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Season 2 of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and Warzone makes waves with its new update. Not only does it feature a lot of interesting changes, but it also spells trouble for cheaters in the gaming community. From two new DLCs to new maps, weapons, and more, fans are in love with what season 2 has to offer. But not everyone is happy. Along with its many changes comes a vigorous new anti-cheat mechanism – one designed to keep the cheaters out. With thousands of cheaters being banned within the initial few days, many wonder if this is how effective this new update will be. 

So, how is it looking so far? Over 26,000 accounts were banned! With a ban wave so high, it created a divide in the gaming community. But is cheating really as big of a problem as game developers and the community make it out to be? Game developers say they went the extra mile simply because of the record-breaking complaints of unfair gameplay they had received. Join us as we explore all this and more on our expose of the new anti-cheat update for Modern Warfare 3 and Warzone!

Overview of the Latest Anti-Cheat Update

Now, while there has been a huge update for MW3 to take care of cheaters, fans are a little apprehensive. Because, let’s be honest, it isn’t the first time Ricochet got us all swindled up in carefully crafted word traps. However, let’s just go through what the update had to offer and nitpick the fine text. I mean, what else can we possibly do while rank runs rampant with people flying in tanks? So, as the update rolled out, here’s what stood out to us.

The first thing that stood out to us when it came to the update was the incorporation of machine-learning capabilities. Although Ricochet has been known to use this tech before, the current integration enhances the efficiency of the detection system. This new system examines the data present at both the client and server sides to find any suspicious activity. The system also sets up a bunch of challenges for suspected accounts to prove the validity of their experience.

Splat

The biggest change in the update is probably the Splat system, which is another way of Ricochet saying, “We can’t ban players because we still gotta earn, but let’s troll them.” Now, the game has had similar updates previously, and though they were funny in the beginning, the impact of these countermeasures fell off pretty quickly. Splat is a system that tries to “Privately” punish offenders so that they can keep them in the game. These penalties can range from stopping their parachute from deploying to hurling them 10,000 feet in the air to insta-kill them.

However, with the backlash this system had received previously, Ricochet finally decided to take action. Although annoying cheaters are fun, it falls off pretty quickly. And it doesn’t fix the actual problem—cheaters continue to cheat. This is why the actual solution needs to be prevention, not mitigation. Additionally, reports or other players can even activate Splat. The machine learning system has to identify the account as a cheater itself for it to be activated. So, the problem persists. Out of 1000 accounts, if you manage to punish 100, the difference is negligible.

Boom

A feature as fun as it sounds, Ricochet introduced Boom as a new addition to its update. This feature targeted a large number of complaints, especially in Warzone, regarding airborne non-flying vehicles. Many players were using motorcycles and even tanks to fly through the air and attack unsuspecting opponents. This is mainly done through the use of cheating software. The software not only lets the vehicles be airborne but also gives them the advantage of increased speed and unlimited slide.

This is where Boom comes in. The feature first identifies and categorizes the vehicles in the game as airborne and not airborne categories. Then, when it encounters non-airborne vehicles taking flight, it makes them combust. That’s also a light play on its name because it literally makes the vehicles go ‘boom.’ Its advanced detection strategies have enabled it to identify such vehicles in a very short amount of time.

Improved Anti-Cheat Prevention

According to Ricochet, back in 2023, there were almost 110,000 accounts parsed from the email and password combinations of players. Although the accounts were reset and given back to the original owners, the problem still hasn’t been fixed. To avoid this, the first step is the introduction of two-factor authentication. This makes sure that your passwords are not being used by someone else. Additionally, it would keep your accounts protected and away from the eyes of scammers.

On top of that, there is also obfuscation and encryption. This makes sure that whenever a player joins the game, they get a personalized Game Code. This game code is then incorporated with the account used on the executable. It’s like having a personal key to the house, which is an MW3. With this, the game accounts are a lot more difficult to break into.

Unveiling the Ban Wave: Thousands of Cheaters Exposed

Although fans are apprehensive with the latest update, the numbers show that we might be expecting an actual change. This is because on the day the update rolled out, 26,000 different accounts were banned simultaneously. With this many accounts being banned every day, playing ranked might even become a possibility soon, or at least we hope so! There have even been reports that people getting back into rank state that it has been easier than ever to climb. Who knows, we might end up on the leaderboard ourselves with how amazing we became at the game after dealing with cheaters for so long.

The only problem we and the community have is that these bans are only account bans. This means that with 26000 accounts banned on the first day, there were probably 26000 new accounts made on the very same day. The ultimate problem still persists as it did: the cheaters continue to ruin the game for everyone. However, with accounts becoming less accessible thanks to encryption and 2FA, these accounts might have a difficult time getting back into the game. But how things will actually turn out, only time will tell!