Left 4 Dead 2 Catch All

complexmath wrote:

This was the first time I've played L4D versus in... I dunno, years I guess. Super fun, and the snarespeak is great as always. I had to bail at the end of the game when a kid woke up, but we were a shoe-in for victory anyway, right? ;-)

Curious, could you explain what the allure is of snarespeak? I (used to) play L4D at the competitive, ladder-and-tournament level so have a great group of expert friends to play with. Why would I want to chat with the other team instead of the detailed team coordination inherent in high-level play? I guess I'm just not the audience for such a thing.

Keithustus wrote:

Why would I want to chat with the other team instead of the detailed team coordination inherent in high-level play?

To see your enemies driven before you and hear the lamentations of the women.

Keithustus wrote:

Why would I want to chat with the other team instead of the detailed team coordination inherent in high-level play?

Because it's fun

Keithustus wrote:

Why would I want to chat with the other team instead of the detailed team coordination inherent in high-level play?

I tend to sing Endless Love to those I jockey.

Tamren wrote:

To see your enemies driven before you

The server shutting down after they all ragequit after a map or two suffices for me.

Tamren wrote:

and hear the lamentations of the women.

I've got a lot of great women L4D friends. If anything, I'm most glad to be in a postgame lobby with teams of 18-year-old boys who claimed to have been leet but were proven otherwise.

In the GWJ games, we aren't playing to win as much as we are playing to have fun. If one team is getting hammered (which happened at the beginning of the last game) we usually swap some players (usually Burnt_Toast). We usually play to the finale every time.

Snarespeak is just one way to have more fun playing. When you boom 4 players, you get to taunt them as they are being swarmed by zombies. Or when you are jockying someone, you can say sweet nothings into their ear as you take them away from their friends.

kazar wrote:

In the GWJ games, we aren't playing to win as much as we are playing to have fun. If one team is getting hammered (which happened at the beginning of the last game) we usually swap some players (usually Burnt_Toast). We usually play to the finale every time.

Snarespeak is just one way to have more fun playing. When you boom 4 players, you get to taunt them as they are being swarmed by zombies. Or when you are jockying someone, you can say sweet nothings into their ear as you take them away from their friends.

Every time I've been in a GWJ game that gets too competitive the mood and has soured and feelings have been hurt. The group here is just too diverse to expect a highly skilled, competitive game from everyone most of the time. This thread bears many scars of the arguments and bad blood that has been created by folks getting too hardcore and out of sync with the light mood most folks try to maintain. This is all the more important with most folks playing once a month or so... given that even in the heyday I played most games completely sh*tfaced I certainly can't be expected to perform at some high level of skill.

Yeah, the snarespeak is actually a competitive disadvantage--it just makes for more camaraderie between teams. That isn't to say that the GWJ crowd isn't good at the game though, or that there aren't occasional wipes in the beginning saferoom. Just that what follows is usually a trade or two to balance teams rather than a continuing shut-out. I don't know about anyone else, but I have more fun if I actually get to play the game than by wiping the opposing team 15 seconds into each round.

It's saturday! I have to feed the neighbor's cats tonight at around 8 but other than that I have the day free. Lets do some coop! Or versus, whichever we have enough people for. Send me an invite anytime.

Now since I'm fairly sure some of you aren't on my friends list so I'm sitting on the vent server in the singleplayer channel. Just come say hi and we can go from there.

Keithustus wrote:

Curious, could you explain what the allure is of snarespeak? I (used to) play L4D at the competitive, ladder-and-tournament level so have a great group of expert friends to play with. Why would I want to chat with the other team instead of the detailed team coordination inherent in high-level play? I guess I'm just not the audience for such a thing.

Because we're not ladder-and-tournament level experts and it's fun talking sh*t to your friends when you're attacking them.

Gumbie wrote:
Keithustus wrote:

Curious, could you explain what the allure is of snarespeak? I (used to) play L4D at the competitive, ladder-and-tournament level so have a great group of expert friends to play with. Why would I want to chat with the other team instead of the detailed team coordination inherent in high-level play? I guess I'm just not the audience for such a thing.

