As Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 approaches on October 23, the PR machine is really getting into full swing. Whether it's reactive or not is irrelevant, so long as players are being given worthwhile features.

It looks like Modern Warfare 4 is going to fix one of the biggest points of irritation I have with Call of Duty in general: burning through 2XP tokens while you're sat in the lobby, or tweaking your loadout, or hell, even checking on your Camo challenges.

Announced today is the news that this will not be the case in Modern Warfare 4. 2XP tokens will now only count down in-game time, not from the very second you apply them, as happens right now.

I don't know if there's panic setting in, if these ideas were always planned, or if players are actually being listened to. But this is twice in recent days that we're getting some positive news about features for Modern Warfare 4.

The 2XP token update comes after the news that from Season 1, when Warzone is integrated with Modern Warfare 4, players will have a toggle to turn off all the goofy legacy skins and see default MW4 operators instead.

I'm not sure this is enough to make me want to play Warzone outside of doing the Mastery Camo, but still, it's another big W from Call of Duty for its players. Even though I only tolerate Warzone for the barest minimum time, there are some truly heinous cosmetics going back as far as Modern Warfare 2.

In isolation each of these may seem small, but both are actually significant quality of life increases. I can now work on the Warzone Mastery Camo without seeing Beavis and Butthead or American Dad, and I can do so knowing I'm not losing my 2XP tokens while waiting on matchmaking.

There are still plenty of improvements that could be made, though. I don't really have a dog in the SBMM fight, but plenty of players do, even if it doesn't look like it's going away. The anticheat will also be a big focus, again, and Activision talks a big game, but players are only going to be happy when they see it working.

But I'm happy to take the wins wherever they come. I've got about 50 hours of 2XP and 52 hours of 2XP weapon tokens to burn through when Modern Warfare 4 comes out. I'm glad that will at least translate to in-game hours and not losing half of it outside of matches.

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Richard Devine is the Managing Editor at Windows Central, where he combines a deep love for the open-source community with expert-level technical coverage. Whether he’s hunting for the next big project on GitHub, fine-tuning a WSL workflow, or breaking down the latest meta in Call of Duty, Forza, and The Division 2, Richard focuses on making complex tech accessible to every kind of user. If it’s happening in the world of Windows or PC gaming, he’s probably already knee-deep in the code (or the lobbies). Follow him on X and Mastodon.