Infinity Ward Announces New "Momentum System" For Modern Warfare 2
This morning, Robert Bowling (@fourzerotwo) tweeted that a new "Momentum System" would replace the killstreak system in Modern Warfare 2, setting the internet abuzz. To the best of this GGM editor's knowledge, no modern video game has ever made such drastic changes to its core multiplayer structure in this manner, and you, dear reader, are in luck. Only GGM has the exclusive details about what you will see when the next title update hits on January 20th for both Xbox Live and Playstation Network.
No More Killstreaks
Yes, you read that right. Those precious killstreaks that you spend hours camping in the corner to earn are all going bye-bye. In their place is a brand new "Momentum System," which rewards you for actively, yet smartly, pushing on objectives and playing as a team. In practice, it's very simple: every time you earn a kill, capture an objective, plant a bomb, or do anything to help your team's cause, you gain points to fill your momentum meter. When your meter reaches key points, you can choose to "cash in" your meter for one of those precious bonuses, like a UAV, Sentry Gun, or the dreaded Chopper Gunner. But be careful: cashing in your meter will cause you to "spend" all of the points you've currently accumulated, bringing you back down to zero. So you'll have to decide if you think that a UAV now is better than a possible Predator Missile later.
Lest you think this isn't fair when compared to the old system, wait until you hear this: getting killed will no longer reset your streak. That's right. If you die, your momentum will not be reset to zero under most circumstances (Bowling tells us that suicides or teamkills in Hardcore modes will reset the meter to zero). Rather, you'll incur a penalty to your meter. We pressing Bowling to tell us exactly how much you would lose, but all he would say was "it depends." Apparently they have some super-secret formula which takes into account what exactly you were doing when you died. For example, getting killed while running around in the open would cause a greater loss than getting killed while pressing on an objective. Speaking of deaths, we were also very excited to learn about the new "Noble Sacrifice" accolade, which rewards players who risk their lives to complete objectives. Said Bowling: "We noticed that many players wouldn't play aggressively because death is such a huge punishment in this game; the new 'Noble Sacrifice' award takes this away." Simply put, if you and two teammates work on capturing a flag in Domination, but you get killed while trying to grab it, as long as that flag is captured for your team, you will get a "Noble Sacrifice" message and won't incur a loss of momentum. This works in all objective based modes, and will hopefully encourage the more cowardly of you to actually put yourselves on the line for your team.
But this brings us to the biggest change in the new system: Team Momentum. Not only will each player have an individual momentum, but so will each team. This momentum will swing back and forth as the match progresses based on how well each team is doing relative to the other. If the bar swings too far in one direction, one of the more devastating momentum bonuses will be automatically released. Yes, you guessed it: the dreaded "Tactical Nuke." In fact, the nuke is no longer an individual reward. It can only be earned by the team as a whole and serves as a sort of "Mercy Rule" for those highly lopsided matches. "We always viewed the nuke as a sort of mercy rule anyway," Bowling told us, "and we were very disappointed to see the way that the community reacted to its inclusion. With this new system, we feel that the tactical nuke will fit more naturally into the flow of the game." We got to go hands-on with the new system in an exclusive event held only for GGM, and we walked away incredibly impressed. While Team Deathmatch games felt almost identical (and, in fact, are essentially unchanged), the objective-based games felt like new life had been breathed into them. Personally, I was overjoyed by the newfound usefulness of the Riot Shield, as using it properly can now actually earn those precious bonuses we've all come to love. This feels like an entirely new game, one with a greater sense of camaraderie and teamwork. Obviously, the true test of this update will be when it releases next month to the incredibly vocal and picky Modern Warfare community, but the general consensus around the office is that we're sold on it.
