The Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 beta is now over, and while there has been plenty to praise and celebrate in the debut of Infinity Ward’s latest multiplayer offering, there are some fairly long lists of changes and criticisms that some top Call of Duty influencers are now posting.
With the MW2 beta wrapping up, various creators such as ‘JGOD’, ‘Espresso’, and ‘TheXclusiveAce’ have all uploaded in-depth verdicts, with the majority agreeing on which aspects of Modern Warfare 2 multiplayer were enjoyable and which need some fine-tuning.
On the positive side of things, the graphical quality of Modern Warfare 2 has been pretty much universally applauded. The same can be said for just how much content was crammed into the beta across its two long weekends, with a wide variety modes and maps – JGOD also dubs the new third-person mode as a “hit”.
JGOD, TheXclusiveAce and Espresso also agree that the overall quality of the maps was good too, with the bigger maps being excellent for Ground War and the 6v6 maps certainly offering a more traditional experience, with fewer doors getting in the way too.
Other positives mentioned by both these creators and the wider community also include having an FOV slider on console, the speed at which weapons can be unlocked in the new Gunsmith, and the ability to toggle between killstreaks or scorestreaks not being locked behind a perk.
However, it’s fair to say that in most breakdowns of the beta, the list of things that need to be improved outweighs the list of things that are perfected already.
One area that has been talked about a lot during the MW2 beta is the new perk package system. This aims to reward players with their third and fourth perks at various points in a match, but it’s safe to say that this change hasn’t been a universal hit. TheXclusiveAce calls the new system “an unnecessary change for the sake of change”, while Espresso believes having three base perks and only one chargeable ultimate perk is the way forward. JGOD is also not a fan of the current system, saying that gaining those extra MW2 perks can “lead to steamrolling” for those that make strong starts in a match.
Another big area of criticism is around spawns in Modern Warfare 2. While spawns tend to always be a bit ropey in early builds of any CoD game, MW2’s squad spawn system – and the overhead, zooming in redeploy animation – have been blasted by JGOD in particular.
“There’s almost no correlation there to common sense logic in terms of the way the map should operate in terms of sides,” JGOD says in his breakdown video. “They [Infinity Ward] literally copy and pasted it [from Modern Warfare 2019], and they have made no acknowledgement to their crappy spawn system.”
Time to kill (TTK) speeds in MW2 are once again quite quick, and a lot of creators want to see this slowed down for full launch in order to have more skill-based gunfights. JGOD recommends simply turning down the headshot multiplier a tad to prevent some of those seemingly impossible killcams that were witnessed during the beta, and Espresso is “in favour” of increasing TTKs overall as well.
Although players have been crying out for some decent and reliable footstep audio for a while in Call of Duty, MW2’s footsteps have been noticeably loud, and that’s something creators pretty much across the board want to see turned down a bit for full launch as it can punish those with a run-and-gun playstyle, even if you’re using the Ninja perk or Dead Silence field upgrade.
Those were the main areas of contention that have had widespread agreement, but there are a whole host of debatable or smaller issues that the likes of JGOD, TheXclusiveAce, Espresso, and more want to see addressed. However, some of these – such as enemy indicators and red dots on the minimap – have also been praised by many in the community too, particularly those that are newer to the series.
With countless more videos, Twitter threads, and livestream ramblings, it’s clear that everyone has a specific wishlist for Modern Warfare 2 multiplayer. However, there are some items on those list that seem more universal than others, and hopefully Infinity Ward will have time to address them ahead of the game’s release next month.