Official Modern Warfare 3 thread

[BD2003]

Yes, EMP destroys anything electronic - including killstreaks. This is the reason why I prefer not to equip anything that can be shot down, because it feels like a waste. I didn't realize adv. UAV could be shot down, so I'll probably change my setup to SAM, Stealth and EMP.

Yeah, EMP owns. It destroys all enemy killstreaks. Prevents them from putting up more while it's on. Kills their radar like a counter UAV. Kills their RDS, and all their equipment too I believe. They can't even see the scoreboard.

People love the osprey drop cause it's full of goodies. I hold my EMP just waiting to ruin their Xmas.

 

[dougp]

Yeah, EMP owns. It destroys all enemy killstreaks. Prevents them from putting up more while it's on. Kills their radar like a counter UAV. Kills their RDS, and all their equipment too I believe. They can't even see the scoreboard.

People love the osprey drop cause it's full of goodies. I hold my EMP just waiting to ruin their Xmas.

I'm wondering if we'll see any killstreak nerfs ... MW2 had the serious issue of air clutter, and it really seems to be sticking around now. Really frustrating when you are playing against a group of players and your entire team is solo. The default option for multiplayer should instantly be the mercenary modes unless you're in a party ...

 

[Cuda1447]

I'm wondering if we'll see any killstreak nerfs ... MW2 had the serious issue of air clutter, and it really seems to be sticking around now. Really frustrating when you are playing against a group of players and your entire team is solo. The default option for multiplayer should instantly be the mercenary modes unless you're in a party ...

That's exactly why I only try to play with AT guys. Even if they aren't the best, at least you can work together.

 

[DrunkenSano]

I'm wondering if we'll see any killstreak nerfs ... MW2 had the serious issue of air clutter, and it really seems to be sticking around now. Really frustrating when you are playing against a group of players and your entire team is solo. The default option for multiplayer should instantly be the mercenary modes unless you're in a party ...

The kill streaks are definitely not as strong individually as it was back in MW2. It's much harder to get to an AC130, Pavelow, or Osprey. Back then, it was Predator, Harrier, Chopper Gunner, game. Now you have SAM sites to help out as well, and EMP in a kill streak where it doesn't reset when you die.

 

[BD2003]

I'm wondering if we'll see any killstreak nerfs ... MW2 had the serious issue of air clutter, and it really seems to be sticking around now. Really frustrating when you are playing against a group of players and your entire team is solo. The default option for multiplayer should instantly be the mercenary modes unless you're in a party ...

I hope so. The stealth is too powerful for what it takes to get it. The high support streaks are too easy to get overall. I'd like to see the stealth moved up with the other 3 top support streaks. And then move them all up to 20-22.

Outside of ground war I haven't been as annoyed by the streaks as I was in MW2. It's really just the higher ones that make it a little ridiculous towards the endgame.

 

[DrunkenSano]

If you look at the items individually, they may seem strong but with different strike packages, it is balanced as a whole. Now if you are a good team playing against a shitty team, that's a different issue all together. When you have balanced teams, the kill streak packages are rather balanced.

 

[dougp]

I hope so. The stealth is too powerful for what it takes to get it. The high support streaks are too easy to get overall. I'd like to see the stealth moved up with the other 3 top support streaks. And then move them all up to 20-22.

Outside of ground war I haven't been as annoyed by the streaks as I was in MW2. It's really just the higher ones that make it a little ridiculous towards the endgame.

Since I swap classes sometimes, it really sucks when I was about to get something like the EMP or another 18 kill one and don't think about changing the class. BLAM! Wipes out what I had previously ...

 

[BD2003]

Since I swap classes sometimes, it really sucks when I was about to get something like the EMP or another 18 kill one and don't think about changing the class. BLAM! Wipes out what I had previously ...

