Supply drops are officially a core aspect of Call of Duty now. Infinite Warfare, the latest title in the popular FPS franchise series, also features these now infamous loot boxes. These crates are, at times, rewarding, but are often filled with junk most players don’t care much about. Nevertheless, gamers that transition to IW this year will be grinding to earn drops to get the skins and other items they crave.
Infinite Warfare Supply Drops
Supply drops are reward boxes that can contain a number of in-game items including:
- Weapon Skins
- Combat Rig Customization Pieces
- Gun Variants
- Calling Cards
- Player Emblems
- Salvage (an in-game currency)
It’s already been confirmed that specific variants for some weapons will be exclusive to supply drops. Others can be ‘crafted’ by using Salvage. Some variants are also obtainable by completing team mission challenges and leveling up a specific faction.
Supply drops come in one of two varieties:
- Standard Supply Drop
- Rare Supply Drop
The standard boxes will most often contain common rarity items, but do provide players with a small chance of getting rare, legendary, or epic items as well. These boxes are available for 10 keys each.
The rare boxes, on the other hand, guarantee that the player will receive at least one item of rare value. While this is great, it is possible that the rare you receive will be a simple calling card or emblem rather than a weapon variant or cool piece of gear for your rig. Rare drops will set you back 30 keys, but also provide bonus Salvage with each opening.
How to Get Supply Drops in Infinite Warfare
Getting a supply drop is relatively the same in Infinite Warfare as it was in Black Ops 3. Rather than earning Cryptokeys, however, players simply earn Keys. These are obtained by playing and completing online multiplayer matches.
The Key reward rate has yet to be seen, but if it’s anything like BO3 – expect to have to grind through matches for several hours before having enough Keys to open up a rare drop.
Instead of visiting the mysterious Black Market Vendor, though, you’ll be dealing with a robotic character known as the Quartermaster. It’s…pretty much the same thing only it’s a robot rather than a humanistic being you’re buying from.
He makes the occasional comment about accepting your keys in exchange for gear… he’s in a room by himself with a large crate sitting in the back… even the menu options for the standard and rare crates look fairly similar to the Black Market screen we’ve become used to in Black Ops 3.
So, yeah, you get the idea… visit the Quartermaster when you’ve got at least 10 Keys in your inventory and you’ll have the opportunity to buy a supply drop.
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Zombies Crates
Yup, supply drops are officially infiltrating the zombies experience of Call of Duty starting with Infinite Warfare as well. They’re called “Zombies Crates”. These, too, offer up the same items found in the multiplayer drops, but also give you the opportunity to snag Fate and Fortune cards.
Players are allowed to equip up to 5 cards for each zombies match to form a “deck”. These cards activate passive bonuses that can enhance your character. Some examples include cards that increase the power of your melee attack, boost your barrier building speed, and even leave trails of fire behind you as you run that inflict damage to zombies.
The Fate and Fortune cards seem to be the only thing that sets Zombie Crates apart from the Supply Drops players earn in online multiplayer matches.
The crates also come in two forms:
- Standard Crate for 10 Keys
- Rare Zombie Crate for 30 Keys
Crates provide 2 random items and a pack of the cards. Rare crates allow players the opportunity to earn rare Fate and Fortune cards at a higher rate. Standard crates can still dish out rares, but you’re far more likely to receive them from the rare Zombie Crate.
These crates can be purchased using the in-game currency known as Keys. These are the same keys used to open supply drops. This means it’s possible for players to earn keys via online multiplayer matches and then use them to open Zombie Crates in the Zombies in Spaceland mode.
Is This a Terrible Practice?
Advanced Warfare was one of the very first games in the Call of Duty series to feature supply drops. Ever since then, we’ve seen them added to all of the recent titles including Black Ops 3 and now Infinite Warfare.
Many players believe that this rewards system makes the game “pay-to-win” due to the fact that special weapons with enhanced capabilities are only accessible via drops. While some argue that it is possible to earn these weapons for free, it has been said time and time again that the drop rates for the most coveted weapons are very low. Couple that with the fact that you earn keys at a very slow pace and it’s easy to realize the game is designed to encourage players to purchase reward boxes using real money.
It’s been deemed a deceitful and obnoxious tactic, but, based on the last few games, it seems the supply drop reward system is here to stay. As long as it’s contributing to increased profits for Activision, we’ll likely continue to see the system from here on out.
The good thing about Infinite Warfare is that it does allow players to obtain weapon variants by completing other tasks rather than just relying on loot boxes. Nevertheless, Infinite Warfare supply drops will likely receive a lot of criticism, just as they have in previous Call of Duty titles.
