Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 has only been officially out for a day, and some players are already fed up with the game’s time to kill. Like the entries before it, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 puts heavy emphasis on its PvP multiplayer mode, alongside its other offerings like a single-player campaign and co-op mode. As such, balancing the gameplay of MW4‘s multiplayer is high on the priority list for many series fans, who are now calling for the TTK to be lowered.
The latest entry in Activision’s illustrious FPS franchise is off to a generally strong start, currently sitting at a “Very Positive” Steam rating and an 85 OpenCritic score. Critics and players alike have praised Modern Warfare 4‘s campaign for its compelling story and a complete multiplayer package with modes like Gun Game and DMZ available at launch. This doesn’t mean there aren’t some gameplay systems that need tweaking, with TTK emerging as an obvious candidate for a post-launch patch.
Modern Warfare 4 Fans Are Calling for a Lower Time to Kill
In shooter games like Call of Duty, Time to Kill (or TTK) is the time it takes for a player to completely eliminate an opponent after firing the first shot. Typically, a lower TTK means that enemies die quicker, while a higher TTK means it takes longer to kill an enemy. Currently, Modern Warfare 4 players feel like the game’s TTK is too high for an Infinity Ward game, considering the previous Modern Warfare reboot entries had a much lower TTK.
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Image via GameRant; Source: Activision -
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Image via Infinity Ward
A post on the Modern Warfare 4 subreddit by user TheRealConJr laments the game’s high TTK, saying that it almost feels as bad as Black Ops 4. While Treyarch-developed Call of Duty games tend to have higher TTKs, Infinity Ward is known for its faster-paced, lower TTK gameplay. Comments on user TheRealConJr’s post share a similar sentiment, expressing confusion at why the TTK was seemingly changed from the Modern Warfare 4 beta to its full release and complaining that everyone is using the Oris 8.6 marksman rifle since it has a one-shot kill.
Furthermore, other Reddit users are also expressing their frustration with Modern Warfare 4‘s TTD, or Time to Death, in addition to its TTK. As opposed to TTK, TTD is the time it takes for the player to be killed after getting hit by the first shot. The major difference between TTK and TTD comes from the netcode that Call of Duty games use, where players with a better connection to the server can experience a lower TTD but a higher TTK, often feeling like they are dead before they can even react to being shot at. The result can make Call of Duty matches feel incredibly one-sided or even sluggish to play, especially for a series that prides itself on fast-paced, almost arcade-like shooter gameplay.
Aside from the controversy surrounding the latest Call of Duty‘s TTK, other players are taking issue with Modern Warfare 4‘s skill-based matchmaking. Modern Warfare 4 players are reportedly having a tough time retaining their K/D ratios due to an unbalanced matchmaking system that puts them with increasingly hardcore players the better they perform in a match. Some of these multiplayer-centric controversies can be attributed to launch weekend hiccups that will be ironed out with future Modern Warfare 4 patches, so it will be interesting to see how Infinity Ward addresses TTK going forward.
- Released
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October 23, 2026
- Multiplayer
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Online Multiplayer, Online Co-Op
