Modern Warfare 3 preseason patch brings updates to progression and Zombies

The preseason patch notes for Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 are now live and feature a ton of changes focused on multiplayer and Zombies mode, progression, and more.

Activision was released ahead of the launch of season one on December 6 patch notes yesterday (November 21) for the current preseason, focusing mainly on adding changes to various game modes, while also improving the game’s stability and performance.

Some notable features include a fix for a crash that would occur while viewing weapon challenges, as well as a UI tweak to reflect the now-fixed Armory unlocks that were preventing players from completing daily challenges.

There is also a bug fix for the XP requirements in the progression menu, which should no longer “show as negative values” under certain circumstances, and attachments that are incompatible with the current selection can no longer be equipped with a weapon.

The Zombies mode has seen quite a few changes, for example in the ‘Storm the Castle’ mission, the Warlord kill credit is now squad based and Activision has changed things up so that the required mission item now appears when a member of the player team kills the target.

In ‘Interceptor’, the completion of a mercenary convoy is now “closely tracked”, so picking up a keycard from a mercenary at the convoy now always counts towards mission completion.

As for enemies, zombie spawn priority has been adjusted to promote more ground spawning, which players can now also do “expect fewer zombie spawns on rooftops and higher areas.”

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 patch notes for the season

Stability and performance

• Fixed a crash that could occur while viewing weapon challenges.

UIX

• Bug fixes
• Closed an exploit that allowed players to equip weapon camos that they had not yet unlocked.
• Fixed an issue that prevented players from equipping the Borealis Weapon Camo after it was unlocked.

Cosmetics

• Dragonfly Blueprint for the M4 (MW2) now appears on all platforms as expected.
• Fixed an issue that prevented the Io operator from appearing (MW2) does not change dynamically as expected.
• The Ghoulie Camo modified (MW2) to avoid being overwhelmingly bright in dark environments.

Multiplayer
UIX

• Wins will now advance the Armory unlock without first completing the Daily Challenges.
• Today’s update includes UI adjustments to reflect this previously implemented change.

• Bug fixes
• Players will no longer experience graphical corruption when switching between the Field Upgrades and Social menus.
• XP requirements in the progression menu are no longer displayed as negative values ​​under certain circumstances.
• Attachments that are not compatible with the current selection can no longer be equipped with a weapon.

Progression
Challenges

• Updated the description of the Gilded Camo Challenge for the MTZ-556 (Assault Rifle) to accurately reflect the intended requirements.
• Weekly challenges that require Triple Kills and Quad Kills are now tracked correctly.

Cards

• Derail – Adjusted ambient fog to increase contrast and improve visibility.
• Estate – Less dirt on Lodge windows to improve clarity.

Weapons

• Holger 556 (assault rifle)
• Headshot damage multiplier reduced from 1.4x to 1.3x.
• The damage multipliers for neck, upper body, arm, and hand damage have been reduced from 1.1x to 1x.
• Increased sprint-to-fire time from 210 ms to 231 ms (+10%).
  DG-58 (assault rifle)
• Maximum damage reduced from 44 to 40 (-9%).
• Average damage reduced from 35 to 33 (-6%).
• Neck damage multiplier reduced from 1.4x to 1.1x.
• Increased burst delay from 100 ms to 120 ms (+20%).
• FR 5.56 (assault rifle)
• Maximum damage reduced from 44 to 43 (-2%).
• Near-average damage has been reduced from 40 to 36 (-10%).
• Minimum damage reduced from 36 to 33 (-8%).
• Headshot damage multiplier reduced from 1.5x to 1.4x.
• Leg and foot damage multipliers reduced from 1x to 0.9x.
• Down aim time increased from 240 ms to 260 ms (+8%).
• Increased sprint-to-fire time from 210 ms to 231 ms (+10%).
• Striker (submachine gun)
• Increased maximum damage range from 9 meters to 19 meters (+114%).
• Near-medium damage increased from 33 to 36 (+9%).
• Far-Medium damage increased from 27 to 33 (+22%).
• Down aim time reduced from 240 ms to 230 ms (-4%).
• AMR9 (submachine gun)
• Lower body, forearm, and hand damage multipliers increased from 1x to 1.1x.
• The time between sprint and fire has been reduced from 294 ms to 206 ms (-30%).
• Striker 9 (submachine gun)
• Maximum damage reduced from 32 to 27 (-16%).
• Down aim time reduced from 275 ms to 225 ms (-18%).
• The highlight of this balance pass is a reduction in the lethality of the FR 5.56 and DG-58. Both weapons now require two main shots to kill an enemy with a single three-round shot. Additionally, these changes are intended to improve the consistency and viability of submachine guns for their intended purpose for the class.

Advantages

• Ammunition gloves – Removed undocumented reduction in frag grenade cooking time.

Zombies
Gameplay

• Missions
  • Storm the castle
    • Warlord kill credit is now squad-based and the required mission item now appears when a member of your squad kills the target.
  • Interceptor
    • Destroy Mercenary Convoy now accurately tracks completion.
    • Picking up a Keycard from a mercenary in the convoy always counts towards completing the mission.
• Perk-A-Colas
  • Tombstone soda
    • Tombstones will no longer appear in the next session if a player exfiltrates while in their last state.
• General
  • Essence can no longer be stored away.
  • Fixed an issue where newly stocked items, acquisitions, or schedules were replaced and therefore lost by previously sold items that underwent an item swap menu interaction.
  • Closed several exploits related to the use of Cymbal Monkeys.
  • Closed an exploit that allowed scorestreak duplication.

Enemies

• Zombies
  • Adjusted zombie spawn priority to promote ground spawning.
    • Players can expect fewer ambient Zombie spawns on rooftops and higher areas.
• Terminus results
  • All mercenaries
    • Mercenary damage against player armor has been reduced.
  • Shielded soldiers
    • Shielded soldiers now have a lower rate of fire when engaged.

Weapons

• Pack-A-Punch
  • Fixed an interaction and UI issue where Pack-A-Punch Level III was incorrectly displayed as Pack-A-Punch Level IV.

Stability

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