diff --git a/packages/api-contract/src/base/Code.ts b/packages/api-contract/src/base/Code.ts
index baa8811f49..4c3afed520 100644
--- a/packages/api-contract/src/base/Code.ts
+++ b/packages/api-contract/src/base/Code.ts
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ import type { MapConstructorExec } from './types';
 
 import { SubmittableResult } from '@polkadot/api';
 import { ApiBase } from '@polkadot/api/base';
-import { assert, compactAddLength, isFunction, isUndefined, isWasm, stringCamelCase, u8aToU8a } from '@polkadot/util';
+import { assert, compactAddLength, isFunction, isUndefined, isWasm, logger, stringCamelCase, u8aToU8a } from '@polkadot/util';
 import { blake2AsU8a } from '@polkadot/util-crypto';
 
 import { Abi } from '../Abi';
@@ -20,6 +20,8 @@ import { Blueprint } from './Blueprint';
 import { Contract } from './Contract';
 import { createBluePrintTx, EMPTY_SALT, encodeSalt } from './util';
 
+const l = logger('api-contract/code');
+
 export class CodeSubmittableResult<ApiType extends ApiTypes> extends SubmittableResult {
   public readonly blueprint?: Blueprint<ApiType>;
   public readonly contract?: Contract<ApiType>;
@@ -64,22 +66,26 @@ export class Code<ApiType extends ApiTypes> extends Base<ApiType> {
    * @deprecated Use the `code.tx.<constructor>(...) format to put code and deploy
    */
   public createContract (constructorOrId: AbiConstructor | string | number, options: BlueprintOptions, params: CodecArg[]): SubmittableExtrinsic<ApiType, CodeSubmittableResult<ApiType>> {
+    l.warn('.createContract is deprecated, use code.tx.<constructorName>(...) instead (where code refers to this instance)');
+
     return this.#instantiate(constructorOrId, options, params);
   }
 
   #instantiate = (constructorOrId: AbiConstructor | string | number, options: BlueprintOptions, params: CodecArg[]): SubmittableExtrinsic<ApiType, CodeSubmittableResult<ApiType>> => {
     return isFunction(this.api.tx.contracts.instantiateWithCode)
-      ? this.#instantiateSingle(constructorOrId, options, params)
-      : this.#instantiateBatch(constructorOrId, options, params);
+      ? this.#instantiateCurrent(constructorOrId, options, params)
+      : this.#instantiatePrev(constructorOrId, options, params);
   }
 
-  #instantiateSingle = (constructorOrId: AbiConstructor | string | number, { gasLimit = 0, salt, value = 0 }: BlueprintOptions, params: CodecArg[]): SubmittableExtrinsic<ApiType, CodeSubmittableResult<ApiType>> => {
+  #instantiateCurrent = (constructorOrId: AbiConstructor | string | number, { gasLimit = 0, salt, value = 0 }: BlueprintOptions, params: CodecArg[]): SubmittableExtrinsic<ApiType, CodeSubmittableResult<ApiType>> => {
     return this.api.tx.contracts
       .instantiateWithCode(value, gasLimit, compactAddLength(this.code), this.abi.findConstructor(constructorOrId).toU8a(params), encodeSalt(salt))
       .withResultTransform(this.#transformEvents);
   }
 
-  #instantiateBatch = (constructorOrId: AbiConstructor | string | number, { gasLimit = 0, salt, value = 0 }: BlueprintOptions, params: CodecArg[]): SubmittableExtrinsic<ApiType, CodeSubmittableResult<ApiType>> => {
+  #instantiatePrev = (constructorOrId: AbiConstructor | string | number, { gasLimit = 0, salt, value = 0 }: BlueprintOptions, params: CodecArg[]): SubmittableExtrinsic<ApiType, CodeSubmittableResult<ApiType>> => {
+    assert(isFunction(this.api.tx.utility?.batch), 'Your chain does not include the utility pallet, for contracts v2 deployment, this is required');
+
     const encodedSalt = encodeSalt(salt);
     const withSalt = this.api.tx.contracts.instantiate.meta.args.length === 5;
     const encoded = this.abi.findConstructor(constructorOrId).toU8a(params, withSalt ? EMPTY_SALT : encodedSalt);
diff --git a/packages/api-contract/src/base/Contract.ts b/packages/api-contract/src/base/Contract.ts
index 670ac9c333..fa7dad95be 100644
--- a/packages/api-contract/src/base/Contract.ts
+++ b/packages/api-contract/src/base/Contract.ts
@@ -23,7 +23,8 @@ import { Base } from './Base';
 // As per Rust, 5 * GAS_PER_SEC
 const MAX_CALL_GAS = new BN(5_000_000_000_000).subn(1);
 const ERROR_NO_CALL = 'Your node does not expose the contracts.call RPC. This is most probably due to a runtime configuration.';
-const l = logger('Contract');
+
+const l = logger('api-contract/contract');
 
 function createQuery <ApiType extends ApiTypes> (fn: (origin: string | AccountId | Uint8Array, options: ContractOptions, params: CodecArg[]) => ContractCallResult<ApiType, ContractCallOutcome>): ContractQuery<ApiType> {
   return (origin: string | AccountId | Uint8Array, options: BigInt | string | number | BN | ContractOptions, ...params: CodecArg[]): ContractCallResult<ApiType, ContractCallOutcome> =>
@@ -39,11 +40,14 @@ function createTx <ApiType extends ApiTypes> (fn: (options: ContractOptions, par
       : fn(...extractOptions(options, params));
 }
 
-function createWithId <T> (fn: (messageOrId: AbiMessage | string | number, options: ContractOptions, params: CodecArg[]) => T): ContractGeneric<ContractOptions, T> {
-  return (messageOrId: AbiMessage | string | number, options: BigInt | string | number | BN | ContractOptions, ...params: CodecArg[]): T =>
-    isOptions(options)
+function createWithId <T> (fn: (messageOrId: AbiMessage | string | number, options: ContractOptions, params: CodecArg[]) => T, warn?: string): ContractGeneric<ContractOptions, T> {
+  return (messageOrId: AbiMessage | string | number, options: BigInt | string | number | BN | ContractOptions, ...params: CodecArg[]): T => {
+    warn && l.warn(warn);
+
+    return isOptions(options)
       ? fn(messageOrId, options, params)
       : fn(messageOrId, ...extractOptions(options, params));
+  };
 }
 
 export class ContractSubmittableResult extends SubmittableResult {
@@ -109,8 +113,8 @@ export class Contract<ApiType extends ApiTypes> extends Base<ApiType> {
     super(api, abi, decorateMethod);
 
     this.address = this.registry.createType('AccountId', address);
-    this.exec = createWithId(this.#exec);
-    this.read = createWithId(this.#read);
+    this.exec = createWithId(this.#exec, '.exec is deprecated, use contract.tx.<messageName>(...) instead (where contract refers to this instance)');
+    this.read = createWithId(this.#read, '.read is deprecated, use contract.query.<messageName>(...) instead (where contract refers to this instance)');
 
     this.abi.messages.forEach((m): void => {
       const messageName = stringCamelCase(m.identifier);