MW3 & Warzone players enjoyed playing more as server issues disabled SBMM
ActivisionWarzone and MW3 experiencing technical issues isn’t particularly uncommon, and every time it happens, it has been a major frustration for players. However, some fans enjoyed the game more during the February 23 outage, which stripped them of their progress and ranks.
On February 23, there were game-wide issues in both MW3 and Warzone. Many players reported being de-ranked to Rank 1 and all of their inventory, including guns, was reset to level 1. It also extended to the Horde Hunt event and Battle Pass.
Several modes like Ranked Play were brought offline as well. But among the many things that weren’t working as intended was also SBMM. It has always been a divisive topic in the community, and SBMM being disabled was one of the major reasons why many players enjoyed the game when it was broken.
There were two separate posts in the CODWarzone and ModernWarfareIII subreddits, but they largely implied the same. On CODWarzone, user ‘BringerOfCerulean’ made a post asking others whether they also enjoyed Warzone more when it was broken.
The OP listed out the many reasons why they enjoyed it more: “I’ve got to say, playing yesterday without guns, perks, and, perhaps most importantly, no skill-based matchmaking, the game was so hectic and fun.”
Many agreed with the OP, as a user wrote, “Played this for an hour… was the most fun I’ve had on the game in ages! Rocking groundloot and the random mix in the lobbies was so fun!” Another user added, “I was playing with my mates yesterday on it (mix of PS5 and PC) we were saying how it felt like a much more level playing field.”
Elsewhere on the ModernWarfareIII subreddit, user ‘controlled-rage’ made a similar post saying, “with SBMM being disabled this game played so much better.” Many players can be seen agreeing here as well: “Totally agree. The lead-up to 2XP weekend felt great and way less sweaty as well. All my old crew left COD because the SBMM disparity between our levels was brutal. No one was having fun.”
But it wasn’t all gloom, though, as some players expressed they didn’t enjoy it at all, “SBMM is made to protect casual like me from tryhards, I was getting wrecked to the point of rage quitting.” Another user wrote, “Yeah idk what game y’all were playing. I was gettin my a** BEAT.”
It is unlikely Activision will ever make any major changes to SBMM, they even posted an elaborative blog post on January 29 explaining the behind-the-scenes of how SBMM works, but players weren’t buying the explanation.
For more on MW3 and Warzone, check out all that awaits in Season 3, as well as why players are already skeptical of the rumored returning map in Warzone.