Regarding the notion of adding pickups and whatnot: bollocks.
The reason I posted this thread is because I made the transition from playing Call of Duty 4 on public servers to playing competetively. I'll explain what this means.
On public servers you play the game as the developers released it, which is designed mostly for good console multiplayer in all honesty. You have 'perks', a selection of three upgrades from different lists available. For example, one perk gives you three frag grenades every life, except one. Another perk makes you much quieter, so you can move a lot faster before you start making noise (in CoD4 you can know where people are just by listening closely, if you're good). One perk makes your bullets lose less damage when fired through walls. There are perks that mean when you die, you drop a live grenade, and another that makes you lie down and draw your pistol for 10 seconds, giving you another chance to kill the guy before you die.
When you get three kills in a row, you get to call in a UAV, this is basically a radar. 5 kills earns you an airstrike, you call it in and if you put it in a good place you can kill most of their team if they're bunched up, etc. 7 kills in a row gets you a helicopter, which flies around above you shooting anyone who pops their head out, and on busier maps it's total overkill. What sucks is that kills from the airstrike count toward your helicopter. It's pretty damn hard not to get two kills with an airstrike.
All this means there's a lot more variety in the game, sure. But when you play competetively, they cut most of it out. You play a modded version of the game, where everyone has the same perks (the most balanced/non-random-luck ones, simple perks that give your shots more power and give you more ammo). UAV, airstrikes and choppers are removed. You all start with one grenade and one flashbang or smoke grenade. The 'stupid' weapons are removed (there are some which are very strong in areas they are meant to be weak). The game is stripped down, so that you are playing with just your weapons, your wits and your team mates. All the stuff that could get you easy kills is removed.
And this is why I thought of LX. When you guys play 100% and everyone is charging about with the SS, napalm, dd, cannon, hg or chainfun, everyone is in the same boat, no unfair advantages, it's just down to your ability. This game is pure fun because while yes, it is simple, it doesn't matter. Because the one aspect this game does have in spades is action. Pure adrenaline pumping action, and that's what makes it fun. And a very good game for playing competetively.