This is probably some of the most concrete news we've had about Treyarch's upcoming Call of Duty game. Site Call of Duty Vietnam has combed through the Treyarch forums to find posts made by the developers themselves. They stress that some of this may just be personal opinion, it has mainly come from Multiplayer Design Director David Vonderhaar, but in all likely hood it could point to how the game is starting to come together.

Here's the list CoD Vietnam have compiled of some of Vonderhaar's posts on the forums:

• While they’ve tried having custom killstreaks for each class, that seemed to complicate the ‘purity and speed’ of Create a Class.
• Consequently, it’s fair to assume that customizable killstreaks are all but confirmed.
• At this stage in development, killstreaks stack and carry over if you die, but do not contribute to further killstreaks (hence eliminating the ‘camping for killstreaks’ problem of Modern Warfare 2).
• Treyarch are not fans of Commando, the extended melee range perk in Modern Warfare 2, and it is unlikely to return.
• They’ve tried a ‘manned’ version of the Sentry Gun killstreak, but weren’t fans.
• We may well see a return to pistols as the only available sidearm, or perhaps a choice between pistols and launchers. Vahn and many of the team are not fans of shotguns and machine pistols as secondary weapons – it gives a player ‘too much firepower’.
• The knife may well become a secondary weapon – although Vahn didn’t want to say too much.
• Finally, don’t expect the nuke to return as a killstreak. Vahn says they are not fans of a game-ending killstreak.

So it looks like custom killstreaks will return but with some modifications to the system Infinity Ward introduced in Modern Warfare 2. The fan response to the CoD Vietnam post seems to be rather positive. The nuke and commando perk irritate many an avid Call of Duty fan due to their overpowered nature and the nuke holds an especially hated place in many a fans hearts for it's changes to online play. Many fans have irritably posted about the game degrading into a camping war where everyone is too scared to engage in open combat because they don't want to lose their killstreak. The fact that Treyarch are listening to what their fans are saying is certainly going to win them some brownie points.

I think having the knife as a secondary weapon is taking things a little bit too far but I do agree that pistols should be the only available sidearm. When that is the case players need to be far more careful when choosing their loadouts, instead of going for the setup that gives them the most ammunition.

Still no word on the rest of the game but these early indicators of where the multiplayer may be headed are good. Treyarch's work on the series is often overlooked and overshadowed by Infinity Ward but maybe this will be the time when Treyarch can go 'hey, we managed to get that right'.