Ever since Activision announced the Elite service for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, everyone has been trying to make sense of the whole thing. And it hasn’t been easy with what little information we had. Finally, during the CoD XP event today, patrons finally got the lowdown on what this “premium” service would include, and how much of a bite it would take of your wallet.

Obviously, the membership is subscription based. In fact, a year’s subscription will be worth a hefty $49.99. Combine that with the Xbox Live subscription fee, and you’re already paying almost hundred bucks a year just for one video game, about the same as an MMORPG subscription. That’s not even taking into account the initial purchase. However, those that purchase the Hardened Edition will have access to a year of Elite membership, along with some other packaged goods.

Activision’s reasoning for the high price of entry is because of the items that premium members will have access too. There are actually quite a few bonuses that players can take advantage of, but individual mileage may vary.

For starters, players will have access to a year’s worth of DLC for the game. This includes maps, game modes, and other stuff to come out on a monthly basis. Non-premium members will have to pay for them separately. Already we’re seeing some form of separation between those that plop money down for the subscription and those that don’t. But, that’s to be expected from these kinds of services.

Subscribers will also have access to regular competitions. These will have both real and virtual prizes up for grabs, and the competitions will supposedly be for various skill levels. Those who have joined a clan can also level them up through competitive play to get access to various benefits. Obviously if you’re big on competitive CoD, then this will be the perk just for you.

Those under Elite membership will also have access to “eight times better” video sharing capacity than non-members, which, I’m assuming, means more replay storage and the ability to record longer ones. They also get access to “expert strategy,” regarding map tactics, weapons advice, and other things that you could likely find on a public web forum for free.

Lastly, subscribers get access to an exclusive set of programming called “Elite TV.” It’s essentially a video section that houses some CoD oriented programming. Starting off the roster is “Friday Night Fights,” which pits actual rivals against each other in a match to see who the better player is, or to settle some petty dispute. The other show coming in is called Noob Tube, in which celebrities Will Arnett and Jason Bateman will deliver trash talk over user-created videos pertaining to the game.

That’s about the gist of it. Activision, of course, made sure to mention that it’s still possible to play the game in its entirety without the Elite service, which is a good thing. Still, the decision to put down a hundred dollar subscription for a FPS game may cause more than a fair amount of regular players to question whether it’d be worth it or not. Competitive players may get a bit more bang for the buck than your average Joe, so there’s still a bit of a discrepancy in status.

We’ll probably be getting more info the closer we get to release, so, it’s probably a good idea to hold onto your credit card until then to make a