It’s time for Modern Warfare 3’s second weekend of beta testing. PlayStation players got their hands on the game for the first time on October 5 and now it’s time for everyone else to join in on the fun.
The Striker (this game’s UMP-45) was the best gun in the first test weekend, but some big adjustments may have shaken up the priority list. We’ve got two new game modes and a fresh map this week too. Even if you hit max level in week one, there’s still a lot to explore now.
Let’s check it all out and breakdown everything you need to know.
MW3 Beta Weekend 2 Patch Notes – October 12
Scream it from the rooftops, people – Highrise is back in Call of Duty. The fan-favorite Modern Warfare 2 map joins Orlov Military Base as the two new maps for this week. If you remember playing Highrise back in 2009, you’ll be glad to know all of your favorite jump spots are back.
We can still climb the crane, scale the scaffolding, and do all of those tricky little jump-ups from the original title. Fans have been asking for this for years now, and it’s a little but unreal to see.
Two new gameplay modes have hit the scene too. Cutthroat (a 3v3 mode that we explained more about here), and Search & Destroy have joined the lineup, creating a far more robust experience than week one’s two options of Mosh Pit and Ground War.
Weapon balancing took a huge focus here, and as I mentioned, the Striker got a huge nerf. That might sound worrisome if you’re a fan of the UMP, but I promise you it was deserved. Assault Rifle players were losing to it even at long-range and a fix was always going to show up at some point.
Finally, Tac Stance as a whole got nerfed. I did notice that it was easy to win gunfights while hipfiring last weekend, so these changes will likely make that a bit more unpredictable.
Modern Warfare 3 Beta Full Patch Notes – October 12
It’s time for everyone to get hands-on with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III! In addition to raising the Level Cap to 30 for greater access to weapons and equipment, you can expect to see the following experiences throughout the weekend:
Maps
- Highrise
- [NEW] Orlov Military Base (Ground War)
Modes
- [NEW] Cutthroat
- Search & Destroy
For more intel on the full Multiplayer Beta offering, visit the COD Blog.
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.
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!
OPERATORS
- Operator movement animations will now play properly in the moments following a respawn.
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.
