Is it Time to Scrap Big Map Modes in Call of Duty?

Big map modes like Ground War, Invasion, and Fireteam have seemingly become less and less popular in Call of Duty over the years and it appears Sledgehammer has essentially abandoned support for them in MWIII. Today, I wanted to discuss the topic of whether or not these modes should continue to be supported in the CoD franchise due to their apparent lack of popularity combined with the development resources required to support them. What are your thoughts on this? Would you rather see them abandon these modes to better support 6v6 going forward or not?
Twitch: / thexclusiveace
Twitter: / thexclusiveace
0:00 Intro
0:25 MWIII Abandoned Post-Launch Support
2:07 Ground War Peaked in MW2019?
3:04 Is it Worth the Resources?
4:25 Should Black Ops 6 have a Big Map Mode?
5:29 The Flip-Side (6v6 Faceoff)
7:19 Maybe GW Should be an IW Feature...
7:57 Wrap Up

[@Absaroka]

I pretty much only play Invasion. The lack of new maps is unfortunate.

[@seadoo4life127]

Same.. but I do go back and forth. Sometimes you just don’t want to sweat every second. You just want to chill out and have some fun. Might have to consider Battlefield..

[@mradamcshaw]

Me too. SBMM less of an issue in Invasion. I've stopped playing last few weeks as no new maps and laggy gameplay with slow matchmaking.

[@Thund3rstruck57]

Same. I’ve been begging them on Twitter to at the very least port the large maps from MWII over. Playing on the same 3 maps over and over is tedious.

[@fatesblade7171]

I think they should scrap the modes and add all the MWII and MWIII GW and Invasion maps to quickplay. Not as large as they currently are in ground war and invasion, but noticeably larger than all current 6v6 maps. They might want to add a game mode for invasion to all 6v6 maps too with lower numbers of AI.

[@jesseashton6163]

sorry my bro but you're weird

[@tfc91420]

That giant dumbass helicopter spawn ruined ground war. You used to actually have to fight to move up the map now you just hop in that helo and jump onto any objective. It made the mode have way less engagements on specific flags and you don't have to use your brain with different tactics like flanking, smokes, tac insertions, etc.

[@kdog350]

And it makes rooftops even easier to get to which completely destroys map flow.

[@Simok1234]

Breaking out of insane spawn traps and close comebacks was one of my fondest memories of MW19 GW. Now everyone's always dropping from the sky and the timer makes comebacks a lot less possible, not to mention make the matches feel shorter than a standard Domination match sometimes. I don't understand how they fumbled the mode so hard with such minor changes.

[@deionb761]

@@kdog350 not true it’s great for taking points and getting to people who will go in a ground war 60ish people and lay on a roof for 25 minutes. Snipers are what ruin ground war not the worst helicopter ever 😂

[@gamerguy425]

I like the Heavy chopper and how it can turn the tides if utilized well, but it handles like absolute shit, it's boring to fly and should probably have a very slow amount of spawns per second.

[@inde496]

100% correct

[@12ozmouse]

"We're going to cut off the blood supply to our arm to see what happens.... Hm, it died" -same logic used for the big map modes.

[@madzaisa]

It's not the mode being bad. It's how they are done in each game. It wa fun in MW19.

[@davido.9527]

there is a reason why I actually liked Vanguard. Vanguard had big maps with 10v10, 12v12, 14v14. I hate what they did to Ground war. its a camp fest with snipers and those who hide inside buildings. The only fun is finding a tank, helicopter or smaller car and driving around without a goal to kill someone.

[@MickeyHarp]

Blitz pacing wasn’t it? I loved the bigger teams in Vanguard and am sad it didn’t make a return.

[@gamerguy425]

Snipers are bad enough but then you go to raid their building to kill them and find they have 10,000 mines and trophy systems.

[@patryklodygo6281]

No it was just big cluster fuck 6vs6 is enough on bigger maps …

[@javi_99]

Launch with the 3 worst GW maps we've ever had, hide the mode at the very end of the menu selection , no new map of any kind for months, then act surprised when it dies. 35 days played on MW19 GW, 31 on MWII, and I've pretty much just stopped playing GW on MWIII. Mostly everyone I knew in the previous years has done the same. We held out hope for any new maps and they just never came. No one wants to play a stale mode with a rotation of 3 shitty maps. So good job to SHG in killing the mode 🥳

[@MRWATSiT2YA37]

Same here. MW19 GW was something special. I loved it in MWII also, but the large spawn helo made the experience a bit less enjoyable since it messed with spawn flow.

[@DeadSpacedOut]

No way you think Popov Power is worse than any MWII Ground War Map. MWII Ground War had the worst Maps, compared to 6v6. It's funny actually. In MW 2019, we had awful 6v6 Maps but (mostly) good Ground War Maps, but with MWII we had (mostly) good 6v6 Maps but awful Ground War Maps.

[@javi_99]

@@DeadSpacedOut nah nah nah no way. It goes MW19 > MWII > MWIII Airport, Sa'id, Zaya, Cave, Guijarro, Santa Seña > the 3 MWIII maps. I wasn't a huge fan of the other 5 but even then I'd take any of those over the 3 we have now. Popov power, Orlov Military Base, and Levin Resort would all be bottom tier if placed in MW19 or MWII

[@MRWATSiT2YA37]

@@DeadSpacedOut every single MWII map shits on popov and levin resort. Not only that, but the map rotation is so bad that even with only three maps, I’ve never even played orlov base. Almost every match I play is levin resort and it SUCKS.

