963 replies to this topic

[Stinger]

Chyros, on 25 Nov 2010, 9:30, said:

Some interesting tangential news: Activision will apparently never ever charge for any CoD multiplayer:

http://www.industrygamers.com/news/activis...ty-multiplayer/

It would never have worked because they are not going to be able to sell CoD games annually by cutting features to make a subscription based game more interesting.

I always thought that Sledgehammer were going to be the MMO CoD producers so this is good news.

Regarding the music in Black Ops, this piece is my favourite from the sound track, from 0:00 up until 2:55:

From 25 Nov 2010, 11:31:

Raven, on 25 Nov 2010, 10:42, said:

Does any of you get any lag in MP. I can't play the game most of the time. It lags and misses frame like hell. Totally ruins the experience for me :(

See the last 10 or so pages for the reviews of MP and it's issues

Ie, yes we do

I LOLed. I have a good computer with a GTX 285 2048MB under the hood and I get freezes so you can imagine how annoying it is to have a game that doesn't look as good as MW2 and runs a lot worse.

According to the Treyarch forums and what I've gleaned, the Xbox 360 version is the best version of the game and this seems to be where Treyarch are devoting most of their attention. It probably something to do with the three year deal Activision have with Micro$oft.

PS3 users are reporting drops in frame rates, also.

Chyros also made an interesting note about the sound of the voices. They seem to have no sense of direction - it is as if they are being played in front of you at all times. In the MW2 video I posted above, you can hear how Infinity Ward nailed the audio ranges.

I made a video of my own to highlight some of the issues with audio in the game:



None of the game's akimbo weapons sound like they are being fired in front of the player.

Can Xbox users here confirm if their version of the game has the same issues?

Edited by Stinger, 26 November 2010 - 01:15.

[Nem]

Stinger, on 24 Nov 2010, 15:55, said:

One of the first things I noticed was the decrease in texture quality from Infinity Ward's photorealistic textures to the ones you see in the Santa Maria bar in Black Ops' singleplayer campaign. The skin doesn't look like real skin, at least to me.

People talk about Crysis on PC, but I found Modern Warfare 2 to be the most visually appealing game of the last three years. The PC version was actually an upgrade in the visual department from its console counterparts.

Black Ops does have some nice areas, but it lacks the consistency, thus the immersion, that MW2's singleplayer campaign had.

Agreed completely, Graphically, Black Ops is inconstant. At it worst (often in mutiplayer) It looks little better then World at War, and at it's best it's near MW2 level.

Stinger, on 24 Nov 2010, 15:55, said:

The only part of Modern Warfare 2's singleplayer I found to be lacking was the background on the oil rig level.

In both games the Skyboxes have always been completely flat images that often fail at the illusion of depth. They are awful, when compared to games like Bad Company 2, and even worse then any of Bungie's latest halo games.

[Stinger]

That was one of the things that Bad Company 2 did right. Isla Inocentes' backdrop was impressive.

Another blow to PC gamers regarding the ability to play with friends:

http://www.callofduty.com/board/viewtopic....71&t=338370

Quote

@pcdev and I have been discussing the best way to manage the desire to play with Friends vs the overwhelming need to attempt to keep teams even so players don't abandon servers.

First off, a party based system like the consoles have is out of the question. Don't bother asking. That system has a dependencies on lobbies, which the PC doesn't have because it has dedicated servers. You can't have it both ways with that one.

The best idea we have is to allow you to switch teams at the start of rounds, but run the auto team balance anyhow. That would at least allow you to try and be on the same team as your friend.

I thought I would put it up here for discussion. Please keep it civil.

David 'Vahn' Vonderhaar

"Don't bother asking."

If you were developing a game for a specific platform, wouldn't the thought have crossed your mind at some point that friends would want to play it together as a team?

It doesn't really surprise me that this comes as an afterthought.

Auto balance is also a terrible feature. For example, I was playing CoD 4 a few weeks ago and was having a really good start to a round, on a 14 killstreak with no deaths, and it "autobalanced" me on to the enemy team. So my 14 kills gave the now enemy team a good start. It's an awkward and unfair system.

