Seems like they tend to happen on either major holidays (at least with Infinity Ward) or when new map packs are released. I assumed it was an added incentive to put some clock in and play through the game for a bit. During the last double XP weekend I prestiged right before and then made it into the 30s before the weekend was up. Playing with guns that you normally don't play with definitely helps rank up faster in this case. I am still in the middle of wavering between MW2 and BO. Yesterday I started off on MW2 and eventually bailed when I got fed up with getting dropped after being shot once. Then I threw in BO and three out of the first four games had host migration issues and bombed out halfway during the match. It's like I can't win either way.
Here's a little Sandy Ravage MW2 action for all the fellow nut swingers. In 33 minutes he gets back-to-back-to-back-to-back nukes. <a class="postlink" href="http://www.justin.tv/sandyravage/b/280741169" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.justin.tv/sandyravage/b/280741169</a>
After spending almost two hours trying to download First Strike, I finally got it downloaded and installed. After one virtually unplayable game of Search, with ridiculous lag and almost zero hit detection, I quit. I'll try again in a few hours when everything is hopefully better. Maybe if I downloaded it at 4 a.m. when it was released (for some reason), it would have been better.
Just checked and people all over are having the same problem. Apparently it's a PSN issue with their store being overwhelmed: <a class="postlink" href="http://community.eu.playstation.com/t5/PlayStation-Network/PlayStation-Store-Unavailable-80710D23-3-3-2011/m-p/12522325?WT.mc_id=TSO_EN100" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://community.eu.playstation.com/t5/ ... =TSO_EN100</a> How much is the map pack? Initial reports on the official COD forum state that the map pack isn't worth it. Edit: Looks like the map pack is $15 (US). People that have managed to download it are claiming 2-3 hour download times. Jesus.
Black Ops price on release: $65 First Strike price on release (for Xbox): $15 So, I'm supposed to pay nearly 1/4 of the game's initial price, for what? 4 maps? Fuck that noise.
I heard the same argument when IW released the MW2 map packs, but I had no problem buying them. I enjoyed the maps on MW2 and still prefer them to anything on BO, so $15 was well worth it to me. With BO however, fuck it. Treyarch also apparently also took out some playlists like hardcore TDM, and more importantly to me, Merc TDM. Fuck. That. If there is one lesson I have learned over the winter, it is that I will never, EVER buy another Treyarch game.
Maybe I'm just cheap, but I feel like for what little you're getting relative to the original game, anything over $10 USD for a map pack is far too much. And even $10 is pushing it. I can't speak to the MW2 map packs, since I never bought them. But that's a different discussion anyway, since the graphics and map design in MW2 is much better than those of Black Ops, so their map packs might actually have been worth it. With Black Ops, most of the maps already feel the same, so what are a few more supposed to cure? See, I love that they scrapped Merc TDM in favor of Merc Moshpit, but that's because I fucking hate TDM. Now I can get into objective games that I love like Search and Domination without worrying about some full party pushing my shit in. That's a personal preference, though; obviously some people (like yourself) won't be as enthusiastic about the change. I don't know what to suggest, other than to vote TDM in the pre-game lobby and bail if you don't get it. I was, and still am, very fond of this tactic when voting for maps other than Nuketown. Ideally, they should have two separate categories (Mercenary & Regular) with playlists under each category, such as TDM, Dom, S&D, etc. That way, people could simply choose their game of choice based on whether they're in a party or playing alone. The main concern with revamping the playlists that way would be, as David Vonderhaar said during the Respawn interview with Hutch, is the problem of fragmenting the community too much. As it was before the patch, Black Ops had (and still probably has) more playlists than any other COD to date. More playlists = fewer people playing in each one. That trickles down to problems with getting into a decent lobby, particularly a decent lobby in a reasonable amount of time. All day yesterday, I would search for a new lobby, and get put into one in the awesome time of 3-4 seconds. Pre-game lobbies, at that. The few times I got put into a match already in progress, it was usually early on and far from being decided one way or another. As for the removal of Hardcore, I'm not sure. From what I understand, it was pretty unpopular relative to the other playlists, so I'd wager that scrapping it was meant to address the above problem of community fragmentation.
I wouldn't call your approach cheap. If it was four maps of varied terrain and elevation that encouraged engaging your enemy, $10 or $15 would be well worth it. In this case though it seems that the maps, for the most part, are questionably worse than the originals and encourage camping due to their layout. I have only played the new maps a few times (on my buddy's XBOX, since I'm a PS3 guy) but I immediately noticed how bad people were camping. The $15 that Treyarch is asking will be better spent on $3 Bells Two Hearteds at the bar tonight. It seems like we like pretty much polar opposite styles of game play, which is fine. To each their own. Personally, I only play (M)TDM and shy away from objective based games. So for Treyarch to take away the Merc TDM option really kills me. Forcing Merc players to play objective based games like Dom will be pointless, because nobody communicates or plays the objective on the PSN. It will just be a glorified TDM game with the added "Fuck you" courtesy of spawn trapping on Dom. Your suggestion of selecting Merc Moshpit and then voting for TDM sounds good, but that seems like a lot of work and time wasted in the long run when having the option right at the main Core menu was so much easier. Being able to select Merc or Regular right from the beginning would be great, but it will never happen unfortunately.
