Pooky
November 22nd, 2010, 06:15 PM
Now that Blackops has been out for a while, I think I can address the pros and cons of the multiplayer mode in more detail. I'm going to avoid using profanity, as it seems that some people are too thick to understand a message when it's littered with curse words. Treyarch have made it clear that they're listening to feedback on their games, which is far more than Infinity Ward seems to be doing. Therefore, I'm writing this out in the hopes that Treyarch's next entry in the series will be improved over this one.
If you disagree with my ideas, or feel you have something to add, by all means do so. If all you have to say is 'l2play bad kid' or 'umad?', please keep your "witty" comments to yourself. I'm not posting this to complain about tactics I die frequently from, or because I think some 'magical patch' is going to come along and make the game exactly how I think it should be. I'm doing this because, as a longtime fan of the Call of Duty series, I'd like to see the gameplay improved and made more fun.
Ill start with what Treyarch did right in this game. They weren't lying when they said they were listening, and a lot of nice improvements were made over the formula of previous games.
-First off, leveling up is now done in a non linear fashion. In addition to XP, players earn a form of virtual currency (referred to as CoD Points) and use that currency to purchase gear for their classes. I approve of this, because it means that if you prestige, you don't have to spend a ridiculous amount of time getting back the gun you want. Usually. The leveling system could have been done better in some ways, and I'll get to that later. The new Contracts system is a great way to level up faster as well as giving some extra incentive to people who have already reached the highest rank. There are now a much larger variety of challenges to be completed which cater to a wider variety of play styles, rewarding you for virtually everything you do (even dying).
-The perk selection is greatly improved over MW2. Gone are the perks like Stopping Power which provide a generic advantage in all situations, in their place are a selection of much more specialized perks that support particular styles of gameplay. Blackops also sees the removal of particularly exploitable perks from MW2, like One Man Army, Commando, and Danger Close.
-Treyarch have, at least in some small measure, taken steps to remove some of the various gameplay exploits which have seen considerable abuse in the CoD series over the years. Drop shot abuse has been somewhat mitigated by the addition of a 'diving to prone' move you can perform while sprinting. In an attempt to foil quick scopers, sniper rifles now have a huge sway when initially zoomed in, and the sleight of hand pro perk no longer speeds up the process. The much loathed Tactical Knife pistol attachment has also been removed, and replaced by something much less annoying.
-The new Theater and Wager Match modes make nice extra features to help people get more out of the game. They don't really add anything to the core gameplay, but they don't take anything away either.
-The weapon selection has improved in some ways over previous games. Particularly annoying weapons like the Thumper have been replaced by less annoying substitutes (china lake). The dreaded grenade launchers have finally recieved a heavy duty nerfing, coupled with the addition (finally) to the series of an explosive dampening perk that actually does what it says it does. There's no repeat of the ridiculously overpowered CoD 4 M16 or WaW MP40. Shotguns are now primary weapons again, which means you can have a class with a Shotgun primary and launcher secondary.
And now onto the bad.
-As said before, the leveling system could still use some improvement. It's non linear after a fashion, but fairly arbitrary on when you're allowed to purchase certain items with your currency. I don't see why I should have to get all the way back to level 44 again just to purchase the Commando, when I don't want the other Assault Rifles anyway. The challenges don't give you CoD points, which seems like a very ill considered decision. Once you reach the highest level, you don't need XP anymore, only CoD points. This makes all the vast amount of challenges in the game completely redundant once you hit level 50, unless you want to prestige and lose all your gear. Also, since you can purchase all the attachments you want as soon as you unlock a given gun, the weapon challenges are fairly pointless as well.
space-To fix this, Call of Duty needs to take a page from Halo's book. Make the XP and currency systems one and the same, so that you gain currency for everything you do. Also, I would re-work the leveling system to make it even more non linear. Instead of unlocking a certain weapon at a certain level, have players unlock the ability to purchase one weapon from a certain class. For example, at level 10 you unlock the ability to purchase one new SMG. It can be any SMG you want, but only one. Then at level 13 you can purchase a new pistol, then a new perk, then a new killstreak, etc. The same should apply to the weapons. By completing a weapon challenge for kills, you can purchase one attachment. Complete one challenge for headshots and you can purchase a new camo. Repeat until all attachments and camo are purchased, then give people a challenge for 100% weapon completion. Not only would this make people work to improve specific weapons, but it would allow them to try out weapons with their natural stats before spending currency on attachments they may not need.
