Black Ops II Prestige is Not a Start-Over System

Call of Duty: Black Ops II

Written Friday, September 28, 2012 By Lee Bradley

Treyarch design director David Vonderhaar has revealed some more info on Call of Duty: Black Ops II’s prestige system.

As we already know, there are 55 levels in the main progression and 10 levels of prestige. And as ever, when you prestige In Black Ops II you will have the option to start all over again from level one.

However, unlike previous COD games, when you prestige in Black Ops II you will not lose all of your progress. So for example, weapon experience will be constant. When you unlock a weapon again it will remember your progress.

On stage at the Eurogamer Expo in London today, Vonderhaar joked about the previous prestige system by saying, “Prestige. Prestige! Congratulations. Here's a new icon. Repeat the entire game. What? What?”

Vonderhaar then went on to describe the new system and the reasoning behind it.

"I've been thinking about it non-stop, about how to get people to prestige,” he said. “We kept going about it the wrong way. We kept saying, here are some more rewards if you do it. Here is this extra stuff if you decide to hit the prestige button.

"Then I looked at a graph of the people who play and what happens to them when they hit level 55 or whatever the max level is, and how they drop off, and how few people actually go to max prestige. I know they could go to max prestige because their time play suggests they could have. I have this data. I know this for a fact.

"They just stopped levelling. Maybe it's because we keep taking away everything. Maybe. Maybe that's the reason."

"In Black Ops 2 prestige is not a start over system," he continued. "When you prestige in Black Ops I will not reset your weapon levelling. If you are level four on a gun you will still be level four when you cycle back around to that gun. Same with all your cosmetics, any camo you've unlocked or emblem, all the personalisation, all the fancy backgrounds you managed to achieve, all of that will still be there."

Vonderhaar concluded by saying, "In this case I feel damned if we don't try something new to get you to prestige. Prestige already! Please, you can do it! Look at the cool icons you get." In Blops II each prestige level has a shiny new icon.

"When you finish up the prestige you become the prestige master."

Hungry for more? Here's 5 Things You Should Know About Call of Duty: Black Ops II Multiplayer. The game's out on November 13th.

User Comments

Forum Posts: 6	Comment #1 by Darth Baned Friday, September 28, 2012 @ 12:52:17 PM	(0)
	Seems like a good system, because when I first prestiged on Black Ops, I thought "Well, those were some good hours for nothing..." And I never prestiged again, it just doesn't make sense... But finally they retified it :D

Forum Posts: 360	Comment #2 by BlazingAce197 Friday, September 28, 2012 @ 12:54:14 PM	(0)
	Nice little change up. I like where this game is going.

Forum Posts: 1735	Comment #3 by newgroundsguru Friday, September 28, 2012 @ 12:55:44 PM	(0)
	Sounds good! I only did it because I hated not getting xp. I would hit the max level then it felt like I was doing everything for nothing. Now I prestige and keep my gold guns!

Forum Posts: 188	Comment #4 by The_Tuck Friday, September 28, 2012 @ 01:10:52 PM	(0)
	From Shacknews: "Instead, players that choose to go back down to level 1 will lose access to later-level abilities, but no challenge progress will be reset. Weapon XP will remain intact, as well. So once you unlock a weapon again during your Prestige run, the game will acknowledge all the time you've spent on it." How do you get bonus XP if it saves your challenge progress from the first 55 levels? http://www.shacknews.com/article/75951/call-of-duty-black-ops-2-multiplayer-preview

Forum Posts: 216	Comment #5 by s1p4a4w7n Friday, September 28, 2012 @ 01:17:43 PM	(-6)
	sigh garbage...

Forum Posts: 102	Comment #6 by Callam001 Friday, September 28, 2012 @ 01:22:03 PM	(0)
	finally, should of been done years ago though

Forum Posts: 350	Comment #7 by Ruzzi7 Friday, September 28, 2012 @ 01:44:12 PM	(0)
	I care so fucking much about this

Forum Posts: 0	Comment #8 by King judah Friday, September 28, 2012 @ 02:09:30 PM	(0)
	This means new comers should have no problem staying positive instead of going negative until they level up their guns. Hated to play with noobs,who would just die and get an assist

Forum Posts: 44	Comment #9 by Ice884 Friday, September 28, 2012 @ 03:17:30 PM	(0)
	Well now. I always prestiged before but now this actually makes it sound worth it. I am actually starting to get excited about this, but only next month will be able to tell me if the hype was worth it.

Forum Posts: 1087	Comment #10 by I_Shoot_Stuff Friday, September 28, 2012 @ 04:51:21 PM	(1)
	That's the reason I've always stopped using prestige after 5 or so times. I just get tired of starting everything over again.

