If you have ever burned through a double XP token while stuck in a pre-game lobby watching a loading bar, Infinity Ward finally heard you. Modern Warfare 4 is changing how those boosts work, and it is one of the more welcome quality-of-life fixes the Call of Duty community has asked for in years, first reported by IGN.
Double XP tokens have long been one of the most frustrating parts of the Call of Duty grind. Activate one, and the clock starts ticking immediately, even if you are sitting in a lobby waiting for a match to load or a full squad to fill in. Since tokens typically last anywhere from 15 minutes to a full hour, players have watched precious boosted time evaporate before a single shot is fired.
What’s Actually Changing
In Modern Warfare 4, that timer only ticks during active matches. Lobby time, loading screens, and menu browsing will no longer eat into a token’s duration. According to IGN, tokens will count down in game time and existing tokens will be usable starting in Modern Warfare 4, meaning players won’t lose any progress or boosts they’ve already stockpiled heading into the new title.
That last part matters. Plenty of players hoard double XP tokens from battle passes, events, and promotions rather than burn them on a bad connection day. Knowing those tokens carry over, and now work more efficiently, removes one more barrier between players and their long-term progression goals.
A New Way to Simplify the Battlefield
Infinity Ward is also adding a toggle that lets players disable the visibility of other players’ skins. Flip it on, and every opponent shows up as a default character model instead of whatever flashy operator skin they’ve equipped.
This kind of feature has become increasingly common across competitive shooters, since flashy or brightly colored skins can sometimes make it harder to visually track enemies against busy backgrounds. Giving players the option to strip that visual noise away is a nod to the more competitive-minded crowd without forcing the change on everyone.
Skill-Based Matchmaking Still Up in the Air
One thing not confirmed yet: any changes to skill-based matchmaking, or SBMM, the system that pairs players of similar skill levels together in multiplayer. It has been a persistent point of frustration for a vocal segment of the community for years, and while adjustments are a frequently requested fix, there’s no indication from Infinity Ward that changes are coming with Modern Warfare 4. For now, that remains an open question.
Why the Timing Matters
These quality-of-life wins are landing at a pivotal moment for the franchise. Modern Warfare 4 is set to launch in the same fall window as GTA 6, arguably the most anticipated video game release in recent memory. Going up against that kind of competition means every advantage counts, and showing players that Infinity Ward is listening to years-old complaints is a smart way to build goodwill before launch.
Whether tweaks like the double XP fix and the skin visibility toggle are enough to hold attention against a launch as massive as GTA 6 is a different question entirely. But for the players who have spent years watching their boosted XP disappear in a lobby, this is a fix worth celebrating on its own.
Source: IGN
