Left 4 dead 2 is hard

[Evilbunny]

Hey, I got left 4 dead 2 yesterday and I tried playing through the dead center campaign with some friends and we kept dying on the finale sequence. My team and I have been playing since left 4 dead 1 came out so we're not noobs, but I was wondering if anyone could share some strategies that worked for them. We kept together and threw down the gas cans so we could just fill them all up at once when we were done, but the trouble came when the tank showed up. He always managed to kill at least one of us and from there it just deteriorated. What are we doing wrong? This is only on normal difficulty!

 

[The Rockerfly]

Shoot better?

 

[Evilbunny]

Shoot better?

See, this is why I come here. Sound advice like this.

 

[Distorted Stu]

Have you tried dying less? That works for me.

 

[Proteus214]

A friend of mine who was really good at L4D was telling me earlier that he got destroyed by the first campaign he tried on expert difficulty. From what he was telling me they really ramped up the difficulty.

 

[Jandau]

It's likely not that you're doing something wrong, but rather haven't started doing the right things yet. You say you've been playing L4D1 for a while now, right? Then you probably know the maps by heart, and have a fairly good idea of how it'll all play out. This is just a matter of getting that same level of practice with the new game. Stick with it and you'll learn the maps and get back into it.

And be honest, are you really upset about getting your arses kicked? Think about it, if you just blew it open on the first playthrough then you'd soon be out of stuff to do. If it's hard that means it'll entertain you longer and that's a good thing, isn't it?

 

[Johnn Johnston]

Try scoping out the areas if you can as quickly as possible to get a good vantage point.

 

[The Rockerfly]

Shoot better?

See, this is why I come here. Sound advice like this.

The internet is always here to help

 

[Octorok]

Shoot better?

See, this is why I come here. Sound advice like this.

Kills at least one of you? Well just sort out a tank tactic. Look for spots and corners to avoid and to trap him. Get molotovs ready and a pipe bomb to distract the horde, because one hit slows you down for the tank to go for. Have your shotgunners run away while shooting at reasonable range, leading him around so that your assault gunners can mow him down. While on fire, receiving regular shotgun blasts and being hit by assault rifle fire he should go down pretty quickly.

Your main problem I'd wager is that he traps one of you and beats the crap out of them. If you have to, look where you're running because the scenery is your enemy. Get him at a distance and let him try to throw a rock behind your cover. Then just unleash bullet hell. One of you should have a melee weapon for horde camping, or thinning the horde around an incapped teammate, plus you should be on the lookout for any Special Infected.

If a guy is down he's Boomer and Spitter bait. If you are in a tight group then prepare for Chargers and Hunters. Smokers tend to pull you away anywhere so your best advice is to be ready. Use the area to your advantage. High spots to gun the tank are excellent, as long as you run away from them sharpish, since the game hates campers like Jesus hates doughnuts.

 

[Ciarang]

Shoot better?

Have you tried dying less? That works for me.

Pretty much this, I haven't played L4D2 yet so I don't have much advice...

 

[Legion]

I agree, the difficulty has definitely been ramped up. I found the first and third campaigns OK on normal but I found a section of campaign 2 and the latter half of campaign 4 extremely difficult.

I can't say tanks bother me, the tactics from L4D1 work just as well and the inclusion of new weapons such as boomer bile just make them easier.

It's not even the enemies that are the issue, but the idiotic bots/players in the games, the amount of time it takes for some people to realise you are pinned/pounced whatever is insane.

Sadly, my friends are not interested in it (they would prefer MW2) so I am stuck with bots/randoms which definitely makes the campaigns a lot less enjoyable. Although versus is still fun.

On a side-note, is anyone playing the PC version finding Steam has difficulty remembering what achievements they have? I have reached 17/50 and yet today it thinks I only have 7, it shows me having 10/10 for some requirements and yet says the achievs are unlocked (even though they weren't before) seems pretty stupid really.

 

[Punisher A.J.]

If at first you don't succeed, switch to easy mode I mean "who are you trying to prove". if the game is too hard and there is a way to make it easier... why not. personaly I found that the melee weaponds made the game way easier. We pretty much killed every special infected with a frying pan. could have got some l4d 1 achievments too. Man + frying pan vs tank, head shot a hunter while it is leaping at you... with a frying pan, hit a boomer with a frying pan then shoot it without getting vommited on, cr0wn the bit...Witch with frying pan...(ok still working on that one)

 

[AlphaOmega]

They upped the difficulty with damage levels iirc, so normal in l4d1 is slightly above easy in l4d2

 

[feather240]

Stick together whenever you can.

When a Tank comes exploit scenery. Did you start a climbing animation? Well I'll just move back over here...

Chargers can't move through objects.

Spitters aren't dangerous if you move.

KILL THE FREAKING JOCKEY!

Don't startle the witch! There's always that one guy...

Don't set off the car alarm! There's always that one guy...

A well throw Moltov can BBQ an entire horde. I once got a perfect shot. Every single one was roasted.

Smokers can pull through hedges...

 

[Jonci]

I did Dead Center on Normal with bots. The tank went down fairly easy. Just keep your distance, keep moving. I took some hits, but never got Incapped in the finale.

 

[Arcane Azmadi]

Yeah, L4D2 is brutal. So far I've beaten the first 3 campaigns on normal and on Dead Center it took us 4 tries to beat the finale, on Dark Carnival only 2 of us made it out alive and on Swamp Fever it took us 2 attempts and I was the only survivor. I think it just makes the game a whole lot better- few things have ever been more intense than the climax event on the secon last stage of Dark Carnival where you have to hit the gate switch and wait for the gate to open then rush for the safe room while the zombies swarm you in INCREDIBLE numbers. Although all 4 of us made it through (it was VERY touch-and-go there for a second) ALL FOUR of us were on less than 10 health by the time the saferoom door closed.

With regard to your problem though, I really don't know what your problem is. If the tank is just killing you then just kill the tank- you've done it heaps of times in L4D haven't you? That's nothing compared to the part in the Swamp Fever finale where you get hit with TWO simultaneous tanks!

 

[fix-the-spade]

Basically you need to practice more!


L4D2 is a lot harder than 1, mostly because the extra Special Infected bugger up your well practiced L4D1 tactics so effectively. There aren't really any specific tricks to it, just keep your guard up and practice.

Also, Jockey takes priority, whatever other SI are about, kill the Jockey first!