As with any Call of Duty game, Infinity Ward’s Modern Warfare is a work in progress. Multiplayer maps are added regularly, new modes are joining the fray, and weapons will be balanced to make sure that everything feels fair online. This week, IW released a patch that should address a few of the game’s more pressing balance issues, including a nerf to a very overpowered gun.
Since its release Call of Duty: Modern Warfare has had trouble with the 725 shotgun. The effective range and damage spread on the weapon are so strong that it can eliminate opponents at distance with a single shot.
As a result, most figured that a nerf was coming and now it’s here. Post-patch the 725 shotgun will take longer to ADS, have a larger spread when firing from the hip, and do less damage at range.
While the 725 was at the top of the list, a few other weapons like the M4A1 Assault Rifle, the M91 LMG, and the PKM saw nerfs to their damage range as well. It was mostly nerfs, but SMGs and Pistols did get some boosts to their damage range along with a few other tweaks.
Alongside the 725 nerf, the list of most wanted changes included footsteps, which have been addressed in the patch. It’s a lot of technical jargon, but the patch should make footsteps better reflect where a player is, both in terms of whether they are behind geometry and how far away they are. Infinity Ward also says that an additional, large footstep change is on the way that will make footsteps quieter when crouching and in ADS.
Other changes in the patch include a reduced trigger width for claymores, more recoil when mounting, and general stability fixes. The full patch notes are below:
WHAT’S NEW
NEW FREE MAPS!
We’ve added Krovnik Farmland to Ground War and Shoot House to Multiplayer!
NEW PLAYLISTS AND A NEW MODE!
Going live on Friday...
Hardpoint is now in rotation!
Shoot House 24/7! This includes a mixture of Team Deathmatch, Domination, Kill Confirmed, and Headquarters
And yes, all of this new content is available for everyone, for free, across all platforms! We’re so excited to share this new content with all of you and this is just the beginning. Thank you all for playing and keep the feedback coming!
Backend fixes to prevent crashes and improve stability across all platforms, include dev errors, and various performance fixes.
Fix for a few bugs where some streaks and Field Upgrades were able to be flown out of bounds without penalty. General out of bound fixes were also added.
Fix for a bug where a player being killed by an enemy with a Variable Zoom Scope would not see the zoom function in the killcam
Fix for the Semtex warning audio being heard at the same volume whether in a building or outside
In Headquarters, players were able to place a Tac Insert and respawn when their team owned the point. This has been fixed.
Fix for various collision issues across maps
Added UI that shows when XP events are active in playlists menus
Sprint and Tactical Sprint speeds are now back to speeds in Beta
Fix for a bug where the progress of the bomb defusal can be seen by the team that planted the bomb
Fix for a bug that revealed players to UAVs when they fired their weapons, even if they had Ghost and a silencer equipped
Fixed an issue where if multiple Personal Radars were active on a team, and are both marking the same enemy, only one player would see the enemy on their minimap.
RIOT SHIELD:
Fixed an issue where the throwing knife and Thermite weren’t causing the shield to go on the player’s back when thrown. We’ve also fixed the issue where explosive splash damage wasn’t working consistently. We’ll continue to tune the Riot Shield in future updates.
CLAYMORES:
Detonating an enemy claymore with bullets is now non-lethal when at full health. We’ve also reduced the trigger and damage radius and also reduced the damage width to better match the trigger width.
BATTLE CHATTER:
Removed the ability for enemies to hear when they’ve been called out by the opposing team. We also adjusted the enemy callouts so they are never from your Operator. Enemy callouts now use a more restricted cone at the hip and even more restricted in ADS when calculating whether or not to trigger. We’ll continue to monitor this and make additional tweaks to Battle Chatter in future updates.
MOUNTING:
Slight increase to recoil while mounting.
PERKS:
E.O.D. now clamps damage to a non-lethal amount, assuming the player is at full health
LIGHTING:
Continued updates to player visibility in dark windows and dark areas.
FOOTSTEPS:
We’ve increased the occlusion percentage to filter footstep sounds behind geometry and adjusted the footstep volume at a distance. We have another large footstep change coming in the next update which will make crouch and ADS movement significantly quieter. Stay tuned!
CHALLENGES/PROGRESSION/RANK
Daily Challenges and Active Missions are getting a full sweep of testing and fixes. We’ll have more updates to these systems in future updates.
Fix for a bug where the Infiltrator challenge was not tracking properly
Fix for launchers not giving XP when shooting down killstreaks
Fix for a bug where planting or defusing 5 bombs in Cyber Attack or SnD was not tracking properly
Camo challenge for “Kills After a Reload” didn’t give the player enough time to acquire a kill, so time has been increased
Fix for a bug where your XP require to reach the next rank was higher than the value needed
WEAPON BALANCE
725 Shotgun: Increase to ADS and Hip Spread, reduced damage range
M4A1 Assault Rifle: Reduced damage range, small recoil increase
Assault Rifles: Increased hip spread to reduce effectiveness up close, less damage at long range for full auto 5.56 rifles
SMGs: Increased move speed, increased ADS move speed, small reduction in sprint out time
UZI SMG: Increased damage range
MG34 LMG: Increased hip spread, damage range reduction, small ADS slow down
M91 LMG: Increased hip spread, small damage range reduction
PKM: Increased hip spread, medium damage range reduction
Pistols: Increased move speed, reduced sprint out time, increased damage range
Crouch and Prone no longer adjust recoil
CALL OF DUTY LEAGUE
Updated rulesets for CDL competitive modes in private match
CYBER ATTACK
Fix for a bug where a player could use lose their primary weapon and would be unable to see their viewmodel after being revived by a teammate
GROUND WAR
Fix for a bug where players would sometimes be unable to pick a spawn location
Fix for a bug where a Tac Insert could cause players to spawn on the enemy home base
GENERAL BUG FIXES
Pick up Intel! – In the Operations, explore Verdansk to find additional backstory information of Verdansk and the Operators.
Fix for scoreboards displaying incorrect data
XP adjustments and general backend fixes
Various fixes for out of bounds and parachute exploits
Respawn timer no longer stays on screen after teammates are revived from bleedout
Fix for issue where the Munitions were not usable after respawning via Gunship
Fix for losing your weapons when picking up the core
Achievements can now be unlocked in CP
Fix for issue where players could spawn with their weapons in the downed state
Picked up Munitions no longer carry over from match to match. Only the Munitions you purchase with points will.
When respawning via the Gunship, you will no longer be given the Tank role
Selecting an Allegiance Operator or Allegiance as a favorite faction will now properly assign the voice of the correct operator
Operation Headhunter: Fix for a bug where players are not able to lock missiles onto the final boss helicopter
Operation Crosswind: Adjusted stealth for gameplay
Operation Paladin:Fix for a bug where there was no UI or indicator of where to go or how to finish the objective after defending the 3rd arms crate
Fix for a bug where the default weapon was different than the weapon a player would hold if they were placed in Last Stand
As players grow accustomed to what is already available in Modern Warfare’s multiplayer, Infinity Ward is adding some variety by tossing new maps into various modes. The Ground War mode, which is a lot of like a Battlefield multiplayer experience, is getting the Krovnik Farmland map and the Shoot House map is being added to all of Multiplayer.
The patch later today will also add Hardpoint to the rotation of Multiplayer modes and there will be a new Shoot House playlist that will offer a mixture of Deathmatch, Domination, Kill Confirmed, and Headquarters on the map.
Depending on how strong the 725 shotgun nerf is, this could be the most significant Call of Duty: Modern Warfare patch yet. Players have been complaining about the gun since launch and hopefully, now it won’t be as overpowered.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is available now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.