Highlights
- Season 1 of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 brings a lot of new content for Zombies fans to enjoy, including a new story mission, endgame location, contracts, and a Wonder Weapon.
- Despite all that has been added, though, an opportunity was missed to alter the locations of the Zones that players fight through on Urzikstan.
- It would be beneficial for Treyarch to shake up the map players are fighting through by changing where the High-Threat Zone is, as it would allow players to spend more time in different areas each Season.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Season 1 is packed with Zombies content for fans to enjoy. While the community may be understandably frustrated with Season 1’s nerfs to numerous MWZ strategies as well as a lack of love for CoD Zombies’ solo community, credit must be given for just how much has been added in the game’s inaugural Season. A new story mission, an endgame location complete with challenging contracts and powerful schematics to grind for, and another Wonder Weapon have all benefited the game. However, Treyarch did miss a chance to shake up the map Modern Warfare 3 Zombies players are fighting through.
Considering how much players have been seeing of Urzikstan lately, as it serves as Call of Duty: Warzone’s main map and was used for Ground War in multiplayer as well as campaign levels, keeping things fresh for the Zombies version is a must. The Dark Aether area using a different Warzone location was one way to do this, and using the smaller maps from Warzone’s Resurgence mode could be another strategy down the road, but Urzikstan itself should not be forgotten. Visual changes and environmental storytelling being added to the map to make it feel more Zombies-like is one way to go about this, but even adjusting the location of the High-Threat Zone each season could make a difference.
5 Quality of Life Features Call of Duty: MW3 Zombies Still Needs After Season 1
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Zones in MWZ Do Not Need to Be Static
Zones Staying The Same Forever Will Make Urzikstan Feel Stale
Over the past month, players have experienced the same exact Zone spots for Urzikstan. Tier 1 is the outer rim of the map, with areas like Shahin Manor and Levin Resort containing weak Zombies and easy contracts. As players work their way further into the map and approach Urzikstan points of interest like Low Town and Popov Power, they enter Tier 2, while Tier 3 only features Old Town. While having the Tier 3 location be right at the center of the map makes sense, that does not always have to be the case, as Treyarch could just as easily flip this on its head with future Seasons.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Zombies Can Make Zones a Seasonal Attraction
In Season 2, Treyarch could reverse the layout of the Zones, with players starting in Old Town and doing Tier 1 contracts there. Urzikstan Cargo and Low Town could also be part of Tier 1, while Tier 2 could cover areas on the left and bottom sides of map like Zaravan and the Seaport District. The very outskirts of the map’s right side could then be Tier 3 locations, with Shahin Manor, Hadiqa Farms, and Orlov Military Based all offering high-end contracts and becoming more challenging. Come Season 3, the High-Threat Zone and the other Tiers could change again, with Treyarch even able to get creative and make each individual point of interest a different Tier if it wishes. A small Tier 4 Zone with Aether Worm spawns and extremely tough enemies could even be added.
The only possible challenge that Treyarch would have with reworking the Zones is changing things like the grave Easter egg, which allows players to dismantle their gear into upgrade tools that they can exfil with. However, Treyarch could easily move the grave Easter egg to somewhere else in the Tier 3 Zone.
There are two key benefits to shaking up the Zone locations, both of which would be healthy for MWZ in the long run. First, having more Tier 3 Zones would allow players to have an easier time going for high-end contracts. Currently, if a few skilled squads go to the small Old Town area during a match, they will scoop up all the contracts and leave solo players with nothing. Having multiple Tier 3 points of interest in later Modern Warfare 3 Seasons makes sense, as more players will theoretically be powerful and ready for difficult content. Additionally, some casual players have no interest in running High-Threat contracts and completely ignore that Zone, meaning they never get to explore Old Town. Shaking up the Zones means that they will get to see areas that were previously too hard for them, allowing the Seasons to feel fresh even for less-skilled Zombies fans who cannot handle challenging endgame content.
Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2023)
Released in November of 2023, Activision's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2023) continues Captain Price's story from the 2019 and 2022 games.