[@DeadSpacedOut]

@@MRWATSiT2YA37 there is no actual way you believe that. MWII has such unbelievably bad Ground War Maps, I was astonished by them on launch. Sa'id for example? Literally all about camping on top of buildings and nothing else, constantly getting sniped, even on the road. If you're not on a rooftop, you're dead and if you're on one, people are watching you. Literally nothing but camping headglitching snipers the entire match and it's 99% of the players. Name me one map from MW3's Ground War that's like that... you can't, because those Maps have power positions where people use snipers, but not the entire map. Almost every match of MWII Ground War is also almost only snipers in general. Once again, due to faster movement and better map flow and design, the MW3 Ground War Maps have flow much closer to the MW 2019 Maps, where many people are camping rooftops with snipers, but many people are also rushing on the ground. In MWII, you barely even see people move in those maps, and it's probably honestly the gameplay/movement more than the actual maps themselves, but the MWII Ground War Maps have actually 0 flow, which doesn't help. And for you information, cuz you're hating on SHG for this lol... All MW 2019, MWII and MW3 Ground War Maps are from Raven Software, because Verdansk, Al Mazrah and Urzikstan are all made by Raven lol.

[@Mamhnane]

Treyarch - Zombies Infinity Ward - Ground Wars / Invasion Sledge Hammer - War Mode That is what I would like to see. Then all focus on 6v6 from there.

[@icy1172]

This 👍🏽👍🏽

[@MooreGravy]

Agree!

[@Ghost-yg1bq]

I think we’re also neglecting war mode. We are supposed to get one each every season after season 2 but those disappeared for no reason.

[@chrisrichfield8906]

ya i love War mode, i feel like everyone has forgotten about it. Ground War has been trash since MW19, but War mode is actually fun.

[@LD-sx9pr]

@@chrisrichfield8906agreed, I wanted to Like Ground War but it doesn’t work even with MWIII’s gameplay, and War shouldn’t even be that much work to make a map compared to Making a map and it would play better than Ripping a part of the Warzone Map to cram 64 players in

[@epicgamerzfail4575]

Its a travesty, war is so fun but they just gave up. 2 maps almost a year after launch. Even ww2 launched with more maps.

[@BetaBreaking]

​@@epicgamerzfail4575well you can't blame Sledgehammer for not launching with more War maps, they clearly focused on 6v6 maps and designed around that. War and Ground War were thrown in at the last minute to add more content to the game. It makes sense why War hasn't gotten more, maybe they didn't even want to do the mode but Activision pressured them. I'm just spit balling but the launch and subsequently bugs in the War mode show how thrown together the mode was

[@BHRxRACER]

They fucked up when they made the KD count in that mode at launch. It never recovered after people disocvered that it's killing their K/D.

[@nejiman12]

They brought so much fun to the life of COD when GW was added in MW2019. I played solely there and it was so exciting for the future of the game mode. Then we got lackluster for MW2, but apexed with DMZ, which then got the cut. Then at MW3, we only have 3 maps for 4 almost 5 seasons. Bit sad, but I guess I’m of a minority in comparison to the numbers at large

[@Syxysypyrmyn]

I agree. GW in MW2019 was the best. Problem now I think is that the Warzone maps are bad so pulling a section out just makes a bad map

[@LD-sx9pr]

@@Syxysypyrmyn Promenade was the Biggest Turd that Incompetent Ward made in MW19, like WHY

[@DevlVergil]

I'm still heartbroken about DMZ. Could have been such a great and popular game mode if they only adapted it more to the single player experience.

[@kamransajid4474]

Dmz was literally the best cod experience since og warzone

[@ELIZABETHMARLONE2005]

​@@DevlVergilDMZ was sweaty trash every time I played it some Aussie mo fo would kill me and be racist cause I'm a New Zealander

[@xxPhoenixX-sg9tr]

Invasion and ground war would have been fine if they put time into it.

[@frazfrazfrazfraz]

They just aren't able when they're only given 3 years to make a game and they have to do campaign, zombies, 6v6, gunfight, AND ground war. It's like having to make a battlefield game and a call of duty game and a co-op game all within 3 years. This is the problem with so many extra modes. Something has to give, there aren't unlimited resources/time

[@Culturedtuna1]

@@frazfrazfrazfraz Why are people acting like ground war maps are challenging to make? Almost all the previous ground war maps are just chopped up sections of the warzone map, and they were great. We have to draw a line at some point and put 'some' expectations on the developers. I said it in another comment, but if the reply to this is, "Urzikstan sucks for making ground war maps compared to Verdansk." then we need to hold the developers to a higher standard and expect them to make maps and modes with intent next time.

[@frazfrazfrazfraz]

@@Culturedtuna1 I'll give it up for that, I forgot how many ground war maps are just pieces of warzone. I'm just saying, adding in more severely different game modes will inherently result in them all being less refined and functional. Until we get off the one year lifecycle, it's always going to be disappointing and buggy. There's only so much you can do in 3 years

[@Culturedtuna1]

@@frazfrazfrazfraz Yeah I think you're right. I just remember how these previous games pulled it off; and how Microsoft said we were supposed to get call of duties every 2 years so they could bake in the oven longer. I'm just a grumpy 30 year old gamer that expects more from the industry lmao.

[@BetaBreaking]

​​@@Culturedtuna1the issue I see if how uninspired and tactless ground war was from the start. It was made to stomp on Battlefield's toes. Once it did that, they moved on to other things. In MW2, ground war was clearly not a focus, then in MW3 it was practically thrown together in a short time. I don't think Sledgehammer cared at all about GW, they simply put it in the game as it was expected at that point. So I don't care much for GW unless they further innovate with the mode and put more focus on it. They could literally rip off Battlefield in MW4 if they focus on it, or at least replicate MW2019 GW if they tried

[@kdog350]

All they need to do is get rid of the heavy chopper in Ground War and add maps to both Ground War and Invasion. "They are all just a part of the Warzone map. It shouldn't be that hard" 😏

[@acerock013]

man....i just realized i haven't played GRound War or Invasion is months. It used to be a good place to grind XP but now i just use Zombies for that

[@christopherroberts6089]

Same dude, zombies is great for leveling guns without trashing your stats and it's not sweaty af

[@Soggysenpai]

They just need to make ground war without snipers. Imagine how chaotic maps would actually feel if people had to throw bodies more medium to close range. I legit only play ground war and it's just a shame there's no new maps or leaderboards in this cod

[@DDog1125]

Ground War without snipers or any marksman rifles that can one shot anywhere lower than the neck/head would literally be a dream come true.

