It all bottles down to a sense of community and empathy. It's 100% okay to be afraid. You're right to distinguish between showing confidence right off the bat versus tackling the core issue, the feelings around it, and building confidence by strengthening one another. To me, it's the same process of buying food vs. making it yourself; you need to identify the problem first before you can tackle the issue. Some people, unfortunately, don't see that. I love how you phrased it all, @anonymous.

Welcome to CODZ, friendo! If you're looking to get some help with Easter Eggs, use our awesome Looking For Group system!

We tested a bright white font color vs. the light-tone gray we use now, and found that the white text color is pretty hard on the eyes. We will continue testing out more styles to see what works. I know in mobile it can get lose pretty quick. I've fixed the FORUMS link issue. Pretty easy fix but was something that the theme kinda goofed up. Thanks for bringing these to our attention!

I believe that the Kronorium doesn't explain thoroughly what will happen. It likely said they needed to sacrifice themselves - something that Richtofen and Nikolai both interpreted differently. There's something special about being sacrificed at the hands of your own friends (or those that held a special connection to you). In MOTD, it was Al killing those who killed him. For BOTD, it was Richtofen being left behind to die with Primis Richtofen taking his place. For TDT, it was Nikolai killing Ultimis and Primis - the largest components in the cycle. Only then does the condition of breaking the cycle become satisfied. Death by any other means does not count. It needs to be special. This explains why Richtofen had to die in the Dark Mechanism. Because even in his Primis life, he kept trying to escape death. And the Kronorium changed to reflect what it really meant by "sacrifice". He refused to believe that he had to die and essentially prolonged the BOTD cycle by trying to find another way out. As far as suicide goes, it could theoretically work; however, my money is on the idea that someone special needs to kill them - or at least be the reason they die. Hell, even Nikolai needed Sam to kill him. Because he knew it needed to be by someone special. (Interesting side note: by the end of TDT, only Primis Richtofen ever made it out of the great cycle. He was the only one we see to come to Alcatraz, go into cryogenic sleep, and then join the Cycle Primis Crew. We can assume that the original Primis Nikolai, Takeo, and Dempsey are dead. But we have no idea how they died.)

Thanks for the comments, friendos! Glad to see that nobody is gravely disappointed at the ending and sees it for the value it has. :) I've made a big edit regarding The Cycle - something we're all wet about in Zombies. ;)

