What’s up Gamers! Lets be real this is a tough one. Today I took some time to collect my thoughts on the current state of Call Of Duty Modern Warfare 3 and my observations of poor and irrelevant DLC they’ve been releasing. If you’ve read my blog in the past you probably already know that COD is one of my favorite shooters and has been for a long time, but recently I’ve been considering quitting on the franchise all together. To me Call of Duty was a premium action war franchise / experience that really focused on over the top fast action and immersive competitive gunplay, and as it stands right now MW3 is a ghost of what COD and MW used to be.
MW3 first launched with a barely functional campaign, a bad start to say the least, and now all the DLC packs that have been coming out have only made the game worse. Over time COD has become muddied up with strange and comical DLC that basically turned it into a cheap wannabe clone of Fortnite. In the most recent update, they released a new DLC pack featuring the hippie era comedy duo Cheech and Chong – going full force into their getting high playlist and weekly challenges. Honestly I was in shock on this one. Here are my full thoughts on the DLC and future content going forward.
Crossing The Line Or Just a Harmless Joke?
Within COD this comedic theme of operators smoking weed or having marijuana leaves on cosmetics has slowly but surely become a main highlight. Its been in Call of Duty before, but never to this extent. It used to be smaller nods to smoking like callsigns that had a joint in the artwork or just one marijuana leaf. But now bringing in Cheech and Chong and giving their weapon pack the effect to completely turn your opponents into a literal blunt is just over the top ridiculous. Even as a joke. They also released an accompanying DLC pack called the Stony Sloth which features a super high sloth mask, and marijuana leaf ghillie suit for Capt. Price – who’s weapon effect can now turn his opponents heads into a literal BONG. Absurdity to the max on these. When I first saw the weapon effects I didn’t understand why they would add effects that alter the game so heavily. Turning into a bong head or a full blunt with both Cheech and Chong inside was just ridiculous and I couldn’t help thinking there’s no way they went this far.
While this next part isn’t new, I think its relevant to this current DLC update – the map “Sphere” from COD Vanguard was remade for MW3 and had its name changed to “Grow House” which is exactly what it sounds like. It features the same layout as the original, now infused with marijuana plants positioned throughout the map. Usually I find these kinds of content updates humorous, but this time they’ve taken this theme too far. I have nothing against smoking weed, or the actors’ brand of comedy in the DLC, I just think these kinds of packs are not even on brand anymore and have washed away what Call Of Duty used to be. Its all a big gimmick now.
Demonic and Pay-To-Win DLC
I also noticed an insane amount satanic and demonic DLC packs as well. At some point the store put up discounted sale prices for older DLC from Modern Warfare 2 which included packs like the Witchcraft pack and Dark Rituals pack and that’s when I caught onto how many there were. Once I noticed it, I couldn’t unsee the content anymore. As I searched the store, I couldn’t believe how many packs have some kind of dark, demonic, or satanic elements in them. The shocking thing is how blatant it is too, they are fully promoting these and I don’t understand why they’re here. It feels like Activision wants to give this Hell on earth kind of vibe – which doesn’t make sense, even if they wanted to push the zombies mode angle, or former halloween DLC’s. These just feel weird being in the game, like are they are trying to have players buy their way into hell or something? There is no reason for these to be in a COD game.
Packs like the Demon Glo, Yokai’s Wrath, and Konni Devil, are some of the newer ones. There have been others like the Dark Ritual packs (there are 4 of these), Witchcraft pack, Lillith pack (even though she’s a Diablo 4 character – she represents a general of Hell), and Underworld Hel pack. In addition to those packs, they also updated the map Quarry which is now called: Satan’s Quarry. Why? This map update features flaming chains hanging from the sky and burning rocks and flames coming from any plant life. A hellish view of the world we’re in apparently. Generally, I like updates to maps but this one just feels crazy and wrong.
In addition to those two major themes, there are also lots of nonsense packs which in my opinion have just dragged the game down even further. These DLC packs started getting more and more outrageous for players to troll one another, and I guess this is the dynamic that sells them. Packs like the infamous Rat Pack, Whisker Tango bundle, Hippin’ Hoppin’ bundle, Rubber Duck pack, Paindeer pack, and Homie Pigeon pack are just plain silly. They simply don’t fit the theme of COD in any way.