[@extremeheat9283]

THIS. I've always had this idea since 2019.

[@Leon_2777]

Ground War in MW19 was so good because it was just a scaled up 3-lane map with interconnecting routes and a centralized flag needed to advance spawns and positioning on the map. Aniyah Palace, Karst River Quarry, Krovnik Farmland, Barakett Promenade, The best Ground War maps were all scaled up 3-lane maps where this design philosophy rang true. When MWII came out they scaled the maps far larger, sparingly used the 3-lane map design and most importantly, decentralized the C Flag. It was no longer the convergence point of the map, especially since you can just avoid that part of the map entirely. Every game of Ground War became a snail's pace and it ruined all the steam the game mode might have gained from it's pre-beta hype. The design philosophy was so simplistic and easy to implement and I don't understand how they could have ruined it so much to the point we have to ask are these modes even necessary anymore. It's unfortunate because MW19 Ground War was the most fun I've ever had in COD since I started in 09'.

[@jeremybrown9611]

Yup that's the issue

[@CutiePi]

100% this. The map design. I could play Karst River Quarry all day every day. That thing is so smooth.

[@hamza-chaudhry]

Perfectly put

[@Culturedtuna1]

3:04 Why are we acting like making a ground war map is hard? Almost all the old ones were just chopped up sections of the warzone map anyway, and they were good. Why couldn't they do that again? If we're gonna say, "well it's because Urzikstan doesn't have any suitable sections to turn into a ground war map.", then maybe we should hold these developers to a little higher standard; and expect they design maps and modes with intent.

[@ZyphLegend]

making maps is hard. the reason the maps worked so well in mw2019 is because they actually were designed with ground war in mind. warzone didn't come out until a few months into the life cycle of mw2019, so ground war was their introduction to the larger map of verdansk. they had to make sure players were interested in these larger scale areas once they released warzone. but now that warzone is out, and had garnered a large playerbase, they are now focused more on creating a good warzone map, and not so focused on making the smaller sections of it play well for ground war

[@epicgamerzfail4575]

Yes. Big modes just arent fun; snipers hiding in the back of the map for half the game and spawns being all over the place, not to mention no new maps since launch. I much prefer playing 10v10 or 12v12 on larger 6v6 maps rather than the discount battlefield modes. Unless the devs actually try to make ground war work, I'd rather they scrap it.

[@Calma123_]

More maps like Chesirepark, Hardhat and Shoothouse,

[@reygamerz8041]

Yea I agree, it just not work well with how cod fan base plays compare to battlefield or other similar games

[@simrantoor85]

Maybe not for you, but I like large maps. Makes you play more tactically. That said CoD ballistics, unrealistic as they may be, are designed for CQC, not long range engagement. Also I just never enjoyed battlefield, tried the new one (maybe too soon, it was buggy) and didn't enjoy it.

[@Culturedtuna1]

@@simrantoor85 This is the thing that these people don't appreciate, having to be tactical. 6v6 at this point is just who can muster up the most movement tech at their disposal, and have some competency in class setup. It's not 'fun'. All that schizophrenic gameplay in 6v6 modes isn't as rewarding in a mode like ground war, as much as being a good tactician is. "bUt tHeRe'S sNiPeRz iN ThE bAcK", I'll take the spawn snipers in ground war any day over getting shot by a kar98k point blank in the face at every corner. Only took them over a month to nerf that shit.

[@Byteside546]

Original mw2 ground war was the best. 8v8 for 16 people on terminal/quarry/highrise/etc was busy but it wasn't insane and it was so much fun with friends. Great point that the larger 6v6 maps were the way to go, hopefully they bring the real/original game mode back some day. Maybe the warzone mentality of giant maps made them switch but that is the opposite of what I miss from the classic titles. I'd love to see xdefiant give 8v8 a try on some maps like Dumbo or Pueblito for example and have a mix of tdm/dom/kill confirmed

[@hostilegoat]

They'd work in a game without 1 shot kill sniper rifles to the anything but the head. There's a good reason Battlefield has traditionally limited the effectiveness of snipers starting all the way in BF1942. Even in that franchise, snipers still present problems when it comes to teamplay synergy. In the big map modes you know couple that lack of teamplay with what basically amounts to an "I win" cannon in game modes that generally require some kind of objective teamplay investment.

[@epicgamerzfail4575]

The only reason cod snipers can one shot beyond the head was to balance them so they are viable in tiny maps that cod is known for. Once you go to bigger, battlefield esq maps the oneshots make no sense. Even warzone knows this lol

[@hostilegoat]

@@epicgamerzfail4575 yes, exactly.

[@simrantoor85]

@@epicgamerzfail4575 yeah but snipers use a much bigger round which should be able to do one shot headshots just fine, the difficulty should lie in accuracy. a 700yrd headshot should not be easy, but if you hit at that distance then one round to the head still does the job.

[@epicgamerzfail4575]

​@@simrantoor85bf does this well since bullet velocities are generally lower/bullet drop is more exaggerated. Cod its a lot easier to hit long range headshots.

[@simrantoor85]

@@epicgamerzfail4575 I think the big difference is that cod is made for fast gameplay, and slowing things down by changing ballistics and accuracy would fundamentally change the game. I bounce between CoD and Arma.

