Major update for the COD4 Beta

Quote from: fourzerotwo

Friday Sept. 28th, (first thing aka 10 am PST) we're going to be maxing out the level cap for the beta at Rank 25. This is going to allow you to rank up and unlock everything that's not marked Classified including new weapons, perks, and challenges such as:


Assault Rifles:
> G3

Light Machine Guns:
> M60E4

Sniper Rifles:
> Dragunov

Perk 1:
> Claymore X2

Perk 2:
> Slight of Hand

Perk 3:
> Martyrdom

Next weekend (Friday 28th / Sunday 30th) is going to be a mad rush to level 25 as it's official, come 11:59pm on Sunday the 30th the beta will be coming to a close. I know, I know... but don't worry. It'll only be a little over a month from that point that you'll be able to get your hands on the full version of the game on November 5th.

Two posts ago, I talked a bit about all the changes we've implemented to the game thanks to the beta, and now that the beta is closing on it's end and we're closed in on 'Going Gold' I wanted to clarify and go a bit more in depth on how effective this beta has been. Thanks to the tens of thousands of feedback emails we've received and the stat tracking behind the scenes here at IW, we've been able really optimize multiplayer before launch. Some of which includes:

Sensitivity Slider:
A lot of you have requested customized sensitivity, opposed to just Low, Medium, and High settings, as well as suggesting a Sensitivity Slider which would allow you to set your sensitivity to exactly what you're most comfortable with. We've taken that feedback and made sure it made it into the game. You'll now be able to go to Options > Sensitivity and use a slider to select exactly how fast you want to aim.

Host Selection optimized:
We've done some extensive optimizing of host selection / restrictions in the final version of the game thanks to all your feedback in the beta. Earlier in the beta we made sure to have no restrictions on who you could matchmake with, considering we only had a few thousands playing. As the beta grew and we let more people in, including from all over the world, some of you may have started to experience lag in servers where the host was in a separate country from yourself due to high pings. In the final game this won't be an issue, as we've included optimized host selection and restrictions when you search for games so that you will not be put in a lobby with a host that has a bad connection or ping. So you won't have to worry about logging into a laggy server and being at the mercy of the host simply because you live on the opposite side of the globe than them. The removal of laggy servers will inadvertently address lag related issues some of you have been reporting such as 'wonky' hit detection and others caused by it.

Map Exploits / Jumps:
Lots of reports have come in about being able to get on certain ledges or areas of the map not intended for players to get to. All of these have been addressed and kill switched in the final game. Therefore, any player attempting to exploit these spots in the final version of the game will instantly be killed. These include any place the player is given an unfair advantage over another player.

The N0M4D Control Scheme:
There was confusion in my last post when I spoke of the addition of the N0M4D control scheme, I want to clarify that this is an 'addition' not a replacement. The default controls will remain the same, and you will still have the various other control scheme options, this is just a new special control scheme that can be chose under options if you so choose. It will essentially be the Tactical control scheme with Toggle for the left trigger. Again, default controls are the same, this is just another choice.

Obviously there are a massive amount of other additions and changes we've made to the game based off the beta feedback, but I can't list them all here individually. Throughout the entire beta we've been making backend tweaks and changes to the matchmaking, network code, spawn logic and other essential aspects of multiplayer, so don't worry all of that is being optimized constantly and will continue to be optimized after launch if / as needed.

You beta testers have been instrumental in the perfecting of the multiplayer aspect of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and the help you've provided is really going to show come November 5th.

So the final question, Are We Gold Yet? I'll leave the final official word to any press releases Activision would like to send out, but lets just say, I've received a few congratulatory emails from both Sony of America for PS3 and Microsoft certification for the Xbox 360. What those emails say, as I said, I'll leave to the nicely worded press releases. All I'll say is thank you to everyone who played the beta, provided feedback, participated in the forums to let us know what you thought and suggestions and anyone else who helped us fine tune the game.

As for the PC version, we don't have to submit that to anyone for approval overall, but it's going as equally as well as the console versions and is on the same schedule, so don't worry PC guys you're in the same boat of congrats and thanks!