Warzone 2.0 has been out for a few days and it’s a hell of a time once you’ve gotten the most challenging part of the game down: navigating a UI that looks like it was programmed in the fires of digital hell. Aside from being clunky, obtuse, buggy and not even remotely helpful in finding what you’re looking for, war zone 2 does a fantastic job of making you think you need to buy Modern Warfare II to play battle royale, especially if you want to party with friends. While MII is a good time (more for the multiplayer than campaign), I’m here to tell you, no, You don’t have to buy Modern Warfare II to play Warzone 2.0.
Modern Warfare II and Warzone 2.0 (and DMZ mode) are all accessed from the same launcher. While not a bad thing in and of itself, it does lead to remarkably exhausting confusion. It gets even more confusing if you haven’t paid MII and you’re partying with people who’ve done it, and somehow even more confusing when you’re doing it on PC and trying to play cross-platform. Rest assured, you don’t have to part with $70 to play Battle Royale mode with friends. Here’s how to connect with friends for free Warzone 2.0.
How to join friends Warzone 2.0 without buying Modern Warfare II
If you’re playing with friends on the same console (Xbox and Xbox, PlayStation and PlayStation), you should just be able to team up like you would any other game – no matter what platform you’re on. if you haven’t paid MIIyou need to navigate to the Battle Royale menu to avoid getting the “Buy Modern Warfare II to access everything” prompt. To reiterate, you don’t have to buy one MII to play battle royale. Don’t be alarmed (or buy the game) if you see this error:
If you try to accept a squad invite while staying in the menu that the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II When the launcher invites you, you’ll likely see two warnings: one telling you that the game may not be fully installed, followed by a purchase prompt Modern Warfare II. Ignore all the nonsense. Before you accept an invitation, From the main menu, scroll down and navigate to the Battle Royale map (or DMZ if you want to play that, which is also free). Accept an invite from a friend in the Battle Royale menu. If you don’t, the game will prompt you to purchase it Modern Warfare II.
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How to join friends across crossplay and on pc
Take a nice, deep breath. it will be ok Warzone 2.0 doesn’t make figuring out how to join a friend who’s on another platform easy — especially if you haven’t purchased Modern Warfare II.
First you need to find your Activision ID. If you’re in the menus for either Modern Warfare II or Warzone 2.0, then you have one. From the game’s main menu, go to the “Social” tab located in the top right corner.
Here you can see the people who are currently in your group and your selected operator. From this menu select “View My Profile” and you will see your Activision ID on the right side of the screen. It’s a similar format to Discord if you’re familiar with it: a username, a # sign, and a series of numbers.
This is the name you will use to make friends with people. Once you know the Activision ID of the person you want to befriend and collaborate with, return to the initial social menu and click the Friends tab. Click on “Add Friends” and enter the Activision ID there. If everything is correct, your friend will receive a friend invite (check the bell icon in the top right corner for the notification if you miss it).
After killing a friend, it’s time to team up. As mentioned above, if you haven’t bought Modern Warfare IIyou need to go to the Battle Royale menu to accept someone’s party invite. Scroll down and select either DMZ or Battle Royale (depending on which mode you want to play) and load into that particular menu instance. You’ll know you’re in the right place when you see “Battle Royale” in the top left corner of the main menu. Send and accept friend invites with non-owning players Modern Warfare II from here and always only here.
If you previously sent an invite and a player couldn’t join because they weren’t in the right menu, there are some other options in the menu to send a new invite, but often it’s locked (it seems you sometimes cannot send more than one invitation to the same person). If you have this problem, just unsubscribe call of Dutyrestart the game, navigate to the Battle Royale menu, then send or request an invite.
feeling tired? Yes, me too. It’s 2022 and menus are officially harder than the games they launch. But don’t let it Warzone 2.0 fool you into buying Modern Warfare II if you do not want. Now group up and cause trouble on purpose.