(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Hi all.. it's ThunderJocks here and I am very close to publishing a definitive list of what I and my MW3 friends believe needs to be fixed by Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer Games for Modern Warfare 3 Multiplayer.

If you remember, I posted an extensive list of problems and suggestions to IW for MW2 nearly two years ago. Although many of the problems/suggestions were left begging, there were quite a few of them which were addressed. For this, I thank Activision and IW for their attention and effort. I also thank all of my followers on NextGen for supporting the post and drawing attention to it.

Here is the link to the original MW2 post for reference --> You must login or register to view this content.

Now... I'm not actually ready to post a definitive large list of problems/suggestions as yet for MW3 only because the game hasn't been out even a month as yet, and IW are still addressing the known issues through a patch every week or so. This is encouraging as it took them much longer to address the same for MW2 with regular patches.

What I can say at this point is this. There are some obvious improvements on previous COD titles and there are some frustrating similarities as well. At a high level... this is what I have found and note again, I will publish a full list in a week or so once I have collated more of my own and my MW3 friend's thoughts.

Noted Improvements -->
1. Some aspects of the 'Party' group functionality have improved. The party leader can now exit a pre-game lobby without having to re-group his party members. Even after a game, the party leader can exit the pre-game lobby back to the 'create party' lobby very quickly and without fear of losing party members. Well done IW and thank-you... this is a major improvement.
2. The party leader can now transfer his/her party leader responsibilities to another party member in the 'create party' lobby.
3. You can now have a specific strike package (the old 'Kill Streak' per class. This is a significant improvement.
4. You can now continue to collate kill rewards even after you die, thanks to the Support strike package option --> an excellent improvement.
5. Now, the party leader invite 'page' has the MW3 players at the top of the players list. This is an improvement over previous COD titles where online payers where listed at the top of the screen then followed by online COD players ready for an invite. However, see my point 4 below in the Problems / Suggestions section.
6. The integration of the Elite website and functionality is fantastic.
7. When a host is poor and changed during a game, now.. the previous host still remains in the game. This is an important improvement to those players who take their win ratio seriously. In previous COD titles, the host was kicked after having the hosting taken away from him/her.
8. The addition of Team Defender and Kill Confirm game modes is a great decision.

Problems / Suggestions -->
1. The party leader should be able to transfer the party leader responsibility to another member in the pre-game lobby rather than only in the 'create party' lobby. Right now, if the party leader has to leave the game, he/she can not transfer the responsibility without exiting the pre-game lobby first.
2. One of the most significant problems for non-American players, is that there is NO ability for players to choose 'LOCAL ONLY' as in Black Ops. This feature in Black Ops was a non-American player's best friend and arguably the best improvement in terms of lag, connection and host improvements by Activision. Unfortunatley, even after the recent 1.05 patch, my Australian friends and I are placed into American or non-local hosted games about 20% of the time. We have one red dot, or two yellow bars (if we are very lucky) and the game is then so NON-enjoyable. PLEASE PLEASE... add a 'LOCAL ONLY' feature to this game.
3. The Party Invite system again, like MW2 needs significant improvement. To invite someone, the party leader needs to press at least 4 buttons once the payer's name card is highlighted. This needs to be 1 button or 2 at worst. Why IW persists with the ability for the party leader to edit/write a message in the invite is beyond understanding. No-one uses this feature to modify the invite message so why have it?
4. Tactical insertions can not be cancelled.. they need to be like in Black Ops.
5. Flags are not transparent when you aim through them.. they need to be like in Black Ops.
6. General 'freeze' lag --> at various times in a game, regardless of your red, yellow or green bar status, players will experience game 'freezes'. Literally, the screen will freeze for up to 1.5 seconds while you are playing.
7. Host selection needs to improve --> Many strong, reliable and fast hosts are not being picked in the game server 'host selection' process. Many of my friends who hosted MW2 and Black Ops games over the last two years are NOT being picked as hosts for MW3. The host selection process needs to fundamentally change.
8. Capture the Flag --> this game mode used to be one of the most popular. Now it is not and it's not because new game modes like Team Defender and Kill Confirm are far better or more fun, it's simply because CTF games only last for 5 minutes a round. This in my opinion, is one of IW's worst decisions. It's deterring many good players from CTF because very simply, the game is over to quickly and many players have air related strike packages ready but unable to be used due to air support crowding.
9. I accept IW's decision to have some strike package rewards (example 'predator' not being able to be used in the first so many seconds of a round but they need to fix it so that it can't be called out, i.e. used. Many people are unaware that a predator is ineffective for the first few seconds and are calling them out, using them and in effect wasting them. You should not be able to call the predator out, until the appropriate wait time has lapsed.
10. The 'join session' option does not work for party members to 'group up' , when trying to form a party. A party can only be created through invites. This needs to be addressed.
11. Many times, a party member experiences sever issues and is kicked from a game. This is sometimes expected but what is not expected, is that MW3 then kicks all the other party members from the game, giving them ALL a loss with an error reading 'One of your party members experienced server issues and you have all been returned to the main lobby'. This is unnecessary and a very poor decision by IW. Please allow the rest of the party to stay. We will re-group at the end of the game.
12. You do not know sometimes who the host is. No-one during the game has 4 green bars to display who is host. This needs to be fixed so that the host is easily recognisable so that he/she can leave and address poor hosting issues if/when required.

Problems / Suggestions still relevant from MW2 that were not addressed back then and still need to be considered again here for MW3 -->
1. Show the green/orange/red connectivity bars in the lobby before the game begins. This way people can foresee their connectivity issues and choose to find another game if required
2. Show you who the host is before the game begins
3a. Before MW3 puts you in a game, whether you "join session" or search for a game and end up joining one in progress, it should give you the choice of joining after showing you the current score and which side you would be on
3b. if you can't fix the above.. then only allow someone to join a session where there is room on your friends side.. not the opposition
4. Do not record a loss for the player if the player is kicked out due to errors or hosting issues. Only register a loss if the appropriate exit sequence of buttons has been pressed by the player and the 'loss warning screen' appears before a player leaves a game
5. Do not allow players to join games where they will be one red dot of connectivity.. give them the choice at least

Okay... so this is it for a start. Again, the game has only been out for a few weeks so I'll give IW, Sledgehammer and Activision the benefit of the doubt that some of the issues above are being worked on. I also need more time to identify and document other issues.

Note though... THE MOST FRUSTRATING and DISAPPOINTING of all the issues above... is the non appearance of 'LOCAL ONLY' to ensure players receive a fair game. PLEASE PLEASE fix this.

As before.. I welcome your comments, feedback, criticism and support.

I agree with the majority of what you put, seeing that you can see how much the game is broken.. it's weird to think it's only been out what two weeks?