-I'm not a fan of the Pro perk system, as it gives higher level players a significant advantage over lower level ones, particularly given the content of the Pro bonuses this time around.
space-To fix this, just give people the entire content of the perk from the start. Keep the challenges though, and the pro perk titles, as they work well for bragging rights.
-Though the gameplay exploits have been eased slightly, they're far from being removed entirely. Drop shotting can still be accomplished while standing still or walking, and still needs to die a horrible death. More importantly though, the most annoying gameplay exploit in the entire series is still here. What I refer to as 'Forehead shooting' involves positioning yourself behind cover so that only the very top of your head is sticking out, and shooting people. To others, it appears as though bullets are coming out of your forehead. It's cheap, it's annoying, and it's been in the Call of Duty series for as long as I can remember. Blackops is still using the exact same set of third person animations that we've had since at least Call of Duty 4, probably before that. It's time for a change.
space-To fix this, make some new freaking animations already, and quit putting so many pieces of cover in the maps that are the exact height for forehead shooting. Add a small delay after going prone or scoping in before you can take a shot, and get rid of the obnoxious sway when scoping in with a sniper rifle.
-The Create a Class weapon selection, though improved, is still not perfect. Weapons now have virtually no recoil, and no idle sway whatsoever, which makes the whole selection rather homogenous (do I want the no recoil no sway laser beam rifle, or the other no recoil no sway laser beam rifle). Because the weapons are all so similar in damage and recoil, very few of them actually get used. People just pick the weapons with the highest ROF and biggest magazines and go with that. The FAMAS, AK74u, and Galil are absurdly popular at the moment, to the point where it seems like 99% of people in any given match are using one of those three weapons. I understand that Stopping Power was originally going to be in this game, but was removed late into development. While I approve wholeheartedly of the fact that Stopping Power is finally gone, some weapons feel like they've been hung out to dry by this change (M14, PSG1, and Kiparis, among others). Semtex is still in the game, and it's still so overpowered that everybody uses it to the complete exclusion of Frag Grenades.
The new Equipment system is nice, but I don't like how there's no way to replenish Equipment whatsoever. Given how bad the map designs are and consequently how constantly people are going to be coming up behind you if you try to snipe, some way to replenish claymores would be greatly appreciated. The Jammer doesn't seem nearly useful enough, while the motion tracker is way too good.
space-To fix this, add back some distinction between the weapons. Give the guns back their distinct recoil and sway, and give certain weapons a damage boost. Remove the Semtex entirely and find something more interesting to occupy the third grenade slot.
-As stated previously, the map designs are very bad. Extremely bad. While a couple of them are somewhat redeemable (Array, Launch), the majority of the map designs are a clusterfuck of people spawning behind eachother and nobody holding a defensive position for more than 5 seconds. The main problem with the maps is that they all suffer from a seriously heavy handed attempt to prevent any camping whatsoever. The designers of these maps obviously didn't understand that some degree of camping is integral to the gameplay of a Call of Duty game. All of them are designed such that there are at least 3 entrances to every area, usually more, and there are virtually no long lines of sight to be found anywhere. These problems are only further compounded by one of the worst spawning systems I've ever seen in an FPS. Seriously, I swear this thing tries to spawn you right behind enemies.
The result is bad gameplay, plain and simple. People aren't robots with 30 degree vision, and it's ridiculous to expect players to run around the map constantly spinning 360 degrees so no one comes up behind them. The utter lack of sight lines or choke points means that the Sniper Rifles are virtually useless. A whole class of weapons, useless.
space-To fix this, make better maps. There's really no nicer way to put it. Go look at Call of Duty 4's maps, study why those worked so well, and incorporate the same philosophy into your own maps. Call of Duty needs camping like people need air. Without the ability to hold any sort of defensive position, the gameplay is just mindless. Improve the spawning system so people don't appear behind eachother constantly. Also consider adding in some manner of spawn protection, where you can't attack or be attacked for a split second after spawning.
I believe that the CoD series can be a lot better than what it is now, if developers listen to the criticism of their seasoned veterans and implement changes based on that. Black Ops has already made some very good improvements compared to MW2, all that's left is to iron out the remaining flaws till what's left is a perfect multiplayer experience. I don't expect any of this to happen now, or in IW's next Call of Duty game, but hopefully by the time Treyarch's time comes again we'll see significant improvements being made.