[@Culturedtuna1]

Ground war is the best mode this game has to offer right now, and it's a dam shame no one cares about it anymore. It's the only game mode that isn't an absolute sweat fest. A mode where people having 10,000 movement speed and the ultimate slide cancel/360/flying knee kick techniques, isn't rewarded like it is in little 6v6 modes. And maybe us classic cod enjoyers should make way for more schizophrenic gameplay that requires more skill. Maybe we should just go play battlefield from now on. It's clear Activision has no intention of supporting the mode anymore. They can't even be bothered to fully fix people abusing EMP score streaks after it's been an issue for '7 MONTHS'. It's not like it's an unsolvable issue either, all they have to do is just have the emp give a flat scorestreak number, instead of adding up every killstreak/vehicle destroyed. Not to mention every single update that comes out breaks the game and makes it laggy as all hell (ground war being noticably worse). Activision would LOVE to get rid of ground war, seeing as it's the only game mode left without aggressive sbmm. That way they can get people to forget modes without harsh sbmm were ever a thing, and continue to boost player engagement around selling nikki minaj's butt to 10 year olds.

[@thelaxman8053]

I loved the war mode at launch but at a certain point playing tge same map over and over again got really boring

[@yourstillwithme]

agreed. if they added new maps for it i'd be all about it but it seems like its just better to do more content for 6v6 because its easier to develop, and i get that.

[@thelaxman8053]

@@yourstillwithme ya thats true, it still sucks tho

[@KXTMO]

and the second map they added doesn't play nearly as well either

[@thelaxman8053]

@KXTMO i thought it was fine, tbh i dont think either one is as good as the ww2 ones

[@TheDeauxBoi]

Used to love Ground War because the SBMM felt far less strict leading to more variety of gunfights. But it’s so infested with hard scoping ling ranged camped out snipers and ridiculously OP vehicles that infantry can’t do anything against in the slightest, makes it extremely frustrating to play

[@flamingscar5263]

IMO they ahould be moved into warzone, not multiplayer, this would make the big map/big team modes free to play, more players, lower ping

[@theFORZA66]

Also would prob be better cause in warzone snipers require headshots past a certain range right? Tbh idk because i dont play the br mode

[@thelaxman8053]

Ya thats a great idea, its what they did in warzone 1 with payload, whenever payload was in rotation that would be all i would play

[@flamingscar5263]

@@theFORZA66 warzone doesn't change damage values, snipers in ground war MP also require headshots past a certain range, technically in normal MP to but no map is even close to big enough for the damage falloff to take effect

[@epicgamerzfail4575]

This. Wz is already large maps, makes more sense for people who want that type of gameplay to be in wz vs 6v6 mp

[@Adam-pk7go]

@@flamingscar5263warzone changes nearly every damage value for every gun Most of the bolt action snipers (not marksmans) can one shot to the torso/chest at infinite range. Some like the katt can do it to the toe

[@oscarmorales7085]

MW2 tarnished the Ground War experience. It was better in MW2019. It’s disappointing that GW has fallen and has been abandoned.

[@madzaisa]

This. So much this. As former BF player, Ground War is that brought me into CoD. Yes, experience was different from BF, obviously, but it was fun. But MW2 GW was just trash. I dunno why they decided to destroy formula that worked with those friggin hellies and other changes.

[@Calma123_]

Mw19 is goated they got the best maps for groundwar and 6v6. And the pace in the game is perfect.

[@theFORZA66]

​@Calma123_ ground war was great in mw2019 but the 6v6 maps sucked. One of the things that made me quit cod for a few years.

[@Redmont_]

@@theFORZA66that sounds so pathetic

[@actrue9712]

They’re just getting ready for black ops 6 probably. They don’t care about mw3 at this point

[@KANRA__]

The transport heli is what ruined ground wars for me. It was the main mode I played in MW2019 besides 10v10. Ever since MW22, where they first added the transport heli, it has ruined map flow and has made it really easy for players to have access to any rooftops without having to run over, and gave them easy access to get to any objective on the map. Remove the transport heli and ground wars will be good again.

[@compie1516]

If they actually put effort into it like mw19 then itsso fun to play. They abandoned it which is why they're dead. Mw2 had way more support for big map

[@xdaddyduragx7989]

2019 ground war and Cold War fireteam were peak since then it’s just not been fun the maps just promote camping snipers too much

[@KollektorKahn]

No I like ground war. They just don’t get any updates at all. It is however annoying with the constant snipers. The reason I stopped playing it because of the lack of support. It sucks.

[@deathtrooper2048]

My favorite big map modes were Fireteam dirty bomb and combined arms in CW.

[@thelaxman8053]

Ya those were peak

[@3mphatic]

Fireteam Dirty Bomb was a lot of fun and I think deserves another go in BO6. The need to tweak it a little for sure (lots of glitches, etc..) but the way it forced the engagements was fun and definitely not boring. Some of the additional modes they created weren’t very successful but I was glad they tried - which ultimately killed the mode.

[@billucf96]

If BO6 is nothing but shipment sized maps, then I'll be done with COD forever.

[@CornFed_3]

Nothing of the sort has been said or confirmed. Relax.

[@cparks1000000]

I'm quite sure there's no big-map in BO6. It wasn't shown/mentioned at all in the teaser.

[@AhegaoComics]

I was a big fan of Groundwar in MW2019 and MWII, I hated the MWIII GW maps from the start and it quickly lost interest after a few games. Now I just tend to play 10v10.

[@MiketheNerdRanger]

I liked the big map modes. It really felt alive and frantic, and there was never a dull moment. Though I must concur with the rest of the comments about snipers being a problem in those modes.

