The Call of Duty developers have once again restricted the weapon pool for MW3 ranked play, updating their list of banned weapons since the launch of Season 3. Fans aren’t sure if the growth of this list is healthy or detrimental to the game; While a good majority is in favor of the update, a good portion of the community finds it problematic.
Community reaction to MW3 ranked play restrictions
Maintaining balance and competitive fairness in ranked is a primary obligation of the Call of Duty developers. As the primary way to test your mettle against the best and see where you stand, there needs to be no exploits, cheats, or unfair advantages. However, some powerful weapons available to all players may be the biggest problem when it comes to fair and fun gameplay in ranked.
This has led the developers to further restrict the weaponry offered to all players, removing weapons such as the HRM-9, RAM-9, WSP-Swarm, Holger 556, MTZ 556 and BP50. Some of them are fan-favorite weapons, but while some are happy to see the WSP-Swarm gone, others don’t agree that limiting options is the right idea.
Reddit user Leananddopamine said: “Swarm is finally gone now that those bots will be exposed in the rankings.” The comment accumulated more than 60 updoots from the community, coinciding with the removal of the ultralight submachine gun from the rankings.
One user thought the update was lackluster and said, “Wow, absolute update.” (from user MrRustles1). This prompted a response from user imafiremylazerBWAH, “There’s nothing in removing those broken weapons from the rankings,” showing his agreement with the removal of META weapons. A new challenger approached when Reddit user Phuzz15 was quick to comment: “Oh come on. They were there for like a week. It’s certainly worth trial and error, so the ranking isn’t limited to two meta weapons,” which provides an excellent Point Table that developers need space and time to experiment without being chased by the broader community.
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Reddit user Temojikato lamented: “This game is getting so fucking boring. Just ban everything except knives, why not?” Despite the bad language, they raise another good point and make me wonder how long it will be until all weapons are restricted in some way and players only have minimal options.
All in all, it’s easy to see that the player base isn’t exactly embracing these changes. Most are happy that some problematic weapons are gone, but others worry that there will eventually be no choice at all.
That’s all we have on community sentiment surrounding the new restricted weapons list. If you’re looking for more Call of Duty content, check out Hope in Humanity Restored as the CoD Community Helps Fans with an Ear, EU CoD Players Break Warzone Nuke World Record in 7 minutes and 45 seconds, and more in the pro gaming guides!