If you haven't watched / refuse to know the end of the Aether story, don't read any further. Now I think we can all agree that the ending was not 100% what we were hoping for. We were teased about winning the Great War, defeating Dr. Monty, all that jazz. Hell, even Alpha Omega's ending told us we were in for a big fight. But we got blue balled hella hard and left with what I'd call the most depressing moment in Zombies history. Despite all the loose ends still remaining...I actually felt at ease with what we've been given as a conclusion. What people aren't understanding is why things unfolded the way they did. And to understand that, you have to look back at the end of Black Ops 3 - the Original Plan. The Original Plan Monty was able to remove the Apothicons, Shadowman, and undead into the Dark Aether. While he couldn't repair the multiverse, he managed to lock them up so there weren't any holes. A duct tape solution, if you will. He assumed that by closing off each reality, anything that existed currently outside of said realities would return to their origin point and no longer exist in his perfect universe. The children (aka the souls of the pure O4) would ensure that he could keep tabs on them at any given moment in any universe to prevent another disaster. Except the crew survived thanks to the blood. Monty was going to wipe them out (which would be the easiest solution) but instead sent them to the Great War. They would win, then die, and then be reborn later in the future during the 1900s. This created the cycle we know as of now. Monty purposefully kept them in the loop and knew as long as they stayed there, no more harm could further be done. It wasn't the ultimate fix, but he wasn't willing to potentially sacrifice himself to fully restore the multiverse. Again, duct tape solution. But Monty knew what the only true solution was. He just didn't want to go through with it. The True Plan Monty AND Richtofen knew the true solution. But Richtofen also did not want to sacrifice himself nor his crew, so he tried finding ways to cheat death. After realizing it would only continue the cycle, he changed course and intercepted himself in at Alcatraz when he would've normally gotten the blood. Instead of allowing himself to continue, he killed his cycle self and instead allowed Nikolai, the only one who Monty would be unable to see/track, to do what Richtofen was (and knew he was) incapable of doing: the sacrifice. Since Nikolai opened up to what the Kronorium told him, he knew that none of them were to survive. The only way to restore the multiverse was to remove everything, including themselves. So he convinced everyone - Primis and Ultimis - to follow him because he knew the way to salvation. And he wasn't lying; he just didn't tell them what the end game would be. This is why he wanted his friends' last moments to be with one another, drinking in what they thought was a pre-celebration to victory, thinking of what they wanted most in life. Nikolai wanted their sacrifice to end on the best note possible because none of them would make it out alive. Although I personally think poison isn't quite a happy ending (as seen in the final moments)...Nikolai did what he thought would be the quickest way to make this happen. There was no way to convince both crews to kill themselves on their own terms. As long as they existed, it didn't matter if they banished everything evil to the Dark Aether; they had to be removed as well. It was unfortunate that even Victis had to suffer, as they were the victim in the grand scheme for what is considered "the greater good". But it was necessary. EDIT: There are some key points that I missed when writing this post that I wanna add on. The Cycle A user on r/CODzombies brought up a very valid point regarding the cycle being broken and what it finally means. We know that the cycle is what keeps Primis reliving their adventures, from death after the Great War to reincarnation when they all first meet. Many of us thought that drinking the blood (Richtofen's plan) was the key to breaking said cycle, but after BO3, it wasn't. We were right to compare it to the MOTD cycle. In fact, BOTD also replicated this cycle in BO4 with Primis to show us AGAIN how to break the cycle. In MOTD, the cycle continues if the crew kills Al - something that already occurred in the real world. But when Al kills his crew, the cycle is broken and they're released from their own purgatory. In BOTD, the cycle continues as long as Primis remains. Even when they die, they're brought back by the Warden to relive their personal hell. When Richtofen dies, their cycle in purgatory is broken; HOWEVER, it required some past events leading to it (Primis Richtofen teleporting to BOTD from the Great War, Pablo giving him the Staff of Fire crystal) to start that breaking point. Catch my drift? BOTD Richtofen was perpetuating that cycle and needed to be sacrificed to escape it. That's how the cycle broke. Now in terms of the big cycle, it's no different. Nikolai ended the cycle by sacrificing himself and the crews. The key to breaking these cycles was to eliminate the things that would continue the cycle. The mobsters killing Al caused the cycle, and had they to die. Richtofen kept cheating death to avoid direct sacrifice which caused the cycle, and he had to die. Ultimis and Primis were responsible for fracturing the multiverse causing the great cycle, and they all had to die. -------------------------------------- Hopefully I didn't lose ya. To me, this was ultimate kick in the heart. Because we knew our crews had to die, but we just weren't prepared for it to be like this. And personally, I'm slowly accepting that this ending is what we needed. A straight one-shot kill to our beloved story, with the sad realization that the characters we grew alongside over 10 years needed to win the war within themselves...just as Nikolai said. They caused this madness, the fracturing of the multiverse, and they needed to satisfy the natural order and remove themselves from the equation. I'd like to think that they still exist in the fixed universes, where the multiverse may no longer exist since Element 115 is no longer existent in any time from here on out. To imagine our characters going through their normal lives, having never met, never to deal with the atrocities and horrors they faced in a reality that no longer exists. It's a sobering thought that they can finally have their [hopefully] happy moments they wished before their sacrifice. That, to me, is a good ending. Not perfect by any means, but a solid way to close the book for good.

I knew you'd be a great addition to the family @RadZakpak! Your writing skills are superb and the way you recreate the Zombies universe so eloquently but with that warm aura a ready usually gets when picking up a good book is unmatched. Can't wait to see what the rest of your future is like!

Surprisingly, living in Southern California doesn't yield much for me. Closest would either be Alcatraz Island or Area 51 (technically closer by a few miles); however, it's between 4-6 hours of driving distance.

Listening to movie orchestral music like Ivan Torrent's themes. Eating meat lover's pizza almost every other day. Having soda in the mini fridge at all times, only to drink it all when it hits midnight (night time soda tastes 100x better than in the daytime). Playing YouTube videos in the background while I play Skyrim, but refusing to take time to actually watch them. Listening to ASMR before I go to sleep. Starting projects just to leave them mid-progress and then resume them when I'm bored (unfortunately). Breathing.

