When the new, updated Black Market was revealed to Black Ops 4 players it was highly praised. Treyarch and Activision were both thanked for the removal of lootboxes and for putting the players first.

Tiers in the Fortnite Battlepass-like system are earned solely through in-game playtime. There are 200 tiers to unlock in the Black Market, but even after 2 increases to the earn rate, the Black Market is far beyond a fair grind for players.

According to popular Youtuber NerosCinema, it takes anywhere between 45 minutes and an hour to unlock a single tier in the Black Market. Players will have to play, on average, 5 full Domination matches or 9 full Team Deathmatches to unlock a tier. With those numbers, if you start earning tiers today you’ll have to play 4.5 hours every day to unlock all 200 tiers. Miss a day and you’re going to have to make up those hours.

Having a grind is understandable, but locking items behind a playtime wall that most people will never have the opportunity to even get near unlocking is the wrong decision.

Possibly altering this system to give as base earn rate for playtime and also giving out performance based progression towards tiers.

As is, the system feels like its setting up for an Activision cash grab. There are currently no ways to progress faster, but Treyarch has made a mention of some sort of progression boosters coming in the future.