Eh, even in the Core objective game types, you tend to see that. With big parties that don't have the singular goal of winning (i.e. random hotshots with high K/D ratios), they tend to use the objectives to spawn trap and rack up massive kills. How is this different from the exceptions above? These players will knowingly drag games on longer just to see their numbers tick upward. As much as I like winning, I hate dragging shit on so people all have a turn calling in Chopper Gunner killstreaks. Of course, as long as games continue to reward players (regardless of how intangible the reward) for racking up obscene numbers of kills, there will always be people like that. So I hear you, magz, on the subject of "glorified TDM". Concerning the new maps, they're okay. The new maps are ok and certainly spice up gameplay if you've been rocking Black Ops for days on end. Otherwise, you're better off just saving your money for other things. My, what a sturdy soapbox I've been using.
In theory, it's a great idea because a lot of people love to play the objective, but can't always get into a party. But there will always be a few people like that who don't necessarily "play the objective," which is questionable because the argument can be made that going on killing sprees makes it easier for your teammates to play the objective, but that veers the discussion into Uber Tryhard Territory. I highly doubt the games would drag on much longer; solo players can influence the game's outcome only so much. In other news, you should subscribe to Trout. Why, you ask? Because Trout is good:
Trout talks about why he dislikes Black Ops, primarily because of the litany of connection/lag issues that have become a staple of the game. His thoughts are well-spoken and his criticisms are quite fair of the game. It really does bring me down, because I thoroughly enjoy the game when it's in working order and I'm not staring at a Host Migration screen. I'm trading in a few games this weekend, and I might pick up MW2 if I can find a cheap, used copy. If the games are still playable in private matches, it'd be cool to get one of those going. It's the only way I could tolerate the game before, and I'd like to remember what a good FPS looks and sounds like. Regarding Medal of Honor, as I've never played, what were the main things that drew the mediocre reviews? Most people I've heard from regarding the game said it felt "stale," or had "boring map design." The relevant part is from roughly 2:42-8:20.
I'll agree with those that think the map pack is a rip-off. Stadium is ok but I'd choose any old map otherwise.
Chater and I were talking about this. If we can organize some private matches it would be fantastic. Minimal lag, 0 hacking, a constant challenge against good players, etc. What's not to like?
Seriously, if we could build a regular thing out of this, I'd get MW2 back in a moment's notice. Most of my gripes against it were for game-ruining perks/weapons that people have the choices to use or not to use. The graphics and audio are my favorites of the series. In a private match, ideally, everyone should be able to trust one another not to OMA/DC noob tubes onto the Sub Base B flag ad infinitum, use Commando Pro for its bullshit knife, or any other such fuckery. I remember some QS lobbies I'd get into in MW2. Everyone would run around with their Interventions, trying to get their Leeroy Jenkins on. First the 1080-degree spin off the Highrise sign, then the Hail Mary throwing knife across the map, followed by a no-scope, wallbang, QUINTUPLET HEADSHOT COLLATERAL YAAAAA!!! Then they'd go try that shit in a public match, and most of them would get stomped silly. Everyone wanted to be like Kobe or LeBron; that's what killed the fucking sniper rifles. [/rant]
Regarding MW2, are the S&D lobbies hacked and unplayable as well? I'm unaware if it's just certain playlists that are affected, or all of them? Because if Search is still good to go, I'd get on public lobbies just for that. God, if only IW could have implemented some type of Mercenary objective list. Mercenary S&D on MW2 would totally do it for me.
I haven't played MW2 for a while (since BO's came out), but why doesn't Infinity Ward do something about this? Is it really almost unplayable because of hackers? I don't have my copy or I'd check it out myself.
My understanding is that IW had a falling out with Activision over payment for services rendered for MW2, hence the total lack of updates. Also, I haven't seen too many hackers on the 360 version. The PS3 version got fucked in half after hackers managed to raid its key vault (basically, it'd be like thieves finding the skeleton key to your house.) For Sony to change it, they'd invalidate all of the games they've sold up to the point they've changed the key. At least, that's my understanding of the situation.
I would be down with a private match in MW2. As stated above, it would be nice to have a lobby where everyone isn't noob tubing or running around with commando. And yes, the PS3 version is hacked to hell, although that happened before the PS3's key was cracked. It's just a matter of overwriting the data file on your PS3 with a modded one, which is pretty trivial from what I've seen. Infinity Ward, which is still owned by Activision, just doesn't give a shit since the game has been been out for so long and they have already collected their money. Another factor might be that IW's employee base defected so few of the OG developers are still around. After Activision fired IW's CTO and CEO last year, 46 people quit and 38 of them signed on with Vince Zampella and Jason West's new company, Respawn Entertainmnet. There is a lawsuit in the works and Zampella and West are fighting for rights to the Modern Warfare name (among other things), so things might get interesting this year. There is a pretty interesting Wiki page on Infinity Ward. Lots of drama: <a class="postlink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinity_Ward" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinity_Ward</a> Edit: didn't see that Mr. Soup had already mentioned the lawsuit.
Somehow despite giving up on making legitimate black ops montages my channel has over 600 views. Cool. With this new sniper patch I decided to finally throw my clips together. Nothing flashy but it did take hours to compile this shit so fuck it.
Well, the rest of us might as well quit now. "He's low on ammo. What's he do? Lookin' around for more. You know what? He's gonna run up -- guess what? KNIFE YO' ASSSSSS!" "FAMAMAS!" El Prez is wonderfully insane.