Again, if you have any legitimate criticism or suggestions to add, please do so. Just keep the smug and trolling out of this thread.
If you disagree with my ideas, or feel you have something to add, by all means do so. If all you have to say is 'l2play bad kid' or 'umad?', please keep your "witty" comments to yourself. I'm not posting this to complain about tactics I die frequently from, or because I think some 'magical patch' is going to come along and make the game exactly how I think it should be. I'm doing this because, as a longtime fan of the Call of Duty series, I'd like to see the gameplay improved and made more fun.
Ill start with what Treyarch did right in this game. They weren't lying when they said they were listening, and a lot of nice improvements were made over the formula of previous games.
-First off, leveling up is now done in a non linear fashion. In addition to XP, players earn a form of virtual currency (referred to as CoD Points) and use that currency to purchase gear for their classes. I approve of this, because it means that if you prestige, you don't have to spend a ridiculous amount of time getting back the gun you want. Usually. The leveling system could have been done better in some ways, and I'll get to that later. The new Contracts system is a great way to level up faster as well as giving some extra incentive to people who have already reached the highest rank. There are now a much larger variety of challenges to be completed which cater to a wider variety of play styles, rewarding you for virtually everything you do (even dying).
-The perk selection is greatly improved over MW2. Gone are the perks like Stopping Power which provide a generic advantage in all situations, in their place are a selection of much more specialized perks that support particular styles of gameplay. Blackops also sees the removal of particularly exploitable perks from MW2, like One Man Army, Commando, and Danger Close.
-Treyarch have, at least in some small measure, taken steps to remove some of the various gameplay exploits which have seen considerable abuse in the CoD series over the years. Drop shot abuse has been somewhat mitigated by the addition of a 'diving to prone' move you can perform while sprinting. In an attempt to foil quick scopers, sniper rifles now have a huge sway when initially zoomed in, and the sleight of hand pro perk no longer speeds up the process. The much loathed Tactical Knife pistol attachment has also been removed, and replaced by something much less annoying.
-The new Theater and Wager Match modes make nice extra features to help people get more out of the game. They don't really add anything to the core gameplay, but they don't take anything away either.
-The weapon selection has improved in some ways over previous games. Particularly annoying weapons like the Thumper have been replaced by less annoying substitutes (china lake). The dreaded grenade launchers have finally recieved a heavy duty nerfing, coupled with the addition (finally) to the series of an explosive dampening perk that actually does what it says it does. There's no repeat of the ridiculously overpowered CoD 4 M16 or WaW MP40. Shotguns are now primary weapons again, which means you can have a class with a Shotgun primary and launcher secondary.
And now onto the bad.
-As said before, the leveling system could still use some improvement. It's non linear after a fashion, but fairly arbitrary on when you're allowed to purchase certain items with your currency. I don't see why I should have to get all the way back to level 44 again just to purchase the Commando, when I don't want the other Assault Rifles anyway. The challenges don't give you CoD points, which seems like a very ill considered decision. Once you reach the highest level, you don't need XP anymore, only CoD points. This makes all the vast amount of challenges in the game completely redundant once you hit level 50, unless you want to prestige and lose all your gear. Also, since you can purchase all the attachments you want as soon as you unlock a given gun, the weapon challenges are fairly pointless as well.
space-To fix this, Call of Duty needs to take a page from Halo's book. Make the XP and currency systems one and the same, so that you gain currency for everything you do. Also, I would re-work the leveling system to make it even more non linear. Instead of unlocking a certain weapon at a certain level, have players unlock the ability to purchase one weapon from a certain class. For example, at level 10 you unlock the ability to purchase one new SMG. It can be any SMG you want, but only one. Then at level 13 you can purchase a new pistol, then a new perk, then a new killstreak, etc. The same should apply to the weapons. By completing a weapon challenge for kills, you can purchase one attachment. Complete one challenge for headshots and you can purchase a new camo. Repeat until all attachments and camo are purchased, then give people a challenge for 100% weapon completion. Not only would this make people work to improve specific weapons, but it would allow them to try out weapons with their natural stats before spending currency on attachments they may not need.