To make matters even worse, now things are starting to get full on pay to win by the way of “Party Packs” which offer bonuses for players who party up wearing the pack skins. The most recent one is the Killers pack which features 3 different operator skins and give Double XP bonus perks, with another pack entitled “Wubz and Friends” which is said to be releasing at a later time as part of Season 3. Honestly, this picture of upcoming DLC below doesn’t even look like COD, it looks like characters for a Five Nights At Freddy’s game. I’m not sure who decided this was a good idea for MW3 but they were woefully ill informed.
No Longer Call of Duty
As a long time player of COD since Call Of Duty 2 (back on Xbox 360) all this joke styled DLC has become an increasing disappointment that I’ve tolerated over the years. All these packs have gotten worse over time, but honestly these latest smoking DLC’s and pay to win packs have taken the cake. It was already losing itself with all the weird demon DLC, animal masks DLC, and extra appearances from movie inspired DLC’s (like the Godzilla Movie Packs – which is also a joke btw – forcing players to spend $100 on 4 packs to unlock a Kong themed melee weapon), but at least some of those movie themes actually fit within the vein of COD. Over time, I’ve been slowly losing interest in COD because of how much the visuals have changed and this sucks. It is still one of my favorite shooters, but right now, the core game is no longer saving it. The game has lost itself and there are simply too many negatives in it to stick around anymore.
Now I am aware that no matter what, the content won’t stop being made. I understand the goal is to attract all kinds of players and generate more engagement, but my gripe with it is at the very least, the DLC should be somewhat relevant to the core game as it is a war shooter. At this point, if I were new to COD and I saw those DLC operator skin packs, I would think this is a parody shooter exclusively for potheads. It doesn’t seem like a war game or action shooter in any way. I would think its a joke. The sad reality here is that its all about making money, and lets face it everyone wants a piece of the Fortnite pie, but c’mon at least respect your core player base and keep your content in line with the theme of what COD represents and what it’s marketed as.
If this is what Activision wants to make its fine, but I would rather them make a spin off COD parody game and call it “Call Of Duty & Friends: Blazed Warfare Ultra High Edition or Purple Haze Edition” or something ridiculous to put all this kind of weed based, troll animal mask, and strange demonic symbolism content into it. I’d rather them separate that content into something else entirely instead of inserting it into a well established hardcore shooter. A parody spinoff game would make more sense for the mishmash of unrelated themes and map designs, so at least people know what they’re getting into.
Personally, I would have never thought I would see Snoop Dog, Spawn, Warhammer 40k, Godzilla, King Kong, Lara Croft, and Nicki Minaj in the same game, let alone in a Call Of Duty game but here we are. While those previous DLC’s were not as bad as the main ones I highlighted earlier, the combination with all the stupid animal mask packs, demon packs, getting high packs, and now pay to win party packs, you can see the degraded quality of the overall experience. It seems the priority is getting people to accept negative themes subconsciously as they purchase and engage with this kind of imagery and content. This isn’t about providing quality content anymore, or even content on which the game is based upon, its about quantity – quantity of how much money they can get you to waste on weak, poorly though out content, and content that promotes occult ideals and poor behaviors.
While playing the game recently, I was thinking about all this unrelated content and I needed to point all this stuff out because it really doesn’t belong in the game. This post was challenging, since I’ve always liked Call of Duty and it was my mental escape shooter where I could just have fun racking up kills in multiplayer with friends. But lately I’ve been considering deleting the game for good because of all the changes. Call Of Duty has lost itself and replaced its mature realistic war themes in favor of colorful fluffy costumes and large blunts. A decision Activision and its developers will regret more and more as the original fans like myself will eventually abandon ship. I believe in getting what you pay for and buying games to enjoy them as they were originally intended, a shooter as a shooter, with its visuals to match, not a shooter that’s slowly morphs into a weird shell of its former self. I have no more hope for MW3 and I may not even pick up the next Call of Duty game as this seems to be the trend Activision insists on promoting.
As always gamers, if you’ve read through this post, thank you so very much for your support and going through all those photos. If you enjoyed this post, please give it a like and follow for more gaming content. Thanks again and have an awesome day!
