3 at 9 AM PT/12 PM ET. (Image credit: Activision)

Verdansk has undergone significant changes in its newly remastered state, with improved lighting, texture passes, and some new adjustments to enhance coverage of wide open spaces.

The patch notes for Verdansk include the following adjustments:

  • Trees slightly repositioned from the original map.
  • Non-drivable vehicles clearly marked as smoldering wreckage.
  • Swimming now possible — southern coastline expanded into Kastovian Sea (not critical to gameplay).
  • Improved traversal in steep areas — new "goat trails" added.
  • Shorter telephone/electrical poles for easier parachute landings.
  • Additional ladders and adjusted paths to rooftops for better accessibility.
  • Doors now double-hinged, allowing barging, shooting, or blowing open/closed.
  • Ascenders returning mid-season, already available in Plunder mode; updated to faster "L" shape design for increased fluidity and speed when getting on and off
  • Enhanced exterior lighting, improved visibility, and reduced glare.
  • Interior lighting adjusted to reduce hiding spots, especially against dark corners.
  • Added detail enhancements, such as extra debris and scenery around Fire Stations and riverbanks.
  • And for console players, the ability to view Verdansk in up to 120 FOV for the first time.

It has been 5 years since Verdansk originally launched as the 'big map' for Call of Duty: Warzone. It was eventually nuked and replaced with Warzone '84. Caldera, Al Mazrah, and Urzikstan have also served as big maps for the battle royale. (Image credit: Activision)

More details about the changes can be found in our detailed breakdown on Verdansk's return to Warzone.

The map itself isn't the only thing seeing changes with Season 3, as dramatic improvements are coming to gameplay following downtime, as well.

Season 3 Patch Notes for Call of Duty: Warzone

  • 150 Players
    • The number of players in a Battle Royale match has been increased to 150 players, up from 120.
    • There are 152 players in the Quads playlist.
  • Floating Loot
    • Loot found on the ground will once again float in the air for better visibility and interactability.
  • Freefall Shooting
    • Players can shoot while free-falling (also known as skydiving) using their secondary weapon. If no secondary weapon is equipped, they will default to their backup pistol.
  • 360-Degree Revive Rotation
    • Players can now rotate their view 360 degrees while reviving a squadmate, instead of being fixed on their squadmate's downed position, giving the perfect opportunity to call out if your squadmate is being pushed by an enemy as they revive you.
  • End-Game Circle Pacing 
    • The gas circle pacing is faithful to the original timings of the gas closing as well as the circle size and movement.This means that Battle Royale matches will run longer to create a more well-defined initial looting phase.
  • Map Assets
    • Many models and textures found across Verdansk now feature classic aesthetics including but not limited to Armor Plates, Armor Satchels, Buy Stations, and Contracts.
  • Ascenders on Verdansk Battle Royale
    • To bring back the classic feel of Verdansk, external ascenders have been disabled at launch but are scheduled to return in the mid-season.
    • Internal ascenders within elevator shafts remain operational.
  • Gulag Loadouts
    • Loadouts within the Gulag has been reworked to improve variety and balancing.
    • These loadouts will change as the game progresses, allowing players that return to the field victorious to do so with a competitive weapon in hand for a better chance at recovery.
    • Infil & Backup Pistol
      • Players will now infil and spawn with the 9mm PM, replacing the GS45.
  •  Late-Game Redeploy
    • Late-game redeployments will now spawn players closer to the ground, reducing the need to hover while positioning during final circles. This system has not been turned on since BO6 launched. 
  •  Player Respawn Angles Quality of Life
    • Players will now respawn looking approximately 30 degrees downward instead of directly at the horizon, providing a clearer view of potential landing areas. 
    • This adjustment aligns with natural player behavior when scouting landing spots.
  •  Unsuppressed Red Dot Distance
    • The distance at which unsuppressed weapons display a red dot has been reduced in Resurgence to better align to the map size:
      • Reduced to 112.5 meters on Rebirth Island, down from 250

Buy stations in Call of Duty: Warzone are also undergoing some UI changes with Season 3. (Image credit: Activision)
  • Vertical Redesign for Buy Stations
    • The vertical list is back! The Buy Station interface has been streamlined, returning to a vertical list layout to more clearly display purchasable items and teammates eligible for redeployment.
    • The left side of the Buy Station now clearly shows all gear available for purchase, including equipment, killstreaks, and field upgrades.
    • The right side of the interface will display teammates who have been eliminated and are eligible for buyback, provided they are not currently awaiting a Gulag battle.
    • Importantly, controller players can still press ‘Up’ to access the ‘Loadout Drop Marker’ in one button press.
    • To enhance navigation efficiency and emphasize loadout acquisition, individual weapon purchases have been removed.
  • Redeploy All Button Quality of Life
    • A new single-button shortcut at Buy Stations allows players to redeploy all teammates simultaneously.
    • Although the Redeploy All button is executed with one button press, individual flares and sound effects will trigger for each teammate redeployed, alerting nearby enemies to the total number of returning players.
    • In scenarios where insufficient funds prevent buying back the entire squad, the Redeploy All feature will prioritize teammates carrying the highest cash amounts.
  •  Item Icons Quality of Life
    • Each entry in the vertical buy station now shows the icon of its respective item.
  •  Item Count Quality of Life
    • Players can easily see how many of an item they already own while in the Buy Station before making a decision on what to purchase.
  • Spawn Locations
    • Buy Stations will spawn in the same exact 30 static locations across every match.
  •  Inventory Pricing
    • Updated prices of the various items in the buy station are as follows:
      • Armor Plate: $300
      • Cluster Strike: $3,000
      • Precision Airstrike: $5,000
      • UAV: $6,000
      • Gas Mask: $3,000
      • Self Revive: $4,000
      • Munitions Box: $2,500
      • Armor Box: $4,000
      • Loadout Marker:
        • Solos: $6,000
        • Duos, Trios, Quads: $10,000 
      • Squadmate Redeploy: $4,000
  •  Interact Angle
    • The Buy Station can now be accessed from any angle, including behind it, providing increased flexibility during tense engagements.
  • Movement Speed
    • Crouch Movement Speed reduced by 10%
    • Crouch-to-Stand Speed increased by 15%
    • Crouch-to-Stand Speed While ADS increased by 39%
    • Prone Movement Speed reduced by 5%
    • Sprint Movement Speed reduced by 4.9%
    • Directional Sprint Animation Blend Speeds increased for improved fluidity
  • Jump Cooldown 
    • Reduced the cooldown by 40% for improved responsiveness during repeated jumps. (Yes, that means bunny hopping is back on the menu. Ew.)
  • Omni-sprint Side & Back Speed Scaling 
    • Reduced by 8.5%, to better balance strafe movement.
  • Slide Friction
    • Increased by 4% to reduce overly slippery engagements.

