Introduction

Now don’t get me wrong, the Modern Warfare 3 multiplayer experience is a hugely fun, competitive, and at times engaging gameplay experience, but there are some things that make me turn from a calm online gamer to a raving lunatic the neighbours must think has been possessed. Some of these things don’t just frustrate me, but reduce me to the point where I want to bite down so hard on my controller that it splits in half. So without further ado, here are the 10 things I hate about MW3 multiplayer:

1. Headset Headache

For the love of all that is holy, this game needs a Mute All button. It feels like almost every game I’m running in to some twelve year old, or someone who sounds like a twelve year old at the very least, whistling and singing along to some teeny bop music or wannabe gangsta rap. By all means chat and get to know your lobby, or here’s a crazy idea, actually use your headset to tell your teammates where the enemy is located, but don’t come on singing to Barbie Girl or whatever the hell it is your listening to and expect that people are going to like that.

2. Spawn of Satan

One of the biggest flaws on this Modern Warfare is the spawning system. You’ll kill a guy and almost like clockwork you can expect him to pop out from behind you or some awkward crevice and exact his revenge on you with little to no effort. Also when playing Domination you always seem to spawn near the B flag if your team currently have it, making it easier for the enemy to sit and wait to pick you off. Would it kill them to make a spawn system where you enter back into the fray as far as possible from the enemy and close enough to your teammates that you’re granted some initial protection?

3. Deathstreaks

Why oh why did they place them in this game. Is it really sending the right message when players are being rewarded for bad play? I don’t claim to be any great player; in fact my kills-to-death ratio currently sits in minus figures due to some pretty crappy gameplay in my early levels, and I even profited from a deathstreak or two myself, but I’m not proud of that fact and wish they would eradicate them for good. There’s nothing worse than when you kill a guy or two and you’re suddenly being pelted with grenades from their lifeless corpses, or blown to smithereens by some C4 from what is now basically an online suicide bomber.

4. Happy Campers

Camping has been in shooters since their conception, but that hasn’t stopped me from hating it all this time and while the maps in this game make it difficult for them they always seem to find a way. In my mind there are two types of campers, the ones who move from point A to point B and back again, marking a territory and killing each enemy that falls in their path, which I don’t have a problem with. It’s the people who constantly lay prone in the same place the entire game. I mean, it becomes pretty obvious to me early on and it gets me a few easy kills, but I see teammates falling for it time and again, which can lose you the game on occasion, all because one guy thinks he’s clever lying in some shrubbery like a top class plant.

5. Overpowered Weapons

Quite simply Infinity Ward needs to nerf some weapons and boost others to help create a better equilibrium between the armouries, because at the moment some guns are rendered useless and it’s starting to make for a repetitive experience. I cannot count the number of times I’ve been killed by someone running and gunning with akimbo FMG-9’s. Every weapon in each category should have a certain plateau in their strengths and weaknesses when combined with certain attachments, proficiencies and perks, and at this moment that isn’t the case.

6. Inbox-not so-Clever

One thing that annoys me and amuses me in equal measure is when people feel the need to inbox you and tells you how superior they are, or how lucky you are to have killed them. How you should be playing Guitar Hero and - because apparently this is relevant - what sexual exploits your mum has been getting up to. Haven’t these people got anything better to do than flame and hate on others. It gets me to wondering what goes through their minds that they need to do this to feel better about themselves. They’re eventually just going to get themselves banned from the game and for what, a few empty insults that have little or no impact on the receiver?

7. Quick-Scoping

Okay it’s a skill that takes a long time to master; I get that, and can appreciate the time and dedication that has been put in. However, it doesn’t mean it should be in the game, and it certainly isn’t representing any form of realism. There’s not a single person in the world that could be that quick and that accurate in taking a sniper rifle and manufacturing a headshot within a split second. There’s surely a solution to this somewhere, whether it take longer to look down the sights, or fewer bullets and a longer reload. I’m just sick to death of being killed at short range by someone who has brought what should essentially be a banana to a gunfight.

8. The Hokey Pokey

One of, if not the most excruciatingly fury-inducing moment in online play is when you get a few shots off on a guy who has his back turned to you, and then he turns around and shoots you dead. Perhaps lag plays a part, perhaps I just need to get better in finishing off an opponent, or they could just be hacking, but I’m positive I’m not alone in experiencing this and those who share my pain will know that it makes you want to do unspeakable things to your television.

9. Kill-Shriek

The two worst instances where killstreaks irritate me is, firstly, when you’ll be just one kill off of something awesome like a Reaper or an AC-130 and you’ll be killed cheaply by some idiot Quick-Scope camper whose sole purpose in life it seems is to crush your spirit. The other example is when you’re on a support killstreak, where death doesn’t play a part in racking up those points, and you’ll finally reach the promise land where you’re about to unleash hell on the other team and BAM, the game ends. Both are my own fault, as I tend to become cautious in my approach when the kills start building up, but it doesn’t make it any less soul destroying.

10. Insta-Loss

Finally, we come to the number one stat assassin. You’ll search a while for players, and then as you enter their game, a game that begun long ago, the word DEFEAT is plastered across your screen and a big plus one goes next to your losses, even though you played no part in how that game turned out. They really need to focus on fixing this issue whereby you need to have at least featured for a certain amount of time or obtained a certain number of kills/deaths for it to register.

What are your main gripes about the MW3 online multiplayer?

Tell us about them on the comment area.

Craig Bryan, NoobFeed
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