Rule

I've played a LOT of cod over the years, and I've seen it get slammed into the ground with hate from all directions at every release. In some cases it was deserved cough BO4 but I've gotten a lot of enjoyment and hours from a bunch of them. I think people get mad if the gameplay is different when they try something new, hence the hate for BO3, Infinite Warfare, Ghosts etc. but also get mad when it "feels like the same game" like Cold War and WWII, so it's a lose lose for them.
If I were to pick a favorite era though, I like the jetpack era: (BO3, IW, and AW) because they gambled and tried something new. It was hated at the time, but people are still online playing and enjoying BO3 and IW almost 10 years later.
I also really enjoy the true classics like COD 1 & 2. They were actually the first ones I played bc I had to sneak it past my mom by buying it at a yard sale when I was younger lol. They really capture that clunky early 2000s shooter vibe that I kinda miss

Now do Battlefield!
- Peak:
  Battlefield Bad Company

ww2 is not slop its actually the best cod game ever made (its the only one i have a positive k/d in)

black ops 2 was def peak

Advanced warfare got done dirty y'all cod mfers just don't have enough gamer cred to appreciate a true movement shooter
- playing advanced warfare at launch is legitimately in my top 10 best experiences i’ve had with multiplayer. SO MANY PEOPLE were trying to just play it like every other call of duty. but as more folks started experimenting with the new movement options, suddenly firefights would randomly turn into twitch-shooter gameplay with everyone bouncing all over the fucking place.
  once metas started getting sorted it turned into that same sweaty slog that every other old multiplayer fps eventually becomes.
  
  Same as early Overwatch when Bastion dominated the meta and a single Genji reflect could win a match.

MFs screaming "I was born in 1990"
- Nah brother, early 2000s people have this hierarchy too. Extinction and Exo zombies were kinda neat tho.

MW2 peak? Nah CoD4 was peak and everything onwards was a spiral
- CoD4 - excellent campaign. MW2 - worse campaign, better multiplayer. Everything was downhill from there.
  Admittedly didn't play Blops multiplayer because the campaign sucked imo. Too stuck on rails, not enough freedom to figure out attack strategies and don't call it Black Ops when you're going around blowing the shit out of everything! That's the opposite of a Black Op!
  
  ive never liked mw2's multiplayer. just not sure how its supposed to be fun when all the maps are bad
- Agree. WaW and MW2 were decent follow-ups to CoD4 despite not quite measuring up. Blops and everything after was pure slop.
  And it's all DoD-funded US military propaganda.
  
  not really related but did you know D&D is descended from actual government sponsored tactical wargames?
  
  nah man Blops is peak for me, best zombies and multiplayer, plus a decent campaign that was a lil artsy without going crazy while keeping the cold war aesthetic
  I'll give you DoD funded, although I think that started earlier, but boy is that ending in Blops with the American Navy appearing and the sun shining corny af, I'm glad the post-credits scene was about killing the president

Wait, MW2 and MWII are not the same ?
- I’ve only played up to BLOPS2 but I think MWII is just the original game but with lootboxes and microtransactions
- Yes and no

Its so bizarre seeing this.
For me the chart goes:
Call of Duty (2003) - the first one, it had sprint and ADS. Also two primary weapons and a handgun slot.
Call of Duty 2 (2005) - the first one with regenerating health. This might also be where prone and the true two weapon limit was introduced (but I'm not sure).
...
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009) - At this point people are criticizing the game series for being propaganda for the military industrial complex, for bland mindless gameplay, for being generally bland and uninteresting as a piece of art, for cranking out the same game over and over again, and for spawning so many imitators that creativity was choked out of the AAA development space.
...
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (2014) - the one with that actor in it. People were surprised that it actually changed up its gameplay by adding jetpacks.
From 2014 onwards: I have never heard of these games before. I was vaguely aware that they kept making COD games but never cared to read about them. I think one of them was 150 GB, which some people think was a conspiracy to fill up your hard drive so you couldn't play other games (considering how much a repack was able to reduce its size).
- At some point in the “slop” era they turned the multiplayer into a standalone thing also and the campaigns truly became second thought.
  I haven’t played since Modern Warfare 2 or Black Ops one ish because of the exact reasons you listed though.
- I actually kinda liked Infinite Warfare as well, at least the single player campaign. It also tried something different (futuristic space scifi setting) and had John Snow as the villain. Underrated.

Last time I was in a cafe was ~2012 playing MW3, CS, and 2142. Seems like that was a good time to exit. Maybe one day games will exist again. I'd love to get back into some, but without clear and tangible ownership rights to what I purchase with no strings attached, I am not at all interested in any game. I expect all features and complete autonomy or I simply opt out completely and hope all the corporate pirates burn. I can only fix me, and talk about it to say this shit is not normal. It only exists because you allow and vote for it with your money. Things could be better.

CoD 2 was the last one I played, therefor it was peak.

Remember... No differing opinions.

Hey no ok FUCK this, infinite warfare was peak fiction
BO:3 would've been really good if it's story wasn't a complete brain fuck about identity and sentience
- Oh so you like Kevin Spacey?
  It’s too late, I’ve already marked this in your permanent record.
  
  No, Advanced Warfare is the one with Spacey. Infinite Warfare is the one in space.
  
  Wrong one, "ADVANCED" warfare is the one with Kevin Spacey
  Infinite Warfare has the jon snow dude
  Also in advanced warfare, spacey is literally the big bad evil guy

No way have they made SIX black ops games. I feel like the second one only just came out a couple of years ago...

Modern warfare 3 sucked
- Which one lol
  
  3, never played III
- Campaign or MP?
  
  Mostly salty because it was the start of the campaigns no longer being good, imo. I didn’t get hooked on the multiplayer the same way I did with the prior ones either

WaW for the Wii was peak.

Why does everyone forget Big Red One :(
- Probably lack of exposure? Haven't seen it on Steam...

Cold War has a pretty decent campaign
- Cold War was pretty much great at everything; multiplayer was fun, zombies had new stuff but kept the old formula.