Episode 602 Early Access: The MW4 Beta Broke Us — We're Done With Call of Duty
We played the Modern Warfare 4 beta this weekend — including Warzone and the new Zodiac Resurgence map — and it took about fifteen minutes to know it was over. Not "this year is mid" over. Over over.
This is the episode where a podcast that ran on Call of Duty for 600+ episodes says out loud that it's done. Raz makes the case that nothing else in an FPS matters if you can't see or hear the enemy, and everything else — weapon levels, perks, pipe climbing, the spawns everyone's arguing about on X — is fixing a leaky bathtub while the house burns down. Jake breaks down why CoD only takes from him now, why the lobbies are nothing but sweat, and the exact point where min-maxing your controller, your router and your ZIP code stopped being worth it.
Also in this one: the Zodiac verdict (better than Area 99, roughly Haven's Hollow), the weekend 2 nerf pass, the 60% negative Steam reviews, why Warzone was in the beta at all, and a DMZ 2 prediction we're standing behind. Then a palate cleanser — Star Wars Zero Company, permadeath, and a first playthrough Raz completely ruined — plus a brutal Tarkov week, the Tarkov roadmap, GTA 6's Netflix look, and WARDOGS.
Jake wanted it to be good. Raz stopped wanting that years ago. This time they agree.
0:00 - Intro
1:10 - New patrons and the latest bonus episodes
3:26 - Our first patron Discord hangout (and Death by AI)
6:10 - "The MW4 Beta Broke Us"
6:22 - How fast did we know?
9:25 - "If I can't see the guy, nothing else matters"
10:17 - The raging inferno analogy
14:55 - "Call of Duty is dead"
15:10 - Jake: CoD only takes from me now
20:49 - Everyone is min-maxing (and moving for zero ping)
23:26 - SBMM, the missing casuals, and sweat-only lobbies
26:03 - Splitgate Reloaded and the death of 6v6 arcade shooters
27:40 - Warzone: the audio, the visibility, the haze
30:12 - Rolling the dice on what bullshit you get this year
31:28 - Bring back Caldera — at least it was different
37:28 - The first thing that felt wrong: audio
37:54 - Weekend 2's nerf pass: Tac Sprint, slides, TTK
40:44 - 60% negative Steam reviews and the player drop
41:52 - The Zodiac verdict vs. Area 99 and Haven's Hollow
42:50 - Why was Warzone in the beta at all?
47:16 - No custom loadouts, and the guns aren't fun to shoot
49:07 - "Activision devs do not play their own game"
50:18 - The one dev we ever ran into in Warzone
53:34 - The Quick Fix perk they "fixed" twice
57:07 - "Where does that put us? I give you Zodiac"
59:12 - Skipping a year, or actually done?
1:04:14 - What it would take to get us back
1:07:00 - Call of Duty is your old restaurant job
1:08:08 - "I want everyone that works there to suffer"
1:09:00 - It's a leadership problem — fire Infinity Ward
1:13:02 - Prediction: MW4 three months after launch
1:16:06 - The DMZ 2 prediction
1:24:17 - Palate cleanser: Star Wars Zero Company
1:32:45 - Permadeath, injuries, and squad bonds
1:34:36 - "This playthrough is fucked"
1:36:57 - Is it the Star Wars or the game underneath?
1:37:51 - Reviews, performance, and is it worth $50
1:38:50 - Eight classes, Overwatch combos, and base upgrades
1:44:46 - It should have been co-op
1:45:49 - Tarkov: best raid of the week
1:46:41 - The Customs transit raid that actually worked
1:50:02 - Worst raid: baited in the Reserve bunker
1:53:04 - The KS-23 rat that bled us out
1:54:39 - Camped at D2 twice in a row
1:59:49 - The bathroom extract death
2:02:34 - Why this wipe feels so much harder
2:05:18 - Tarkov roadmap: ranked, revives, simplified GPS
2:08:24 - GTA 6's Netflix extended look
2:10:31 - WARDOGS extraction and PvE prototypes
2:11:00 - Wrap-up