The Verdansk Tac Map and points of interest. (Image credit: Activision)
  • Precision Airstrike Indicator
    • To return to the classic feeling of Verdansk, the Precision Air Strike Mini-Map notification that was added last year has been removed.
  • Crowded Airspace Notification Quality of Life
    • The "Airspace too crowded" message will now appear when a player attempts to pick up or aim down sights (ADS) with a killstreak in an area where too many aerial killstreaks are currently active. 
    • This removes uncertainty about killstreak usability upon looting.
  • Victory Screen
    • The iconic Warzone Victory screen returns to the classic Victory animation.
  • Tac Map & Compass Icons
    • The Tac Map has the circular cursor from the classic Call of Duty: Warzone experience. 
    • All Map icons are also spiritually faithful to the color pallet from Verdansk with some improvements to help better identify certain items at a glance.
  • Ping Visuals
    • The Ping Shape has been reverted from the triangle shape to a lollipop shape that featured in classic Verdansk
    • "Go To" pings now also have classic visuals, improving legibility.
  • Score Feed Colors
    • Standard score events now appear yellow for that classic look.
    • Special score events are highlighted in white for better distinction.
  • Bug fixes
    • Fixed an issue that caused the Death Recap Widget to register bleed damage while in last stand. 
    • Fixed an issue where Bomb Squad incorrectly allowed fuse resets; this functionality is exclusive to Reflexes.
    • Fixed an issue causing players to be eliminated when mantling onto care packages.
    • Fixed an issue where players were eliminated upon interacting with the Most Wanted reward crate.
    • Fixed an issue causing a UI error preventing players from creating new loadouts.
    • Fixed an issue causing a Dev Error when opening the Armor Challenge menu.
    • Fixed an issue causing a Dev Error when exiting private matches.
    • Fixed an issue where the Corvus Masterkey Underbarrel occasionally caused instant downs at any range.
    • Fixed an issue preventing the Quartermaster Suppressor from unlocking properly.
    • Fixed an issue causing certain equipment to duplicate upon redeployment.
    • Fixed an issue where players would teleport across the map when using an ascender in the pre-game lobby.
    • Fixed an issue with the incorrect display of full ATVI IDs.
    • Fixed an issue where players lost control after Jailbreak revivals.
    • Fixed an issue with the gas mask overlay not aligning properly with screen boundaries.
    • Fixed an issue preventing restocking of Gulag lethals and tacticals from ammo caches or munitions boxes.
    • Fixed an issue allowing infinite submissions of Biometrics Keycards.
    • Fixed an issue causing loss of player control when interacting with a loadout after redeploying from the Gulag.
    • Fixed an issue causing incorrect cash displays for spectating players.
    • Fixed an issue causing loss of field upgrade deployment ability after using a loadout.
    • Fixed an issue with MW2 and MW3 camo descriptions not clearly stating weapon-level requirements.
    • Fixed an issue preventing immediate weapon fire after cutting a parachute without re-pressing the fire button.
    • Fixed an issue causing obituary messages to overlap with the squad widget in the HUD.
    • Fixed an issue causing incorrect elimination crediting to uninvolved players.
    • Fixed an issue with contract icons incorrectly displaying elevation information.
    • Fixed an issue where Bunker Buster gas damage bypassed gas masks if equipped within the gas.
    • Fixed numerous legacy weapon descriptions and statistics.
    • Fixed an issue preventing MW2 and MW3 weapons from appearing correctly in the loot feed.

While Call of Duty: Warzone is currently offline, there are still ways to get your COD needs fulfilled. Call of Duty: Black Ops 6's Season 3 events kicked off a day early, and to celebrate, players can jump into a free trial and experience everything the premium Call of Duty title has to offer in Multiplayer and Zombies.

Call of Duty: Warzone and Black Ops 6 are available on Xbox, PlayStation, and PC via Steam, the Microsoft Store, the Xbox app, and Battle.net. It is also available via the cloud and as part of an Xbox Game Pass subscription.

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Cole Martin
Writer

Cole is the resident Call of Duty know-it-all and indie game enthusiast for Windows Central. She's a lifelong artist with two decades of experience in digital painting, and she will happily talk your ear off about budget pen displays. 

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