Modern Warfare 3's loathed 'Groot' skin is getting yanked and nerfed following widespread player backlash

(Image credit: Activision Blizzard)

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3's not-so-happy tree friend is set for a nerf. Players have been in an uproar about the Gaia skin—which turns MW3's Nova into a kind of arboreal sleep paralysis demon that some people liken to Groot—ever since it was introduced as part of the game's season 6 battle pass. But now Sledgehammer says not to worry: The studio is going to temporarily disable the skin soon while it works on a nerf.

The news came as part of a recent AMA on Reddit, in which Sledgehammer devs answered COD players' questions about the game and its future. One such player, Deagil_, asked the team what it was "going to do about the Gaia skin and the problems it has brought forward to MW3 from MW2?"

If you're not sure as to why the so-called Groot skin has gotten players in such a flutter, it's all to do with camo. Unlike the vast majority of Modern Warfare's other unlockable cosmetic skins—which range from humdrum army men in fatigues to Nicki Minaj in garish pink—the Gaia/Groot skin is made of see-through gaps and woody, autumnal hues. It goes beyond camouflage and makes the skin downright invisible in some areas in certain maps.

This skin has to be nerfed. from r/ModernWarfareIII

Good news, then, that Sledgehammer told players on Reddit that "Adjustments to Gaia and Gaia Blackcell Operator Skins are in the pipeline for Modern Warfare III. In a future game update, we'll disable this item until said changes can be released to all players." While the skin is still equippable at time of writing, it's only a matter of time before it gets yoinked entirely and made to be a bit less transparent. This is war, you know, there are rules.

Alas, the fix to the Gaia skin probably won't do much to mend the deeper issues with MW3 itself, which PCG's Morgan Park scored 47% in his Modern Warfare 3 review, calling it a "disjointed, vaporous vision" that makes for "an absolutely unessential chapter in the series' 20-year history."

One of Josh's first memories is of playing Quake 2 on the family computer when he was much too young to be doing that, and he's been irreparably game-brained ever since. His writing has been featured in Vice, Fanbyte, and the Financial Times. He'll play pretty much anything, and has written far too much on everything from visual novels to Assassin's Creed. His most profound loves are for CRPGs, immersive sims, and any game whose ambition outstrips its budget. He thinks you're all far too mean about Deus Ex: Invisible War.