GazzaGarratt

Yes, here we are again. Another CoD and another year of what the hell the next developer screwed up - or did they this year?
 
Call of Duty Modern Warfare has certainly divided opinion after a strong and solid Beta that was released, coupled with early news that there will be no loot boxes to the sounds of joyous high fives in the community. The game has managed to retain a lot of positives from the beta into the launch unlike other CoDs and has been highly praised on the fact they've kept many underlying mechanics and gameplay to the level that everyone wants.
 
So why the hell are people still hating on this game?
 
Well, we all love opinions don't we? And when it comes to the Call of Duty franchise its unlike any other game that i see out there over the past 5, 6, 7 years that takes this level of criticism. You see, most criticism that is strong usually comes with emotion. And emotion for this game is strong. Possibly the highest I ever see on a game, because it is the basics of boys and their toys imagination of being Action Man: The Greatest Hero of Them All (don't lie, you sang that line in your head, didn't you).
 
So my view of the world as I see it right now for this CoD is that people jump to the negatives straight away, forgetting the positives. I understand that to a degree - this one still has some glaringly obvious ones.
 
Maps - The most open maps a CoD has ever had. Yet still manages to have a 762 snugs for camper based play to pick you off 4 seconds after you spawn Skillbased Matchmaking - Not a massive negative for me, but i've had the odd game whereby you get a Road Rash punch in the face at 150mph, and the same happens every 2 seconds until the round is up Challenges - Can be cumbersome in how they are implemented and only one at a time is frustrating at times Menus/UI - Overall, that is a shambles, like most CoDs because they do not care about it  
Most importantly though, I find its the behaviours we're all used to that come out because we want CoD to do well so we can get that nostalgic feeling back when we played early CoDs and ransacked every team in town.
 
Let me be clear - This game has the ability to give you that feeling. Open your mind to it.
 
For all the weaknesses, the pros are clear as day and when they get things right, regardless if it is part of Activision, the developers deserve some credit for listening to the community. What am i talking about? Well:
 
Gunplay - These has to be one of the best CoD games ever for overall gunplay. Guns feel solid. Nearly every gun does (apart from Pistols at the time of writing this but thats not fundamentally a bad thing). Gunsmith - The amount of customisation thats available at your disposal is huge. It gives the game a sense of depth to each and every gun. When the game is all about the guns, you want variety at your disposal and you have stacks of it here Changing Loadouts IN GAME - Why o why we have never had this is insanity. It looks like the smallest of Quality of Life changes but it makes a huge difference to the game. Loadouts can be really overwhelming to most people and usually once you've made it you'll stick with it but now theres more incentive to change an attachment mid-game and try more varied loadouts No Prestige - I see this as a massive plus which to some may be surprising. To Prestige in CoD literally helps nothing other than seeing how huge you wanted your forehead to be. I was with many others that used to level up to 55 and never Prestige as i wanted access to all the guns. This way you have that but can still unlock further items and attachments the more you go into the game. Having Season ranks after that level is a way they can keep a certain amount of grind to the game with access to vary the offering to the player base with specific seasonal content in the future. Its a great model to have to help players return more often Choice - In my opinion there's more than enough choice in gamemodes AND maps. Whilst maps require some fine tuning, they aren't all as bad as people say they are. Apart from Piccadilly. Piccadilly can die by being sucked up in large Black Hole with loot boxes. Some have some great verticality and decent sized lanes that have a twisted on how interlocking doors connect each lane. Just because its never been done before doesn't mean its a bad thing. Gameplay - Over the past week i've noticed it doesn't matter what style of game you play any longer. It all depends on what you mode you play in. You can run around all you like in Hardcore and dominate the scoreboard like a madman, or, take it safe and steady in Core. Score and Killstreaks - Not too hard and not too easy to obtain. Not many seem OP and the ones that do, usually can be shot out of the sky reasonably quickly. UAV spamming doesn't seem an issue any longer like it was in the beta. The Personal Radar is a great alternative and also gives away your position so with great reward comes with great risk.  
Veteran CoD players really need to give this time and try all gamemodes. Clearly, in a party it will ALWAYS be better because people will react to how you're feeling and make you feel brighter. Even if you're team is getting spanked. Our mindsets have to change from this CoD forward. We can't just keep labelling it same old CoD anymore and also running around trying to find the first piece of info to royally fuck it over.
 
Give yourself a fresh outlook on a game that has usual dusty name.

The new Season of Dawn is nearly upon us. And as we get closer to the ‘shortest day of the year’ (22nd December if you wondered) some gamers are struggling with the same lack of daylight we are used to, or content in the case of Destiny 2.
 
 
A beautiful trailer as always by Bungie displayed less content than some Destiny lovers hoped for. Then the Bungie stream felt even more sparse with information as they attempted to go back to allowing players to find new things on the launch day rather than give every single bit of info out to the general public. Where the problems seem to lie now for Bungie is the capability of being able to meet the evolving expectations of some of the Destiny community to deliver what is seen as new enriched endgame content on a regular quarterly cycle – without the help and support from Activision and studios like Vicarious Visions (who made two very good seasons might I add). I think as soon as the words ‘Raid’, ‘Trials’ and ‘Dungeon’ didn’t feature in the latest information the whole season became a huge let-down for the masses. It's not even here until December 10th.
 
I won’t try and explain Game Development and how hard it is as I haven’t been one. However, I do get system development and releases work which isn’t too far away to game development cycles. You can’t just magic up Raids, new gamemodes and Dungeons within 3 months. You need Requirements, Options, Solutions. Then it’s Build, Test, Build, Test, Build, Test, Fault Fix, Test, Get Ready to Release, etc. Maybe because someone thinks they know exactly what everyone wants they can just build and forget testing it because Benny over here knows best. Things take time and you can’t just turn the ship around if they think the next imminent content is not going to land well. Equally, getting more employees isn't an answer that solves problems overnight.
 
However, going towards the Season model of dropping a portion of content each 3 months will automatically change mentality in how gamers will fundamentally play the game. FOMO can immediately kick in so they rush through content as quick as they can. I've felt this big style. No one is a fan of time-gating content, but hey, with ravenous gamers not taking in any of the time and effort spent on well-made content I can see why they do it. That’s not endorsing it though. They’ve set their own expectations by committing to 4 drops rather than 3 in a Season Pass all with less developers and less income streams. There’s no wonder why Eververse has so many thing on sale for Silver only. They have to continually make money somewhere.
 
‘Who gives a Rat’s-Ass Thursdays’
 
Well, seemingly not many players. But that is the world we live in. No matter the fact that Bungie have explained very clearly early doors that content will be readjusted and spread across the season because they can’t build things as quick as they could. No matter the fact that Seasons cost generally less than previous ones and cost approx. £6-7 when you have the pass. No matter the fact we don’t know all the content for the next 3 months as they want people to discover it on their own. No matter the actual content that is being delivered is still considerable when you list it down. No matter…oh you get the point.
 
Datto put it very well immediately after the stream. People don’t care how much effort goes into making good stuff. They just want to know when they’ll get it and is it good. Just like they don’t care how long it him to make a YouTube video or you not caring about me writing this essay. They just want the good shit. Well, if you have those expectations, unfortunately you need to ste; back into the real world.
 
Just because what you want isn’t there doesn’t also mean that the content is bad. We have to be more realistic and start reminding ourselves of what skills we learned or experiences we've had and adapt. Like when you we’re at school and we actually listened to people so we could understand how the world works. Or even if you were a D1 Guardian and played hours and hours when there was dramatically less content AND no regular updates.
 
Just strikes, crucible and a few raids. Good to take stock at these points.