-I'm not a fan of the Pro perk system, as it gives higher level players a significant advantage over lower level ones, particularly given the content of the Pro bonuses this time around.
space-To fix this, just give people the entire content of the perk from the start. Keep the challenges though, and the pro perk titles, as they work well for bragging rights.
-Though the gameplay exploits have been eased slightly, they're far from being removed entirely. Drop shotting can still be accomplished while standing still or walking, and still needs to die a horrible death. More importantly though, the most annoying gameplay exploit in the entire series is still here. What I refer to as 'Forehead shooting' involves positioning yourself behind cover so that only the very top of your head is sticking out, and shooting people. To others, it appears as though bullets are coming out of your forehead. It's cheap, it's annoying, and it's been in the Call of Duty series for as long as I can remember. Blackops is still using the exact same set of third person animations that we've had since at least Call of Duty 4, probably before that. It's time for a change.
space-To fix this, make some new freaking animations already, and quit putting so many pieces of cover in the maps that are the exact height for forehead shooting. Add a small delay after going prone or scoping in before you can take a shot, and get rid of the obnoxious sway when scoping in with a sniper rifle.
-The Create a Class weapon selection, though improved, is still not perfect. Weapons now have virtually no recoil, and no idle sway whatsoever, which makes the whole selection rather homogenous (do I want the no recoil no sway laser beam rifle, or the other no recoil no sway laser beam rifle). Because the weapons are all so similar in damage and recoil, very few of them actually get used. People just pick the weapons with the highest ROF and biggest magazines and go with that. The FAMAS, AK74u, and Galil are absurdly popular at the moment, to the point where it seems like 99% of people in any given match are using one of those three weapons. I understand that Stopping Power was originally going to be in this game, but was removed late into development. While I approve wholeheartedly of the fact that Stopping Power is finally gone, some weapons feel like they've been hung out to dry by this change (M14, PSG1, and Kiparis, among others). Semtex is still in the game, and it's still so overpowered that everybody uses it to the complete exclusion of Frag Grenades.
The new Equipment system is nice, but I don't like how there's no way to replenish Equipment whatsoever. Given how bad the map designs are and consequently how constantly people are going to be coming up behind you if you try to snipe, some way to replenish claymores would be greatly appreciated. The Jammer doesn't seem nearly useful enough, while the motion tracker is way too good.
space-To fix this, add back some distinction between the weapons. Give the guns back their distinct recoil and sway, and give certain weapons a damage boost. Remove the Semtex entirely and find something more interesting to occupy the third grenade slot.
-As stated previously, the map designs are very bad. Extremely bad. While a couple of them are somewhat redeemable (Array, Launch), the majority of the map designs are a clusterfuck of people spawning behind eachother and nobody holding a defensive position for more than 5 seconds. The main problem with the maps is that they all suffer from a seriously heavy handed attempt to prevent any camping whatsoever. The designers of these maps obviously didn't understand that some degree of camping is integral to the gameplay of a Call of Duty game. All of them are designed such that there are at least 3 entrances to every area, usually more, and there are virtually no long lines of sight to be found anywhere. These problems are only further compounded by one of the worst spawning systems I've ever seen in an FPS. Seriously, I swear this thing tries to spawn you right behind enemies.
The result is bad gameplay, plain and simple. People aren't robots with 30 degree vision, and it's ridiculous to expect players to run around the map constantly spinning 360 degrees so no one comes up behind them. The utter lack of sight lines or choke points means that the Sniper Rifles are virtually useless. A whole class of weapons, useless.
space-To fix this, make better maps. There's really no nicer way to put it. Go look at Call of Duty 4's maps, study why those worked so well, and incorporate the same philosophy into your own maps. Call of Duty needs camping like people need air. Without the ability to hold any sort of defensive position, the gameplay is just mindless. Improve the spawning system so people don't appear behind eachother constantly. Also consider adding in some manner of spawn protection, where you can't attack or be attacked for a split second after spawning.
I believe that the CoD series can be a lot better than what it is now, if developers listen to the criticism of their seasoned veterans and implement changes based on that. Black Ops has already made some very good improvements compared to MW2, all that's left is to iron out the remaining flaws till what's left is a perfect multiplayer experience. I don't expect any of this to happen now, or in IW's next Call of Duty game, but hopefully by the time Treyarch's time comes again we'll see significant improvements being made.
Again, if you have any legitimate criticism or suggestions to add, please do so. Just keep the smug and trolling out of this thread.