Call of Duty has been around for almost two decades now, and over the last 19 years, the series' multiplayer component has seen its fair share of tweaks and changes. Beginning as just an average early 2000s military shooter, Call of Duty multiplayer really hit its stride in 2007 with Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, which introduced killstreaks, custom loadouts, perks, and nearly every element that CoD is known for today. Since then, every Call of Duty release has tried to add its own unique flair, but none have added quite so much as the upcoming Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is planning to do.
During the recent Call of Duty Next event, Infinity Ward revealed a plethora of new details about its upcoming Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Along with new maps, updates on Warzone 2.0, Warzone Mobile, and a look at Modern Warfare 2's new movement mechanics, the showcase also detailed the game's new Gunsmith 2.0 system, whose big standout feature is the ability to share attachments across different weapons, acting as a huge step forward for the Call of Duty franchise.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2's Shared Attachments Are a Big Step Forward
Infinity Ward's previous Call of Duty entry, 2019's Modern Warfare, introduced a Gunsmith system to the game. Essentially, this system was just the standard create-a-class system present since Call of Duty 4, albeit expanded in a few key ways. The main feature of Modern Warfare's Gunsmith system was that each individual weapon had a staggering number of attachments associated with it, each of which had to be unlocked one-by-one by leveling up that specific weapon.
In Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, this system is seeing some significant changes. Titled Gunsmith 2.0, this new system once again brings an absurd number of attachments to the table, but makes one big change: attachment progression is now shared between multiple weapons. Each weapon in Modern Warfare 2 is categorized into "receiver" platforms. These categories will often group together multiple assault rifles, SMGs, or snipers. Once an attachment has been unlocked by the player, they can then use that same attachment on any other weapon with the same receiver platform. For example, unlocking a red dot sight for the M4 will also unlock it for the M16. This has some pretty major implications for Modern Warfare 2's multiplayer.
For a start, this new shared attachments mechanic in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 will drastically reduce the amount of time new players need to put into the game before they find a weapon combination that they like. This system also encourages players to test out new weapons, as they'll likely have already unlocked a slew of attachments for it, thus making it immediately viable in a competitive environment.
This new mechanic could also significantly impact Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0. Back when Warzone first released, the ability to use custom loadouts in the game was received very well by fans and became a key selling point that separated it from other battle royales on the market. However, over time, custom loadouts soon became a necessity if the player was looking to win. If a player wanted any chance of success, they'd need to find out what the current meta was, ensure that they've unlocked the gun for that meta class, and spend hours leveling it in multiplayer just so they could unlock the right attachments, again dictated by the current meta.
This new attachment-sharing system pretty much eliminates that toxic gameplay loop. On top of this, Warzone 2.0 is also changing how custom classes are obtained. As opposed to simply being able to grab them from loadout drops, players will now need to head to the Enhanced Shop, or defeat a Stronghold of AI enemies. So, only by scrounging enough cash or defeating some tough enemies can a player unlock their custom class, which should hopefully lead to more balanced Warzone matches.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 launches on October 28 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