Yeah, that actually throws me off a bit. In older games I used to start off with a speed class to build as much of an early lead as possible. Then change over to a defense class once there's a comfy lead and the streaks start coming into play. Now I feel like I need to decide on my role from the very start, and I'm stuck in it till I've hit my max streak. Doesn't seem like it carries over even if you have the exact same streaks configured.

I really wish elite would start working. This is kind of bullshit 2 days in. I'm impressed that the game itself has played pretty much flawlessly even with millions playing, but elite is barely working even outside of primetime. They need to get their shit together.

I got into it for a few mins earlier in the day. The improve stuff isn't complete, seems like they're going to dribble out the gun and map videos over time. But what is there is very cool, and I'm def impressed by the level of detail, particularly in the videos. The map videos break down the maps incredibly well. Felt like I understood how underground played more from that 5 minute video than I did from actually playing it a dozen times.

I've always said that I'm more than happy to pay for elite if it's something worth paying for. I think they hit the mark on it.

Anyways...anyone manage to get their "founder" status? I'm curious what the exclusive gun camo is.

 

[Schfifty Five]

I am having the following issues:

1. Can't link my PSN account to my COD elite (via Cod Elite website/profile)
2. Can't get my profile to be "100%" - I've linked my FB account but it doesn't give me +20%, and of course, my PSN can't link

Anyone else having these issues?

 

[dougp]

I am having the following issues:

1. Can't link my PSN account to my COD elite (via Cod Elite website/profile)
2. Can't get my profile to be "100%" - I've linked my FB account but it doesn't give me +20%, and of course, my PSN can't link

Anyone else having these issues?

I am - and now they have the waiting room that just takes you to the career page that errors out. I'm still amazed that they couldn't prepare for the load - what did they think, the game was only going to sell a few hundred thousand copies or something?

 

[BD2003]

Overall I'd say the gun balance is pretty good. Within classes. Between classes, not so sure.

ARs are still pretty standard multipurpose weapons. The type 95 with rapid fire is a total death ray though. Basically a OHK from any distance.

SMGs are nerfed at a distance, especially the UMP45, but they still fill their role as fast paced CQB weapons.

LMGs are nerfed considerably. They drop off damage at range like they never did before. They're basically ARs that you don't have to constantly reload and that make you run like a snail.

Snipers are still pretty powerful OHK weapons, but few maps have sight lines that allow you to use them to their full potential. Don't really see them around much.

Shotguns are as useless as ever from anything but point blank. Most of them aren't capable of OHK unless you ADS and shove it down their throat. The 1887s have a decent OHK range but shottys in general are still so useless out of range. Unless you want to play like a douchebag running around on hardhat or dome they really don't have a place.

 

[Schfifty Five]

I am - and now they have the waiting room that just takes you to the career page that errors out. I'm still amazed that they couldn't prepare for the load - what did they think, the game was only going to sell a few hundred thousand copies or something?

glad i'm not the only one.

Hope it gets fixed soon.

 

[SAWYER]

I got it from Gamefly and have made it to London. I guess I am tiring of the series, it is just more of the same imo. It is borderline an onrails shooter. They just funnel you through tightly controlled areas and clear out the baddies..rinse repeat.

My eyes almost rolled out of the back of my head at the subway scene, so ridiculous and makes me fear it will turn into the outrageousness of MW2

 

[BD2003]

I got it from Gamefly and have made it to London. I guess I am tiring of the series, it is just more of the same imo. It is borderline an onrails shooter. They just funnel you through tightly controlled areas and clear out the baddies..rinse repeat.

My eyes almost rolled out of the back of my head at the subway scene, so ridiculous and makes me fear it will turn into the outrageousness of MW2

It will only get more outrageous. Theres no point where it opens up - its true to the formula all the way through.

It's kind of a love it or hate it kind of thing. I don't think anyone can do what they do better than them, but it's not for everyone. If the plane sequence or the train sequence made you roll your eyes, playing further isn't going to change your mind.

