The latest Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 patch is live and the Ricochet Anti-Cheat team has finally broken silence on a significant uptick in cheating occurrences. All across Twitter, Reddit, everywhere - we've been seeing comment sections filled with cheating complaints and even the outlandish idea that COD: MW3's Ricochet Anti-Cheat was actually offline. It may have seemed true as some truly remarkable cheating clips have surfaced recently - fully-automatic grenade launchers, super speed hacks, Multiplayer Vests as Warzone Perks - some very interesting displays of human ingenuity. The Ricochet team has addressed this directly:
"The RICOCHET Anti-Cheat team has been tracking a spike in cheating reports within the community ... As part of ongoing security updates, a single telemetry system was taken offline for upgrades over the weekend. This action resulted in cheat developers claiming RICOCHET Anti-Cheat was offline. It was not. ... Team RICOCHET was able to identify and ban over 6000 accounts for cheating and hacking from February 16 - February 20."
While 6,000 accounts in four days is an impressive number, it unfortunately speaks to the pervasiveness of cheating within Call of Duty. While cheaters will always cheat no matter which game, Call of Duty is largely responsible for its own infestation.
Activision's catastrophic mishandling of Warzone 1 during the Verdansk days saw cheaters fearlessly run amok and endlessly multiply as cheat developers handily defeated whatever paper-thin anti-cheat was supposedly in-place. It was practically a cruel rite of passage similar to hazing, except it happened over and over again as Activision continuously banned hundreds of thousands of accounts every few months but consistently failed to erect adequate defensive measures.
During that time, Call of Duty practically became synonymous with cheating as one of the world's largest franchises pulling record attention was constantly plagued by an infestation of cheating. Call of Duty fans everywhere can only hope for better anti-cheat and transparency.
COD: MW3 Patch Summarized
Surprise Weapon Balancing
It's always nice getting some unexpected weapon balancing, especially with how ridiculous the new Aftermarket Part for the Haymaker was performing already. We've received changes to the MTZ-556 Assault Rifle, Haymaker Shotgun, Longbow Sniper Rifle and TYR Pistol!
The MTZ-556 received the following changes:
- Decreased initial gun kick while firing.
- Decreased recoil while firing.
- Increased near-medium damage range from 34.3m to 36.8m (+7%).
- Increased medium damage range from 36.8m to 41.9m (+12%).
The recoil changes are very welcome, because as I wrote in the MTZ-556 Assault Rifle guide, you really have to treat the MTZ as an SMG rather than the Assault Rifle that it is. These changes are nice because they handily increase the gun's ability to compete at medium to long ranges! The MTZ is also a bit special in that it has a faux Damage Range - it's true base Damage Range is actually (now) 36.8 meters as long as you keep 3 out of 5 shots above the waist, and these recoil buffs work well with that extended range! The overall recoil decrease is also great because the MTZ has some pretty significant visual recoil, so this should smooth some of the shakiness.
The Haymaker Shotgun received the following changes to its brand-new Conversion Kit, the JAK Maglift Kit:
- Decreased aim down sight spread by 20%.
- Increased rate of fire from 357rpm to 500rpm (+40%).
- Decreased damage pellet count from 8 to 5 (-38%).
- Restricted the use of Ammunition Attachments.
The first change is excellent because the initial pellet spread was somehow wider in ADS than it was from the hip, which is... totally backwards. Shotgun spread is always tighter when Aiming Down Sights in Call of Duty, because, well, ADSing just magically changes your accuracy like that (the more you know).
The Rate of Fire increase sounds pretty wild! Considering that the JAK Maglift Kit actually uses a Binary Trigger, which means you're firing on trigger pull AND release, increasing the Rate of Fire by a blistering 40% is bewildering when it was already spamming rounds downrange at a dangerously fast rate.
