The Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 patches continue, with the latest delivering some big changes to the game’s extraction mode DMZ. The latest hotfix introduced a key balance change to one of DMZ’s most controversial mechanics: UAV Towers.
UAV Towers, previously guaranteed to spawn in every Point of Interest (POI) in the map, have now had their spawn logic randomised. Infinity Ward also reduced their spawn rate by 40 percent, meaning you’re less likely to find them across the various regions of the map. As noted in the patch notes, that change also prevents multiple towers from spawning the same area. The only exception is the Deadtown area, which factors into DMZ Order progression and requires multiple towers.
By taking away the guarantee that each POI will have at least one UAV Tower, the patch removes one of the core tactics PvP-inclined and aggressive players have been relying on since DMZ’s launch. It’s common for players to spawn in, and immediately run around activating as many UAV Towers as possible to reveal the movement of enemy players, even if they’re not interested in directly engaging them.
Indeed, some of the UAV Towers cover extraction areas, so it’s easy for players intending to ruin the day of others as they’re extracting to set up elaborate traps. Making matters worse, a particular character trait prevents UAV Towers from expiring, allowing the scans to stay up for the entire match.
Infinity Ward has not commented directly on that trait, but the developer confirmed it’s being changed so the Sedative Inhaler – which hides you from UAVs – also works with those trait-upgraded towers, though that change won’t arrive until sometime in Season 1.
Finally, today’s update further makes it easier to stay undetected by boosting the Sedative Inhaler’s duration to 120 seconds, double that of the previous 60, which should help while we wait for larger changes to be implemented.
DMZ has been one of Modern Warfare 4’s most discussed modes online. Recently, players discovered what appears to be a separate matchmaking pool for Story Missions that prevents solo sessions from featuring other players, though with some caveats.