[@Kiryokuu]

I was just thinking about this last night. Before MWIII released, I _believe_ Ground War had a different name, and was supposed to have their own special maps separate from Urzikstan. Either way, they haven't supported this at all. On a different note, they haven't even supported Gunfight! I mean, they could have just ported all of the Gunfight maps over from MWII, and they couldn't even do that. Every mode besides 6v6 is lacking so badly. Gunfight could easily be fixed. Another thing about Gunfight - I believe Gunfight Blueprint should be the default.

[@Yashayar12trbe]

Ground War 2019 was GOLDEN 🥹💯

[@kevinkim9620]

everything MW2019 was golden. literally played and mastered every single mode and map co-op and multiplayer in that game. i miss its golden years

[@ROUGHNECKROGERS]

Even mw2 gw was great. Mw3 maps are trash in comparison

[@IzKaz]

@@kevinkim9620 co-op good? Fuck no you’d literally get shot through the floor by the ai mw19 was ass

[@CornFed_3]

@@kevinkim9620, nothing was golden about MW19. What a bot.

[@Sir_Robin_of_Camelot]

I distinctly remember everyone hating the shit out of MW2019 multiplayer when it came out lol. It's crazy how much opinions change over time.

[@Walsall35]

As long as SBMM remains how it is right now, Ground War remains one of the very few escapes for people wanting a truly casual Call of Duty experience. This year's support has been poor (no new maps, chaining EMPs ruining entire lobbies, helicopter turning it into a campfest), but I still don't think it should be dropped altogether. It really depends on if the developers are given the resources to support the mode, which Sledgehammer clearly wasn't.

[@gcw2830]

I never have any issues getting into matches for Ground War. And it's a lot of fun as a change of pace. I don't get why they haven't carried forward the MW2 GW maps. I'd love to see the player counts from day one. One of the things that makes GW so interesting is that the crazy lopsided matches are much less prevalent. I'm so sick of being added into 6v6 matches as cannon fodder. Trying to get into a new lobby is a total pain. Getting into one that isn't a massacre for one side or the other is so rare it gets old fast. In MW2019 it seemed like there were much fewer lopsided matches and it was much more fun then MW2 or MW3 6v6 You would think by now they'd be able to create a matchmaking algorithm that can create balanced lobbies.

[@ISD1Devastator42]

I’ve been playing Ground War for a long time now ever since MW19. It was so good, and surreal. I still play GW to this day. Here’s what to fix: Remove the transport helis, add MWII maps into the equation, and the rest is up to ya’ll. If SHG adds some more GW/Invasion maps, and removes the transport helo, maybe things can get better. Idk. It’s up to ya’ll. But I’m not leaving GW yet. But I hate the state it’s in. 😔

[@Im__Andy-f6x]

if SHG didn’t get hit by layoffs they’d still make content for the other non 6v6 modes in MP

[@WannaDJ]

Sadly the only time I'd ever play Ground War/Invasion would be to Grind longshots on Snipers.

[@rockelino]

Well said @TheXclusiveAce. My favorite game mode in the whole franchise was the MW19 Ground War, especially when they had the time limited "boots on the ground" (no tanks/vehicles/helos) GW lobbies. I avoided GW in MW22 and MW23 due to the annoying heavy chopper spawns and mediocre maps.

[@garenavanessian9677]

Too many snipers, no one moving

[@CornFed_3]

Exactly. Not sure how anyone had fun in GW when everyone is just camping the same sight lines for 30 minutes.

[@edson210120]

I know i’m in the minority, but I like having a mix of map sizes instead of all being three lane or all being too large. I know people don’t like maps like array, overgrown, gustav cannon or wasteland, but imo they add variety. Just like some small maps are ideal for shotguns, what’s the point of sniper rifles if there aren’t maps with longer lines of sight? I think that cold war had the right idea in terms of variety (some were three lane maps, some were more open), it’s just that it didn’t launch with many maps.

[@tktxlegend4540]

I feel like the problem isn't a lack of intrest from players in Ground War/Invasion and more to due with how we've been constantly complaining over the past 5 years that the devs only seem to care about Warzone. I still remember when youtubers would make videos covering each new season for MW19, Cold War, Vanguard and MW22, talking about how 6v6 is getting zero love from the devs. Now, Sledgehammer is doing nothing but putting all of their effort into 6v6 because thats what we've been asking for for the past 5 years. Ground War and Invasion both have their niche pkayerbases that deserve attention. To start with, Sledgehammer should bring the MW22 Ground War maps to MW23. I also think remaking the MW19 Ground War maps would be a nice touch, seeing as Verdansk exists in MW23 but I doubt that will happen.

[@HDMineFace]

MW3's lack of new ground war/invasion maps have been super disappointing, invasion is really fun and despite 2 of the 3 maps being pretty terrible imo (and one of them will ALWAYS bug out the server at the start), the mode is still pretty fun. Had some great games on last night actually, really hope they keep invasion at least for BO6.

[@thedeeprot]

Focus on Warzone imo - The SBMM in Multiplayer has ruined everything!

[@OGruurd]

Hi Deeprot, was just banging Losing It (Wa-Fu VIP), love your channel😊

[@danhoff8333]

Invasion was my favorite mode in MW2. It was great for leveling up my guns and xp. I still love it in MW3, but I am burned out on playing the same 3 maps. I really hoped for more new ones every season. Now I would be happy to play the MW2 maps in addition to MW3 maps. I'm really good at Invasion. I get the highest score almost every game. It's the only mode I can say I'm better than most at.

[@anthonyefimoff7228]

If they got rid of the transport helo and added the MW2 Ground War maps to the game it would probably see a huge surge of players. It's not that hard.

[@renebaan7430]

Nah I love Ground War and LOVED MW2 ground war. Its actually criminal that they stop it and same with the War mode. By your logic they should just kill 6v6 since Warzone is more popular

[@YaBoiZombii]

Fun Fact! If you play Invasion on Popov Power, about a minute into the match the server will have a severe lagspike that lasts about 30 seconds. This has been a problem since, at the least, season 2, and STILL hasn't been patched

[@majorasmask5523]

Invasion is incredible.

