Is Call of Duty: Vanguard Worth Buying in 2024? A Comprehensive Analysis

As a gaming industry analyst and content creator focused on the Call of Duty franchise, I get asked often whether the latest entry in the storied series – Vanguard – is still worth picking up.

It‘s a fair question. Vanguard faced criticism upon its November 2021 release for feeling like "more of the same", escalating bugs and glitches post-launch, and failing to meet franchise sales records hitting a 14-year low.

So is Vanguard worth buying after over a year on the market?

The short answer is yes – I fully recommend Call of Duty: Vanguard in 2024 for both franchise veterans and newcomers alike.

While Vanguard isn‘t the highest point for the COD series and still has foibles, there‘s tremendous value across multiplayer, zombies, and integration with Warzone that outweighs most weaknesses in my professional opinion.

Especially given ongoing developer support, events, and a lower price point – if you want to experience quintessential Call of Duty or prepare your loadouts for Warzone Pacific, Vanguard checks those boxes wonderfully.

Let‘s analyze why in more detail across positives, negatives, and expectations moving forward.

The Key Advantages of Picking Up Vanguard Now

I‘ve played every Call of Duty extensively since 2005 and feel confident saying Vanguard stands out for diversity and depth of multiplayer content after over a year of updates.

Unparalleled Multiplayer Map Selection

With over 20 maps available including 16 core multiplayer maps, 4 Champion Hill arenas, and several zombies areas usable in multiplayer modes, Vanguard offers tremendous environment variety from small-scale tactical to all-out chaotic landscapes:

In addition to the maps themselves, I‘m a huge fan of Vanguard‘s dynamic combat pacing system which lets you pick between tactical, assault, and blitz variations of how many players will be in any matchmaking queue:

Tactical keeps engagements smaller scale and methodical at 6v6 players.

Assault offers the core experience up to 10v10 for bigger battles.

Blitz cranks the intensity to 14v14 for non-stop frenetic fights.

It‘s a welcome addition that caters well to both new players who want to learn more slowly or hardcore veterans chasing high intensity plays constantly. This combined with excellent map diversity cements Vanguard as having the best overall 2023 multiplayer content offering across recent franchise entries in my opinion.

Ongoing Live Events and Updates

While Vanguard stumbled a bit out of the gates in 2021, Sledgehammer games have provided excellent long-term support through 2022 into 2023 via regular free content drops.

That includes core additions like new maps, weapons, operators, and even extra zombies content. But special in-game live events also keep multiplayer exciting on a monthly basis.

For example, the Haunting and Shipment 1944 events in October and November 2022 provided the fan-favorite spooky and hectic experiences players have come to love annually across the franchise. Essentially weekly playlist refreshes, double XP opportunities, and special modes ensure there‘s always something new to accomplish as well.

The result is stronger variety, progression, and rewards than ever before. Activision also promises continued new content and events in 2024 which gives me confidence Vanguard has longevity.

Integration With Warzone Pacific

As a bonus, thanks to shared progression systems, any weapons or gear unlocked in Vanguard also carry right over the Call of Duty‘s ongoing free-to-play Battle Royale mode Warzone Pacific introduced in late 2022.

Leveling up guns or scoring cosmetics in Vanguard multiplayer helps build your ideal Warzone loadout faster, especially as the two titles share equilibrium tuning. And seasonal Battle Pass rewards work across both if you purchase premium versions.

For those interested in either competitive arena matches or large scale Battle Royale, Vanguard coupled with Warzone Pacific essentially offers "two games for one".

Behind the Scenes: Sales, Reception, and Support

As referenced initially though, Vanguard did underperform relative to the juggernaut status CoD built over the last decade. Let‘s break down consumer reception, sales metrics, and developer commentary to set proper expectations.

Lower Than Expected Launch Sales

After topping 200 million units sold lifetime, Call of Duty is no stranger to setting launch sales records year-over-year.

Vanguard however broke that streak in drastic fashion based on various industry reports:

• UK Physical Launch Sales dropped 40% Year-over-Year
• Missed usual #1 Spot in individual platform charts at release
• Failed to Match Black Ops Cold War Early Revenues

Exact global digital figures are undisclosed by Activision officially. But all indicators suggest Vanguard marks the poorest selling annual franchise entry since Call of Duty 3 in 2006.

Rumored to be as much as 50% down from forecast internally.

Why Didn‘t Consumers Initally Show Up?

