CODLOCKERThe MW4 open beta went live at 10am PT on Friday 28 August and runs until 10am PT on Tuesday 1 September. No pre-order this time — it is free on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, Steam, Battle.net and Switch 2. The level cap is 30, which is enough to reach all eight beta rewards.
For a settings site the important line in the patch notes is short: aim assist has been turned down, in multiplayer and in Warzone. Infinity Ward has said this is not the tuning they want to ship and that they will keep adjusting it before launch, so treat whatever this weekend feels like as provisional.
Why that matters here and the TTK change does not
Aim assist strength is the one system on this list that touches sensitivity directly. Rotational aim assist does part of the tracking for you; when it is strong, a slower stick still keeps up, and when it is weaker, more of the tracking comes from your thumb. That is the mechanism by which a pro would look at 1.7 and decide it is no longer right. Longer time-to-kill and slower movement change how the game plays, but neither gives a player a reason to touch their sens.
Some of the pressure for it came from controller players. Dashy called the week one aim assist “way too good” and wanted it brought down — a controller player on a controller-dominated system, arguing against his own tool. His settings are on his page if you want to see what he is saying that from.
What else changed
Every weapon in the beta was retuned. Infinity Ward lengthened time-to-kill through weapon damage rather than raising base health, so guns take longer to kill without going soft at range. Movement came down as well: tactical sprint is no longer on by default and needs the Blood Rush perk, its speed is down 4%, slide distance down 10%, slide speed down 9%, and stamina down 8%.
On content, weekend two adds Lithium to the map rotation and Hijack to the mode list, which brings the core six maps to Rooftops, Silkworm, Transit 213, Cachette, Lotus and Lithium. Ground War: Combat Outpost and 44-player Warzone Resurgence on Zodiac are also in, though neither is a competitive mode. Of the CDL mode set, Hardpoint and Search and Destroy are playable and Control is not in the beta at all, so a third of competitive play is still untested. Hardpoint spawn logic was reworked for this weekend.
What we are tracking
Nobody changed a sensitivity in week one. Every pro on this site carried their Black Ops 7 number straight into the beta, which is the normal thing to do during a beta on maps nobody knows. A weaker aim assist is the first real reason any of them might reconsider. Whether anyone actually does is a question this weekend answers, and any change that turns up gets logged against the player it belongs to.
Beta classes are a different matter and those move constantly. Five are captured on the MW4 page so far, including two of Simp's from Friday. Weapon balance shifted overnight, so expect the builds to shift with it. Anything that changes goes on the updates page with the date it was seen.
Patch notes are being updated every full day the open beta is up, so the numbers above have a short shelf life. The game itself is out on 23 October.