Infinity Ward have promised a slew of upgrades to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 based on player feedback, so it will be in excellent condition when it comes to the game next month. Expect tweaks to footstep sounds, enemy visibility, weapon adjustments, and other issues.
Infinity Ward''s blog post highlighted a few things they''ll be tweaking in time for the game''s release. First off, the "volume of footsteps" and how they can both be friendly and enemy audio... whatever that entails. This is why some people claim it''s fantastic to be able to pinpoint enemy footsteps so clearly, while others argue it''s clear, encouraging only one playstyle: listen for footsteps, wait for enemies to round corners, then blame them.
Is there any reason to think about the MW2 beta footstep audio? I was a fan! It was refreshing to be able to better pinpoint my sworn enemies, even as enemy footsteps in the previous game (and Warzone, apparently) are barely perceptible.
Next, enemy visibility is being improved so that "more visual representation of opponents that isn''t the traditional nameplate." After the beta''s first week, Infinity Ward made several changes to improve enemy tracking by reducing "muzzle smoke opacity," or rather making it appear like a smokebomb every time you fire your pistol.
In week two, some players reported that they struggled to identify enemies due to the usual COD chaos, so it''s clear that the devs will continue to experiment with ways to increase visual clarity without imposing nameplates on player models. This is an interesting suggestion, considering that namesplates have been a part of a number of COD games over the years. I don''t think the nameplates being a thing, however.
Elsewhere, the developers hope to fix lobbying disbanding randomly so teams can better stand together, alongside a slew of "weapon tuning changes," which they haven''t done much more detail on. I imagine the AK47U will see some tweaks, but that thing is tragic.
The third-person mode for the game will be enhanced with camera shoulder-swapping, and the larger scale Ground War and Invasion modes are getting some bug fixes. Oh, and some AI improvements for Invasion. Nice.
The whole game is now available on October 28th, with Warzone 2.0 coming later on November 16th.
Activision Blizzard is now being investigated by UK regulators for competition concerns.
