I have been playing Modern Warfare 2 since a couple of days after the release because I got it from Steam. I have been playing with my buddies from the clan and several other friends since pretty much everybody got the game by now. It is a fun game; however, I am still annoyed with several issues that need to be addressed with the game and IW.net.
First, this matchmaking does not seem to be working for the player to make the experience simpler. The purpose of getting rid of dedicated servers was supposed to make it easier and more approachable to the casual player restricting the interface to a console-like experience. However, it has been completely the opposite effect. Since we are lacking dedicated servers, a player is going to be designated to host. If you are behind a router, as most people are, make sure you forward all the ports that are needed otherwise your NAT is going to be set to “Strict”. If you are a casual gamer, I probably lost you already but you can see my point.
Second, the party system does not seem to work without problems. It is tedious, you have to invite everybody and for some reason some of your friends will not be able to connect to your party. It always takes a couple of tries until somebody can successfully be party leader and invite without issues.
Third, on several occasions, the player that is hosting will disconnect because he either rage quits or his connection is not good enough. At this point, it is possible someone in your party will disconnect while trying to switch to another host. Not to mention the process takes about 20 to 30 seconds in a good scenario which disrupts the flow of the game and annoys all players.
Fourth, this system was supposed to improve the cheating situation, but it has not. The first Modern Warfare had plenty of cheaters but if you usually played in a good server they were banned. As of today, I have not heard of Steam taking any action against cheaters. I have encountered my fair share of people with aim bots and wall hacks. If this situation is to continue people with just go to other games, no matter how good this game is.
In conclusion, Modern Warfare 2 is a fun game, I’ve had great times playing with my buddies. However, it is worth noting that IW.net needs work. It is of the utmost importance to ban and do away with cheaters. Fix all the bugs plaguing the matchmaking system or at least provide proper documentation to deal with networking issues.
Copyright 2010 Christian Rios
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