IGN ruining the multiplayer experience.

[Rednog]

Still, the number of people incapable of changing to a class with ghost and/or whipping out a launcher when air support comes in is laughable. When a chopper gunner can clean up a team deathmatch game for the last 25 kills, the enemy team have screwed up bad...

Insanely sad but true, to this day I'm still baffled as to how with each CoD game that had air support people still haven't learned to take it down. I swear I was always amazed as to how easily I got nukes in MW2 but just going harriers -> ac130 -> nuke, and 9 times out of 10 I didn't have to get any more kills with my gun after I hit harriers. And then those people rage when someone gets a nuke. Every competent player should be switching class as soon as they die to send any and all air support burning to the ground before it has a chance to do anything.

I don't think you get rewarded for shooting them down. The personal achievement is great, but there's really no reason to do it, since;
A) You'll likely be shot well looking up.
B) You won't be able to finish it off in one life.

Now I don't know about BOps but in MW2 you take take out all of the air except the AC130 by yourself in 1 life, even then you can pretty easily take down an ac130 in a single life if you have the scavenger perk tacked onto your anti air class, the blue refill bags usually will be littering the map. In regards to point A, you don't spawn and immediately tilt your head up to the sky looking for the air support, spend the 5 or so seconds needed, move to a relatively safe position and then fire away, and even if you do somehow die, that 1 death compared to the slaughter of your team mates (especially in a TDM where 1 vs many deaths is huge) and a possible nuke is well worth the sacrifice. And like I said, if every competent player switched when they died then odds are even with an AC130 up in the air it's going to be swatted down damn near instantly and you only have to worry about getting a single lock since more than 1 missile should be flying its way and then your whole team moves on with its life. It's even the case with things like UAV, most people using assault rifles can take the damn thing out in a half a clip or less but few people do. And, imo, it just stems from players either being stupid or lazy.
Also I don't remember the number, but isn't it like 400 exp for shooting down most of the air supports? I remember when I was racing to 70 knocking down air support was like getting a free exp treat.

 

[Frotality]

the thing about multiplayer (for me at least) is that it almost always boils down to winning thru repetition and exploiting: you find a strategy, some gimmick or cheap shot that works consistently, then repeat it for profit. this is bad (again, at least for me), because everyone ends up being beaten by bullshit and winning with little sense of accomplishment. multiplayer really flung the feces at the fan with stuff like IGN that makes these cheap tactics so easy for everyone to find, but stuff like quickscoping and whatnot is the same principle.

the best multiplayer for me has always been fighting games, and thats because theyre so horribly balanced. you can spend hours memorizing your character's every attack, then still lose to your little brother mashing buttons. once i realized that, it became much more fun, because then i would just mash buttons, id play with friends, and we'd all mash buttons, and regardless of who wins an enjoyable experience always ensued. super smash brothers is possibly the best multiplayer experience ive ever had; the damn game is built around my theory, its just one big button-mashing extravaganza.

you know what's possibly the second best? the multiplayer for conker's bad fur day, not the remake, the original N64 one. it was a giant murder playground, there was no strategy, there was grim reapers with chainsaws and squirrels with bazookas; it wasnt a balanced multiplayer experience, it was a FUN multiplayer experience.

(restraining my urge to quote yahtzee like an unimaginative tool...) yes, it was fun; not a competition, not arguing with a 12 year old, but FUN, what games are supposed to be.

in the age of online guides, multiplayer that takes itself seriously enough to warrant strategy is doomed to failure IMO, you can repress the urge to look up, say a puzzle solution out of the satisfaction of solving it yourself, but people take their multiplayer way too seriously this day and age to do that.

then again, competing with screechy children is apparently all the rage now, so what do i know. maybe im just too caught up in my old man traditions of thinking games are supposed to be fun to get into modern multiplayer.