Forum Posts: 10	Comment #11 by Domi526 Friday, September 28, 2012 @ 05:07:08 PM	(0)
	Looks awesome. Black Ops II will be the best COD to date. Can't wait for the awesome Multiplayer and Zombies. If only November 13th could creep on faster.

Forum Posts: 777	Comment #12 by automechtech1 Friday, September 28, 2012 @ 05:32:37 PM	(2)
	Well, as nice as Vonderhaar's points on Prestige are, there's two main reasons why I never Prestiged: 1) Every 12-17 year old interprets your Prestige level as your skill level (as of the MW2 days). So when they get their asses handed to them by an 'inferior' max ranked-guy that never Prestiged, they make the best excuses and use amazing, colorful language. 2) I enjoy finishing challenges and going for gold camo if it's attainable without Prestiging. Why Prestige when I had gold guns on CoD4 or MW3? Why Prestige when I had numerous guns with Fall camo on MW2? There's more reason NOT to Prestige. I see that changing for BOII. Well, not the first point. But what I mean is, if I don't lose progress for Prestiging, but can gain benefits for doing it, then there's much less reason NOT to.

Forum Posts: 37	Comment #13 by brian pumpher Friday, September 28, 2012 @ 08:50:14 PM	(2)
	i would rather a ranked playlist like halo 3

Forum Posts: 773	Comment #14 by clone150 Friday, September 28, 2012 @ 10:34:01 PM	(0)
	@12 To be honest, prestiging is STILL just to see how far you can go with leveling before you get bored or max out, even with these "benefits". That's how I see it anyways.

Forum Posts: 284	Comment #15 by brandaman69 Saturday, September 29, 2012 @ 12:30:15 AM	(1)
	why won't this series die yet

Forum Posts: 133	Comment #16 by maink Saturday, September 29, 2012 @ 01:58:23 AM	(0)
	how about adding trophies for prestiging , that would make me want to play

Forum Posts: 185	Comment #17 by KindredCampbell Saturday, September 29, 2012 @ 02:18:51 AM	(-7)
	@15 COD will NEVER die, !!!!! And lil Negitive Comments like urs isnt welcome here, so go back to crackfield 3

Forum Posts: 933	Comment #18 by nintendo64X Saturday, September 29, 2012 @ 03:12:07 AM	(0)
	@17 Its people like you who give fps gamers a bad name, cod needs to re-invent its self, bo2 is going in the right direction but slowly...the cod fans like you aren't. The series it's self may not die but all gamers need is a new fad, and cod will end up like guitar hero, forgotten despite being on top of the podium...

Forum Posts: 108	Comment #19 by Fixlarz Saturday, September 29, 2012 @ 03:21:25 AM	(0)
	If your challenges are carried over to your next Prestige and the game is actually good, I might go full prestige for once. I hated that you lose all of your challenge progress when you prestige, I always remember being so proud that I earned Fall camo for the Mini-uzi in MW2 and had like a thousand headshots with it but I was 2 prestiges away from max and couldn't stop there... Also, Zombies are looking reeeal good, I hate myself for saying this but I might have to buy this.

Forum Posts: 621	Comment #20 by ForceGrip86 Saturday, September 29, 2012 @ 08:34:55 AM	(0)
	So, the only difference from BLOPS and BLOPS II prestige is now you retain your weapon xp. Well, whoop-de-doo! Would it kill them to maybe throw in a new cool weapon to use each time you prestige. That would easily be more incentive to do so than a "shiny new icon". Or as #16 said, add trophies for like Prestige Lvl 1(Bronze), Lvl 5(Silver) and Lvl 10(Gold). With the amount of hardcore trophy hunters out there that would be a sure fire way to get more people to prestige all the way.

Forum Posts: 0	Comment #21 by TALESHUNTER1 Saturday, September 29, 2012 @ 08:48:16 AM	(0)
	@21 There was a rumor that you needed to prestige once to unlock platinum trophy, but since it's a rumor, I don't really place much hope in it. Yeah, maybe a new weapon per prestige will be good, but then the guns themselves will have to be worth it themselves... which might lead to them being overpowered and everyone hating on it. And if you make it too weak or nothing special, then people will think it's not worth it. And I believe retaining camos is the important part since they are usually tedious to get. Another thing they could do is have Prestige maps where every prestige unlocks a new map. Or they can be a real dick and give free DLC to people who reached highest prestige in a certain amount of time. Or better, people who reach 10th prestige will get to choose 1 free Map pack DLC when they are released.

Forum Posts: 34	Comment #22 by pokweeismypsn Saturday, September 29, 2012 @ 10:52:50 AM	(1)
	@21 Rumor? It's not a rumor it's real and our sister site have the achievements list http://www.xbox360achievements.org/game/call-of-duty-black-ops-ii/achievements/

Forum Posts: 492	Comment #23 by Shirokurou Saturday, September 29, 2012 @ 11:03:55 AM	(0)
	This is actually nice...

