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omg

omg March 18, 2025, 12:18 a.m.

SBMM making games impossible - would best vpn for call of duty help with matchmaking?

Been struggling since the Season 3 update dropped. Used to hold my own with a respectable 1.8 KD, but now I'm lucky to break even in most matches.

Every lobby feels like a professional tournament - players with perfect movement, pixel-perfect aim, and map knowledge that suggests they've memorized every corner. I'm spending more time watching killcams than actually playing.

A clan member mentioned he started using VPN to connect through servers in different regions where the skill-based matchmaking allegedly puts him against more casual players. Claims his performance improved dramatically by routing through Asian servers.

Is this actually a legitimate strategy or just another myth? I've been playing COD since the original Modern Warfare and never considered using network tricks, but the frustration of constantly facing ultra-competitive players has me considering alternatives.

If this does work, what options should I look into? Not concerned about privacy features - just want to enjoy some matches without needing tournament-level focus every game.

lion

lion March 18, 2025, 11:43 a.m.

They patched most region manipulation exploits in january. Might work for a week before anti-cheat flags your unusual connection patterns and tosses you into shadow-ban territory

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fri

fri March 18, 2025, 9:03 p.m.

This strategy is essentially smurfing with extra steps. Avoiding players at your skill level to stomp on casual gamers in other regions? Not cool. Challenge yourself to improve instead of looking for shortcuts

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portman

portman March 19, 2025, 7:08 p.m.

works but risky af. guy in our discord got his account suspended for "suspicious network activity" after vpn-hopping between asia/europe servers for a week

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KiberNet

KiberNet March 20, 2025, 12:53 a.m.

Activision only enforces in waves though. My roommate's been doing this for months without issues. Seems random who gets caught

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learyilkySoke

learyilkySoke March 20, 2025, 10:24 p.m.

Network engineer perspective: using VPN adds another hop to your connection path, potentially INCREASING ping, not reducing it. Might get easier lobbies but with worse latency - tradeoff not worth it for most players

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WTF

WTF March 22, 2025, 4:11 p.m.

Find it crazy how everyone wants "casual" lobbies but nobody wants to play casually. The problem isn't sbmm - it's that everyone watched too many faze montages and forgot games are supposed to be fun

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235

235 March 23, 2025, 11:04 p.m.

Registered my activision account through argentina using vpn last year. Permanently get south american lobbies now without needing vpn after initial setup. Players there aggressive but less technically skilled

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Elza Alay

Elza Alay March 24, 2025, 6:16 p.m.

our squad experimented with different services. most added too much lag but surfshark somehow improved our connection stability while bypassing strict matchmaking. their gaming servers seem optimized for minimal overhead unlike privacy-focused options

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Klaus_

Klaus_ March 25, 2025, 9:52 p.m.

Modern COD netcode heavily favors low ping. What you might interpret as "skill gap" could actually be connection advantage. Players with 15ms reaction time aren't superhuman - they just have fiber internet

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