Edited by Stinger, 26 November 2010 - 03:42.

[Wizard]

How hard would it be to add a feature that identifies people on your friends list in a different colour on the minimap when they are on your team????

[Chyros]

Wizard, on 26 Nov 2010, 11:55, said:

How hard would it be to add a feature that identifies people on your friends list in a different colour on the minimap when they are on your team????

Dude, that would take at least three seconds to copy from the MW2 coding! Don't impose such unreasonably difficult demands!

[Kalo]

Chyros, on 26 Nov 2010, 12:07, said:

Wizard, on 26 Nov 2010, 11:55, said:

How hard would it be to add a feature that identifies people on your friends list in a different colour on the minimap when they are on your team????

Dude, that would take at least three seconds to copy from the MW2 coding! Don't impose such unreasonably difficult demands!

With respect, I'm not sure it's quite that easy, this is Treyarch after all.

[Pav:3d]

More care package exploitation fun:

Quote

The Call of Duty community is as devious and as ingenious as any - probably more so due to its sheer size - but as a result its players are experts when it comes to finding sneaky little tips and tricks to help their cause in the game's phenomenal multiplayer.

And so it should come as no surprise to learn of the latest cheeky exploit.

The Hardline Pro perk is being deviously utilised in order to get 4 care packages options from as few as 5 kills. Hardline is a perk that lets you earn killstreak rewards for one less kill than is normal. The pro version, however, also lets you shuffle the contents of a care package. So say for example you get a counter spy-plane from a Care Package, one of the game's lesser desired killstreaks, using Hardline Pro you can shuffle the contents and if you get lucky, receive a helipcoter, attack dogs or mortar team.

Here's where the ingenuity comes in to play.

SAM Turrets and Sentry Guns, awarded for 3 and 5 kills respectively (4 and 5 when not using Hardline), are delivered by way of a care package. Hardline Pro can also be used to shuffle these. Which means that players who quickly rack up 5 kills and have the perk enabled are rewarded with 3 care packages. Which means, removing the SAM Turret and Sentry gun from the equation, that they have 4 possible decent killstreak rewards. Killstreaks which would normally require 7/8/9/11 kills.

Using this technique earlier, I successfully managed to call in 2 Gunships, 3 Chopper Gunners and countless Mortar Strikes, Valkyrie Rockets and Attack Helipcopter. And with a team-mate killing me every 5 kills and allowing me to start my streaks again, I managed 29/0 on the popular Array map. 29/0 because kills by team-mates don't count against you on Hardcore Teamdeathmath.

Whether this will be tweaked via an update to prevent the shuffling off SAM Turrets and Sentry Guns remains to be seen but Treyarch certainly has something to think about.

[Chyros]

As I've kept saying since the start, they never should have had care packages that give killstreaks in to begin with. Them giving stuff like the Death Machine and Grim Reaper is a very nice touch, but otherwise, Care Packages are noob stuff and no-one that got one ever deserved what was inside of them if it was worth more than the CP streak itself IMO.

[Stalker]

I've been using this strategy for quite some time now.

Currently I use

Spy Plane
SAM-Turret
Care-Package

with 2,3,4 kills using hardliner pro.

I just keep playing until I rack up 3-5 crates and then drop then when respawning. You get a decent Killstreak reward now and then.

There are a few problems with that though.

1.) In TDM, both teams's 'main spawn locations' are constantly shifting. That means until your crates are dropped, your team is on the other side of the map and the enemy kills you and steals your packages.

2.) You can't shuffle a crate, when someone is opening it. And about 90% of your teammates are stupid morons who camp your crate because they think they might get something good. So most of the time you end up takeing the initial load of the crate before a retarded teammate takes it.

It can be a game winner (I once got a CG, a Gunship and a B52 from one drop), but it's purely based on luck. Most of the time you re-roll a Sentry to Ammo, or give a chopper-gunner to your enemies.

[Pav:3d]

Secret EC-XD routes, seems they really worked it in

[Destiny]

EC-XD?

