Modern Warfare 2 players furious as devs “refuse” to revert mini-map changes
ActivisionInfinity Ward has come under fire after acknowledging core gameplay changes in the Modern Warfare 2 Beta and all but “refusing” to listen to community feedback. Namely, devs are being criticized for the current mini-map system and not wanting to “punish players for firing their weapons.”
Over the past few decades in Call of Duty, the mini-map has remained relatively intact. After all, it’s a crucial UI feature that presents key information like objective locations and enemy positions.
One such aspect of the radar throughout much of CoD history involves gunfire. In almost every release, shooting your weapon briefly reveals your position on the mini-map. This makes each engagement all the more important as enemies can see your whereabouts and hunt you down thereafter. As a result, silencers were on offer to mask this ping and keep you obscured from the radar.
However, in Modern Warfare 2, that’s no longer the case. By default, all players are now hidden from the mini-map when firing their weapons. The main draw of a silencer is gone as gunfire doesn’t reveal your spot on the map.
Naturally, such a drastic change has led to ample backlash, forcing Infinity Ward to respond swiftly before the second week of the Beta. Unfortunately, this response has only led to more criticism as devs are unwilling to make any adjustments.
Activision“Currently in the MW2 Beta, we only show enemy player dots when a UAV is active,” Infinity Ward explained in a September 20 blog post. “The design reason for this is that we do not want to punish players for firing their weapons. We also want players to actively search out the origin of a gunshot versus just traveling directly to where the dot is on the mini-map.”
While other contentious features like the new Perk system and footstep audio are already being tweaked to some degree, devs refused to comment on changes for the mini-map. Instead, they’re simply continuing to gather feedback in the days to come.
Before long, this message was the source of much frustration across social media. “So they ask for feedback, get overwhelming results, and then still refuse to listen,” one player chimed in on Reddit.
“Hey guys, we looked at the feedback from week one and decided that we don’t care,” former pro turned streaming star TeeP added on Twitter. “[We] are gonna keep it the same because it helps sub-1K/D players based on our internal stats. Ok have fun in week two.”
For many, the lack of a change is frustrating enough, but for others, the communication is simply confusing. If devs don’t want to punish players for firing weapons, shouldn’t that be where suppressors come into play, as they have in almost every CoD prior? This is the question many are now putting forward, similar to how many questioned the very same thing in Modern Warfare (2019).
“Isn’t that exactly why there is a f***ing suppressor attachment in every CoD?” One player asked. “Exactly, and they are completely pointless now,” another replied.
For the time being, it appears Infinity Ward is moving forward into the second week of the Beta without any further comments on the mini-map discourse. We’ll be sure to update you here should that change in the coming days.