 

[BD2003]

Elite status update:

http://t.co/EoEUifvA

Cliffs: it's still fucked. Theyre trying as hard as they can to unfuck it. (try harder!) Premium gets 30 day extension. Founder eligibility extended to the end of the month. All your stats since you started playing are still properly logged by the backend. Game still 100% working regardless of how fucked elite is.

 

[sygyzy]

This might be better as a general question in Off Topic, Networking, or Highly Technical but since MW3 sparked it, I thought I'd try here first.

Does anyone know why in this day and age (2011) after numerous high-profile launches, that billion dollar companies still have (network) issues with launches? That's not a rhetorical question. I am pretty tech-savvy but I am certainly no network engineer.

So can someone who IS knowledgeable about this stuff, explain it to me? Is it a case of Activision messing up and (stupidly) not anticipating the traffic? Or would any company would have failed regardless of their budget/preparations/hardware because there simply is no algorithm or network/software setup that could handle it. Does that question make sense? I'm asking if Activision, Republic Wireless, and all other recent companies that have screwed their product/service launches did so because of their own stupidity or if it simply is technologically impossible to handle that much data?

 

[bucwylde23]

This might be better as a general question in Off Topic, Networking, or Highly Technical but since MW3 sparked it, I thought I'd try here first.

Does anyone know why in this day and age (2011) after numerous high-profile launches, that billion dollar companies still have (network) issues with launches? That's not a rhetorical question. I am pretty tech-savvy but I am certainly no network engineer.

So can someone who IS knowledgeable about this stuff, explain it to me? Is it a case of Activision messing up and (stupidly) not anticipating the traffic? Or would any company would have failed regardless of their budget/preparations/hardware because there simply is no algorithm or network/software setup that could handle it. Does that question make sense? I'm asking if Activision, Republic Wireless, and all other recent companies that have screwed their product/service launches did so because of their own stupidity or if it simply is technologically impossible to handle that much data?

It's possible to handle the amount of data, but that requires having enough servers to spread the load across, which they don't.
In their update they said they were deploying additional servers so I imagine once those are online it will be fine.

It could be hard to estimate how many servers are required for the load since it is so many people we are talking about. I suspect this is a money issue, if they wait and just start adding servers until they can sufficiently handle the load, then they didn't waste any money. If they put in too many servers and exceed what they really needed, then they spent money they didn't have to.

I'm not sure though either, I'm just making guesses.

 

[BD2003]

It's possible to handle the amount of data, but that requires having enough servers to spread the load across, which they don't.
In their update they said they were deploying additional servers so I imagine once those are online it will be fine.

It could be hard to estimate how many servers are required for the load since it is so many people we are talking about. I suspect this is a money issue, if they wait and just start adding servers until they can sufficiently handle the load, then they didn't waste any money. If they put in too many servers and exceed what they really needed, then they spent money they didn't have to.

I'm not sure though either, I'm just making guesses.

It's definitely a money thing. The problem is that the amount of people that try to hit the game, service, whatever.....is just ridiculous at the start. There's almost certainly an extreme drop off after a few days, weeks.

So they're put in the position of having to set up 10 times as many servers in the first week as they'll probably ever need going forward. It's kind of a hard pill to swallow if you're the one holding the purse strings. They're always trying to have juuuust enough capacity at start...because they're only going to need less going forward. Especially when its a free service. So theyre always trying to predict that magic number, and seems like more often than not, they fall short.

In this case though, given that it's not even working off peak, they didn't even come close to hitting the mark. They're probably so far behind I don't expect elite to work consistently for another week or so. It'll probably be fine in a day or two off peak...but accessing it at 8pm EST anytime soon...good luck.

 

[sygyzy]

So do you think companies like Activision who screw the pooch when it comes to service/product launches, do so on purpose? Surely, they have a network engineer who tells them "Well last year we got 50,000 hits a second for our Black Ops launch ... and MW3 is likely to be as big. We should deploy at least the same amount of servers; 150 boxes"

And then management says "Nah, let's do 75 and see what happens"?