[Chyros]

VERY interesting post by Vahn Larp on how the sniping system sucks:

http://www.callofduty.com/board/viewtopic....213&start=0

He's again throwing in some stuff that are lies, btw, mainly about coding, but I'll make a tl;dr for you:

After him reading a large volume of posts on the subject as well as "testing", he came to the following conclusion: he wants to increase the sniper rifles' damage modifiers to the helmet, head and neck. After this "sniping patch", the sniper rifles will be nerfed again over time, slowly. Note that the head, helmet and neck were already one-hit-kills on all sniper rifles to begin with, so basically this change will not really change anything substantially at all. Whether you die of one hundred damage or one hundred million billion damage has no effect on the game .

Edited by Chyros, 29 November 2010 - 17:18.

[TehKiller]

Apparently in Mr.Larp's vision all the weapons have the same bullet spread.

[Pav:3d]

Traded in my Black Ops for Need for speed last week, but I keep finding these funny Black Ops vids

Diving over an RPG happens at 3:00

[Stinger]

You traded it in already? Did you/do you have MW2? I'm in the process of trying to get a refund from GAME, which is a different process for the PC.

Anyway, on the Treyarch forums they claim they are working on the PC issues, but they have said that before, and I think many naive people are waiting for a miracle patch - only to be disappointed all over again. I have a strong feeling they are going to be patching this lag for months.

[Pav:3d]

Stinger, on 30 Nov 2010, 12:33, said:

You traded it in already? Did you/do you have MW2? I'm in the process of trying to get a refund from GAME, which is a different process for the PC.

Yeah, Having MW2 is partly the reason why, Would rather get my FPS kicks from that.

[Dutchygamer]

Reading this topic makes me glad I hopped off the CoD bandwagon after I finished the MW1 SP on the same day I got the game

[Chyros]

Dutchygamer, on 30 Nov 2010, 20:07, said:

Reading this topic makes me glad I hopped off the CoD bandwagon after I finished the MW1 SP on the same day I got the game

Meh, the MW2 campaign is pretty good too IMO and both the CoD 4 and MW2 multiplayer modes are fantastic, I'd say. Way I see it, you missed out big time.

[Dutchygamer]

Chyros, on 30 Nov 2010, 20:22, said:

Dutchygamer, on 30 Nov 2010, 20:07, said:

Reading this topic makes me glad I hopped off the CoD bandwagon after I finished the MW1 SP on the same day I got the game

Meh, the MW2 campaign is pretty good too IMO and both the CoD 4 and MW2 multiplayer modes are fantastic, I'd say. Way I see it, you missed out big time.

And if you ain't getting the game for the MP, then it's about 8-10 euros per hour played (SP).

[WarMenace]

I love Black Ops, ever since I got it I stopped playing Halo Reach completely.

MW2 was completely flawed multiplayer wise, it was exploited, hacked, modded, and nerfed to an extreme extent. Black Ops fixed everything wrong with it, and adding more flavor to its already incredible multiplayer experience. I don't miss Tactical Nukes at all, not because I never earned one in MW2, but because it doesn't stop the game just because you get 25 kills.

Halo Reach was way too overhyped of a title. Sure, the campaign was epic (though not as great as Halo 3's IMO), I couldn't get hooked to its multiplayer. As much of a Halo fanboy that I am, I hated its additions to the multiplayer - armor abilities, fall damage, stupid maps - though Forge World was really incredible. Bungie did a great job in Halo 2, forced me to spend more than a year on Halo 3, but I only played Halo Reach for 2 months, and I honestly don't get the thrill and fun of playing it. Black Ops is fast paced, over-the-top awesome, and who couldn't love the return of Nazi Zombies?

Stalker, on 28 Nov 2010, 14:36, said:

I've been using this strategy for quite some time now.

Currently I use

Spy Plane
SAM-Turret
Care-Package

with 2,3,4 kills using hardliner pro.

I just keep playing until I rack up 3-5 crates and then drop then when respawning. You get a decent Killstreak reward now and then.

There are a few problems with that though.

1.) In TDM, both teams's 'main spawn locations' are constantly shifting. That means until your crates are dropped, your team is on the other side of the map and the enemy kills you and steals your packages.

2.) You can't shuffle a crate, when someone is opening it. And about 90% of your teammates are stupid morons who camp your crate because they think they might get something good. So most of the time you end up takeing the initial load of the crate before a retarded teammate takes it.

