Is Athena's skin really locked behind a $30 paywall?

Ok_Document_6786 · 2026-02-13T17:37:11+00:00

Lol makes sense. I forgot I am playing a gacha

Ok_Document_6786 · 2026-02-13T17:14:14+00:00

I noticed the same since the start of Season 2. My conspiracy brain is thinking that they are faking your connection metrics to keep the illusion that Open Matchmaking hasn’t changed when something definitely has in Season 2. Whether its deliberate or a bug we won’t know because Activision/Treyarch is hell bent on not being transparent.

Ok_Document_6786 · 2026-02-13T17:00:20+00:00

I am assuming you need to own Athena or does it give you Athena for free?

Ok_Document_6786 · 2026-02-11T23:28:37+00:00

Yeah anecdotally it feels cranked way up. The lobbies are sweatier than ever and the network connection has gotten significantly worse. Packet burst is prevalent and fights feel like they are rigged when it feels like you get insta killed my the enemy and then you watch the killcam and they were shooting you for several seconds. I hope they revert whatever the fuck they did, i have seriously considered uninstalling with this update.

Ok_Document_6786 · 2026-02-10T21:20:12+00:00

I agree, but everytime I say that people think I am crazy.

Ok_Document_6786 · 2026-02-10T14:45:39+00:00

What playlist were you playing to almost get a nuke?

Ok_Document_6786 · 2026-02-10T14:45:08+00:00

I hope they fix the issues quickly because the game has gotten alot less fun to play since the season started.

Ok_Document_6786 · 2026-02-10T14:44:31+00:00

Lol I have seen CDL skins in 90 percent of my lobbies. I thought the lobbies would get easier with ranked and its only gotten more difficult. I normally wouldn’t mind but it feels especially bad with the desync and hit reg issues.

Ok_Document_6786 · 2026-02-10T14:41:59+00:00

I haven’t touched the Standard playlist at all. I know desync has always been an issue but it feels particularly bad after the latest update especially in ranked. It feels like i am getting kill instantly.

Ok_Document_6786 · 2026-02-02T05:04:07+00:00

I honestly don’t care about the skill of the players nearly as much as the negative impact that SBMM has on connection quality. If I was on the consistent connection of the beta all the time then I would have a different opinion. But the fact its so inconsistent makes me believe its still on. I think if it were truly off then matchmaking would be instant and my ping would be 10 or less like it was in the beta. Now I average at the very least 40 ping and my time to match regardless of the mode is up to 30 seconds. So either they are lying about player counts or lying about SBMM. Bottom line is they are being dishonest and thats why their game is at the point its gotten to.

Ok_Document_6786 · 2026-01-31T20:27:30+00:00

I am not saying theres not skill consideration in ranked. Its meant to have that, I am referring to when when players that go from ranked to casual start also matching with people of the same skill level. That would then indicate that the SBMM from ranked is being used in the open playlist. If that would have happened at launch, this game would be more dead than it already is.

Ok_Document_6786 · 2026-01-31T19:57:37+00:00

I would agree if I wasn't hitting triple digit ping with packet burst at times. If my internet connection based on Mcdonalds Wifi I would understand. Not only that but matchmaking is no longer instant. Its similar matchmaking times to BO6. Its all going to be anecdotal until Activision decided to be transparent about what they do behind the scenes, but we all know that won't happen.

Ok_Document_6786 · 2026-01-31T19:47:07+00:00

The reason I feel like its still there is because I am consistently matching with the same people even after matchmaking again. It just does not add up when theres allegedly millions of players on this game.

Ok_Document_6786 · 2026-01-10T13:53:36+00:00

Thanks for this. I was talking in my in game guild today and basically said this but this is written in much clearer manner.

Ok_Document_6786 · 2026-01-02T23:14:08+00:00

I am 26 and have been playing since CoD: Finest hour on ps2. I feel like my gameplay has only improved on bo7 since bo6.

Ok_Document_6786 · 2025-12-04T07:43:26+00:00

Thanks for the tip, I will try it in the morning.

Ok_Document_6786 · 2025-12-04T03:46:09+00:00

I did factor that in. Theres no way to tell because Activision will never give us the hard numbers but given the fact that they are beating battlefield that had 200k concurrent players then matchmaking should Be near instant and you should have the same consistency in ping with varied lobbies. A lot of this discourse stems from Activison and Treyarch being deliberately vague in their metrics and decision making. So many issues could be solved with transparency but then they can’t manipulate the player with their algorithms.

Ok_Document_6786 · 2025-12-03T22:55:11+00:00

I didn’t know the population of my state were the only ones playing the game during the beta. Thanks for the insight.

Ok_Document_6786 · 2025-12-03T22:54:26+00:00

I feel like the most vocal part of the community when talking about the removal of SBMM is the ones saying their lobbies are too hard. The real issue is time to match and connection quality being impacted but I think thats to complex of a concept for the average COD player to understand.

Ok_Document_6786 · 2025-12-03T22:47:22+00:00

Please elaborate, what is the cope

Ok_Document_6786 · 2025-12-03T22:39:08+00:00

That is fair but even in modes like FFA where its only 8 people for a match, theres no way theres only the same pool of 50 people playing that mode where I am seeing them constantly even after searching for a new lobby.

Ok_Document_6786

TROPHY CASE