Highlights

  • The upcoming release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is generating excitement among fans, with attention now turning to its multiplayer modes.
  • Modern Warfare 3 is making ambitious changes to establish its own identity, as seen with the removal of the franchise's Weapon Tuning system for multiplayer.
  • The decision to remove Weapon Tuning is necessary for balancing issues and to ensure all players have a fair and level playing field in the game.

The release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is just around the corner, and even the most minor details about the title are becoming known to fans. With the campaign of the title recently releasing for players who pre-ordered the game, all eyes are now turning to its equally-anticipated multiplayer modes.

While it is already known that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 multiplayer will be closely linked to its predecessor and past CoD games, it seems the title is rightfully unafraid of making ambitious changes to build up its own identity. This is evidenced with the recent news that Modern Warfare 3 will be removing the franchise's recent Weapon Tuning system for its multiplayer modes. While this system did have a lot of potential in giving power to players and aiding customization, the removal of Weapon Tuning going forward is the best decision for the franchise. ​​​​​​

Modern Warfare 3's Weapon Tuning Removal is the Smart Way Forward

Call Of Duty Modern Warfare II (2022) Sakin MG38 Weapon Selection

Weapon Tuning was first introduced to Call of Duty with 2022's Modern Warfare 2, which aimed to increase the complexity of its multiplayer armaments. With Weapon Tuning, players can take a granular approach to all of their weapons by tweaking a wide range of characteristics for guns as a whole, as well as their attachments.

In all, Weapon Tuning allows players to alter the following stats for certain weapons and attachments:

  • Recoil stabilization
  • Aim down sight speed
  • Aim walking speed
  • Aiming idle stability
  • Damage
  • Fire rate
  • Range
  • Accuracy
  • Recoil
  • Mobility
  • Handling

Players could find a perfect balance between these characteristics via Weapon Tuning to match a weapon to their playstyle, with Weapon Tuning only being available for a weapon once it reaches its max level. This seemed like a great way to reward players for mastery of a given weapon, although this also limited Weapon Tuning to more skilled players while making it difficult for casual players to be afforded the same benefits.

Modern Warfare 2's Weapon Tuning and Balancing Issues

The largest issue with Weapon Tuning in Modern Warfare 2 concerned how it impacted weapon balancing for the title. While the base stats of guns could be changed by Activision to create a more level playing field, it is much more difficult to achieve balance while taking into account how Weapon Tuning could still turn certain weapons into overpowered forces.

If balancing changes were made with reference to how a gun could be altered by Weapon Tuning, then the base stats of a gun would be unfairly impacted, making certain weapons completely unusable for players who had not already mastered them. The fact that Modern Warfare 3 is set to carry over all the weapons from Modern Warfare 2 would have only compounded this issue if Weapon Tuning was present in the upcoming title. With MW3 boasting close to 90 weapons at launch, balancing is already going to be a huge issue, and Weapon Tuning on top of this could have been catastrophic for the release.

Sledgehammer Games thankfully confirmed that Weapon Tuning will be removed from Modern Warfare 3. It is sad that players will lose such a high level of creative customization for their loadouts in Modern Warfare 3, but the pre-existing balancing concerns of Weapon Tuning mean that its absence in Modern Warfare 3 is ultimately for the best.