[@CornFed_3]

How?

[@cparks1000000]

@@CornFed_3 It's easy af.

[@soliderack]

I personally enjoy having ground war and having it with it's own dedicated large maps. It's a nice change of pace to go to from time to time outside of the norm 6by. I have to think Ground war was at the least semi-popular in MW2019&2022 alike...IMO it would be sad to see it go

[@Arctic3OD]

Yes. If I wanted to play against snipers that are further away than I expected the map limits to be, or with insanely powerful tanks that just spawn for free, I would be playing Battlefield. Old school Ground War, aka 10v10 on regular maps, was fun. I strongly believe that the biggest factor in the success of MW2019 Ground War was that the normal 6v6 multiplayer was absolute dogwater.

[@shawn4507]

There's no way on knowing if the mode would've failed if there was more support. Who knows it could've picked up.

[@Lightemup2005]

I play ground war exclusively and is pissed at the lack of support and no new maps.

[@LD-sx9pr]

GW I felt was never enjoyable, even with MW19 using Warzone Sections it felt really bad that I rather Play BF instead of GW, and Fireteam had the same issues with campers or snipers. I skipped MWII but I heard It had better maps for some people. MWIII felt just as bad with MWIII EVEN THO I LOVE MWIII and it's Improvements. If GW was scrapped for better 6v6/10v10/12v12 or WAR Mode support, I'm all for it But for MWIII, if they added MWII maps to III, it would at least be a good way to properly sunset it.

[@jeremybrown9611]

GW 2019 wasn't bad, but BF Conquest was just better...by far. 2019 had potential that it never reached... like most things with CoD

[@dgtldead]

Its funny, because you can find Ground War/Invasion games quickly in MWII whereas its a struggle in MWIII. Urzikstan in general is kinda boring and the maps don't really play all too well to be honest. I personally find both modes fun and different from the usual MP setups. You can really get away with using different attachments for different engagement ranges and loadouts that are far different. Old ground war prior to MW19 was 9v9 which was fine (10v10 mosh pit works here), and honestly ground war could've easily been 12v12, 14v14, etc. on existing maps with combat pacing. SHG just didn't bother though.

[@n0ah7]

it can be very fun and a change from the sweat fest of normal MP but they need to port the other maps in or make new maps. Imagine Night Vison mode only and at night with raining

[@Jas-D]

I liked what Treyarch did with "Combined Arms" in Cold War. They had big maps with "Strike" versions which I feel worked well because the maps were familiar because they were in 6v6 too.

[@AmazedBunion]

I don't think there's anything they can do to get me back on COD at this point. Even treyarch isn't what they were without Vondy. It's over for me.

[@unclelou8636]

I played Invasion exclusively in MW2 and started MW3 the same way, but the 3 maps we got were pretty awful and I wouldn't be shocked to hear that the maps drove away a good portion of the players. The lack of new maps or any other kind of support for the mode certainly didn't help. I'm sure there is a portion of the playerbase that is very dedicated to Ground War/Invasion; and while I personally hope they continue to offer the mode I can understand why they might not.

[@sIayerz]

I definitely agree I think it's time to scrap big map modes, and put all attention and resources on 6V6. That's the most popular mode. Like you said mw2019 ground war was last time it played well and was popular. Thats the last time I played any ground war. Mostly due to 6v6 design in that game playing horribly. I hope bo6 puts all focus on making the best 6v6 possible. Also cod should definitely have a 10v10 or 12v12 playlist though.

[@PJGOTSTYLE]

Ground war went to hell when they decided to have rooftops everywhere on each map

[@Svydnar]

On a slightly related note: I really wish we had a "No chaotically small maps" filter to apply to quick play. I find myself backing out often on Shipment/Rust/Das House/Stash House, and yet maps like Growhouse/Scrapyard/Shoothouse don't bother me.

[@SaekAncient]

there probably would’ve been more stuff for ground war, invasion, and war mode if there weren’t those layoffs that happened to Sledgehammer in early 2024. That’s a big reason why there wasn’t much on the update front for those modes.

[@micc98]

I am a 6v6 TDM purist. Larger modes can be interesting distractions, but I always return back to the what made a fan of COD in the first place, 6v6 multiplayer

[@Skankhunt-kp6xq]

Fireteam Dirty bomb is one of the best game modes CoD has ever had.

[@NierH7]

Looking back, I have the feeling that Infinity Ward built the gameplay base of MW2019 and MW2 Reboot on Ground War mode and tried to cram that into 6v6. In MW2 mainly. The limitation of the minimap is barely felt because there were players activating weave at all time. Limited movement did not cause as much punishment, because positioning was more important and etc.

[@negaatio666]

I play almost exclusively ground war for multiple reasons: its quite chill (no ssmb?); big maps favor mnk; multiple poi's are in effect multiple maps; freedom for sneaking around. I do agree that a new map would have been nice in the lifecycle of mw3, but if you play ground war a lot all the maps have so many different locations that they don't, at least for me, get stale so fast as you imply.

