 |
The DropshotThe Dropshot is a weekly gaming news and culture podcast hosted by Casey, AKA Razinon, and Jakedown. Author: The Dropshot, LLC
The Dropshot is a weekly gaming news and culture podcast hosted by Casey, AKA Razinon, and Jakedown. Casey and Jake are long-time gaming buddies who have strong opinions they are all too happy to share with the internet. The podcast is streamed live at youtube.com/thedropshotpodcast and is also available wherever you listen to podcasts. Visit TheDropshot.com for links to all of the podcast's varied content, including the vibrant Discord community, the Patreon for bonus content, and much more. Language: en Genres: Leisure, Video Games Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
Listen Now...
Episode 602: The MW4 Beta Broke Us — We're Done With Call of Duty
Episode 602
Monday, 31 August, 2026
We played the Modern Warfare 4 beta this weekend — including Warzone and the new Zodiac Resurgence map — and it took about fifteen minutes to know it was over. Not "this year is mid" over. Over over. This is the episode where a podcast that ran on Call of Duty for 600+ episodes says out loud that it's done. Raz makes the case that nothing else in an FPS matters if you can't see or hear the enemy, and everything else — weapon levels, perks, pipe climbing, the spawns everyone's arguing about on X — is fixing a leaky bathtub while the house burns down. Jake breaks down why CoD only takes from him now, why the lobbies are nothing but sweat, and the exact point where min-maxing your controller, your router and your ZIP code stopped being worth it. Also in this one: the Zodiac verdict (better than Area 99, roughly Haven's Hollow), the weekend 2 nerf pass, the 60% negative Steam reviews, why Warzone was in the beta at all, and a DMZ 2 prediction we're standing behind. Then a palate cleanser — Star Wars Zero Company, permadeath, and a first playthrough Raz completely ruined — plus a brutal Tarkov week, the Tarkov roadmap, GTA 6's Netflix look, and WARDOGS. Jake wanted it to be good. Raz stopped wanting that years ago. This time they agree. 0:00 - Intro 1:10 - New patrons and the latest bonus episodes 3:26 - Our first patron Discord hangout (and Death by AI) 6:10 - "The MW4 Beta Broke Us" 6:22 - How fast did we know? 9:25 - "If I can't see the guy, nothing else matters" 10:17 - The raging inferno analogy 14:55 - "Call of Duty is dead" 15:10 - Jake: CoD only takes from me now 20:49 - Everyone is min-maxing (and moving for zero ping) 23:26 - SBMM, the missing casuals, and sweat-only lobbies 26:03 - Splitgate Reloaded and the death of 6v6 arcade shooters 27:40 - Warzone: the audio, the visibility, the haze 30:12 - Rolling the dice on what bullshit you get this year 31:28 - Bring back Caldera — at least it was different 37:28 - The first thing that felt wrong: audio 37:54 - Weekend 2's nerf pass: Tac Sprint, slides, TTK 40:44 - 60% negative Steam reviews and the player drop 41:52 - The Zodiac verdict vs. Area 99 and Haven's Hollow 42:50 - Why was Warzone in the beta at all? 47:16 - No custom loadouts, and the guns aren't fun to shoot 49:07 - "Activision devs do not play their own game" 50:18 - The one dev we ever ran into in Warzone 53:34 - The Quick Fix perk they "fixed" twice 57:07 - "Where does that put us? I give you Zodiac" 59:12 - Skipping a year, or actually done? 1:04:14 - What it would take to get us back 1:07:00 - Call of Duty is your old restaurant job 1:08:08 - "I want everyone that works there to suffer" 1:09:00 - It's a leadership problem — fire Infinity Ward 1:13:02 - Prediction: MW4 three months after launch 1:16:06 - The DMZ 2 prediction 1:24:17 - Palate cleanser: Star Wars Zero Company 1:32:45 - Permadeath, injuries, and squad bonds 1:34:36 - "This playthrough is fucked" 1:36:57 - Is it the Star Wars or the game underneath? 1:37:51 - Reviews, performance, and is it worth $50 1:38:50 - Eight classes, Overwatch combos, and base upgrades 1:44:46 - It should have been co-op 1:45:49 - Tarkov: best raid of the week 1:46:41 - The Customs transit raid that actually worked 1:50:02 - Worst raid: baited in the Reserve bunker 1:53:04 - The KS-23 rat that bled us out 1:54:39 - Camped at D2 twice in a row 1:59:49 - The bathroom extract death 2:02:34 - Why this wipe feels so much harder 2:05:18 - Tarkov roadmap: ranked, revives, simplified GPS 2:08:24 - GTA 6's Netflix extended look 2:10:31 - WARDOGS extraction and PvE prototypes 2:11:00 - Wrap-up _Note: timestamps may be slightly misaligned on podcast apps (but not on YouTube) due to dynamic ads._ The podcast is available wherever you listen to podcasts, and ad-free & early access versions - as well as bonus episodes - are available to all of our Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/thedropshot) supporters. We stream the podcast live on our YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/c/thedropshotpodcast) every Saturday morning at ~9 o'clock Pacific Time. We typically start the stream 30 minutes early to answer viewer questions, banter, and chat. Links for everything are below. Thanks for checking us out! 🔹Streaming schedule (Pacific time): 🔸Saturday ~9 AM: Gaming news and stories of the week 🔹The Dropshot: 🔸Website: https://www.thedropshot.com 🔸Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheDropshotPod 🔸Discord: https://discord.gg/B4Nsarq 🔸YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/thedropshotpodcast 🔸Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thedropshot 🔸Donate: https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=YVR98VF4S945G 🔸Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedropshotpodcast/ 🔸TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thedropshotpodcast 🔹Razinon: 🔸Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/razinon 🔸Twitter: https://twitter.com/razinon 🔸Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/razinonttv 🔹Jakedown: 🔸Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/jakedown_ 🔸YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@jakedown Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