Because we're not ladder-and-tournament level experts and it's fun talking sh*t to your friends when you're attacking them.

Yep. By the time snarespeak kicks on, the special infected have already planned and launched their attack. Once the hilarity ensues, it's fun to talk smack/sing/whisper sweet little nothings to the other team (YMMV). I like that mod a lot, I'm glad Switch's server has it.

Can someone please remind me how to select Switchbreak's server? I can join it directly but that just dumps me into the game (always Dead Center). I can select "steam group server" when making a lobby but for some reason my group server list is jam packed with like 20 random russian servers. I think those are from one of the steam official groups like the holiday sale or AI wars, but I'm not sure.

If I go into the server and vote to go back to the lobby. Will it pick the same server when I start the game again?

(also we need a 4th player for coop)

EDIT: Switchbreak if you see this can you reset the server? It's been acting up.

Thanks for the games last night! Had a lot of fun. We went through No Mercy, Crash Course and Death Toll. The first one wasn't so bad, the second gave us a beating and the last one came down to the wire! I got charged by the dock bleeding out with 5 health left and saved at the very last second. I forget by who, but they gave me adrenaline afterwards, I don't think I would have made it to the boat otherwise.

Good times! Hopefully we can meet up again and go through the rest of the campaigns in order.

Sorry I missed it. My sister came into town unexpectedly and I hung out with her. I got her to watch Aliens for the first time. That was fun. Anywho, again, hit me up for some coop action if anyone needs another.

What is the difficulty level of your games in coop?

I saw an announcement for a hard game and told myself not to touch even with a stick... :S

I never did a hard run before, only tried and died...

Manach wrote:

What is the difficulty level of your games in coop?

We played on advanced. Easy is a cakewalk, relatively speaking. Normal is rather easy if you have 4 human players. Advanced is where the real challenge is, all of the infected do more damage and that makes up for the fact that they don't coordinate as well as human players do.

Expert is really really hard. Getting even a single person to the safe room is a major feat.

Another major factor in Expert is that friendly fire is _highly_ damaging. You can pick up some very dangerous habits in Vs..

As is my way - I am sorry to the people I have accidentally shot in Expert. I haven't played it in a long time, but I still carry the guilt.

Tamren wrote:

Thanks for the games last night! Had a lot of fun. We went through No Mercy, Crash Course and Death Toll. The first one wasn't so bad, the second gave us a beating and the last one came down to the wire! I got charged by the dock bleeding out with 5 health left and saved at the very last second. I forget by who, but they gave me adrenaline afterwards, I don't think I would have made it to the boat otherwise.

Good times! Hopefully we can meet up again and go through the rest of the campaigns in order.

That was fun. I'm in for more Advanced co-op any time. I wouldn't mind knocking off the rest of the campaigns in order... at this point there's a bit of nostalgia involved

Grenn wrote:

Sorry I missed it. My sister came into town unexpectedly and I hung out with her. I got her to watch Aliens for the first time. That was fun. Anywho, again, hit me up for some coop action if anyone needs another.

I still wouldn't mind getting some action on Expert.
If we can find some like-minded folks we should probably plan some game times in advance, so enough time and energy is properly set aside to make a legitimate go of it.

I'm up to play through the rest of the campaigns in order. Say at least two per Saturday until we play through all of them? Sunday's are family board game night so I can't guarantee I'll have much time to play then, but even then I should have time during the day for at least one game. Unfortunately I work nights so I'll really only be able to play on weekends.

Burnt Toast wrote:

Another major factor in Expert is that friendly fire is _highly_ damaging. You can pick up some very dangerous habits in Vs..

As is my way - I am sorry to the people I have accidentally shot in Expert. I haven't played it in a long time, but I still carry the guilt.

