The second weekend of the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 multiplayer beta is live, and Activision has released patch notes to detail the updates made from last week's early access beta on PlayStation. The major changes include an improvement to player visibility, weapon balancing, and an increased level cap.
Week two keeps all the maps and modes from the first week of the beta, but it adds Highrise to the standard map list and the new Orlov Military Base map for Ground War. Search and Destroy is added to the rotation of game modes, and it also introduces the new Cutthroat multi-team mode. The level cap is raised from 20 to 30 for this second and final weekend.
One of our biggest issues with week one of Modern Warfare 3's beta was player visibility. Thankfully, the October 12 patch notes detail a major change to visibility, as enemy operators will now display a red nameplate above their head.
A top gun to use in week one was the Striker submachine gun, and while it will likely still be worth leveling up and using, it has seen a significant nerf for week two. The gun now has decreased near-medium damage, as well as a reduction to medium, near-medium, and medium-far damage ranges. While it might have less range now, the Striker did receive a buff to improve the headshot damage and lower-arm multipliers.
The Guardian-SC killstreak was pretty powerful in the first week, but it's nerfed for week two with a decrease to health and overall lifetime. For Ground War, vehicles driven by players no longer have limited fuel.
The full patch notes can be found below, as shared by Activision.
For more on Modern Warfare 3's beta, make sure to check out our recommended weapon loadouts and perks. We also have a guide for the best MW3 settings to use on consoles.
This update will go live on Thursday, October 12th at 10 AM PST.
[Our team is preparing an update to decrease the slide to sprint delay. We’ll provide details on release timing as they become available.]
[We expect the Striker to remain a competitive option thanks to its fire rate and excellent accuracy. However, these changes reduce its damage output at long distances, preventing it from outperforming Assault Rifles. Adjustments to damage multipliers intend to increase the consistency of this weapon.]
[Our team is investigating reports of poor spawn selection quality and making adjustments for launch. In the meantime, please be sure to clip unfavorable spawns and share them with us!]
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Week two keeps all the maps and modes from the first week of the beta, but it adds Highrise to the standard map list and the new Orlov Military Base map for Ground War. Search and Destroy is added to the rotation of game modes, and it also introduces the new Cutthroat multi-team mode. The level cap is raised from 20 to 30 for this second and final weekend.
One of our biggest issues with week one of Modern Warfare 3's beta was player visibility. Thankfully, the October 12 patch notes detail a major change to visibility, as enemy operators will now display a red nameplate above their head.
A top gun to use in week one was the Striker submachine gun, and while it will likely still be worth leveling up and using, it has seen a significant nerf for week two. The gun now has decreased near-medium damage, as well as a reduction to medium, near-medium, and medium-far damage ranges. While it might have less range now, the Striker did receive a buff to improve the headshot damage and lower-arm multipliers.
The Guardian-SC killstreak was pretty powerful in the first week, but it's nerfed for week two with a decrease to health and overall lifetime. For Ground War, vehicles driven by players no longer have limited fuel.
The full patch notes can be found below, as shared by Activision.
For more on Modern Warfare 3's beta, make sure to check out our recommended weapon loadouts and perks. We also have a guide for the best MW3 settings to use on consoles.
MP BETA WEEKEND 2 PATCH NOTES
This update will go live on Thursday, October 12th at 10 AM PST.
GAMEPLAY
- UIX
- Enemy Operators will now display a red nameplate above their head.
[Our team is preparing an update to decrease the slide to sprint delay. We’ll provide details on release timing as they become available.]
WEAPONS
- Reduced Tac-Stance spread while sliding for several weapon classes.
- Assault Rifles: Decreased 17-26%.
- Submachine Guns: Decreased 14-17%.
- Light Machine Guns: Decreased 30-45%.
- Marksman Rifles: Decreased 29-31%.
- Pistols: Decreased 10-20%.
- Striker (Submachine Gun)
- Decreased near-medium damage from 39 to 36.
- Decreased near-medium damage range from 24m to 19m (-21%).
- Decreased medium damage range from 30m to 25m (-17%).
- Decreased far-medium damage from 28 to 27.
- Decreased minimum damage from 23 to 21.
- Increased headshot damage multiplier from 1.2x to 1.3x.
- Increased lower-arm damage multiplier from 1x to 1.1x.
[We expect the Striker to remain a competitive option thanks to its fire rate and excellent accuracy. However, these changes reduce its damage output at long distances, preventing it from outperforming Assault Rifles. Adjustments to damage multipliers intend to increase the consistency of this weapon.]
KILLSTREAKS
- Guardian-SC
- Decreased health from 550 to 400 (-27%).
- Decreased lifetime from 120s to 60s (-50%).
MODES
- Ground War
- Vehicles driven by the player no longer have limited fuel.
- Hardpoint
- Disabled overhead spawn camera sequence upon respawn.
MAPS
- Estate
- Added collision near various areas of the Waterfall to prevent players from accessing unintended locations.
- Favela
- Players will no longer be killed immediately after respawning near the yellow car on the Side Street.
- Popov Power (Ground War)
- Added collision near Reactor Beta to prevent players from accessing an unintended location.
- Operator movement animations will now play properly in the moments following a respawn.
[Our team is investigating reports of poor spawn selection quality and making adjustments for launch. In the meantime, please be sure to clip unfavorable spawns and share them with us!]
UIX
- Added a missing icon for the Incursion XII Long Barrel Attachment for the SVA 545.
- Players will now be properly notified of Playlist updates while idling in the menus.
STABILITY
- Addressed a crash that occurred while matchmaking in the Ground War playlist.
- Addressed multiple crashes that occurred while launching the game.
- Resolved an issue that caused an error message stating “a required network service has failed” upon attempting to join another player’s party.
Source