Sledgehammer Games has pushed a new update for Call of Duty: WWII, reducing the effectiveness of one of the top assault rifle weapons.
The ITRA Burst, a semiautomatic assault rife, has seen several nerfs in the update, including burst cooldown, fire rate, Advanced Rifling attachment, and ADS re-centering. Sledgehammer explained the reasoning behind the nerf on Reddit.
“The data we gathered since the ITRA Burst’s release has shown that this weapon is out-performing the design intent,” the post reads. “The weapon is meant to perform based off the player’s ability to be accurate with every shot, and be penalized with misses. With the weapon’s current tuning, the data suggests that the weapon’s penalty for missing isn’t great enough, given its power and damage potential.”
This has been a common complaint among professional players in WWII as they felt that certain weapons—most notably the FG42 a few months ago—were so overpowered that no matter how good a player was with another weapon, they would lose a gunfight. This nerf could be a sign of progress and the developers listening to community feedback.
In addition to the ITRA Burst, another assault rifle has been nerfed in this update. The BAR saw slight reductions in ADS transition time and ADS transition time from sprint, which are changes intended to lessen the effectiveness of the weapon when using the Infantry Division.
Other notable changes include a fire-rate buff for the Gewehr 43 and improved accuracy for the semiautomatic pistols. Although the pistols have been very popular among pro players this season, Sledgehammer decided to buff them because it wants them to “yield more consistent results when shooting accurately.”
The second stage of the CWL Pro League is quickly approaching, and it should be interesting to see how the meta shifts and how players respond to these changes heading into the back half of the season.