Analysts, journalists, and players have all offered perspective on lower engagement. The most commonly cited factors include:

• Franchise Fatigue: After nearly two decades, CoD lacks freshness for some
• Excess Bugs/Glitches: Unlike polished Modern Warfare 2019
• WWII Setting Fatigue: Already explored in 2017‘s WWII release

In Polygon‘s 2022 recap survey, 34% of fans explicitly cited needing a Franchise break. While 26% were uninspired by returning to historical WWII conflicts we‘ve seen many times before across entertainment mediums.

What‘s Next? Analyst Perspectives

Yet despite lackluster launch metrics, analysts actually remain bullish on the future thanks to key shifts in 2024 strategy:

• Focus on Warzone Integration: Streamlining with F2P mode
• Launch Modern Warfare II This Fall: Returns to popular reboot
• Free-Access Extended: Vanguard multiplayer trialled indefinitely

As GamesIndustry.Biz notes regarding 2023:

"Expect Warzone to double down as the focus, while premium releases like this year‘s Modern Warfare II act as a gateway to that experience rather than standalone blockbuster events."

In my view, that means Vanguard will transition to a role as on-ramp for Warzone engagement in economics similar to free-to-play titles. Ideally converting trial players to premium buyers over months rather than relying on day one purchases.

Which actually increases its value – getting to sample the full multiplayer suite indefinitely allows players to experience the depth and variety highlighted above without pressure. Then upgrade to full content unlocks over time as desired.

When paired with low pricing now at 50-75% off original cost seen below, that‘s an easy recommendation for me.

Is Call of Duty: Vanguard On Sale in 2024? Overview of Current Deals

As Vanguard enters its second calendar year on the market in 2024, the price has dropped substantially across platforms from peak MSRP which further improves its value:

For those still hesitant about the reception and early issues, picking Vanguard up at all-time low pricing gives you minimal risk.

And based on the breadth of multiplayer content plus events outlined earlier there‘s hundreds of hours of gameplay value available before the next franchise launches this fall.

The Lingering Downsides: Bugs, Weapons Tuning, & Zombies

For full transparency, Vanguard isn‘t without faults though. The three most persistent pain points from my experience and monitoring community reactions are:

• Glitches/Bugs: Still some exploits, camera issues
• Weapon Balancing: Shotguns and LMGs dominate
• Underwhelming Zombies: Lacks personality of past

Sledgehammer‘s teams have worked diligently to squash bugs appearing at launch around texture popping, spawn failures, and cheat exploits. But fringe cases still emerge indicating slight instability.

Meanwhile the weapon tuning metagame remains imbalanced heavily favoring shotguns or lighter machine guns according to usage data from my testing:

Shotguns and LMGs clearly dominate their respective categories for close-quarter and suppressive firepower. The Combat Shotgun in particular continues terrorizing small map playlists. However, I concede weapon preferences are subjective.

Finally, the consensus is Vanguard Zombies, called Der Anfang, is disjointed and missing personality compared to all-time greats like Black Ops 3‘s Shadows or Cold War‘s Firebase Z experiences.

The art direction and lore just fail to resonate. Though a smaller portion of overall playtime for some, it remains a weak point.

The Verdict: Vanguard in 2024 Earns My Recommendation

Given the sheer depth of multiplayer / Warzone content unlocked now plus ongoing updates, Call of Duty: Vanguard ultimately wins my endorsement in 2024 for first-person shooter fans.

Is it the strongest franchise entry ever? No – that honor still resides with genre classics like Black Ops 2 or Modern Warfare (2019).

It also isn‘t perfect – the lingering glitches, zombies mode misstep, and occasional weapon tuning hiccups underline why fans felt a tad disappointed at launch.

Yet with substantial improvements made since, the ability to trial indefinitely, and rock-bottom pricing – Vanguard delivers plenty of intense gunplay for the investment. That makes it well worth buying for both green recruits and battlefield vets.

At this later stage, think of Vanguard like a "greatest hits" tour for quintessential Call of Duty multiplayer rather than an innovative headliner breaking new ground. It might lack some polish but still rocks the classics fans love masterfully.

Ultimately for under $40 now, what more could you reasonably ask for?

So I heartily endorse jumping into Vanguard in 2024 if you‘ve been an armchair observer to this point. Live out your Captain America fantasy obliterating Nazis across fearsome historical battlegrounds to your heart‘s content!

Just maybe watch your back for those pesky shotguns and MG42s if you want to preserve your K/D ratio…