Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Prestige adds way more levels and doesn't reset your gear

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Prestige goes seasonal

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Prestige
(Image credit: Activision)

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Prestige is changing to allow for way more leveling.

The new prestige system got its debut in a new post on Treyarch's official blog. Aside from adding more ranks to unlock, the biggest change from previous Call of Duty games is that earning Prestige is now automatic and no longer resets your access to Create-a-Class content. Treyarch says it found that many longtime players would avoid going Prestige because they didn't want to lose access to their hard-earned stuff and have to unlock it all over again.

The new Prestige will work on a seasonal system. After you make your way through the 55 standard Military Ranks, you'll start to earn Season Levels. These reset every season, and you'll have the chance to earn up to 100 of them in the period between the game's launch and the start of Black Ops Cold War season one in December. Once you hit Season Level 1, you'll earn your first Prestige, then another at 50 with a bonus weapon blueprint, and another at 100.

You'll be able to earn up to four Prestiges across your first 200 levels in a standard season, culminating with Prestige Master status for that season. You can keep unlocking milestones for every 50 levels after that up to 1,000, but you won't get more Prestiges until the next season begins. Every 50 level milestone will earn you Prestige Keys, which you can take on over to the Prestige Shop to buy Legacy Prestige Icons from previous Call of Duty games, but only if you reached Prestige Master in the associated season.

I've said the word "Prestige" so much at this point that it has lost all meaning to me. Thankfully, I still have a week to clear my head before Black Ops Cold War comes out on November 13.

This new levelling system is rolling out to Call of Duty: Warzone and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare starting in December, so even if you aren't playing Black Ops Cold War you should get ready to get prestigious. 

Connor Sheridan
Connor Sheridan
Former GamesRadar+ News Writer

I got a BA in journalism from Central Michigan University - though the best education I received there was from CM Life, its student-run newspaper. Long before that, I started pursuing my degree in video games by bugging my older brother to let me play Zelda on the Super Nintendo. I've previously been a news intern for GameSpot, a news writer for CVG, and was formerly a staff writer at GamesRadar+.