Yep, friendly fire can be a problem, all the bad habits you leaned on in VS can be a problem. Such as not taking the commons seriously, and expecting a shove and snapshot to deal with them.

LtWarhound wrote:
Burnt Toast wrote:

Another major factor in Expert is that friendly fire is _highly_ damaging. You can pick up some very dangerous habits in Vs..

As is my way - I am sorry to the people I have accidentally shot in Expert. I haven't played it in a long time, but I still carry the guilt.

Yep, friendly fire can be a problem, all the bad habits you leaned on in VS can be a problem. Such as not taking the commons seriously, and expecting a shove and snapshot to deal with them.

I believe a single Tier-2 Shotgun or Sniper Rifle headshot is enough to incapacitate/kill a survivor on Expert.

Tamren wrote:

EDIT: Switchbreak if you see this can you reset the server? It's been acting up.

Sorry, I didn't see that until just now. I do have the server set to reset and check for updates every day at 7 AM (the least likely time for people to be on, I think), so hopefully it is back up to full strength for you now.

For the question of how to get it, if your steam group server list is unusable you can get to it at the IP: 68.232.184.61:27015.

To do this set the lobby to "Best available server" and then bring up the console and enter in mm_dedicated_force_servers 68.232.184.61:27015, then launch.

Anyone up for some coop on friday night? So far I've completed the first 3 maps, next up is Dead Air. I may have saturday free but I might have a family dinner I'm currently forgetting. Will need to double check. (it may be on sunday instead)

Tamren wrote:

Anyone up for some coop on friday night? So far I've completed the first 3 maps, next up is Dead Air. I may have saturday free but I might have a family dinner I'm currently forgetting. Will need to double check. (it may be on sunday instead)

Unfortunately I work nights so I can't promise I'll be there, but usually I'm home by about 10:PM (As I post this its about midnight.) and I'm up until about 3:AM, so if your ok with starting late I can be there. And if not I could always play through Dead Air solo to catch up with you guys.

Tamren wrote:

Anyone up for some coop on friday night? So far I've completed the first 3 maps, next up is Dead Air. I may have saturday free but I might have a family dinner I'm currently forgetting. Will need to double check. (it may be on sunday instead)

If I'm online I'll play.

Tamren wrote:

Anyone up for some coop on friday night? So far I've completed the first 3 maps, next up is Dead Air. I may have saturday free but I might have a family dinner I'm currently forgetting. Will need to double check. (it may be on sunday instead)

I will be there.

Great games last night.

We were getting our asses stomped in Expert Dead Center. That finale is tough! It's also much different from how I remember it, the gas cans are in different spots and none of them are on the third floor anymore. Was it always that way or was it a versus thing? It took us 14 tries but we finally made it with all 4 survivors. With every attempt we got better and better like a well oiled machine until the final round where we aced it. At one point someone got stomped by the tank by the elevator and I popped adrenaline and ran all the way up to the third floor to grab the defibrilator while everyone else dealt with the tank.

Couple I learned/relearned:

- All of the zombies do INSANE damage on Expert. If you play versus most of the time it's a real shock. Commons do 20 damage per hit! Specials do even more.
- Zombies are tough too! If the wiki is correct 3 bullets from any weapon should be enough to down a common on Expert but in practice 5 bullets to the chest from a rifle or SMG may not take them down. And zombies can still attack you with no guts an no arms! Aim for the legs or the head.
- Friendly fire damage is pretty nuts, I think one pistol shot does 9 damage or so.
- A magnum is worth it's weight in gold! Melee weapons and dual pistols work well, but magnums are just better. When you go down the guy picking you up is relying on you to keep the commons off him. Single pistols are garbage for this, terrible accuracy and you need better than 3 hits to take out a single common.
- Sniper rifles and magnums are good because they can reliably take down commons with a single hit.
- The M16 is an upgrade for SMGs but probably the worst tier 2 weapon because of it's low damage. I had one with a laser sight for the finale and it just didn't work well for me.

Cans, like some other things, are completely randomized.