Game development is a tricky formula where even the smallest changes can have a major impact on the game. Infinity Ward recently added an update to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare that fixed a number of small issues.
Fans discovered after the update that some minor things have changed that disrupt the fine-tuned muscle memory of fans. These changes are disrupting gameplay in larger ways than initially expected, resulting in many confused and frustrated Modern Warfare players.
The problem revolves around a small change in the "Leave Lobby" menu that appears when a player backs out of the game. The order of prompts have shifted, resulting in players leaving without party unintentionally. Originally, the "Leave With Party" option was found second on the list but is now listed as first. After six months of muscle memory, players automatically scroll to the second option and select it without thinking. This change was added in the last official COD update along with several tweaks to the game's weapons, game modes, and bugs.
Although this seems like a minor problem when paired with other known bugs, the situation gets more complicated. There is still an error in the game where friends do not appear online. So when a player accidentally abandons their party, it can be several minutes before they are able to get everyone back. Fans are confused about this change as it did not have a major impact on the game itself. There are plenty of other bugs and issues in Modern Warfare that need attention, meanwhile, no one had a problem with the leave party menu. Fans say that it is not about adding an extra option to the menu, but it's with the placement of the option.
The Call of Duty community is adapting to the change after several games, but some are wondering if the change was really necessary. The extra option could have been easily added to the bottom of the menu, but instead, the developers shuffled the menu. Although the reason is unknown, some fans believe that this fix was in preparation for changes coming in the release of Modern Warfare Season 4.
One of the more pressing party concerns is an error where the game mutes everyone and does not give the option to unmute. This forces players to reform the party and quit entire games. This has so far received no fix. Another bug causes heavy lag to the point of getting kicked from games. Out of all the problems in Modern Warfare that Infinity Ward could have fixed, the lobby menu seems like an odd choice.
Still, there is a portion of the Modern Warfare community that does not see a problem with the tweak. They instead turn to the community's ability to complain about almost everything, and push players to simply adapt to the change rather than push for it to be reversed. After months of practice and harnessing the power of muscle memory, simply adapting may prove harder for some fans than others.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is available on PS4, PC, and Xbox One.
Source: FeiLongFlameKick (via Reddit)