To balance this out, they've reduced the number of pellets per shot. When the AMP dropped earlier today, we were looking at an average 5-shot kill in Multiplayer up to 21 meters. After the Fire Rate increase and pellet count decrease, we are still looking at an average 5-shot kill in Multiplayer up to 21 meters* but with a faster fire rate (as long as you hit most pellets). This is, suffice it to say, not good for the game and will likely need to be addressed in yet another patch. Have fun while it's still like this, because surely this thing is headed for the nerfbat... soon... right?
The Longbow Sniper Rifle received the following changes to its base version and one-week-old Conversion Kit, the JAK Tyrant 762 Kit:
Longbow Base Version:
- Pro-99 Long Barrel: Increased aim down sight time from 550ms to 580ms (+5%).
Longbow JAK Tyrant 762 Kit:
- Restricted the use of Magazine, Ammunition, and Bolt Attachments.
The Longbow's proper name is the Longboi, just so you know. The Pro-99 Long Barrel nerf is not entirely unexpected as Snipers Only has been nothing but Longbois since release, and considering that the Pro-99 Long Barrel is a core component that makes the Longbow function at range, this is effectively a net nerf to meta build of the Longboi since basically everyone uses this attachment.
As for the JAK Tyrant 762 Kit, the Magazine, Ammunition, and Bolt Attachments actually had no effect in-game, yet you were allowed to equip them. This change now properly prevents players from equipping these useless attachments (and ensuing confusion), so that's great to see.
The TYR Pistol received the following changes to its Marksman Rifle Conversion Kit, the JAK Beholder Rifle Kit:
- Decreased movement speed penalty from 10% to 8% (-2%).
- Decreased sprint speed penalty from 20% to 8% (-12%).
- Decreased bullet velocity benefit from 100% to 50% (-50%).
These are some interesting changes that help the TYR with movement, and they were probably added to allow players a greater ability to dive to cover and reload after expending the base 6 shots. While the Bullet Velocity decrease may look alarming, the TYR Conversion Kit's Damage Range (19.3m) doesn't really let you challenge anything past medium range, and aside from horizontally moving targets, the new 465 m/s Velocity will be more than adequate for the ranges you will engage that. To quickly math that for you, 465m/s Velocity will strike a target within your core Damage Range of 19.3 meters in just 55 milliseconds! Less than a tenth of a second - so don't worry about that Velocity one bit!
Equipment Tuning
Sledgehammer made some nice changes to the Shock Stick, Trophy System, and Guardian-SC killstreak (AKA the microwave):
- Shock Stick (Tactical): Tactical Camera and Portable Radar Field Upgrades are now affected by enemy Shock Sticks.
- Trophy System: Ally Bomb Drones will no longer be targeted and destroyed.
- Guardian-SC: Addressed an issue preventing the movement speed penalty from properly applying to affected players.
Friday, February 16, 2024 - Full Patch Notes
That's the most important aspects of these patch changes! I hope you enjoyed reading and staying up to date with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III here on Fanbyte! Here are the Patch Notes from Friday, February 16, 2024 in full:
RICOCHET ANTI-CHEAT
The RICOCHET Anti-Cheat team has been tracking a spike in cheating reports within the community. We are currently in test for additional security updates; however, the following updates have just been deployed:
- Disabled game code for limited-time perks (Ex. super speed)
As part of ongoing security updates, a single telemetry system was taken offline for upgrades over the weekend. This action resulted in cheat developers claiming RICOCHET Anti-Cheat was offline. It was not. As a result of monitoring activity over the weekend and the purposeful reactivation of this upgraded system, Team RICOCHET was able to identify and ban over 6000 accounts for cheating and hacking from February 16 - February 20. Our team continues to work on security updates for issues across various modes in Call of Duty: Warzone and Modern Warfare III.
CUSTOMIZATION
Bug Fixes
- Relocated Dragon Scales Camo from the Special category to the Event category.
- Corrected placeholder Tracer name for the TAQ Evolvere Crocodile Blueprint.
- Addressed an issue preventing the Fire Breather skin for the Wheelson-HS (Killstreak) from appearing.
MULTIPLAYER UIX
Bug Fixes
- Resolved various issues causing the player to be unexpectedly kicked back to the menu.
