One thing Modern Warfare 2 has to inherit from Warzone – Then it will be the hit of the year
MeinMMO author Maik Schneider has been supporting Call of Duty for us for over 2.5 years. The shooter series has changed over time, which was primarily due to the successful Battle Royale Warzone. Above all, Maik appreciates one development in the “new CoD” and if those responsible continue the Warzone course, Modern Warfare 2 could become a milestone.
Top graphics, refreshing gameplay ideas, few bugs and please no Second World War – this is what the typical requirement profile for a new Call of Duty looks like at the moment.
CoD 2022 is called Modern Warfare 2 and is preparing to fulfill all these wishes.
I would like to add one more thing to this wish list. A “feature” that Call of Duty has neglected for years: direct communication with players.
This one thing makes Warzone so much better than any other CoD game. You can think what you want of the battle royale, but the communication between player and developer has developed tremendously in recent years.
I’ve been playing Call of Duty regularly for 14 years now, know every title at least superficially and some were played dead until it didn’t work anymore. What I’ve never or seldom experienced is a healthy relationship between the developers and the community of the largest shooter franchise.
That would be so important and Warzone is currently showing how this can work properly. If Modern Warfare 2 takes this as an example, the latest CoD game could actually usher in a new era for the series.
I go into more detail on how CoD MW2 would benefit from a better feedback culture and how Warzone is already successfully implementing this.
If you want to take a look at the gameplay of CoD MW2 beforehand, you can find almost a complete mission from the campaign here in the video:
Become the biggest fans of your own community!
If you ask me today if CoD MW2 will be a hit, I’ll give you a clear answer: definitely. Even if shooter colleague Marko Jevtic would not agree with me unreservedly.
Cold War and Vanguard just couldn’t get out of the big shadow of CoD MW 2019 and Modern Warfare seems to be exactly the right setting again at the moment.
In terms of graphics and shooter gameplay, I’m not worried. Call of Duty regularly delivers top performances.
But what could make it a milestone, maybe even the best Call of Duty ever, is Warzone’s communication and feedback strategy.
Warzone celebrates its fans, is much more responsive to feedback these days, and that’s reflected in the changes to the game as well.
That’s exactly what I wish for more of and that’s why I can finally recommend Warzone to my friends and fellow players again:
Is it still worth playing CoD Warzone in 2022? The 5 best changes of the last months
Warzone found the right way
I don’t want to claim that Warzone’s communication between developer and player is perfect. no way. There is still a lot of frustration today with issues like field of view settings on consoles and skill-based matchmaking.
And the first 1.5 years of Warzone were also characterized by “secret” changes to the game, little communication and a lot of reticence. But then suddenly something happened that I would like to illustrate with three examples:
- Custom gameplay meta experts
- Explanation of the thinking behind changes
- Gameplay decisions via community
Custom gameplay meta experts
It sounds completely insane, but in the first year of the Warzone, the adjustments to the weapons were sometimes very arbitrary. Strong meta-weapons were not nerfed for a long time and in general weapon changes were held back.
And then, almost overnight, the changes suddenly made sense. I remember an analysis from CoD expert “TheXclusiveAce” saying in a video about Warzone: “I think they hired someone to take care of it now”.
Since then, we’ve been getting detailed patch notes, regular weapon adjustments, and it’s noticeable that Warzone is working intensively on weapon balance and the corresponding player feedback.
CoD Warzone: The Best Weapons With Setups – Constantly Updated
Explanation of the thinking behind changes
The developers now regularly explain their thoughts behind changes in the Warzone patch notes. They even reveal their long-term strategy. The changes in Battle Royale are currently based on three pillars:
- More counters
- All mechanics should have a corresponding counter gameplay
- More movement
- You should progress faster and movement techniques will be expanded
- More playing time
- The time you spend spectating the match should be reduced
A clear message to all players on how to proceed. Something to look forward to. The communication of such thoughts helps us players to understand decisions and gives an outlook on the future.
Gameplay decisions via community
The climax of the Warzone feedback culture so far: A player poll on Twitter that actually had an impact on the game.
So the developers asked if players wanted more life points in Warzone. It was an increase of 50 health to health, which went up to 300 health with armor.
With more than 75,000 votes, almost 72% of the participants voted for an increase, which then came into play with Mid-Season 2 – first for the big Battle Royale and later also for the modes with fewer players.
Such a feedback culture brings us as players closer to the development process, which creates solidarity and understanding.
One player in particular caught my eye: the Senior Creative Director of Warzone developer Raven Software Ted Timmins. In recent months, he has been caught again and again taking part in controversial discussions and providing clarification.
If CoD MW2 flops, the entire row shakes
The Call of Duty community has always been used to getting little to no responses. Only rarely did those responsible react to the concerns of the players in the past. Especially if the game was already out.
The low willingness to provide information on the part of those responsible is also a reason why the CoD community has developed in a rather toxic direction. No official authority has even remotely attempted to do anything about these tendencies in the community. If so, then only the ban hammer spoke.
With CoD Vanguard, this “disconnectedness” recently reached a temporary peak. The setting in the Second World War went far beyond the wishes of many players, the zombie mode was torn up by the otherwise committed zombie community.
Call of Duty Loses 50 Million Players in One Year – What’s Going So Wrong?
With Warzone, Call of Duty has proven that those responsible can respond to feedback. Even use it to shape the battle royale and make it better.
And it’s high time for the premium titles to adopt this Warzone habit as well. Vanguard already showed the beginnings of this. But due to the extensive negative feedback on the game, the willingness to communicate quickly decreased again after the release.
While Vanguard wasn’t a flop, it sold extremely well compared to other games. But it was weaker than Cold War. And Cold War was already well below CoD MW 2019.
Call of Duty: Vanguard is only half as relevant to the release as Modern Warfare – where’s the hype?
If Modern Warfare 2 doesn’t turn the tide, Call of Duty will quickly become a problem franchise at Activision, similar to Black Ops 4, the CoD of 2018. And suddenly the important annual premium releases are on the brink.
I truly believe that the key to success is to engage more with us players, actively moderate feedback, and share ideas with us to improve the game. Especially if there really is no CoD 2023.
Then I might even believe those responsible this year in their obligatory saying: “Experience the new generation of Call of Duty”. Then CoD MW2 will be the hit of the year!
I’m also interested in your opinion on the subject. Discuss with me my thesis on the new CoD in the comments or tell me what you think should not be missing in CoD MW2.
Would you rather find out about the announced innovations of Modern Warfare 2, then have a look here: The 5 most important innovations in CoD MW2 and why I can only think of Warzone 2
Reference-mein-mmo.de