[@ZyphLegend]

what made ground war so good in mw2019 was the fun that it had really well designed maps. most of the maps had areas for all types of gunplay. whether you wanted you to have long range sniper fights, or close quarter engagements, almost every GW map in mw2019 had many different areas for these that were pretty well separated. if you didn't want to get picked off by those snipers, you could easily avoid the areas they like to watch without hassle. with mw2, and especially mw3, the maps designs are just, all over the place, and that's what really killed the mode. mw2 had some decent maps here and there that still made playing fun sometimes, but the maps in mw3 just dont have any kind of flow to them

[@KaguyasBeat]

I spent most of my time in MW19 and MWII playing GW. I thought the map selection in MW19 gotta a little bit worse later on as they just added in smaller player counts on smaller, 3 lane type areas from Verdansk which killed it a bit for me on there (looking at you Promenade, Riverside), but I still spent the majority of my time on it. Was quite pleased with MWII's selection for the most part exempt a couple of maps here and there (Sarrif and Sa'id being polar opposite problems... one is way too big and ends up ending on time rather than score, the other way too small with zero approach options combined with it basically being 3 lane WITH rooftops...) MWII was generally a step up imo. We even had some maps that were actually unique to GW and not just a piece of the WZ map (Guijarro I loved, Border crossing was pretty fun for me to). It's honestly surprising to me they didn't bring back some of these maps to MWIII. Especially when they announced MWII maps returning to 6v6 I thought it was a no brainer some of the GW maps would return to. Been quite disappointed.

[@JoselitoBurrito]

I love how your think having 10 or 1,000 devs would drastically change the effort the put into the game. Activision is a company. The effort is ALWAYS going to be MINIMUM. If they are not doing ground war or zombies or whatever you think they're getting distracted with, they'll fire those guys. They won't be 'helping' or 'improving' the game. Let's understand who we're talking about. It's the same people that can't change a number input to balance the guns every 30 days (extreme hard work). C'mon....

[@JoselitoBurrito]

If they get 5 more guys into the team, they're going make 5 more bundles 😂

[@blamau14]

I firmly believe the lack of support for Invasion and Ground War is what led to the modes being relatively unpopular, not the other way around, but that isn't the only reason. The vehicles in these modes are a big problem, especially in Ground War. They probably should have been left out of the game to begin with, but the fact that they have so little counter play just compounds the issue. The fact that the launchers, most of which are literally based on weapons designed for destroying vehicles, take four or five shots to take down anything beyond a four wheeler is just plain absurd. I don't like the excessive number of snipers in these modes, but if going to a high place where you can't be run over is the best way to avoid vehicles, it's hard to blame them honestly. Not to mention the spawn helicopter in Ground War; that thing completely invalidates the way the mode is supposed to work.

[@nathancarsey3605]

Kills in large map game modes carry more weight for me than kills in smaller maps.

[@anthonyefimoff7228]

I exclusively play Ground War. It gives that Battlefield itch that Dice has fumbled for the last while. It's such a shame that they haven't added more maps for it in MW3, so I've been going back to MW2 for it, since they added so many maps for it and the gameplay is better suited there. I'd hate to see it go, I want it expanded instead.

[@stevensavage2684]

I'd love to see a separate release called Call of Duty: Ground War where it gets exclusive support from a studio designed in the vein of MW 2019's Ground War maps. I'd buy that in a heartbeat.

[@CornFed_3]

GW has potential but the way people play COD, it completely ruins the mode.

[@theagainagain]

I was a big fan of ground war in MW2, primarily because of the longshot grind for camo, and the number of maps. I probably would have played it more on MW3 if it was getting more support. All that said, I totally agree with you, it seems like the community is voting with their feet, and the 6v6 appears to be where it's at. I love the small map playlist, I personally feel like there are a lot of tactics that can be employed during those shipment matches.

[@imaginesagi]

Combine Arms was an amazing mode! I hope they bring it back. It was multiplayer with vehicles and chaos with unique maps. Loved it!

[@theFORZA66]

I exclusively play 10v10. Thats the ideal mode for cod imo, just the right mix of cod gameplay and battlefield chaos. I dont feel the need to play ground war, so unfortunately i gotta agree. Although thats mainly cause the game isnt balanced well around ground war. Not a huge fan of 6v6, and ground war isnt fleshed out enough to be very fun.

[@ChristianJohnson-wx4ez]

Not only ground war and invasion is getting ignore, But the problem with Modern Cod that Ace forgot is that Ground war/Invasion is the only gamemode where you can actually chill without worry about SBMM play in factor. the Issue with both 6v6 and 10v10 not just MW3 but in both MW2019/MW2. It still plague with the same Sbmm that a lot of modern cod suffer with. It literally impossible to play the game in a solo casual way because you're going to get match where you had to used meta weapon, you had play like a sweaty pro, you had too abuse every movement tech you can. And that not good fun experience. That why lot people only play Ground war/Invasion because it had less Sbmm compare to 6v6 where over time the matchmaking just kept snowball every time.

[@saltycsc1358]

It seems like the ONLY focus is small map 6v6 chaos... which has driven me away from the game. My only real incentive for playing is squadding up with my buddy. I have no intention of getting BO6 since I quit playing BO after the first version.

[@EvilXero359]

My personal opinion as to why ground war was less popular was mainly because it closely resembled EA's Battlefield series which typically had 5 control points with vehicles

[@wxl2562]

"War" (returning from WW2) should've and could've been Call of Duty's unique solution and core gamemode to replace these big, large scale maps with objective based scoring. But they just chose to not support the mode (War) and have neglected their Ground War and Invasion modes. They atleast somewhat tried to update Cold War's "Fireteam" mode and it wasn't a half bad idea. But what we currently have is laughably bad.

[@Matt-uf2ye]

I wish Activision would make 6v6 modes but in the Warzone engine. Imagine a search and destroy type mode on a "ground war" map but in the warzone engine where you have to loot for the bomb materials but you have plates, buy stations, ground loot weapons. I think that would be fun and would help revive the "6v6" mode.

[@KDGzephyr]

Where 80% of the lobby is camping for the other 20% to move, it not fun at all.

[@fatesblade7171]

I think they should scrap the modes and add all the MWII and MWIII GW and Invasion maps to quickplay. Not as large as they currently are in ground war and invasion, but noticeably larger than all current 6v6 maps. They might want to add a game mode for invasion to all 6v6 maps too with lower numbers of AI.

