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Some players were initially optimistic about weapon tuning in MW3 as it would allow them to further customise their weapons beyond what is possible with attachments. Even after a weapon has been maxed out, players can still tune certain attachments to improve specific stats at the expense of others.
For instance, you might tune a barrel to increase its recoil control, but this might come at the cost of some aim-down sight (ADS) speed. Likewise, you might tune a muzzle brake to increase its bullet velocity, but this might come at the cost of some recoil control. But why did weapon tuning fail in Modern Warfare 2? That’s what we’ll talk about.
Weapon tuning is pointless. Here’s why
While some might argue that it is indeed a useful tool that can be used to create weapons that are tailored to a player’s playstyle, weapon tuning is simply not worth the trade-offs.
The benefits that come up with weapon tuning are often minimal and come at the cost of other important stats, such as ADS speed, recoil control, and damage range. As a result, it is often not worth your time and effort to tune weapons.
Also, it is too complex. There are so many different settings to adjust, and many players have found it difficult to know what each one does and how it will affect their weapon’s performance. This makes it difficult for players to optimise their weapons, leading to frustration, which is another reason Sledgehammer Games should keep the feature out of Modern Warfare 3.
In Modern Warfare 2, Infinity Ward did not provide details to guide players on how tuning works, and there was no way you could preview the effects of tuning changes before applying them. Also, after the game is updated with new patches, players must unequip and re-equip any weapon attachments and reset the tuning to maintain the weapon’s stability.
Some attachments cannot even be tuned at all. This makes it difficult to optimize certain weapons. And even the ones that can be tuned, often have no noticeable effect. Weapon tuning was not well received in MW2 and it likely won’t be welcomed in MW3 so we can only hope Sledgehammer Games will not bring back the feature when the game launches next month.
If you’ve been waiting to get your hands on Modern Warfare 3, you’ll be happy to know that you can play the campaign early access on November 2 ahead of the full release. And if you need a refresher on the story, here’s our guide on the Modern Warfare story so far as well as MW3 character list including all confirmed members of Task Force 141.
