CoD fans fear MW3 is about to make one big gun problem even worse

Call of Duty fans were over the moon after Activision announced content in Modern Warfare 2 would carry over into this November’s sequel, but as the hype of the Modern Warfare 3 announcement wanes, worry has set in over the state of the game’s weapons.

The long-running joke that CoD titles never actually change has resurfaced once more as players raised questions this week over how boring weapon archetypes have become. As weapons have been ported over from Modern Warfare (2019), many have noted the bulk of the guns within certain archetypes, such as assault rifles, feel identical.

“I would much rather have a smaller selection of unique guns than a massive collection that mostly feel and perform the same,” read one post among the growing CoD outcry.

Weapon customization and options were extremely limited back in the days of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2007), where players could only choose from one to two attachments and a total of 26 weapons. Fast forward to MW2 (2021) and the armory has expanded beyond 60 weapons, most of which are capable of up to five attachments.

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Many have argued this was an incredible improvement allowing players to adjust their weapons systems to suit their playstyle for multiplayer, Warzone, and DMZ. However, as time has gone on, a lack of balancing has seen a bunch of weapons emerge far ahead of their peers while most feel identical to one another.

It’s this lack of “personality” that has players worried about MW3, which is set to feature every current MW2 weapon plus some returning favorites from the original title.

Of particular note, players brought up the introduction of “weapon families” in MW2 which sees a variety of weapons look and feel the same.

I have to agree with the consensus here too. I’ve been enjoying playing DMZ a lot more than multiplayer and even though the mode makes a little difference, my fully-kitted out FR Avancer feels too similar to my M4 or someone else’s AK.

At the same time, needing to level up weapons in different archetypes to access the attachments I want has been keeping the grind fresh enough for me. Switching to a light machine gun or a sniper rifle for a session as opposed to two assault rifles has been key, and many like myself hope Sledgehammer Games pushes harder for archetype balancing in MW3.

We’ll find out for sure when MW3’s beta begins on Oct. 6 before the game officially launches worldwide in early November.