With the calendar turning to September, so starts the season of the new Call of Duty title. In 2022, it’s Modern Warfare 2 that players are anxiously awaiting. This month, we have Call of Duty Next and the multiplayer beta for Modern Warfare 2. This is followed by the full release of MW2 in October and the rumored launch of Warzone 2 in November. We’ll be focusing on MW2 today, though. More specifically, we’re honing on the multiplayer experience of the game and what we’d like to see from it.
This list is completely subjective, but we do believe that these additions to multiplayer benefit a large portion of the player base. Some of the additions have been included in multiplayer before, and we’d either like to see developer Infinity Ward re-implement them or remove them from the game entirely. It should also be noted that while some of these changes would directly affect Warzone 2, we’re only focusing on the impact they would have on multiplayer.
1. Toned-down skill-based matchmaking
Any longtime member of the Call of Duty community knew this would make the list. In recent years, the skill-based matchmaking featured across the COD series has been quite strict. Almost every game has had its matchmaking prioritize skill level over connection, which has made life difficult for the upper-skill bracket of the community.
In MW2, we’d like to see the developers at the very least tone down the SBMM. This basically means make matchmaking less reliant on pairing players of similar skill levels together and make it more even. Just because a player performs well in a match of multiplayer doesn’t mean they should only be placed in a lobby with other players who also performed well. A return to the older style of matchmaking would make MW2 a much more enjoyable experience for a large portion of the player base. Although, players brand new to the series should be an exception to overall matchmaking, as Activision wants to ensure these players come back to the game. If they’re stomped on match after match by better players, they might not return.
2. A slower time-t0-kill
One of the main issues many players had with Modern Warfare 2019, the prequel to MW2, was its time-to-kill. Players could kill an enemy in just a couple of shots no matter what gun they were using. This led to gunfights being all about who saw each other first, and less about overall gun skill.
With MW2, a slower TTK would give players a more consistent experience than they might have had in MW2019. Gunfights wouldn’t be over in the blink of an eye and it would allow players to escape if they’re shot first by an enemy. Of course, we wouldn’t want the developers to go too overboard with this change. The TTK from Black Ops Cold War would be a great metric to go by, as that game’s multiplayer had a fair TTK by most accounts.
3. Classic map design
Another gripe that a large portion of players had with MW2019 was the map design. While some maps featured the classic three-lane design, most of them did not. A plethora of multiplayer maps were extremely large, featured dozens of doors and windows, and were generally not liked by the longtime COD players.
We’re hoping that developer Infinity Ward has learned from its mistakes in Modern Warfare 2 multiplayer. Three-lane maps make up most of the best maps in COD history, and for good reason. They usually play well across any game mode and require more map knowledge to navigate efficiently. Take a map like Highrise from the original MW2 (2009); the classic three-lane design is present with different areas of cover and power positions dispersed across the lanes. There also weren’t a ton of places for players to camp, leading to more action out in the center of the map. Maps like Highrise would be a welcome sight in MW2, at least from our perspective.
4. Weapon progression/camos
Something in COD that has seemingly fallen to the wayside in recent years has been overall weapon progression. Starting in MW2019, we now have a gunsmith that features dozens of attachments and weapon levels to unlock for every gun in the game. While this does add more variety to multiplayer, it also presents a tedious chore for players. A majority of the attachments for a weapon don’t end up getting used by a majority of players. This means that the 60+ levels players have to go through for each weapon are mostly pointless.
To make matters worse, MW2019 featured an extremely slow weapon leveling process. This was somewhat fixed in recent games, but it still takes multiple hours to fully level a weapon up. We believe that at least a faster weapon progression system, mixed in with fewer attachments, would make grinding weapons out a much more rewarding process.
This leads us to weapon camos, which have also grown to be tedious in recent years. Some of the challenges associated with weapon camos are extremely difficult for some guns. For example, getting longshots with an SMG or shotgun is not feasible on some maps, and that’s been a common weapon camo challenge the past few years. In MW2 multiplayer, we hope that Infinity Ward makes weapon camo challenges less of a chore.
Also, we’d like to see more than one Mastery Camo, as this would give players an entirely other camo to grind for in multiplayer. While a single Mastery Camo, such as Damascus or Atomic, is great for the start of a game, once players unlock that they feel like there’s nothing else to do in multiplayer. Another Mastery Camo would solve that dilemma and give players more variety in terms of customization.
5. Better character progression
The final entry on our list is a big one. Since MW2019, the classic Prestige system that was present in COD since the original Modern Warfare went away. This was in exchange for a seasonal system that sees players have their level reset every single season. The general consensus on this new system is mostly negative, as players, at least the vocal ones, miss how the old Prestige process worked.
It doesn’t seem likely that Activision would change this new seasonal Prestige system at this point in time. So, we’re simply asking for more rewards associated with character progression. As an example, perhaps players could unlock a universal camo for their weapons upon reaching a certain level each season. This would give players an incentive to keep grinding out levels each season despite their level being reset. As of right now, there aren’t many rewards associated with level milestones in each season.
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