Following the exclusive Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II beta available over the last weekend on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 consoles (to read Kai’s impressions, head over here), the floodgates are about to open on PC and Xbox consoles, too. The second beta weekend begins tomorrow with PlayStation users getting immediate access, while PC and Xbox gamers will need to own an early access code (such as those we’re giving away in our raffle) to play right away. Then, the open beta will begin for them on Saturday, September 24th and last until Monday, September 26th.
Meanwhile, the developers at Infinity Ward have addressed initial Modern Warfare II beta feedback in a blog post published on their official site. There will be changes to footsteps sounds, target tracking and UI elements, while mini-map dot rules will stay the same for the time being. Infinity Ward also talked about Perks.
Mini-Map Dot Rules
- Currently in the Modern Warfare II Beta, we only show enemy player dots when a UAV is active. The design reason for this is that we do not want to punish players for firing their weapons. We also want players to actively search out the origin of a gunshot versus just traveling directly to where the dot is on the mini-map. We continue to gather feedback on how the game is playing in regards to this topic.
Target Tracking
- We’ve seen feedback that it is hard to track targets once you get into a firefight. We agree this is an issue and we have changes incoming to reduce muzzle smoke opacity and to increase the visibility of the muzzle flash to help engage someone who is firing at you. These changes should help with tracking your opponents in combat.
- We are also investigating more ways to visually differentiate Enemies and Friendlies outside of the standard nameplates above heads of the opposing players. We will be trying a few changes in Weekend Two… more on that later this week.
User Interface
- We’ve seen the feedback around difficulty editing perk packages, managing loadouts and accessing the armory. We have identified some UX issues as well as some bugs– these are things we won’t be able to adjust in time for Modern Warfare II Beta Weekend Two, but they are top of mind ahead of launch.
Perks
- We’ve seen varied feedback on the Perk Package system. Some players love it and others feel it’s an unnecessary departure from the original system. We feel it’s a nice shake up to how perks work and to the general progression of a match. We’ve also balanced the ultimate perks to be more powerful as you earn them later in the match. We’ll continue testing throughout Beta Weekend Two, including drastically accelerating the earn rate of these to see how players react. Our goal remains improving the flow of all perks ahead of launch.
- Dead Silence is another hot topic as many players have expressed that they would like to see it as a Perk instead of a Field Upgrade. We believe it is important to game health that rushers are not able to move at high speeds without consequence. Dead Silence as a Field Upgrade creates a balance between freedom of movement and predictability of combat.
Footsteps
- Footstep audio in week one of the Modern Warfare II Beta was very high, giving players long distance directional information about enemies. For Weekend Two we have some changes coming in. We are reducing the range of footstep audio for the various player movement states (jog, sprint and tactical sprint). This will help soften the cost of moving around the map. The second change is that enemy and friendly footsteps are now distinct. This should help players better understand what’s going on as things move around on the battlefield. More details to follow.
Slides
- Sentiment around the removal of slide-canceling remains positive. We are aware of the workaround and are contemplating how to handle it for Weekend Two of the Modern Warfare II beta. Additionally, we have some other slide changes for launch which will make this movement feel a bit more fluid and snappy.
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