Moon all the way. Best Easter Egg, best rewards, best storyline implication, best Wonder Weapons, best gameplay mechanics, best setting. This is the greatest zombies map of All Time.

Funny, I was making a similar Zombies mode in GameMaker as well. I got as far as fixing the round spawn issue and then gave up because I realized my sprite animation skills were terrible, haha. Good luck with your project! Can't wait to see an alpha version.

Hey everyone! It's been a while since our staff has made a major announcement like this. I'd like to preface by apologizing for not being nearly as transparent as I'd like to be with these new changes. You may have seen some new things coming our way if you've been watching us closely on Twitter (and receiving our email newsletters the past few months). With this new announcement, we - myself, the staff, and our new friends - are making big changes and want everyone to know what's going on. We're happy to announce that Call of Duty Zombies is officially a part of the Collateral Network! For those out of the loop, CoDZ is now being managed not only by myself, but our new friendos @AzzidReign and @Anubis. Both are involved with the popular gaming website Se7enSins and have expertise in running online communities similar to ours. After much discussion, we agreed that combining efforts would help bolster both our communities with the goal of creating a more expansive network under the Collateral title. What does this mean for me? I'll be the first to admit that I understand the idea of change can be scary. Ever since I became a part of the staff alongside @Hells Warrrior and @Boom115, we've worked tirelessly to operate CoDZ and ensure that our members always had an undead home to talk with friends, be involved in theories, and be provided with everything Zombies. Collateral Network will help us stimulate the community from it's [rather interesting, if you've been paying attention to the BO4 season] slumber with a myriad of improvements to the site, features, expenses, and most importantly, communication. This network involvement also means we're able to provide greater features and enhancements to the community (such as in-depth map tutorials, faster page speeds, improved filtering systems when looking up threads, and more) that are soon to come. Us administrators made sure to keep the theme and feel of our community in mind when determining what's to come. This place is our home, and has been for nearly a decade. As such, I've made a promise to keep the CoDZ-aesthetic the same no matter which direction we go. I have great faith in the new network conglomerate and can't wait to share for you all what we've got in store. This is a big push for us if we plan on keeping CoDZ alive and kickin', so let's spread the love! By the way - we DO have a giveaway at the moment with Collateral for a free RGB gaming chair. You should check it out and get your entries in. ?

Spoilers ahead...you've been warned. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhAldi-CHQQ For those that haven't been paying attention to the Chaos storyline up until this point, allow me to provide a very brief summary of what the new gang has been up to: Now from here, we come to a few realizations based on the cliffhanger ending. The Oracle turned out to be Medusa, a Greek Gorgon who is infamously known for turning people to stone when they look at her. She has been the bad person this whole ride and the Chaos group has been helping to release her unknowingly. The Order are actually trying to stop Medusa. That's right - they're the good guys. Alistair is found, but turned to stone alongside a few other Order members who were presumably defending him. Bruno and Shaw are now marked by the Order and are possessed. Scarlet was the only person not turned to stone unlike her father and the other Order members, instead falling unconscious. Diego is the remaining conscious survivor of the group despite rushing to warn Scarlet about the above. Medusa put on the Order mask, likely to conceal her identity among them and protect her from the zombies. At the moment, there is speculation regarding a few of these points. Medusa may be exacting revenge for her two slain sisters, possibly by the hands of the Order. Alistair may have been kidnapped because he didn't want to be involved with the Order anymore, yet they needed his help. Shaw fell under the mark, but him and Bruno may be that way so the rest of the Order can accept them knowing they're on the Order's side. Scarlet may actually be a demi-god, hence why she wasn't turned to stone. While a few of these small theories have been hinted in previous maps, this really gave us a defined storyline and we can see how each character/group is connected to each other. Personally, I love how direct this path is compared to the Aether story yet keeps its mystery in leaving behind crucial questions while wanting a final conclusion. It's a breath of fresh air IMO. What do you think so far?

Like Rave in the Redwoods meets Nuketown Zombies, but German-style. I'd love to see an underground bunker map that has the outside like another NML scenario.

In case you missed Treyarch's Black Op 4 update during the "Shamrock and Awe" event going on: More info regarding the newest Gauntlet and special event modifications: