Modern Warfare 2 multiplayer time-to-kill isn’t as fast as players think

A widespread complaint that has made its way through the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 community throughout the multiplayer beta is that the time-to-kill is too high.

Call of Duty players feel like they’re dying far faster than they normally do in previous titles. This complaint is found all over Twitter and Reddit, as well as other places where Infinity Ward has asked for feedback. With all of this talk around the time-to-kill (TTK), one Call of Duty YouTuber decided to put MW2’s TTK to the test against previous COD titles.

If you’re unaware of what TTK is exactly, it’s essentially the measurement that players use to determine how fast a weapon kills an enemy. A high TTK means that players die faster while a low TTK means players can survive against several bullets. Generally, Call of Duty fans want a TTK somewhere in the middle so they’re given a chance to survive a gunfight but also don’t feel as though they’re shooting marshmallow bullets.

As of right now, the general feeling is that the TTK in MW2 is too high. But how does that theory hold up against empirical data?

Modern Warfare 2 YouTuber tests the TTK

The YouTuber who decided to test the multiplayer TTK is XclusiveAce. XclusiveAce is one of the most well-respected Call of Duty creators and has done dozens of other tests to measure various elements in previous games. Their latest video measured three different weapon classes, rifles, SMGs, and LMGs, to see how long it takes them to kill an enemy on average.

XclusiveAce discovered that, for the most part, the TTK in MW2 was generally on par with most modern Call of Duty titles. The assault rifles were perfectly average in terms of TTK, with the Kastov-74u killing the faster by far. The submachine guns were somewhat mixed, as Ace found that the Lachmann Sub kills extremely quickly while the FSS Hurricane is fairly average. Finally, the LMGs were skewed since the 556 Icarus kills so much faster than the Sakin MG38.

Across the board, though, not one weapon category had an above-average TTK compared to previous titles. XclusiveAce theorized that a more consistent connection in MW2 could be the reason players feel they are getting killed quicker. Also, players could be aiming in more, causing them to hit more shots than usual.

We’ll see if anything changes on the TTK front with weekend two of the MW2 beta, but it looks as though Infinity Ward has done a decent job balancing weapons out of the gate.