Call of Duty Elite – Should You Jump In Now or Later?

Now that Modern Warfare 3 is nearing the end of it’s popular annual cycle there are many people looking forward to Black Ops 2.  Granted, some others are going to fight tooth and nail against playing Treyarch’s Call of Duty iteration just because of a preference to the Modern Warfare style and gameplay.

Regardless of your preference there is always the constant state of Downloadable Content (DLC) from the Call of Duty series.  If you are a Call of Duty fan and you play it online as much as the millions of other gamers out there and you haven’t purchased Call of Duty: Elite to this point – it might be time to jump into the sad situation with both feet.

Is The Time Right For You?

If you consider the $50 cost for Elite to be a little steep – you aren’t the only one.  The primary benefit is that you are entitled any of the content that they release for Call of Duty throughout your membership.  In many cases (especially on the XBox 360) this means you get early access to the maps as well – other users have to wait a few weeks if they don’t have Elite.  Sure, you get emblems and HD access to videos… blah blah blah.  Most people aren’t ‘pro’ gamers (even if they think they are) in which case – Elite is for the maps and game add-ons.

If you were to buy Elite today (August 13, 2012) you would be covered until August 13, 2013.  If you don’t want to take my word for it – take Activision’s word in their own FAQ for Elite.  This means that you will still get whatever benefits will be released for Modern Warfare 2 and everything they will release for Black Ops 2 up until August 13, 2013.

I have been putting Elite off for a long time, but at this point I am starting to feel like the time is right.  Why?

I have already bought all the map packs for Modern Warfare 3 (except for the latest Chaos Pack) and the logical view some people say is that I have overpaid and should have just purchased Elite when it came out.  In my case, I am always in flux around this time of year.  All sorts of new exciting games are coming out and it is hard for me to really devote every gaming moment to Call of Duty (or anything else).

By getting Elite now you (like me) will be able to reap all the benefits of what is left for Modern Warfare 3 and most of the benefits for Black Ops 2… or whatever they push out for the title until August, 2013.  If you are considering a purchase of Halo 4 in addition to Black Ops 2 it would be wise to consider putting a quick $50 in advance down towards getting a bit of content for Black Ops 2 and knowing in advance that all you will have to do is download it rather than think about whether it is worth $15.  Not to mention, you are also safe from taking the risk that the next Call of Duty game after Black Ops isn’t complete garbage.

Assuming you don’t think Call of Duty is garbage already.  Yes, I know that many of my Battlefield readers are COD haters.  Well, stay tuned all my BF3 friends – you are probably going to riot after reading one of the latest bits of information is covered in our next article.

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Battlefield Premium and Call of Duty Elite – DLCrap

All you need to know is that by the time you purchase Call of Duty and Battlefield with their ‘Premium’ services you will be spending $220 on content that may or may not be worth the money to begin with.

This only makes you a fanboy…

Don’t Buy These Add-Ons If –

1 – You play either or both games sparingly to pass some time shooting things

2 – You only play basic maps with friends that don’t and/or won’t have the desire to buy anything extra

3 – You don’t care about leaderboards

4 – You aren’t obsessed with every facet of the game

Do Buy These Add-Ons If –

1 – You know you will buy them as they come out, every time (this will save you $10 for a couple Hot and Ready Little Caeser’s Pizzas)

2 – You worship the ground these titles walk on and would start a religion in their honor

3 – You are bored with the regular maps and modes and need something to breath freshness into your game

4 – You want to have some sort of bling to look like the digital hip hop version of yourself

5 – You want a couple weeks to know the maps before other people will on the regular release day (because you should always be able to buy shortcuts and then make the game uneven in favor of people that want to sweep the leg like Cobra Kai)

Favorite Maps Make Your Old Games Worth Keeping

After skipping out on Call of Duty Elite I was feeling upset that I didn’t have the new maps that Infinity Ward released to the Elite Community.  After thinking about how dumb I would feel to pay $50 for two maps that are being kept from the rest of the lowly gamers out there that don’t want to continue to bend to the will of Activision’s new subscription service – I started thinking about some of the better maps I have played (DLC or not).

Modern Warfare has a habit of releasing older maps that people enjoyed (or at least they assume people enjoyed).  Some of my favorite maps from old Modern Warfare games haven’t made it into MW2 or MW3 yet.  The beauty of these maps are that they are on games that you can buy used for much less money than MW3.  Even if you have to buy map packs in order to play some of these, it will still be cheaper (and more enjoyable) than some of the maps in the newer game(s).

My favorite map from any Modern Warfare game has to be Broadcast –

No matter the game mode, this was the best of inside/outside maps on COD4

While some maps give you the ability to do one type of strategy over another, Broadcast really allowed people to post up and snipe from either the TV station or the buildings outside.  You could also run around and gun people down as you flank from the many doors and corridors inside and outside.

 

Another map from COD4 is Backlot

Run and Gun with all sorts of places to double back!

In Backlot, you need to master the art of grenades and stabbing to accompany your aiming skills for which-ever gun you prefer.  I loved this map because it allowed me to approach every match with a new tweak to my style of play.  New players find new ways to play maps and it was always a breath of fresh air to play this map because of that.

Modern Warfare 2 had its fair share of decent maps as well.  One of my favorites was one of the biggest maps in any COD game – Derail.

Snipers and sprinters reign supreme! Get a AC-130 and it is game over.

It is one of the most fun and frustrating maps you will ever play.  If you get into a bad run, it is really difficult to rebound… however, if you get a strong killstreak and find your ‘groove’ you will probably end up with 25+ kills.  This can be said for any map really, but I really found this map to allow me to run the huge landscape and sprint-stab my way to victory by simply out-flanking the opponents.

The last map I miss is Storm

Another DLC Map that was well worth the money.

I truly enjoyed this map when I downloaded it from the Stimulus Package DLC on MW2.  It is a big map with rain (it is titled ‘Storm‘ for a reason) and that is one of those things that really adds to the mood of a map.  Fighting in tropical or arid places is nice, but it isn’t a true depressing/scary warzone without some rain and lightning.  Not to mention the sniper/assault friendly layout gives a bit of leeway to people that prefer one over the other.

This post will be updated with gameplay from these maps to accompany the pictures.

If you are annoyed with having to wait until March to play the new maps on MW3, just go back and play the older games and enjoy some ‘new’ old maps!
Happy Hunting!