Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and Warzone receive new updates that rebalance weapons, fix common bugs, and make a big change to a popular mode.
Highlights
- New updates for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and Warzone focus on weapon balance and bug fixes, with MW3's Ranked Play seeing major changes.
- Treyarch is testing additional weapons in Ranked Play to diversify the meta, including previously banned options like BP50 and Holger 556.
- The patch notes reveal buffs to some weapons and significant nerfs to others, along with bug fixes and UI improvements for a better gameplay experience.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and Warzone have received new updates that mostly rebalance weapons and fix bugs. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3's Ranked Play saw a major change as well.
Treyarch, the studio behind MW3's Ranked mode, announced earlier this week that Ranked Play would soon begin a test phase to see if additional weapons could be viable in the meta. Before, Ranked Play users almost exclusively equipped weapons like the MCW, Rival-9, and WSP Swarm due to other options being banned or simply not good enough. While a limited selection of weapons isn't anything new to the competitive Call of Duty scene, it seems that Treyarch is trying to improve on this aspect.
Modern Warfare 3's newest update allows previously banned weapons like the BP50, Holger 556, HRM-9, and others to be equipped in Ranked Play until April 23. Feedback and data will determine whether the weapons remain unbanned. As for balance changes, both MW3 and Warzone saw the same adjustments to six weapons. Slight buffs were applied to the MTZ-556, Holger 556, Striker, and MW2's M16. A slight nerf was applied to the RAM-9 and a more significant nerf was applied to the WSP Swarm, which had its flinch resistance decreased by 81%. Also, the Haymaker's JAK Maglift Kit was nerfed in MW3 only and a common bug causing the MORS sniper rifle's optics to become misaligned was fixed.
The update also significantly changed Modern Warfare 3's frag grenades by increasing their intermediate explosive damage by 15% but decreasing their intermediate explosive damage radius by 22%, making the equipment a stronger tool that requires more throwing accuracy. Warzone received the frag's intermediate damage radius nerf but not the damage buff. The new update also implemented a variety of bug fixes and minor UI improvements, like editing a loadout during a match no longer applying an incorrect class and the MORS now displaying the correct icon in the killfeed.
Call of Duty's next major update is expected to arrive with Season 3 Reloaded in early May. As for the franchise's future, a dataminer recently claimed to reveal many of the weapons, killstreaks, and equipment coming in Call of Duty 2024, including the potential return of the Last Stand perk.
Treyarch's Call of Duty 2024, rumored to be titled Black Ops Gulf War, is said to be set in the early 1990s. An official reveal should happen within the next few months.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and Warzone Patch Notes for April 16 Update
Modern Warfare 3
MULTIPLAYER
UIX
- Maps widget in the Quick Play menu can now be scrolled to view all entries.
- MORS Sniper Rifle will now display the correct icon in the kill feed.
- Emblems unlocked in MWII will now be stated as such in the Customization menu.
- Addressed various issues causing certain stats to not be tracked on the Scoreboard in COD Caster mode.
- Resolved an issue causing the score to appear as 0-0 during the round transition in Gunfight and Search and Destroy.
- Editing a Loadout during a match will no longer cause the player to be given an incorrect Loadout.
PROGRESSION
- Executing a player with the Soulrender will no longer grant more XP than a standard Finishing Move.
- Resolved an issue preventing the Winner’s Perks Challenge from tracking progress.
WEAPONS & ATTACHMENTS
Assault Rifles
- MTZ-556
- Increased bullet velocity from 650m/s to 690m/s (+6%).
- Holger 556
- Adjusted recoil and gun kick to decrease deviation, allowing a more predictable pattern.
- M16 (MWII)
- Decreased horizontal and vertical recoil by 20%.
- Decreased gun kick by 20%.
- Decreased visual recoil by 18%.
Note: Changes to the M16 were released in a previous game update.
Submachine Guns
- RAM-9
- Decreased minimum and maximum hipfire accuracy by 10%.
- Increased aim down sight time from 200ms to 220ms (+10%).
- Striker 9
- Removed the ability to aim down sights while sliding without Tactical Pads equipped.
- Striker
- Decreased aim down sight time from 215ms to 204ms (-5%).
- Increased bullet velocity from 540m/s to 570m/s (+6%).
- WSP Swarm
- Decreased flinch resistance from 0.8N to 0.15N (-81%).
Shotguns
- Haymaker
- JAK Maglift Kit
- Decreased damage pellet count from 5 to 4 (-20%).
- Decreased near-medium damage from 20 to 19 (-5%).
