News - I Saved The Riot Shield For Shipment And Now I Must Suffer. Warzone 2

December 15, 2022: Since a joy washed over me as I booted up the season one reloaded update. I've been holding off on camo challenges for some niche weapons until shipment was added in Modern Warfare 2. So I couldn't help but feel some excitement now that the maps are in the game and I've secured a few kills.

I whipped out my right shoe and got to work leveling up that hunk of metal. The next thing I recall is that joy rapidly fading as I get killed over and over again. Something that can't be right is this taking three melees to kill. One, two, how are you supposed to get double kills if it takes three hits to get one?

This must be a glitch. And that's where I found out the riot shield has been nerfed. Not only did they increase the two-hit kill to three hits, which honestly doesn't make much sense to me; I have a lot of opinions on that, but they also slowed the movement speed down significantly and made the throwing knife animation longer when using the shield, which the throwing knife part is a good change before throwing; knife views were almost instant when using the riot shield, and that was unfair, but the riot shield seemed fine before the change.

I'm struggling to understand where these changes are coming from. They didn't just change the riot shield from a two-hit to a three-hit kill; they also sped up the animation speed so there's less time between hits. So, now the riot shield feels pretty responsive; it actually feels good to use when you're landing your melees with it.

I haven't used the Modern Warfare 2 riot shield before this change, but I heard from some friends that the launch version of the riot shield felt very clunky, which is how riot shields have felt in many Cod games, including Modern Warfare, which was an absolute nightmare. To use the new ride shield, it no longer feels funky and different; it feels just like a standard melee weapon, which is a good thing.

I say it feels quick and responsive like the Cali sticks now, so kudos on those changes. That said, the time to kill is still slower than it was before. It's about 300 milliseconds slower than when it was a two-hit kill. If I remember correctly, the two-hit kill was like 900 milliseconds, and now this 300-millisecond kill is like 1200 milliseconds; I may be off by like 100 milliseconds.

Um, but it's something like that the average time for kills for weapons in Modern Warfare 2 is somewhere between 200 and 300 milliseconds, so the point is meleeing. And using the riot shield as the primary wasn't a concern for the general community; if there was a concern, it was more so with using the riot shield as cover for your back.

The only thing I can think of is that maybe this change was a preemptive one. For an upcoming melee weapon that may function similarly to the riot shield, I guess we'll have to wait and see. The good news is that the riot shield is still a one-hit kill in hardcore mode. I'm sorry tier one is the new name for that mode in here, so I'm hoping the combination of tier one shipment and the easier camo challenges this year in Modern Warfare 2 will alleviate any pitfalls for when you're grinding out the riot shield.

I'm still mad that I waited on it, though I should have done it at launch because you can never tell these days if you should use the launchers right at launch like you should in Vanguard or wait until they get buffs at a later date. It's hard to tell. I want to pivot to shipment. Obviously, Shipment is the same map we've seen since its debut in Call of Duty 4.

This time it takes place on a cargo ship and is a night map as well as a rainy map. I need some help. I can't remember the last time we got a rainy map that was also at night in Call of Duty. I think Berlin and Vanguard maybe had rain in them, but before that, I have no clue. Last time, was it Kowloon in Black Ops?

I honestly can't remember. It's one of my favorite playing conditions for Call of Duty, so the change is welcome, at least in my book. They also simplified shipping and went back to the basics. You can no longer jump on any of the crates on the map like you could in Modern Warfare 2019. There aren't any additional crates like we had in Vanguard; this is the only change from the original incarnation.

Of shipment that I recall is that the crates at the edge of the map are rotated a little bit. This was something they did in Vanguard to help prevent direct lines of sight to the corners of the map where people will primarily spawn. They also shifted the corner cover objects a little bit so there's much less spawning and getting instantly beamed, and people holding down power positions that were in the corners of the map were both very severe issues in Modern Warfare 2019's shipment.

So I can't wait to see how 10v10 plays on shipment and Modern Warfare 2 if they bring that back. If you've never seen a 10v10 shipment, check out my article on it from Modern Warfare 2019. It was absolutely wild; it should be popping up on the screen right now. There are other major changes with the first season, and you loaded the update.

I'll catch you on the next