Yeah minimaps are obsolete, go ahead and delete your GPS app on your phone. :D

Seriously though, it gives more information about the current state of the game. But layering in more strategy is not always improvement to gameplay. Most games that have minimaps do not have near instant kill times and random spawns like COD. So actually it may turn better without it.

I think what it will come down to is how much damage penalty silencers get. For players who felt like they had to use a silencer, this will be allow them to branch out and use some of the other more direct combat focused weapon mods. For players who disliked them because they nerfed your damage, they are probably still not going to use them.

There method of balance is more interesting this time around. Movement speed is going to vary drastically it seems and that will be a factor in throwing people off with headphones. The equivalent of stopping power it seems will reduce movement speed too. Which does offset it from silencers being fast and harder to hear.

Overall the loss is not that drastic, but now more than ever, a decent headset is going to be necessary for audio queues (it really does make games much more enjoyable with proper audiospacial awareness too).