It can be a game winner (I once got a CG, a Gunship and a B52 from one drop), but it's purely based on luck. Most of the time you re-roll a Sentry to Ammo, or give a chopper-gunner to your enemies.

Haha, I use:

Tonka (RCXD)
Napalm Strike
Rolling Thunder

I don't know why but I LOVE the rolling thunder, it's epic and kills practically everything - even inside buildings.

(1) I do agree that some spawns are flawed, and yeah I hate it when someone kills you before you throw the marker out, and spawn on the other side of the map to get it. (2) I don't really use Hardline Pro, so pretty much whenever I want a good care package, I get the killstreak, die, then get it again lol.

Overall, I love the game and wouldn't want anything different. Nazi Zombies are insanely tough but oh so fun. Can't wait for Treyarch's next project.

Edited by WarMenace, 02 December 2010 - 04:39.

[Chyros]

WarMenace, on 2 Dec 2010, 6:36, said:

and adding more flavor to its already incredible multiplayer experience

Could you elaborate on this point? I'm interested, because personally I found flavour to be exactly what BO lacks - since all weapons are the same except the FAMAS which is better I found the MP experience to be profoundly boring, myself. What is it you like about the MP experience?

[WarMenace]

Chyros, on 2 Dec 2010, 0:21, said:

WarMenace, on 2 Dec 2010, 6:36, said:

and adding more flavor to its already incredible multiplayer experience

Could you elaborate on this point? I'm interested, because personally I found flavour to be exactly what BO lacks - since all weapons are the same except the FAMAS which is better I found the MP experience to be profoundly boring, myself. What is it you like about the MP experience?

Money system, new game-types (Wager Matches), face-paint, emblem creator, theater mode... Pretty much everything that MW2 didn't have.

Though I do miss some maps from MW2, I'd really like to see Invasion, Karachi, and Terminal come back for Black Ops...

The new killstreaks are really quite brilliant, it's not overpowered, and they don't count towards your spree when you use them. It makes it more challenging to get Attack Dogs or Gunships. I do enjoy Nazi Zombies, though I'm not good at them I loved that it came back from World at War.

[Chyros]

WarMenace, on 3 Dec 2010, 6:16, said:

Chyros, on 2 Dec 2010, 0:21, said:

WarMenace, on 2 Dec 2010, 6:36, said:

and adding more flavor to its already incredible multiplayer experience

Could you elaborate on this point? I'm interested, because personally I found flavour to be exactly what BO lacks - since all weapons are the same except the FAMAS which is better I found the MP experience to be profoundly boring, myself. What is it you like about the MP experience?

Money system

See, the money system is one of the things I thought at first would be brilliant but in the end it turned out to be a bad thing, IMO. In BO, the money system took all the fun out of leveling, way I see it.

[Stinger]

I thought the currency system would be good as well, but it just hands everything to you on a plate, and there is no sense of achievement when you get a certain attachment.

Want a camo for your gun? Buy it. No challenge having to get the required number of headshots.
Want Extended Magazines? Buy it. No challenge having to shoot through a surface and kill opponents.

In Modern Warfare 2, if you wanted something you had to play (work) for it. The currency system just dumbs the game down.

[Stalker]

TBH, I prefer the money system to the old one.

With the old system I would spend most of the time of my leveling process, unlocking gun's attachments, skipping some because I level faster than I level guns. Then I'm at max level and I can finally use the gun that I like best.
If I decided to try out one of the guns I skipped later, It's unlocking again.

In BO, I still unlock guns by level, but when I unlock a new one, I can use my favourite attachment immediately. The price itself isn't a real limitation because you get more than enough money on the fly to buy at least 1-3 attachments for every gun. And when you're at the highest level you have enough money to try out every stupid gun combo you can find.

'Playing the game how I want to earn money' definetly beats 'shooting someone through the wall 40 times while wasting an attachment slot' to unlock an attachment.

btw: I still can't see what's so special about the FAMAS? It's the most used gun, and its stats are quite good, but to me the AUG (or the enfield when silenced) is still way better.