Call of Duty: Vanguard gets a Skill Rating update and a free two-week long trial starting this week

If you’ve been holding out on trying Call of Duty: Vanguard‘s multiplayer, your time has arrived. Activision and Treyarch are offering a free, two-week trial of the Vanguard multiplayer. It starts this week on March 30, and lasts until April 13. That’s a lot of time to figure out if getting shot by an enemy spawning behind you is worth the effort. But it might not be so bad, especially with the changes out for ranked. Today, Vanguard received a “significant Skill Rating update,” which should make those sweaty matches more rewarding.

Vanguard has had a free trial in the past — last year, in fact, just ahead of the holiday season. However, this will be Activision’s first run with a trial lasting for two entire weeks. Just like before, it only includes the multiplayer mode. Those who want to experience the campaign will have to shell out the cash for the game.

The trial will allow you to play some of the newest content in the game. It includes the two new Season Two maps: Casablanca and Gondola. You can also capture bases in the Alps, which is a larger map with vehicles. Older maps such as Shipment and Das Haus are also in the trial, along with multiple modes from which to choose. There’s a good chunk on offer.

Skills and thrills

The Vanguard free trial will launch just in time for today’s Skill Rating update. Treyarch has implemented a pretty major fix for ranked, and has summed it up in three bullet points. Vanguard‘s lead game designer, Lawrence Metten, goes into the finer details on Twitter.

• Players should now earn more SR after wins and lose less SR after losses
• Reduction to the impact that match performance has on the amount of SR won or lost
• More consistent SR gains & losses overall

I may not play Vanguard myself, but I do know the frustration of an unfriendly skill rank system. Hopefully the changes made today are good, and ranked players can get back to grinding away. The company has made other changes to the system recently, such as handing out more punishments for quitters.