Call of Duty Shares Results of MW3's Ranked Play Weapon Evaluation Test

Sledgehammer Games has shared the results of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3's recent Ranked Play weapon evaluation test and confirmed some of the weapon balance changes coming soon. To start, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3's developers plan to make a significant adjustment to assault rifles, followed by additional changes later on.

The MW3 Ranked Play test began on April 16 and ran for a week, when a handful of previously banned weapons were temporarily unbanned to gather data and gauge players' opinions. Treyarch, the developer behind MW3's Ranked Play, explained that it was exploring the possibility of permanently adding additional guns to expand Ranked's limited meta, which has consisted of only two weapons for most of its lifespan. Many players welcomed the fresh lineup of guns, and it seems that the test data will result in real changes very soon.

Sledgehammer announced that the first change thanks to the test phase's data will arrive on May 1 with the Season 3 Reloaded update, when the hipfire accuracy of assault rifles will be reduced to emphasize their mid and long-range capabilities, making submachine guns a stronger option in close-range engagements, especially in Ranked where weapon classes like shotguns are banned. Sledgehammer also shared a few graphics that highlighted players' weapon pick rates and each gun's performance during the test phase. By the end of the test, the MCW's pick rate had almost halved, and the popular Rival-9 was overtaken by new additions like the RAM-9 and others.

Another graphic showed that the four Modern Warfare 3 weapons with the highest K/D ratios during the test phase were all new additions, specifically the Holger-556, MTZ-556, RAM-9, and BP50. Sledgehammer emphasized that further balancing will be needed to avoid a repeat of the current situation in which only a couple of weapons are ever used. Despite all the data Sledgehammer shared, the studio did not outright confirm which test weapons might be added to Ranked Play