Infinity Ward outlined some of the changes made to Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 in response to feedback from the game’s beta prior to launch later this week.
In a post on the studio’s website, the team broke down several categories of change, including audio, UI and motion. Most of these changes came from feedback about the multiplayer, but will also apply to the story campaign.
All Field Upgrades in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
The full list of changes is as follows:
Enemy Visibility
We’ve added diamond icons above enemies’ heads. This should make it easier for players to clearly identify opponents in the game. In addition, we continued to adjust the lighting and contrast for better enemy visibility.
audio
We’ve shortened the overall range of footstep audio, allowing enemy players to get closer to targets before they can detect footsteps. We’ve also continued to tweak the teammate’s footstep audio, which will now be quieter after feedback from the beta. The in-world trigger sound effect volume range for the Dead Silence field upgrade has been drastically reduced.
Third person
Following feedback from Beta, the sights now remain in the third person POV for low-zoom optics. Only high-zoom optics (starting with the ACOG and above) and specialty optics such as Hybrids and Thermals will return to first person POV. We think this will improve the third person experience while keeping the gameplay balanced. Feedback on this mode has been very positive and we will continue to explore its use as a modifier.
weapons
We have continued to customize weapons in the game following both beta player feedback and game data. Players can expect more details on weapon tuning as we continue to support post-launch.
user interface
We’ve worked hard on numerous user interface updates that make accessing and customizing your gear seamless. We’ve made improvements to menu navigation and will continue to optimize our UX.
Movement
Slide, ledge hanging and diving have been further refined. We also addressed some movement exploits after the beta.
Matchmaking
We’ve made some changes that aim to reduce the amount of lobbying being lifted between matches. We look forward to testing this on a large scale and getting feedback.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is coming to PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S on Friday, October 28, although the campaign will be playable for those who pre-ordered the game digitally since October 20. Watch for more Information IGN’s review of the campaign (or watch the video version below), describing it as “not overwhelming and too familiar.”
Kenneth Shepard is a writer on games, entertainment and queerness on the internet. Find him on Twitter at @shepardcdr and listen to his biweekly video game retrospective podcast Normandy FM, which currently covers Cyberpunk 2077.