Oh my goodness! What a shock! The guys who are accountable for Black Ops 7, are already talking about undoing one of the biggest and most radical changes right at the start. After a huge amount of, let’s call it ‘passionate feedback’, the developers have said that they will be “slightly increasing aim assist strength at certain ranges” before the Season 1 launch. Therefore, it did not take long for them to go back on their words.
If you are not aware of the situation, the whole aim assist issue has been really controversial. Aim assist was reduced drastically upon the release of Black Ops 7, and at the same time, the controller players were the ones suffering the most. The plan was to widen the skill gap considerably, to make aiming something that you really had to, you know, do. But it looks like a lot of players found the skill required to keep up was so high that they could not make it.
The community reaction has been nothing less than a civil war, and the announcement responses are proof of that. It is a chaotic mix of conflicting opinions, with players yelling at each other over just a few lines of code that help your crosshair stick to a target.
There are, however, the users that were really pleased with the change on one side. One of the users, AV8 Jaxn, stated, “I have been using a controller my whole life and I am very much a fan of the aim assist nerf. How about you, anyone? It’s nice not to have my aim stuck or be dragged onto a guy when there are two people.” Another gamer, Alecarlito, went on with this thinking and declared that the current scenario “is perfect. There is a freaking skill gap. Shooting noobs has not been so nice in several games.” For these users, the game at last seemed to deliver a reward for pure skill and no tricks with the software.
But then again, there’s the other side of the coin. The side that was allegedly having a really hard time hitting their shots. The response was so strong that Treyarch felt it necessary to step in and practically give the players a hand. As a result, mockery towards the other side has been very prevalent. User spadelcd comically mirrored the mood using a meme which showed that controller users who had for years told keyboard and mouse users to “just adapt” were now the ones asking for help. User demonkingnate put it even more bluntly: “The ‘Get Good and adapt’ crowd can’t get good and adapt.. Oops, that hurt! Truth is painful, isn’t it?
Moreover, there is the conspiratorial angle which is an ever-present factor. User Daisyy_Michelle suggested that this was a deliberate strategy all along: “They got people’s money just to wriggle back to the old ways…. Holy rug pull.” The idea is that they sold the game with a new hardcore vision, and now when the sales are done, they take the path of least resistance that pleases the part of the gaming community that is more casual. Another user, beardedchickenZ, commented somewhat sarcastically, “Because every individual has bought the game now,” which signals that the feedback would not have been taken so seriously if it were given prior to the release.
This is a typical developer’s dilemma. Do you cling to your vision of a more competitive, skill-based experience? Or do you listen to the loudest voices in your player community who just want to unwind after a tough day and feel immortal without having to practice? In this case, Treyarch chose the latter option. They will make aim assist a little bit stronger by concentrating on the ranges which the players were complaining about. One user Martin Dennison, even made a quite valid point, agreeing that a little boost for mid-to-long range combat in bigger modes like Warzone was quite fair to balance things with mouse and keyboard players.
But all of this chaos only serves to raise the level of difficulty that developers will have to face in the future. You cannot make everybody happy. And trying to do that usually ends up with nobody being happy. The gamers who favorited the increased difficulty now feel like their victory is being snatched away. The gamers who had hard times shooting get help but are also humiliated about their online presence all the time. And Treyarch does not seem to be able to choose and stick to a decision.
What does this mean for the future of Call of Duty? It’s difficult to tell. Season 1 is just around the corner, and this aim-assist adjustment will be the first major test. Will it put an end to all the complaints? Or will it just add to the frustration of the skilled players? The meta is about to shift one more time. And to be honest, it is quite exhausting. Maybe it is just best to let gamers enjoy their favorite PlayStation and Xbox titles without all this drama.
