Treyarch want to "break the rules we invented" with Black Ops 3 multiplayer

Playing with Call Of Duty's multiplayer component must be a nightmare, given the zealous nature of the players. It's something Black Ops 3 dev Treyarch knows only too well after design director David Vonderhaar received death threats following gun tweaks to Black Ops 2.

So obviously the studio wants to completely do over the multiplayer for the next installment. Yeah, it's what they say every year but this time it sounds like they mean it. Long running perks are being spiked, Black Ops 3 has a new multiplayer class system built around specialist characters with specific abilities, and that's before you get onto the very Titanfall-like wall running and mobility.

A big overhaul sounds like it's in order then when you've got robo-soldiers boost-jumping around a game originally build on fighting in bunkers and trenches (Treyarch are already promising to overhaul Black Ops 3's AI in the main campaign). But how do you rebuild something and keep it the same for the huge fanbase that play it every year? "What is the secret sauce that makes Call Of Duty’s multiplayer work?” asks game director Dan Bunting speaking in this month's OXM."

In order to find out, the team has been pulling that multiplayer apart - switching off perks, removing weapons and taking out skills to see what works and what doesn't. Finding out the things that make COD online tick. It's lead to changes like unlimited sprint and core perks being removed - so Marathon is no more, as is Toughness (reducing flinch when you're shot) and the ammo-gathering Scavenger. All this ties in what David Vonderhaar been teasing as he answers questions on twitter within the boundaries of 'what we can talk about right now'.

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