 

[Steppin Razor]

-snip-

Actually, you can take down an AC-130 in 1 life without picking up any ammo if you use the Stinger. After you fire the first missile off, keep aiming at it and as soon as it reloads and beeps to tell you that it's locked on, fire the second missile. It'll hit it before it can launch flares again.

On topic: Any popular game that contains any form of competitive aspect to it will invariably get a number of guides written up by players of it, so it's not as if IGN has ruined anything with this. If anything, they've removed the trial and error that takes place for people to learn the game, so all they've really done is advance the game to stage 2, which involves people coming up with ways to counter the popular tactics.

 

[Ironic Pirate]

I think that if the game is balanced well, then good players should be able to adapt to those who just use strategies from the internet, and even take advantage in some cases.

For example, I've taken to using Flak jacket a lot, because the RC-XD kills me a lot, and I dislike how arbitrary it is. It certainly kills me more than any other killstreak. It's avoidable(just hide whenever they get one), but doing so slows you down. Flak jacket stops them killing me, so saves me a death, and makes it more likely I'll get a decent killstreak by killing them while they're spamming their silly little cars.

They don't kill me all that much, but the noise...

I wish they'd remove them, just so I don't have to hear it constantly.

 

[MiracleOfSound]

RC-XD INBOUND!
RC-XD INBOUND!
RC-XD INBOUND!
RC-XD INBOUND!
RC-XD INBOUND!
RC-XD INBOUND!
RC-XD INBOUND!
FFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-

Ugh. They drive me fuckin nuts... I hate them so much, such a stupid, stupid idea.

 

[BRMXJzjsoawk321]

I was looking at their "strategy guide" for Left 4 Dead one lonely day on Youtube.

Never watched another video of theirs again because they obviously had NOOOOO idea what they were talking about.

 

[Yagharek]

I think that if the game is balanced well, then good players should be able to adapt to those who just use strategies from the internet, and even take advantage in some cases.

For example, I've taken to using Flak jacket a lot, because the RC-XD kills me a lot, and I dislike how arbitrary it is. It certainly kills me more than any other killstreak. It's avoidable(just hide whenever they get one), but doing so slows you down. Flak jacket stops them killing me, so saves me a death, and makes it more likely I'll get a decent killstreak by killing them while they're spamming their silly little cars.

They don't kill me all that much, but the noise...

I wish they'd remove them, just so I don't have to hear it constantly.

Yeah, but they've not removed all the 12 year olds yet, so the chances of them removing the car on those grounds are slim.

Though I play with low volume anyway, or often listen to music instead of having sound. Footsteps are so quiet atm that there's no advantage to listening, and I don't have a good headset anyhow.

 

[Motiv_]

I was looking at their "strategy guide" for Left 4 Dead one lonely day on Youtube.

Never watched another video of theirs again because they obviously had NOOOOO idea what they were talking about.

You think that was bad, check out G4's "Pro Tips" montage.

Hit X to reload, then switch to your pistol. Fire off a few shots or melee a few times, and before you know it your main gun will be fully loaded.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZAh4-WQD8s&feature=channel[/youtube]

 

[EinTheCorgi]

I go spy plain.care package and attack helicopter because i like the feeling of it but on all the black ops maps its a pain to shoot down the air support because all the maps have so much crap in your way. All the trees on jungle of the buildings on cracked or the thing flys behind the clouds and i cant find it...unless i want to take 5 min aiming my strella into the air waiting to hear the ridiculously quiet beeping sounds.

 

[teqrevisited]

If you play to a guide you wont necessarily learn anything. You'll progress more by countering those strategies, guaging how much force to use, when to hold back and when it's best to leave well alone.

 

[mr_rubino]

The adaptable players will soon outwit all the guide-reading spammerscrubturtlerwhateveryoucallems and cause them to leave in disgust. Then someone will have to make a new guide. And the cycle will forever repeat. And the adapters will need to adapt. Next thing you know, multiplayer is confined to the quick-witted and smart and all the hyper-caffeinated 12-year-olds are shot on-sight when they make a crack about... anything. Muahaha!