The Call of Duty MW3 War Mode may be the answer to fans’ problems, as it appears to offer no or limited SBMM.
One of the biggest complaints with Modern Warfare 3, and in fact the franchise in general, is Activision’s heavy-handed inclusion of SBMM.
SBMM, or Skill-Based Matchmaking, is a feature that aims to put players in lobbies with others at their skill level. But after playing non-stop high-skill lobbies, the more talented COD players are getting fed up of the constant challenge.
Thankfully, there’s a potentially an easy way around MW3 SBMM, thanks to the War game mode.
Does War Mode Have No SBMM?
It’s possible that MW3’s War Mode may have no Skill-Based Matchmaking, as the playlist appears to prioritize a strong connection over skill when finding a lobby.
It makes sense that SBMM may therefore not be active in War mode, or at least it’s greatly tuned down for the playlist.
According to YouTuber jackfrags, his ping is consistently an extremely low 3 MS in War Mode, far lower than it would be in 6v6 modes, where his skill level forces him into lobbies of between 30-90 MS.
We’ve tested this ourselves and we can confirm that our latency in War Mode was just 14 MS, whereas our Team Deathmatch average tends to be closer to 21 MS. However, in our testing, we also had games of War Mode that had ping similar to that of the other playlists.
It’s important to note that your experience may vary, depending on your region, skill level, and the time of day you play at.
In our case, we’re likely not experiencing the same sort of SBMM restrictions as jackfrags, on account of not being as high-skill as him, so it’s certainly harder to tell the difference.
If you’re looking for a lobby free from Skill-Based Matchmaking, we suggest giving War Mode a try, to see how it feels! But ultimately, we can’t confirm that the mode is free from SBMM.
War Mode Explained
In War Mode, players take part in a large-scale battle between two teams of six, with multiple objectives to complete.
Teams will be tasked to either attack or defend various objectives, ranging from capturing points to escorting tanks.
War Mode takes place on a large-scale map, but it consists of smaller, more focused objectives and engagements. Spawn points are always close to the objective, so you’ll still get that classic Call of Duty Multiplayer feeling while periodically changing location to keep things fresh.
What’s more, it’s a great place to level up weapons or grind for camos for those who are so inclined.
However, for now at least, there is only one War Mode map to play on, so it doesn’t offer a huge amount of variation.