- Viewing the Horde Hunt Event.
- Editing Custom Mods in the Gunsmith.
- Equipping Emblems at the last-chance Battle Pass prompt.
- Saving a Custom Mod in the Gunsmith will no longer remove certain Camos.
- Killstreak icons on the HUD will no longer turn red after dying to a Cruise Missile.
GAMEPLAY
Bug Fixes
- Field of View will no longer be set higher than intended upon map infiltration.
PROGRESSION
Bug Fixes
- Corrected criteria for multiple Challenges to properly track progression.
- JAK Ferocity Carbine Kit unlock challenge.
- “Operator Kills without the enemy damaging you” camo challenge.
MAPS
- Sub Base
- Further refined Hardpoint objective boundary in the Warehouse (P3) to prevent capture from an unintended location.
- Underpass
- Adjusted spawn points to prevent players from respawning outside of the playable area in Headquarters.
MODES
- Control
- During the transition period to the Final Round, the incorrect team will no longer be displayed as Defending.
- Cutthroat
- Resolved an issue preventing the flag capture point from spawning in overtime.
- Team Gun Game
- Addressed an issue causing players to become stuck without a Weapon.
- War
- Fixed an issue causing the player to lose control after using a Turret and Smoke Airdrop simultaneously.
WEAPONS & ATTACHMENTS
» Assault Rifles «
MTZ-556
- Decreased initial gun kick while firing.
- Decreased recoil while firing.
- Increased near-medium damage range from 34.3m to 36.8m (+7%).
- Increased medium damage range from 41.9m to 41.9m (+12%).
» Shotguns «
Haymaker
- JAK Maglift Kit
- Decreased aim down sight spread by 20%.
- Increased rate of fire from 357rpm to 500rpm (+40%).
- Decreased damage pellet count from 8 to 5 (-38%).
- Restricted the use of Ammunition Attachments.
» Sniper Rifles «
Longbow
- Pro-99 Long Barrel
- Increased aim down sight time from 550ms to 580ms (+5%).
- JAK Tyrant 762 Kit
- Restricted the use of Magazine, Ammunition, and Bolt Attachments.
- These Attachments were not intended to be compatible with this Conversion Kit and were thus non-functional when equipped.
» Handguns «
TYR
- JAK Beholder Rifle Kit
- Decreased movement speed penalty from 10% to 8% (-2%).
- Decreased sprint speed penalty from 20% to 8% (-12%).
- Decreased bullet velocity benefit from 100% to 50% (-50%).
» Attachments «
- Canted Lasers
- Canted aiming will no longer remove all pellet spread on Shotguns.
EQUIPMENT
- Shock Stick (Tactical)
- Tactical Camera and Portable Radar Field Upgrades are now affected by enemy Shock Sticks.
FIELD UPGRADES
- Trophy System
- Ally Bomb Drones will no longer be targeted and destroyed.
KILLSTREAKS
- Guardian-SC
- Addressed an issue preventing the movement speed penalty from properly applying to affected players.
MWIII RANKED PLAY
Gameplay
- Killstreaks
- Addressed an issue where Cruise Missiles would explode mid-air if the player controlling the missile was killed.
ZOMBIES
ENEMIES
- Aether Worms
- Addressed an issue where players would become stuck in the air if they were tossed by an Aether Worm as it was defeated.
WEAPONS
» Wonder Weapons «
- V-R11
- Addressed an issue that prevented XP from being granted when killing specific Zombie enemy types with a Pack-A-Punched V-R11.
» Melee «
- Tonfa
- Addressed an issue that unintentionally prevented the Pack-A-Punched Tonfa from dealing its intended damage.
UI/UX
- Addressed an issue that forced players into a loop when selecting the ‘Full Stop Blackcell’ TAQ Evolvere or ‘Grume Blackcell’ DM-56 Blueprints in Insured Weapon slots.
- Addressed an issue that removed attachments with Skins from weapons in Insured Weapon slots when players added them to a loadout.
STABILITY
- Added various crash and stability fixes.
