Summary
The release ofCall of Duty: Modern Warfare 3is just around the corner, and even the most minor details about the title are becoming known to fans. With the campaign of the title recently releasing for players who pre-ordered the game, all eyes are now turning to its equally-anticipated multiplayer modes.
While it is already known thatCall of Duty: Modern Warfare 3multiplayer will be closely linked to its predecessor and pastCoDgames, it seems the title is rightfully unafraid of making ambitious changes to build up its own identity. This is evidenced with the recent news thatModern Warfare 3will be removing the franchise’s recent Weapon Tuning system for its multiplayer modes. While this system did have a lot of potential in giving power to players and aiding customization, the removal of Weapon Tuning going forward is the best decision for the franchise.
Modern Warfare 3’s Weapon Tuning Removal is the Smart Way Forward
Weapon Tuning was first introduced toCall of Dutywith 2022’sModern Warfare 2, which aimed to increase the complexity of its multiplayer armaments. With Weapon Tuning, players can take a granular approach to all of their weapons by tweaking a wide range of characteristics for guns as a whole, as well as their attachments.
In all, Weapon Tuning allows players to alter the following stats for certain weapons and attachments:
Players could find a perfect balance between these characteristics via Weapon Tuning to match a weapon to their playstyle, withWeapon Tuning only being available for a weapon once it reaches its max level. This seemed like a great way to reward players for mastery of a given weapon, although this also limited Weapon Tuning to more skilled players while making it difficult for casual players to be afforded the same benefits.
Modern Warfare 2’s Weapon Tuning and Balancing Issues
The largestissue with Weapon Tuning inModern Warfare 2concerned how it impacted weapon balancing for the title. While the base stats of guns could be changed by Activision to create a more level playing field, it is much more difficult to achieve balance while taking into account how Weapon Tuning could still turn certain weapons into overpowered forces.
If balancing changes were made with reference to how a gun could be altered by Weapon Tuning, then the base stats of a gun would be unfairly impacted, making certain weapons completely unusable for players who had not already mastered them. The fact thatModern Warfare 3is set to carry over all theweapons fromModern Warfare 2would have only compounded this issue if Weapon Tuning was present in the upcoming title. WithMW3boasting close to 90 weapons at launch, balancing is already going to be a huge issue, and Weapon Tuning on top of this could have been catastrophic for the release.
Sledgehammer Games thankfully confirmed that Weapon Tuning will be removed fromModern Warfare 3.It is sad that players will lose such a high level of creative customization for theirloadouts inModern Warfare 3, but the pre-existing balancing concerns of Weapon Tuning mean that its absence inModern Warfare 3is ultimately for the best.