- Decreased near-medium damage range to 6.4m.
Before today’s update, the near-medium damage was set to an improper value, potentially allowing more ranged lethality than intended.
Sniper Rifles
- MORS
- Corrected an optic misalignment causing shots to travel slightly off-center.
Attachments
- MORS Hexer Optic
- Removed aim down sight speed benefit.
- ECS Requieter Suppressor Muzzle
- Added compatibility with all MWII Submachine Guns.
EQUIPMENT
- EMD Grenade (Tactical)
- Tracking device will now ignore enemies who are downed.
- Downed players now must stand before removing the tracking device.
- Frag Grenade (Lethal)
- Increased intermediate explosive damage from 130 to 150 (+15%).
- Decreased intermediate explosive damage radius from 4.9m to 3.8m (-22%).
KILLSTREAKS
- Remote Turret
- Player is no longer forcibly swapped to their Primary Weapon upon the destruction of an owned turret.
MWIII RANKED PLAY
LIMITED TIME: WEAPON EVALUATION
- Treyarch, Sledgehammer Games, and the Call of Duty League are excited to share that we will begin a Weapon Evaluation this week after the success of our previous Map Evaluation.
- Starting April 16th, the following weapons will be unrestricted and available in MWIII Ranked Play loadouts until April 23rd.
- ARs
- BP50
- Holger 556
- MTZ-556
- SMGs
- HRM-9
- RAM-9
- Your feedback and gameplay data during this Weapon Evaluation will help The Call of Duty League and our teams decide if they are added to the official CDL competitive ruleset at a later date.
- Feel free to share clips and feedback online to @Treyarch, @SHGames, and @CODLeague by including the #MW3RankedPlay hashtag.
BUG FIXES
- Addressed an issue that prevented a limited number of players from accessing MWIII Ranked Play.
- Addressed an issue that prevented Platinum and above players from being able to view their Seasonal Rewards.
- Addressed an issue that impacted the Seattle Surge 2024 camo pattern.
- Players will now see the correct lightning pattern as shown in the Camo select menu.
Warzone
LOADOUT
» LETHAL EQUIPMENT «
- C4
- Reverted the change that was preventing C4 from being detonated mid-flight.
- Frag Grenade
- Decreased intermediate explosive damage radius to 3.8 meters, down from 4.9m.
WEAPONS
ASSAULT RIFLES
WEAPON:
MTZ-556
ADJUSTMENTS:
- Increased bullet velocity to 690m/s, up from 650m/s .
WEAPON:
HOLGER 556
ADJUSTMENTS:
- Adjusted recoil and gun kick to decrease deviation, allowing a more predictable pattern.
WEAPON:
M16 (MWII)
ADJUSTMENTS:
- Decreased horizontal and vertical recoil by 20%.
- Decreased gun kick by 20%.
- Decreased visual recoil by 18%.
- Note: Changes to the M16 were released before today’s game update.
SUBMACHINE GUNS
WEAPON:
RAM-9
ADJUSTMENTS:
- Decreased minimum and maximum hipfire accuracy by 10%.
- Increased aim down sight time to 220ms, up from 200ms.
WEAPON:
STRIKER
ADJUSTMENTS:
- Decreased aim down sight time to 204ms, down from 215ms.
- Increased bullet velocity to 570m/s, up from 540m/s.
WEAPON:
WSP SWARM
ADJUSTMENTS:
- Decreased flinch resistance to 0.15N, down from 0.8N.
SNIPER RIFLES
WEAPON:
MORS
ADJUSTMENTS:
- Corrected an optic misalignment causing shots to travel slightly off-center.
» ATTACHMENTS «
- MORS Hexer Optic
- Removed aim down sight speed benefit.
- ECS Requieter Suppressor Muzzle
- Added compatibility with all MWII Submachine Guns.
BUG FIXES
- Fixed issues preventing High Trip challenges from tracking properly.
- Fixed an issue where the Signal Intelligence public event would complete other hacking contracts.
- Fixed an issue causing Mosquito Drones to disappear in a player’s hands when hit by a Shock Stick.
- Fixed an issue causing players to hear incorrect VO from Biometric Scanners.
- Fixed an issue causing the amount of Bots spawning into the Bootcamp playlist to be inconsistent.
Franchise Call of Duty , Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Platform(s) PC , PS5 , Xbox Series X , Xbox Series S , PS4 , Xbox One Released November 10, 2023 Developer(s) Sledgehammer Games Publisher(s) Activision Genre(s) First-Person Shooter
