modern warfare ii beta thots
wow new blog, and for once it's not about yakoozer. this time it's about why i think modern warfare ii is looking like it'll be the bee's knees. in essence, the reason i think the game will be not just incredible but actually competing with the high watermark of the series is because, well, all the people complaining about all the things that i like about it.
cohost doesn't seem like the sorta Site where the audience really cares about call of duty, so some context might be worth providing. modern warfare (2019) was pretty much explicitly designed to curb many of the cod playerbase's worst gameplay behaviors. the vocal part of the fanbase are all speed demon players exclusively using mp5s and quickscoping snipers trying to hit clips while crying about skill-based matchmaking. cod is hardly a tactical game but it became increasingly obvious that the playerbase was playing the game without a single thought other than hitting endorphin rushes. mw19 sought to rein this stuff in. sniper rifles have long scope times, enemies were louder, doors were all over the map meaning if you rush through someone will hear you, the radar was radically changed, the list goes on.
you'll be surprised to learn that said playerbase didn't like that very much! but it didn't matter because A) mw19 is the best-selling game in franchise history and B) freaks like me loved it. mw19 was the only game in the series that i felt came close to matching (and maybe even exceeding) the previous highwater mark: the game it got it's namesake from, call of duty 4: modern warfare. so while some of the more contentious design decisions were softened over mw19's lifespan, infinity ward remained firm in their conviction in keeping the game as one where people who aren't zoomers trying to hit clips can still enjoy themselves.
with the full reveal of the multiplayer suite of it's sequel, modern warfare ii (the roman numeral is important, so as to prevent confusion with 2009's modern warfare 2), it became instantly clear to me that infinity ward has defiantly opted to not give the hogs what they want. all the things that people hated are here (and more!) and i love every single part of it. the presence of "camper" mechanics like doors, weapon mantling, and generally audible footsteps? in. the refusal to revert dead silence from a "field upgrade" to a full blown perk so you have to actual consider how loud you're being? in. the controversial radar change that makes it so enemies only appear on your map during uav/radar sweeps, even while firing a weapon? in. even the cool little overview of the map that zooms in on your character upon respawning that apparently the playerbase fucking hates? also in.
this is on top of new things that they think suck that i think are really smart ideas that address specific complaints that i, a 27-year old oldhead, have always had with the series. the biggest new thing people hate is the perk system. rather than the tradition 3 seperate perk slots, there's now perk packages. these give you a total of 4 perks in 3 tiers. the first tier are two perks that you always have. these are typically the weaker but more foundational aspects of your loadout. the second tier are things that tend to alter how you play in a more significant fashion. the final "ultimate" tier are the truly powerful perks. the way the system works, you start the match with that first tier. as you play in the match, you progress to the 2nd and eventually 3rd tier perks. it's unclear to me how much of the progression is based on player performance or just time spent in match.
this change is, in my opinion, one of the best things in the game, and i sincerely hope it stays with as little fundamental change as possible. this is because this has 3 different effects. the first is the stated intention of the designers, which is to rectify the fact that historically most perks in the game go unused because they're just not as powerful as others. by collecting perks by usefulness instead of functionality, it makes the not-good perks instantly more worth your time to ponder and find the strengths of. second, it adds another level of flow to a match. whenever quick fix pops for me, i suddenly feel much more powerful than i did before, and i change how i play from then on. the final reason why i love it, and definitely the reason the fanbase hates it, is because it locks the best perks behind a gate that they can't open immediately in a match. specifically, i know that the ghost perk, which makes you immune to uav/radar sweeps, being in that final tier pisses them off the most. having to actually care about if a uav is up? potentially maybe having to carry a rocket-launcher to bring down such troublesome things? that simply won't do. i need to never ever think about anything beyond hitting clips.
i will admit, these opinions of mine are fueled by spite, after watching the last 3 years of slander for my favorite call of duty game. but seeing all the sorts of people who would post on a call of duty reddit board furious about these sort of things is so satisfying. knowing that they'll have to put up with this stuff for a full 2 years before treyarch saves them? even better.
p.s. as my friends will know, the actually most important part of this game for me is "how good are those first person animations?" i am also thoroughly happy to report that they are absolutely incredible. the weapons bounce in the hand while firing beautifully. the reload animations are better than sex. and the weapon inspection... heavens i'm getting the vapors. this will probably be the best call of duty game of all time. i'm so here for it.