So, I reinstalled CoD 4 to see how it is these days, and its current state is absolutely abysmal. Every server is modded in some way, all HC, bots, too many players at once.

Are there any vanilla servers left? At least one, the normal, not hardcore, not modded, 16 players tops, the limit the game was designed around, all modes and maps, not just TDM one map 24/7.

Would be nice if we could have at least ONE vanilla server.

Game not sold on GOG. Did you intend to go here:

https://store.steampowered.com

EDIT: Did not realise it was from 2007, before the total Steamonopoly, sorry.

I am sure this game is much better as a multi-player than single-player game but I only ever played the demo and it was not for me.

I don't use Steam just wondering if anyone play COD4 here.

This game was actually sold also at retail too, on disc(s) without Steam.

COD: MW2 was the first COD to require Steam.
and COD: Black Ops 4 was the first to start requiring only Battle.Net and began skipping Steam.

It's been a year or so since I reinstalled and tried COD4, but....IIRC, there was nobody doing regular MP but lots were playing MP with COD4X.

COD4X - https://cod4x.me/

Which Call of Duty 4? There were like four of them.

There is only one, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. But harcore is vanilla too. And why would you even want to play bullet-sponge mode? So no surprise people just aren't.

Standard mode is not so bad, and the game is designed around it, especially modes with objectives like Sabotage or Headquarters. That's the problem, people want a cheap dopamine fix with 64 players HC TDM spamming LMGs and grenades on a single map over and over, like Crossfire or Killhouse.

Hardcore simply isn't balanced, it makes some weapons a lot worse, some a lot more overpowered. LMGs are meant for support and suppressing fire, but that only works for THAT purpose in normal mode. Shotguns are deadly in short range and damage the opponent faster than even an SMG so usually in a close encounter the shotgun wins, but not in HC. In fact, the SMG will get 4, even 5 kills on a single magazine.

There's many annoyances here and there, and HC has its place, but its definitely not as balanced.

Everything still works almost as well in hardcore, with the exception of shotguns, depending on the map (though, it always depended on the map for that kind). As someone who had no preference when it came to weapons, I generally did really well using all of them.
As for modes: Back in the day I played on a server which was mixed hardcore, aka the server changed maps and modes (too, I believe). I know I played TDM, Domination, S&D and Headquarters, maybe Hardpoint. Was a lot of fun. Too bad they messed up the sequel of the game. And the death of dedicated servers basically made me stop playing FPS games. Only one I did after Call of Duty 4 was PlanetSide 2.

There are many other things, the silencer is useless since there's no radar, which does change things significantly, most cover is made useless and makes the game less of a cover based shooter and more of a reaction time shooter, frag spam and martyrdom is made much more aggravating, certain setups like Juggernaut and Extreme Condition (for objective based modes) become useless. Basically it works mostly for TDM and that's it, other modes are more gravely affected.

Anyway, I've been messing with bots with the Bot Warfare mod, it's actually pretty good. Not 100% like human players, there's typical "bot problems" like stupid bots getting stuck in walls, but 99% of the time it's a great substitute. I've had a blast playing 16 players total on all maps and modes. Really good, 1000x better than what modern COD4 MP has become.

Hm? But you had that radar after getting three kills. Not to mention being silent helps a lot since that way people can't hear where you are shooting from. One of my set-ups was actually silenced weapon + that perk which made you not show up on radars. Super deadly.
Makes sense. Unless it's proper cover, it shouldn't cover you. I like that realism part of being able to shoot through thin things which resulted in reduced damage. For cover-based shooters, you had those on consoles already, so... As for reaction time, that always mattered. In the end though, it's your skill that counts. If you can't hit to save your life, tough luck. Non-hardcore mode just means that it would take me half a second longer to kill you, that's the difference. Well, something like martyrdom certainly punishes bad players. Dying to that would be the fault of the player like 99% of the time. Juggernaut always depended on your skill level anyway. If you have lots of other players at your skill level, it can be useful, otherwise...not so much.

What you get after a 3 kill streak is UAV. Non-silenced guns appear on the radar every time they're fired regardless of UAV. This make it possible to accurately pinpoint where a shooter is. This makes a MASSIVE difference, especially in levels like Pipeline and Creek. Not only HC takes that away, it allows spamming one or two shots randomly at certain spots with impunity, because 1. You may get a cheap kill this way. 2. You won't be alerting everyone to your location like in normal mode. This also makes camping FAR more effective in HC. So silencers have little use in HC. Their noise radius is still huge, so not much difference in regard to that.

So non-hardcore mode is even more casual than I remember? Uff. Well, it's been 13 years after all and my standard was hardcore. Don't remember the noise being a thing with the silencer. Like I said, silencer + that jamming perk worked wonders. Campers were especially weak against it and basically a secure kill. Ah, add that perk which muffles your movements as well. Honestly, it's THE anti-camper build. Of course, just using a sniper worked too (at least the way I did). In general, I played all my builds very aggressively and campers were basically free kills. "Noob tube" was heavily anti-camper too. Compared to Call of Duty 2, campers basically had no chance.

It's not about being more casual, it's about having more resources, for and against you. In fact, scoring a kill is easier on the later COD titles (I played them very little, but still). For better or worse, the game is designed around normal mode and it gives more options.

It's also true in hardcore. It's just that the options change, with some becoming more relevant while others do less so. Like I previously said, the grenade launcher works really well against campers in hardcore. That's much less of a case in non-hardcore mode. Last Stand, for example, becomes a lot more relevant as it's much more deadly....especially if enemies aren't paying attention. DPS-related perks in general become less relevant due to people dying more easily. That increases the usability of something like Steady Aim. Of course, stuff like Eavesdrop or Iron Lungs is completely pointless anywhere. Still, as mentioned, perks also depend on your personal skill level. Everything being more deadly also has the effect of increase the skill ceiling. Suddenly, you need to know the map properly to avoid easily getting hit by grenade launchers. You have to pay more attention to players' deaths due to increased lethality of Martyrdom and Last Stand etc etc. While Call of Duty 4 was generally super arcade-y and easy, at least hardcore made it still fun.

All things considered, I think HC is worse. As for the skill level, I don't see it as an improvement, since this way newbies are (were) more useful. Skill was more homogeneous. There are so many small things and quirks made worse in HC (P90 spamming comes to mind and so many others).

I don't know about newer CoDs, but the console version of 4 had mandatory Friendly Fire on Hardcore. If it were the same on PC version, particularly "mirror damage FF", I think things would improve a little.