Highlights
- MWZ’s Season 1 content is unfriendly towards solo players, with difficult boss fights and limited time to gather necessary weapons and equipment.
- Survival in the Dark Aether without a group is not viable for solo players, as it becomes incredibly challenging with numerous enemies spawning in that are hard to kill.
- Season 1’s content relies heavily on teaming up with other players, making it difficult for solo players to access major portions of the content without asking for help.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Zombies Season 1 content perfectly captures the concept of a mixed bag. On one hand, Treyarch made a brilliant decision to add new schematics for players to chase alongside a small Easter egg quest to access an endgame area. Additionally, there are plans in place to fix Modern Warfare 3 Zombies’ exfil problems, starting with the addition of mini-bosses like Manglers alongside plans for increased Zombie spawns in the near future. However, controversial nerfs have seen fan favorite weapons like the Crossbow downgraded, equipment like Decoys becoming less useful, and sprint speed lowered despite fast-moving Zombies in Tier 3 and beyond. Useful farming strategies have also been patched out, though most divisive of all is the lack of love for solo players.
To be clear, Call of Duty Zombies has struggled to accommodate solo players in the past despite this being many fans’ ideal way to play. For example, maps like Shadows of Evil have required four players to complete their Easter egg quests, meaning that players are missing out on content if they do not have friends to run the main quests with. However, MWZ takes the anti-solo philosophy to a new level, and as players get stronger, it seems like power creep could make it so that solo players no longer get to enjoy the content Treyarch adds post-launch.
Smaller Maps For Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Zombies Would Have Pros and Cons
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Zombies is expected to receive smaller maps once Warzone gets them, though they could have some downsides.
How Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Zombies Season 1 Forgets Solo Players
MWZ’s Act 4 Mission is Not Balanced For One Player
Players will notice how unfriendly MWZ is toward solo players as soon as they attempt the Act 4 story mission “Bad Signal.” While all the previous MWZ missions were completely doable solo, Act 4 takes things up a notch, as the boss fight with Gorm’gant is painfully difficult for those playing on their own. Not only does the boss have a one-hit kill attack if players do not know to parachute after its grab, but its health is incredibly hard to deplete with the limited amount of time solo players have to do so. To even have a chance to defeat Gorm’Gant, players will need a Tier 3 Pack-a-Punch weapon, numerous Sentry Guns, Turret Circuits, Juggernauts, and Self-Revives – an arsenal that gamers who are not highly skilled will struggle to build.
The Aether Worm Gorm’Gant also has a self-heal ability where he will burrow underground, which can be a demoralizing sight for a solo player that hardly does enough damage to the boss to defeat it before the timer runs out.
Surviving in the Dark Aether Without a Group is Not Viable in MWZ
Unfortunately, the anti-solo approach does not only apply to the story mission. Those who only play on their own will find the Dark Aether to be a nightmare, especially if they use the Elder Sigil to enter the more difficult version. While making an endgame area properly difficult makes sense, and the Elder Sigil version demanding a large group is not a terrible idea, the base version of the Dark Aether should not be overly challenging for solo players. Yet, for whatever reason, Treyarch has not kept solo fans in mind, as trying to complete Escort contracts on one’s own when numerous Abominations and other mini-bosses are spawning in can feel impossible for casual Zombies fans.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Zombies is leaning too far into the idea that players can team-up with random gamers in their session. While assimilating with other groups to form huge squads is undoubtedly a neat feature, requiring the use of it to access major portions of content is problematic. To even have hopes of surviving in the Dark Aether without friends, players need to plead for help using the in-game chat. Considering that experienced players will be busy farming Tier 3 zones for schematics, and newer players will be working on the basic story missions, getting help with the Act 4 mission or for Dark Aether runs is easier said than done. Beyond that, some players simply want to enjoy all the new content by themselves, so the lack of a solo option with lessened enemy spawns and lower health for bosses is problematic. If the seasonal content continues to follow this approach, solo players may have to move on from the game.