[@TeamMutuallyAssuredDestruction]

The big map modes (except for fireteam) always felt like discount Battlefield designed to bring in that audience after people didn't like BFV. I don't think they really added much tbh.

[@MC-gj8fg]

I was a Battlefield player from inception, starting with BF1942. The game just got further and further from the spirit of what made the original games great and I, like many others for a diverse litany of reasons, have long ago lost faith in and abandoned that franchise. The intent of ground war appeared to be an attempt to compete with Battlefield in some way. While ground war has always been laughably bad, unfortunately so too is the Battlefield franchise at this point. There's really no longer any need for COD to attempt to compete with a corpse so there is no need for Ground War unless the mode undergoes some out of left field renaissance of interest from the player base.

[@johngrant832]

When SBMM gets too much, and this is most days, I do like to play invasion. Also I am pants with a sniper but do enjoy using them in invasion.

[@markjones5672]

I enjoyed big maps and modes like Ground War in MW19. I still played certain modes in MWII but even less so in MWIII. It's a shame that the War mode wasn't focused but I think War needed to be closer to It's WWII version. These maps do also take a lot of resources away from standard 6v6 and not supporting these large map modes just makes them feel "forgotten" even though it's intentional

[@aaronburnett2261]

Camo grind pushes everyone to small maps. More gun fights equals faster progress. They need to rework camo unlocks. Do it like X defiance when it's basically just xp. (That will also get ppl to play objectives) while allowing extra xp for camo unlock with old challenges ( headshots, while prone, sliding, crouched, /weapon appropriate./ multi kills, quick scope etc, give extra experience for those specific tasks withcertain guns. They can also give bonus camo grind xp for large scale games since they have less combat in them. Cod creates its own problems. By driving players to not play for fun and the objective. But to jump through hoops that have little to do with winning the game.

[@Cirocpapi510]

COD's low TTK and lack of true vehicle combat always holds it back on the large map front. BF works because you've got classes with different responsibilities and snipers that can only one shot to the head for the most part. COD is at its best when it does 6v6/small maps well.

[@edwardbersin3100]

We already have the real OG Ground War in 10v10/12v12 and that's what I've wanted from modern CODs. MW2019 Ground War was 100% the peak of the big map modes because 6v6 played horribly and had terrible maps. I am shocked they never added even a few new maps though, but not tore up about it. Hope we get one more War map though.

[@yveshku5583]

I do like larger map modes, like had a ton of fun with Combined Arms and Fireteam in Cold War. But there's no doubt it does feel like an extra smaller thing to enjoy as a change of pace from the usual 6v6. However, I can live just fine without such modes around. Especially if it'll translate to better efforts into the regular and smaller size modes.

[@BHRxRACER]

It's hard enough to sell 6v6 maps to shipment brain COD players. BO1's Nuketown 24/7 created a monster. I remember how fun it was getting shipment every once and a while in COD4. We need to go back to that but probably never will.

[@TaylorMoore42]

It’s definitely a “chicken or the egg” situation. I’d like to see the numbers for ground war at launch vs now. Because only 3 maps for in 9 months is boring. At this point We basically get more 6v6 maps per season than we have in the entire game. Also I’d be curious what those numbers would look like after they just ported the old maps over.

[@Matt-uf2ye]

I personally love Ground War. Its the only mode I play in multiplayer.

[@mifuneseven947]

I play Invasion and Ground War exclusively. I don't have a problem finding matches as they pop constantly. So someone is playing them. The lobbies are full. We have the players. What we don't have is new maps. They didn't even bother to bring in the MWII maps. Obviously the game has a bias right now for 6v6 players (I'm happy for them). But to talk about scrapping content that has a dedicated player base (and you gotta be dedicated to play the same 3 maps for the whole life cycle of MWIII) EVEN WHEN that player base gets treated like the bastard children of the game just seems like a bridge too far. The players are there, I play with them daily. Give us more maps and even more people with be attracted to that game mode.

[@YoutubeStyleChannel]

They shot Ground War, and other modes, in the foot with their terrible UI/UX. We used to be able to see every game-mode and player counts in a single screen with no scrolling. Now we see quick play and 3 random goofy modes. I forgot ground war and invasion existed. I found MW2019 ground war to be really fun, especially with vehicles, very fresh feeling in COD.

[@3mphatic]

I think that GW as we currently know it should either be removed or like Ace said be an IW exclusive thing. They should focus on 6v6 and then offer a more OG GW of 8v8 or 9v9 on the medium/larger maps to appeal to that audience. That being said I also think “side modes” should absolutely be a thing - particularly objective based side modes. Fireteam Dirty Bomb was a ton of fun and I would love for it to rerun in BO6 with more polish. If they didn’t do the additional Fireteam modes then I don’t think it would have died out so fast in CW.

[@AxeDefentYou]

I used to play Invasion for the Plat challenges in MW2 and had fun. When MW3 released I couldn’t find a single lobby and being able to play both GW and Invasion. 😪

[@allennavas3830]

I feel like I couldn't really enjoy the mode. I know they wanted to borrow Battlefields formula with a CoD spin on it (streaks and a free nuke if all points are captured), but not having a medic (or at least be able to revive a squad member), people pinging nearby enemies, and sometimes hard to tell player models from far. Not to mention the lack of support for these modes when it comes to maps. It was hard miss for me.

[@anti-matterfamilyclan7237]

I’ll answer your question Ace: Battlefield slipped up with 2042. So there’s no need for COD to compete with them in this mode. MW1 Ground War released as a rival to Battlefield.

[@eliack95]

The big maps suck, they should have left it like it was in the OG MW2. Make it 16v16 on the big maps no one plays otherwise like Quarry and Wasteland. Giant open spaces with random buildings aren't fun maps to play on.