Black Ops: Class Warfare & Escalation

LOADOUTS OF THE SO CALLED PROS

I came across this article over at IGN regarding the class setups that the “top 5″ Black Ops players use. You don’t have to go check it out, I’ll sum it up for you. They all use the FAMAS. Just 5 privileged kids, playing all day with what many consider to be a noob gun. I’m not saying that the FAMAS is not a good gun or that you should not use it, I’m just saying the article is a waste of time and internet space. I really didn’t need IGN to point out the glaringly obvious. For me the FAMAS runs out of ammo too fast making running with Scavenger a necessity for my play style.

I’ve changed my Fantome class a little bit. I now equip him with an AK47 and a silencer. I like the extra stopping power the AK47 gives me and the silencer reduces muzzle flash and makes it a lot easier to handle. Without the silencer I would not be able to hit the broad side of a barn with this gun. I’ve replaced Warlord Pro with Hardened Pro on Fantome as well. It’s easier to take out a camper by shooting him through a wall. People say the less flinching aspect of Hardened pro helps out in 1v1 battles but I don’t notice much of a difference.

I’ve also started using a rush class. I call him Zippy. Lightweight/SoH Pro/Marathon. Equipped with a silenced AK74u. I’ve gotten quite good at getting into enemy territory and causing a bunch of havoc before they even realize I’m behind them. I’m thinking about trying Warlord on this class and adding Dual Mags for the extra ammo.

ESCALATION WILL BE OUT MAY 3rd

The previews look pretty good, the new Zombie map has me intrigued, and that’s coming form a guy whose probably spent a whole 30 minutes playing the zombie mode of Black Ops. I heard in interviews that these new maps are more “sniper friendly”. I’m not sure what that means, how can you get more friendlier than one shot one kill even when firing from the hip? The recent patch had some sniper fixes in it. I hate it when they patch things like this and don’t tell you exactly what they did. I’m not a big fan of snipers in multi-player shooters, I think they unbalance the game. I have to unload an entire clip into someone just to get them into Second Chance while his buddy can no scope me from 30 feet away and I’m dead. So I’m a little worried that they may have made sniping easier and the new map will be inundated with the little buggers.

The new maps look pretty good and I am looking forward to them.

Thought Provoking

Lets face it, there is a lot of shite on the internet. I rarely stumble across anything that makes me sit back, gently rub my temple and go “oh, wow“. The images at the following link caused me pause for thought.

Rysunek satyryczny Pawła Kuczyńskiego

The Only Playing Tip You’ll Ever Need

JUST HAVE FUN WITH IT... But learn the maps too.

I hopped onto Black Ops the other night for the first time in two weeks. You know what? I had fun. I even made 2 new friends. I played Ground War all night into the wee morning hours. Some games I did really well and other games I was terrible, but I did not rage quit or get even remotely frustrated. I just chugged along, laughing and joking with my new found friends and having a good time. It is a game after all.

A fella named Tim was nice enough to leave a comment on one of my previous Black Ops posts. Tim seems to think he’s the worst Black Ops player ever because no matter what he does–follow on line advice, combat training, etc.–he keeps getting fragged 15 times with only 5 kills to notch on his gun. Tim feels that other players just seem to look his way and he’s dead.

Well Tim, you’re not the worst Black Ops player, you should have seen a couple of the games I had last night! Tim, the reason those players can just look your way and you’re dead is simple. THEY KNOW THE MAPS.

Tim, you don’t know the maps my friend.

Of all the gaming advice I’ve read and followed for Black Ops none of it is as important as learning the maps. Don’t run blindly, try shooting from the hip, blah, blah, blah. LEARN THE MAPS. Everything else will fall into place once you learn the maps. Learning the maps does not mean you know where the Temple is on Jungle. Learning the maps means that you know the Temple area in Jungle is a good place to call in care packages, that there is a sniper spot on top the generator in WMD, that the path through the Mansion in Villa is the “road least traveled”, that placing a claymore in the room that leads out to the catwalk on Summit and on the small set of stairs going into the Factory on Radiation will almost guarantee a kill, that going up the middle on Launch is usually safer than circling the map. Learning the maps means knowing all the camping spots, the sniper spots and their lines of site,  knowing all the choke points and ambush spots. This information comes subtly to me now, almost subliminal. Gently tugging at the tendrils of my thoughts when I’m “in the zone” and nagging at me when I’ve overlooked them.

What’s the best way to learn the maps? I don’t know what will work for you. We all learn in different ways. I’ll tell you what worked for me. First, you have to be having fun. Forget about stats, about kills, about deaths, about assists, even forget about winning and losing. It’s a recreational game, not a job. If you’re having fun consequently you will learn faster. Mute all the asshats who take the game far to seriously right away, they are too much of a distraction.

