Modern Warfare 3 Groot skin disabled after mass complaints over “pay-to-win” Operator

Modern Warfare 3 developers Sledgehammer Games have temporarily disabled the highly divisive Gaia skin, more commonly referred to as “Groot,” in the November 30 update, after weeks of complaints from players.

While the Groot skin didn’t arrive with Modern Warfare 3, and was instead carried forward from Modern Warfare 2, it has become a far bigger problem with the launch of the new game as more players have become exposed to it and realized just how broken it is.

Ever since it launched, the Gaia skin has been a major cause for concern from players, both in Warzone and multiplayer, as the see-through nature of the skin makes it incredibly difficult to see in combat, akin to the Roze skin of yesteryear that traumatized players in Verdansk when it first came out.

In the November 30 MW3 update, though, the skin has finally been disabled as the devs look to find a way to make it more fair, amid ongoing “pay-to-win” arguments from players killed by those using it.

Groot skin disabled in MW3 & Warzone

According to Call of Duty‘s X, formerly known as Twitter, post, both the Gaia and Gaia BlackCell Operator Skins are being temporarily disabled to resolve those visibility issues.

The developer stated that these skins won’t be gone forever, saying “[p]layers can expect these items to be re-enabled in a future game update with changes to ease target identification.”

One, perhaps in the spirit of the holidays, quipped that they should add Christmas lights to the skin to help make it more visible.

Whatever the devs decide to do, MW3 and Warzone players can game with the knowledge that there isn’t a player hidden among those plants in the corner.