MeinMMO author Maik Schneider has been covering Call of Duty for us for over 2.5 years. During this time, the shooter series has changed, primarily due to the successful Battle Royale Warzone. Above all, Maik appreciates one development in the ‘new CoD’, and if the responsible parties continue the Warzone path, Modern Warfare 2 could become a milestone.
Top graphics, refreshing gameplay ideas, few bugs, and please no World War II – this is probably the typical requirement profile for a new Call of Duty at the moment.
CoD 2022 is called Modern Warfare 2 and aims to fulfill all these desires.
There is one thing I want to add 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 all the other CoD games. You can think what you want of the Battle Royale, but the communication between player and developer has developed greatly in recent years.
I have been playing Call of Duty regularly for 14 years now, know every title at least superficially, and some have even been played to death until they were no longer enjoyable. What I have rarely or never experienced is a healthy relationship between the developers and the community of the largest shooter franchise.
This is so important, and Warzone currently shows how this can function properly. If Modern Warfare 2 takes a cue from this, the latest CoD game could actually usher in a new era for the series.
I will discuss how CoD MW2 could benefit from a better feedback culture and how Warzone is currently implementing this successfully.
If you want to take a look at the gameplay of CoD MW2 first, you can find here in the video almost a complete mission from the campaign:
Become the biggest fans of your own community!
If you ask me today whether CoD MW2 will be a hit, I would give a clear: definitely. Even if shooter colleague Marko Jevtic wouldn’t fully agree with me.
Cold War and Vanguard simply couldn’t escape the large shadow of CoD MW 2019, and Modern Warfare seems to be exactly the right setting again.
In terms of graphics and shooter gameplay, I have no worries. Call of Duty regularly delivers top performances.
What could make it a milestone, what could even make it the best Call of Duty ever, is the communication and feedback strategy of Warzone.
Warzone celebrates its fans, pays much more attention to feedback today, and this is also noticeable in the changes to the game.
I wish for more of this, and that’s why I can finally recommend Warzone to my friends and fellow players again:
Warzone found the right way
I do not want to claim that the communication in Warzone between developer and player is perfect. Not at all. Topics like the “Field of View” settings on consoles and “Skill-Based Matchmaking” still cause a lot of frustration today.
And the first 1.5 years of Warzone were marked by “secret” changes to the game, little communication, and a lot of closedness. But then suddenly something changed, which I want to illustrate with three examples:
- Experts for their own gameplay meta
- Explanation of the thoughts behind changes
- Gameplay decisions over community
Experts for their own gameplay meta
It sounds completely absurd, but in the first year of Warzone, the adjustments to the weapons were sometimes very arbitrary. Strong meta-weapons weren’t nerfed for a long time, and generally, there was rather little change to the weapons.
Then, almost overnight, the changes suddenly made sense. I remember an analysis by CoD expert “TheXclusiveAce” who said in a video about Warzone: “I think they hired someone who is now taking care of this”.
Since then, we receive detailed patch notes, regular weapon adjustments, and it is noticeable that Warzone is intensively dealing with weapon balance and the corresponding player feedback.
Explanation of the thoughts behind changes
The developers now regularly explain their thoughts behind changes in the patch notes for Warzone. They even reveal their long-term strategy. Currently, the changes in the Battle Royale are based on three pillars:
- More counters
- All mechanics should have corresponding counter gameplay
- More movement
- You should move forward faster, and movement techniques will be expanded
- More playtime
- The time you spend watching in the match should be reduced
A clear message to all players about how things will proceed. Something to potentially look forward to. Communicating such thoughts helps us players to understand decisions and gives us a glimpse into the future.
Gameplay decisions over community
The preliminary peak of Warzone’s feedback culture: A player survey on Twitter that actually had an impact on the game.
The developers asked whether players want more health points in Warzone. It was about an increase of 50 health points, which would raise the health with armor to 300.
With over 75,000 votes, nearly 72% of participants voted for an increase, which then came into play with the Mid-Season 2 – first for the large Battle Royale and later also for the modes with fewer players.
Such a feedback culture brings us as players closer to the development process, creating connection and understanding.
One player has particularly caught my attention positively: Ted Timmins, the Senior Creative Director of Warzone developer Raven Software. Time and again, he has been seen participating in contentious discussions in the past few months and providing clarifications.
If CoD MW2 flops, the entire series wobbles
The Call of Duty community has always been used to receiving little to no answers. In the past, the authorities rarely responded to the concerns of players, especially after the game had been released.
The low willingness to communicate from the authorities is also one reason why the CoD community has developed into a rather toxic direction. No official instance has even attempted to do anything against these trends in the community. If anything, only the ban hammer spoke.
With CoD Vanguard, this “disconnection” recently reached a preliminary peak. The setting in World War II went far past the wishes of many players, and the zombie mode was torn apart by the otherwise so engaged zombie community.
With Warzone, Call of Duty has proven that the responsible parties can respond to feedback. They even use it to shape and improve the Battle Royale.
And it is high time for the premium titles to adopt this behavior from Warzone. Vanguard already showed this in parts. However, due to the overwhelming negative feedback on the game, the willingness to communicate after release quickly declined again.
Although Vanguard was not a flop, it sold excellently compared to other games. But it was weaker than Cold War. And Cold War was already quite a bit lower than CoD MW 2019.
If Modern Warfare 2 does not achieve the turnaround, Call of Duty will quickly be seen as a problem franchise at Activision again, similar to after Black Ops 4, the CoD from 2018. And suddenly, the important annual premium releases are at risk.
I truly believe that the key to success lies in engaging more with us players, actively moderating feedback, and discussing ideas to improve the game together with us. Especially if there really is no CoD 2023.
Then I might even believe the authorities this year when they say: “Experience the new generation of Call of Duty.” Then CoD MW2 will be the hit of the year!
I also want to know your opinion on the topic. Discuss my thesis about the new CoD in the comments or tell me what, in your opinion, should not be missing in CoD MW2.
If you want to inform yourself about the announced innovations of Modern Warfare 2 now, then take a look here: The 5 most important innovations in CoD MW2 and why I can only think of Warzone 2