OBSERVE AND ABSORB WHILE HAVING FUN

When I was learning the maps I played Domination games 24/7. People’s movements are predictable in Dom games and you don’t have to worry about your 6 as much. Makes it easier to observe and absorb whats going on around you. Everyone has the same 2 goals, capture those flags and keep you from recapturing them. Simple.

I never ran with my team, I’d duck into a corner to avoid that lucky Tomahawk throw from across the map, and then set out slowly and methodically behind my team. Watching the routes they took. Noting where they got killed. Watching for the routes the enemy’s rushers took and thinking about how I can get behind them. I paid attention to my kill cam, how I died, why I died and how I could prevent it from happening again.

I sacrificed the win during these times of observation. I played no objective. I stuck to the perimeter of the map, circling it, learning it. Making note of the camper spots, how to avoid them, how to effectively attack them. I paid close attention to the routes the enemy took to get back to the objectives. I did not give chase. I sat back. Counted. Made mental notes of where and if they bunched up. I looked for effective choke points to ambush them next time. I’d place claymores along their routes and made mental notes of which placements were the most lucrative. Once I could circle the map with a proverbial blindfold on I ventured through its center, finding the safest routes through trial and error.

You have to learn the maps. You have to learn how real people play those maps. I don’t believe you can do this in Combat Training. You can improve your reflexes in Combat Training but those bots don’t move the way real people will move in an objective based game. You have to learn the maps. Map designers forge these maps with ebbs and flows that people will naturally follow. People will use the same routes and generally the same tactics they use in Domination in virtually every other game mode. The difference is playing Domination will make it easier for you to learn because everyone else is preoccupied with the objectives.

Observe and absorb. Look for predictability. Snipers hustling to their favorite sniper spot. I assure you, 9 times out 0f 10, if you fragged him at that spot, he’s on his way back to it. Look for Rushers running the same path again and again. Remember that Claymore spot on Radiation I talked about earlier? I got the same 2 Rushers 5 times each in one Dom match last month, just by placing a claymore in that spot every time I re-spawned. Knowing the map is also about knowing your enemy. This will vary from game to game and lobby to lobby. Even after you’re familiar with the basic traffic flow and habits of a particular map, always take the first few moments of a game to sit back and really study the enemy.

Sure, don’t sprint everywhere (but do sprint across open expanse of a map if you can’t avoid it), stick to cover, keep the edge of the map to your back (especially in FFA games), boost up the difficulty in Combat Training to sharpen your reflexes, gradually turn the look sensitivity up to further sharpen and speed up your reflexes. Do all these things. None of it will help you one bit if you don’t know the maps.

I’m not a 1337 player, not by a long shot. I got frustrated just like you do. I thought I sucked because I just was not as reactive and quick as the other players, and that is somewhat true. I thought that the only way I’d get better was if science found a way to give me the reflexes of a 12 year old. When I finally stopped worrying about how good I was at a silly game I started to notice things I had not noticed before when I was all preoccupied with trying to aim faster and see things quicker. I noticed the patterns of the maps, the patterns of the players. Then I started to get better. I could not get better before because I didn’t know what I was looking for. I’m not a 1337 player, but I can hold my own.

Just sit back, relax and have fun playing the game. Just pay attention to the things I’ve mentioned while you are playing. Observe and absorb. Keep at it and you’ll know the maps in just a few short gaming sessions.

If it looks like a duck… It is.

So I got this comment on one of my previous posts and I thought I’d share it with the community. Times are hard right now for many of us, and during these times people sometimes jump for opportunities that are not there. The comment read as follows;

We really need authors badly. After checking out this article, we really want you on our workforce. We pay out $35-$50 per hour. Our top rated writers are pulling in over $90 THOUSAND a YEAR, writing part-time. Please swing by and see us. http://write.ncsall.org

It’s a scam. You know how you can tell it’s a scam? “$90 THOUSAND a YEAR” Does that sound too good to be true? Yes? Well, that’s your first clue.

The second clue would come if you actually followed the link you’d find that in order for you to make this $90 THOUSAND a YEAR too good to be true payoff you would have to start by sending them money first…

Right, I’ll write them the check just after I finish writing this one for that Nigerian Prince who can’t seem to get a hold of his millions without my 5 grand first.

No legitimate potential employer will ask you for money to start working for them. Maybe in a few more years after corporations and Republicans have completely decimated the Middle Class and re-instituted the truck system they’ll start doing this. Currently anyone asking you for money so that you can begin writing for them and get more money in return is a con-man, a shyster, and a predatory scumbag.

Thanks to Hectic & Harried for confirming my suspicions.