MW3 players miss CoD’s classic prestige system over “weird” seasonal progression

Shay Robson
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Modern Warfare 3 players are reminiscing, claiming they miss Call of Duty’s old prestige system rather than the new “weird” seasonal progression system.

Over the years, we’ve seen a ton of changes to Call of Duty. For a while, we went through the era of exo suits, before returning to the classic boots-on-the-ground style of play.

Throughout the franchise, we’ve also seen a ton of changes to the loadout system, movement, skill-based matchmaking, and more.

With 2019’s Modern Warfare, players saw a huge overhaul to CoD’s progression system, where instead of the prestige system which has been a staple in the franchise for over a decade, the devs opted for seasonal progression. As a result, players are now claiming they miss Call of Duty’s old prestige system.

MW3 players reminisce on old prestige system

In a November 25 Reddit thread, one MW3 player explained they miss being able to prestige, where previously players would need to get to the max rank, before being able to prestige — consequently resetting them back to rank one.

“This probably just shows how long it’s been since I’ve enjoyed a CoD enough to think about it, but I really wish I could prestige,” they wrote.

“It was always a kind of personal marker for myself as to how much I liked that particular CoD, and frankly I got a kick out of my MP on MW2 saying it was 500% complete,” the player explained.

They added: “I’m sure there’s some reason they removed it? I’ve just definitely already played MWIII enough to have prestiged at least twice by now. For clarification, I’m talking about when it used to be hitting max rank, going prestige, reverting to rank 1, instead of this weird seasonal prestige.”

Other players in the replies agreed, and stated they miss the old system too. Some made note that the current system wastes XP as they’re stuck at the max rank till the next season. “I miss it too, man so much. It sucks being level gated and wasting XP for nothing,” said one. “All of this XP from the beginning of the game is being wasted since they capped it at 55,” another responded.

One player claimed the old prestige system always kept the game “interesting” and “challenging.” Some were baffled as to why the devs removed it in the first place. “Why did they remove it? I haven’t played COD in several years but it was a staple feature,” a player explained.

While it’s unlikely we’ll see the system be reverted in Modern Warfare 3, we could perhaps see the prestige system return in the next Call of Duty.

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About The Author

Shay Robson was a Staff Writer on Dexerto's UK team, specializing in shooter games like Valorant and Call of Duty, as well as sports games like EA SPORTS FC. He also covered Twitch and YouTube content. He also has bylines at Gamezo.