The Friday Call of Duty Elite panel focused almost exclusively on how Elite will support clans in Modern Warfare 3. Clans -- competitive groups of players -- can be as large as 100 members, but every player can only join one clan, and each clan only has one leader. That leader can invite people into the clan, but members can leave at any time.
Clans level up – just like individual players do. But an advanced clan will get special features like double XP periods for all members, special gold clan tags in-game, and a private Elite feed just for clan chatter.
In addition to custom leaderboards for many MW3 modes and a clan-specific Message of the Day, each clan gets a custom logo and can enter special Clan Operations – tournaments and competitions that will bring fame and glory to your band of brothers (and sisters). Like standard Operations, Clan Operations will also support real-world prizing; the top 6 players will determine the standings and, in the case of prizes, would be “in the money” and receive the loot -- but all the clan members will get some sort of reward. There are also Clan Challenges, which are more about the collective performance of the whole clan. Say, if three members of the clan blow up vehicles in the same match, or your clan hits a milestone anniversary for how long it’s been in existence – those will be noted and celebrated.
Full clan functionality hasn’t been part of the beta, but the clan support is expected to be up and running when Modern Warfare 3 comes out on November 8.