COD has become a drug addict. A thin, weak shadow of its former self that is still trying to convince us that it has it's shit together even while it hits us up for some spare cash. It needs to be sent to rehab, and I won't let it set foot in my home again until it is.
Alright, enough with the metaphor. This is simply a list of things that would need to be removed or changed in order to get me to buy another COD title. I skipped Modern Warfare 3 and Ghosts, and was extremely let down/furious with Advanced Warfare.
*Activision's overall disdainful attitude towards the customer: Activision essentially sees its customers as wallets with feet, or as children nagging wallets with feet to buy them the latest release. Everything they do is geared towards providing an endless, nearly unimaginable revenue stream. And there's nothing wrong with that on its surface. Businesses exist to make money. Businesses making money off of Johnny and Jane consumer are how the economy stays afloat. But, the services rendered for our hard earned cash need to be worth the asking price, and need to not be shoved in our faces by corporate suits that barely hide their contempt for us. They need to, through their actions, essentially say "We know times are tough and you're spending some of your limited funds on our products. We respect you for that." Instead we're getting "You'll buy this because you always do, no matter what bullshit we try to pull, and you'll buy anything extra we tack on, because the product we've given you is gimped otherwise!"
*We need real dedicated servers: For several years, we've seen connectivity and matchmaking issues, trouble joining friend's parties, and inconsistencies with latency/host advantage/who shot first/etc. I recently saw a video where someone theorized that this has been done intentionally to keep the skill gap small (more on that later), and it wouldn't surprise me. However, I'm just going to roll with my initial assertion. Activision is too damned cheap to implement proper dedicated servers. Especially with the release of a COD title every year, that's a lot of servers to maintain. Heaven forbid something cut into their revenue stream that is for the good of the customer. This is the highest selling franchise in gaming history. They throw millions of dollars towards PR and marketing. But can they get up off their asses, and throw some money at some true dedicated servers? Not this hybrid garbage that they keep shoving down our throats. Real life dedicated servers. I don't care if there's a server browser or not, either. I just want consistent, reliable performance that doesn't cause me to question every kill I get.
*Outdated tech: This doesn't really bother me, as long as a game looks good, can support modern gameplay features, and performs well...so yeah, COD needs a new engine.
*The appeal to the LCD of gamers: COD is designed to make anyone a rockstar of first person shooters. Between the small map sizes, the lack of any real respawn delays, the random (and often completely ludicrous) spawn points, and the general approach to gameplay (sprint and spray), every COD player can rack up some kills. No one wants to play a game where they get destroyed constantly. But they've crushed the skill gap so much that there's virtually no learning curve. It boils down to using a lightweight, fully automatic weapon and shooting the other guy first. Weapons like shotguns, LMG's, and sniper rifles are considered weapons requiring skill to use instead of being weapons designed for different situations. Everything, including the sniper rifles, are used by the player base in fast paced, relatively close range combat. Maps and sniper rifles that prevent sniping by design, exist only to provide the illusion of variety and to, once again, keep that skill gap small.
*The small map sizes and limited game types: This all basically stems from my previous points. Game modes that emphasize team work, and maps that allow for some tactical freedom would pull away from the small skill gap and "make everyone feel like Rambo" approach. Changing this would also interrupt their brisk development cycle, thereby interrupting the revenue stream, and once again, Activision simply cannot allow that.
*Abusive DLC practices: How much money does someone need to spend before they realize they're being taken? Activision is clearly pushing hard to find out. For Advanced Warfare, we had the base game ($60), the season pass ($50), cosmetic DLC (roughly $1.99 each), and, wait for it, extra armory and loadout slots sold in packs ($1.99 per pack). This last item in particular infuriated me. We paid full price, and then some, for a full featured game. Why in the holy fuck are they charging us for extra loadout and armory slots, especially when the armory slots are tied to the best new feature Advanced Warfare possessed (the loot system)? I can picture Michael Condrey telling an Activision higher-up, "I don't think this will fly with the playerbase." I can also picture that same higher-up responding with "You must be new here. Every year, we push the boundaries of what we can get away with in terms of how we charge the players for a complete experience." It is absolutely insulting and disgusting that in order to earn (and keep) all of the content that came with the Advanced Warfare base game, I need to shell out extra money for slots that took Sledgehammer probably about fifteen minutes to add to the game, and should have been there in the first place. I uninstalled the same day that was announced. Not that I had gotten much playtime in anyway...
*PC players getting shafted: I realize that consoles are now the primary market for COD. But if you're going to put a half-baked, lazy ass port of a PC version together, don't bother at all in the future. Advanced Warfare's LAG and issues getting into games took weeks to be resolved, and by the time they were, the entire community had sort of given up from some of the other things I've mentioned and general franchise fatigue. When the game was finally stable and playable for me, all I could find was TDM and Domination matches. Wheee. I'm ready for this carnival ride to stop now.
It's simple. Activision is too greedy and proud to relent in any meaningful way to its customers. Especially now that Destiny is becoming their new cash cow. Mark my words. If they don't make some big changes in the coming years, they will run COD straight into the ground. A lot of talented people will be out of work. Everyone will lose in some way. Except for Activision. Who will continue to reign as one of the wealthiest, yet worst publishers in the business. I've already floated to shore. I'm just waiting for this leaky, rat infested ship to completely sink. Shit, another metaphor.
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