Late Monday night, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare received what is likely its last major update before season 3 ends and season 4 begins on June 2nd or 3rd. This also means yet another 20 to 30-gigabyte download on your console or PC, which brings the total game size to nearly 200 gigs on console. Maybe Activision’s plan is to take up all the space on our consoles so that Modern Warfare is the only game we can play. Regardless, the update brings a few sorely needed fixes, two new maps, some surprising changes, and even hints of a huge Warzone event on the horizon; the full patch notes can be found here.
The 1.21 patch notes are quite long, but a large portion is devoted to balancing guns, as well as bug fixes. The bug where your operator would be invisible on the party screen has been fixed, as has the bug that sometimes allowed players bought back during the final circle of a Warzone game to be immune to the gas. The Renetti pistol, which replaced the nerfed snakeshot .357 as the game’s resident overpowered pistol has also been nerfed: essentially the burst mod had its damage lowered, added hip fire spread, and even more damage removed when using the burst mod and akimbo, as well as added bullet spread. The change isn’t enough to make the gun bad in any way, it simply isn’t as powerful as it once was in certain situations. The Scar and FAL were buffed slightly, likely because they were underused, and two of the newer guns were buffed to a much greater extent. The VLK Rogue shotgun received increased damage and rate of fire, while the Holger-26 LMG received a massive buff in almost every category, as well as in several attachments.
Additionally, the long-promised Hardhat map from Modern Warfare 3 has finally arrived, along with Aisle-9 a gunfight map that is also being used for 3v3 games. These new maps feature on the playlist as “Hardhat 24/7” and “Cleanup On Aisle-9.” Unfortunately, they replace “Dirty Old House Boat” or “Shoot The Ship” as the current small map game mode, which makes finding a truly small map like Shipment, Rust, or Shoot House much more difficult.
Warzone has received some changes as well; outside of the gun tweaks mention previously, the RPG will have a slightly smaller kill radius, and a new “Armor Box” item is available to refill your entire team’s armor plates. Interestingly the final circle will now move as opposed to simply shrinking in order to level the playing field (this is also how the final circle works in Fortnite). New weapon blueprint variations have been added to boxes, and surprisingly, a bevy of new guns will be added to the gulag rotation.
Previously, the Gulag only issued players a pistol or shotgun for close-quarters combat, now, however, players may find themselves with a gin that they are much more accustomed to using in the main portion of the Warzone. The gulag has been supplied with several ARs and SMGs, which could mean entirely new Gulag-survival strategies need to be developed.
Finally, Activision closed the patch notes with this cryptic statement:
Number station <redacted> is Protocol Yellow. Activate <redacted> system. <redacted> is inbound. Awaiting correct authorization.
This almost definitely relates to the bunkers dotted around the map which have prompts to enter a code, but doing so results in nothing. There have also been key cards found around the map, some of which have been rumored to open the bunkers. All of this implies that there will be some sort of event that will change the Warzone map, if not to begin season 4, then soon after.