In collaboration with Treyarch, Sledgehammer Games made substantial changes in the past two Modern Warfare 3 updates, which have major implications for the Call of Duty League.
As part of the Season 4 update, Modern Warfare 3 decreased footstep sounds for enemies, reworked the Hardpoint hills on 6 Star to exclude the pool point, removed exploding propane barrels on Highrise, buffed the MCW headshot multiplier, buffed Rival-9 damage ranges, and buffed the Cruise Missile damage range. Going back even further, the Trophy System was reworked in the Season 3 Reloaded update to be destroyed in two shots instead of three and the entire Boots Perk category saw a massive overhaul.
Dexerto’s Jacob Hale says Call of Duty League Major 4 will be played on the latest patch. This means all of these changes will be present in league matches starting on Friday. Previously, the Call of Duty League used an old patch and didn’t use the Season 3 or Season 3 Reloaded updates, and there was no guarantee that the pro players would use the latest update either.
Because enemy footsteps make less noise, we will likely see professional players experiment with new Boots since Covert Sneakers eliminating footstep audio is no longer as important. And there will be plenty of options given the buffs to other Boot options in Season 3 Reloaded. In addition, it will be interesting to see how the Rival-9 and MCW changes have on SMG and AR players and how they stack up statistically against each other. Lastly, matches should flow better, given the 6 Star rotation changes, and players will die less frequently on Highrise.
Historically, the Call of Duty League doesn’t rotate new maps or weapons into its regular rotation. Treyarch has been much more active during the Modern Warfare 3 season, keeping the viewing experience fresh and exciting. It all started in late March, as Ranked Play hosted a public playtest to experiment with new potential maps.
A mix of player and professional player feedback resulted in the Call of Duty League adding Vista and 6 Star in place of Invasion and Skidrow. Then, Treyarch held a public playtest in Ranked Play to test out new weapons to potentially replace the Rival-9 and MCW. This trial didn’t amount to any changes, yet its still promising to see future changes aren’t ruled out.