Forum Posts: 133	Comment #24 by maink Saturday, September 29, 2012 @ 11:49:11 AM	(0)
	cool they added multiplayer trophies , its about time

Forum Posts: 0	Comment #25 by TALESHUNTER1 Saturday, September 29, 2012 @ 12:36:09 PM	(0)
	@22 Ah, sorry about that. Didn't know the list was already out. Got to say the list looks pretty solid.

Forum Posts: 19	Comment #26 by DX107 Saturday, September 29, 2012 @ 12:41:12 PM	(-1)
	@22 you know the xbox acheivments sometimes differ from ps3 trophies. I remember in mw2 they had achievments for prestiging the first time and the tenth time

Forum Posts: 19	Comment #27 by DX107 Saturday, September 29, 2012 @ 12:48:44 PM	(1)
	Never mind disregard what i said confused it somehow. Sorry for looking like an idiot

Forum Posts: 450	Comment #28 by SourFlow Saturday, September 29, 2012 @ 03:17:41 PM	(0)
	People don't prestige because Treyarch gives no incentive. Blops was all about in-game currency to unlock stuff. Why would we want to prestige just to buy back everything? It's dumb. At least IW in MW3 let us unlock weapons, like the stinger, so we didn't dread those 30-some levels without protection from killstreak rewards.

Forum Posts: 1735	Comment #29 by newgroundsguru Saturday, September 29, 2012 @ 03:35:18 PM	(0)
	@28 They got rid of cod points in 2 so you wont have to worry about that any more.

Forum Posts: 11	Comment #30 by TheUnlockable1 Saturday, September 29, 2012 @ 06:00:19 PM	(0)
	Thank God. At least it be fair when you get hacked

Forum Posts: 1548	Comment #31 by UndergroundHipHopHead Saturday, September 29, 2012 @ 09:21:31 PM	(-1)
	Finally they are learning. Must be growing up as a developer. Seems like they did some good things with Black Ops 2.

Forum Posts: 773	Comment #32 by clone150 Saturday, September 29, 2012 @ 11:05:07 PM	(0)
	@31 I believe BO2 is Treyarch's 2nd game they have developed as a full development team (the first being Black Ops 1). Before that I think they did multiple games at the same time, which must have been rough to focus on all of them at once.

Forum Posts: 777	Comment #33 by automechtech1 Sunday, September 30, 2012 @ 12:27:33 AM	(0)
	@32 They haven't explicitly said BOII is a full-dev project or not, but it's likely true just from looking at it. But yes, when Treyarch was working on WaW, they also were working on a Spider-man game as well as Quantum of Solace. World at War was a glorified CoD4 mod, but still a great game. As for Quantum of Solace, it is perhaps Treyarch's best MP efforts ever. It was a niche game, being it a James Bond game, but the credit system used to buy weapons, perks, and equipment was a direct predecessor to CoD points in BO - something most people don't know.

Forum Posts: 51	Comment #34 by Baloth Sunday, September 30, 2012 @ 06:15:30 AM	(0)
	Granted I cancelled my pre-order because I'm frankly tired of the game. This sounds really good. I may just pre-order again just to see where this game is headed, getting positive vibes about this one.

Forum Posts: 2	Comment #35 by OmniOmegaKillr Sunday, September 30, 2012 @ 07:04:16 AM	(0)


Forum Posts: 11	Comment #36 by timewarp Sunday, September 30, 2012 @ 08:37:39 AM	(0)
	I'm glad that Black Ops 2 is getting changes like this. It shows that Treyarch are willing to innovate and that maybe Activision can see that a game needs to be able to move with the times and change in order to continue it's success. But this game needs more time, to me Activision act like they need to win every year. Like if there's one year where there's not a Call Of Duty game out then they've done something wrong. There is nothing wrong with that. We don't need a COD every year. COD might be a good game now but it won't stand the test of time. Had Activision waited they could have given Black Ops 2 a better games engine, made a deeper storyline, created new animation and it could have been the next Call Of Duty 4. But still at least Black Ops 2 is a good start.

Forum Posts: 24	Comment #37 by Little Gray Tuesday, October 02, 2012 @ 08:52:43 AM	(0)
	To be honest I think the prestige token system in MW3 miles better then this. I am really not sure what to think of this game anymore. I keep hearing nice things but then there is also stuff like this where they are just going completely backwards.

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Game Info

Developer: Treyarch Publisher: Activision Genre: Shooter Release: US: November 13, 2012 Europe: November 13, 2012 Japan: November 22, 2012
Resolution: 480p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p
Sound: Dolby Digital
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Online Players : 2-16
ESRB: Mature

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