 

[dougp]

So do you think companies like Activision who screw the pooch when it comes to service/product launches, do so on purpose? Surely, they have a network engineer who tells them "Well last year we got 50,000 hits a second for our Black Ops launch ... and MW3 is likely to be as big. We should deploy at least the same amount of servers; 150 boxes"

And then management says "Nah, let's do 75 and see what happens"?

Actually yes, that is what happens. We deal with that quite a bit here where I work, and when a client finally complains, and despite the piss poor planning on the part of our operation and DBA staff, the infrastructure team takes the grunt of the work.

 

[BD2003]

So do you think companies like Activision who screw the pooch when it comes to service/product launches, do so on purpose? Surely, they have a network engineer who tells them "Well last year we got 50,000 hits a second for our Black Ops launch ... and MW3 is likely to be as big. We should deploy at least the same amount of servers; 150 boxes"

And then management says "Nah, let's do 75 and see what happens"?

Pretty much.

It seems like despite having the same parent company, the game and elite teams are separate. The game has handled the launch magnificently, but they've been through this show a few times. Clearly someone made the decision not to fuck this up and dedicated the resources to ensure it went smoothly, and it did.

That didn't seem to be the case with the elite team. To be fair they've got a much harder job since they simply can't predict the load the way the game team could, its so much more of an unknown quantity how many people would use the site, how often, how long. The game is comparatively much, much simpler to predict. But they still failed magnificently. This isn't a hitch or two, it's a total breakdown. It essentially hasn't worked at all since launch. I'm sure they're working hard on it, but I still think there's a long way to go before its consistently working.

 

[thegimp03]

Anyone noticed that the spawn points can really suck? I've been spawn owned a lot more so far in this game than I ever was in Black Ops.

The maps are mostly meh. Very few opportunities to be serious with a sniper rifle. Lots of opportunities to sit behind corners and wait for someone to walk by. Maybe it's just me, but people walking is a lot louder in this game than it was in Black Ops.

UAVs seem to be up in the air almost constantly versus the spy plane in Black Ops. Don't know if from the pace of the game people don't have an opportunity to get such long kill streaks or what.

I haven't leveled up enough to get the Type 95, but that seems to be one of the better weapons from my limited use of it. So far I'm mostly just playing with the CM901 or whatever and the SCAR-L and varying the attachments with each - anyone got any tips on the best combination of attachments/perks to use?

I was looking at the leaderboards last night...one of the top guys already had ~6 days of play. I'm like, how the hell is that possible when the game's been out for 2, lol.

 

[Kabob]

Anyone noticed that the spawn points can really suck? I've been spawn owned a lot more so far in this game than I ever was in Black Ops.

That's been the topic of most discussion pretty much everywhere. The issue is more a combination of the maps and how they play in conjuncture with the spawn points. The spawn system on something like CoD 4 where the battlefield is constantly rotating would be fine, it just doesn't work as well on MW3.

 

[BD2003]

Elite still not working at 6AM in the morning. Wtf, do they have this running on a dusty old box in the corner?

 

[DrunkenSano]

I haven't leveled up enough to get the Type 95, but that seems to be one of the better weapons from my limited use of it. So far I'm mostly just playing with the CM901 or whatever and the SCAR-L and varying the attachments with each - anyone got any tips on the best combination of attachments/perks to use?

I'm more of the flanker type player where I am continuously moving around the map so the package I ran with before hitting Type 95 was SCAR-L with silencer. Then I had Blind-Eye (Before unlocking Scavenger), Assassin, Steady Aim. With the Type 95, I did the double attachment weapon perk so I was able to load up Rapid Fire and Silencer.

Last night, I toyed with the Specialist and I felt it was a ton of fun to play and pretty powerful actually if used right. I would use Blind-Eye, Hardline, Steady-Aim. Then my first unlocker (1 kill) would be Assassin, then Stalker. Then on my 7th kill, everything is unlocked and it's sick.

Note I only play TDM and TDM-KC with the setup I posted above in both paragraphs.