Blog Post 12/2/11

I prestige this Thursday 12/1 and my KDR is .8.

That is a prestige in 3.5 weeks, which for me is fast. BO was 5+ weeks most times. People talked about the grind that was MW2 and previous titles, but honestly I could not hope for better. This includes a nearly one week break for Thanksgiving and two days this week either being sick myself, cleaning up after a sick child (you should see the splatter puke makes when it comes from the top bunk to the hardwood floor) and a sick wife. I may have made up for the time lost when I played on a day I was sick for 4 hours straight, but honestly at the end of a run that long I am so brain fried that I was lucky to go 6-11 since I was seeing sideways and the red dot looked like the Treyarch Symbol.


What I learned while sitting behind the barrels at B.
I feel like I can now talk about MW3 in some informed way as I have suffered through one prestige.

When I put the disk in I was good for about 2 days, just like when a new map came out for BO. When I say good I really mean I am mostly even. Since I am not that great I do a lot of corner checking and the like. This is helpful when the maps are new since I feel I then take advantage of people who are running as fast as they can looking for people. After about 2 days I sucked bad. I was posting numbers like the ones I posted pre clan in the BO days. I think this was due to people actually learning the maps and hiding in corners.

In about the last week I feel like I am getting the hang of things in the new MW3 environment. In BO there were times when you could compensate for the lag sine you knew the maps so well. You could anticipate when and where people were going to be even in the absence of a drone and have reticles ready so you could at least hope to get off the shot at the same time OpFor did for a 50/50 chance at success.

In MW3 there is no such map knowledge at this time. I am a slave to the UAV. SOOO there is no anticipation and there is no internal human compensation for a cruddy ping. Thus, IMHO, any lag issues are magnified a great deal. Factor into this 60% of the players on the console are better than I am and I am going to get smoked like a $2 joint.

I am bummed that Dom has not panned out to being a clan game any more, it being replaced by KC. I liked Dom on BO a lot. It gives players like me a chance to be good at something before I was good at killing things. Honestly the score board telling everyone that I had the most caps or a good mix of caps and defends was what kept me in frustrating matches when I was negative KDR. The boards in MW3 only tell a small part of the story IMHO in most matches and take away a bragging right I enjoyed in BO games. In BO it wasn’t until September when I was posting bigger numbers and Caps and Defends. That is a long time to keep at playing that mode without the feedback that keeps your killing spirits up.

That being said, I still have hope for Dom. I think the issues is that the spawns can still be controlled, but you have to be so much more careful about it. Way more. I think that if you can see some ones spawn flag you have made a huge mistake and the spawns flip then people spawn behind you. I think we can be good at this mode again. It will just take some time, like it did in BO. How long did it take before we started really locking down matches? I remember there was a time when we struggled to win and I was running all over hell capping anything I could run to. Matches were always close and exciting. Sometimes we won and didn’t even know how we won. It was not until we understood how to control the spawns AND cover the incoming and flank routes before we got good.

Take Jungle for example. I camp the barrels at B. That is what I do. I learned that when camping B and there was a 10 second lapse in someone killing me or me killing someone else meant that bad guys were going the long way around to C to get behind us. I did not need radar to do this. I could sit at the barrels and look off into the distance and see guys running and I knew exactly where they were going to pop up near C. You make the call out and 2 guys would cover the back door and spawn flip crisis averted.

I am not that good, but I was capable of doing this assessment in a match. How was I able to accomplish this? Time in game. This is the only way to get good IMHO. I watched a lot of vids. I asked a lot of questions. Even with this it still took 600 deaths at the barrels at B to figure out that camping the barrels at B is pointless unless Nixon is watching the hut over B.

With this in mind I wonder how many times I will have to die behind the Van at B on Resistance to figure out when people are coming up the back stairs near A just by seeing how many people I have to shoot at.

If you have read this far than I hope you get the point. MW3 is hard for me sometimes because I have not died on the barrels at B enough times yet to know what the hell I am doing.

I will say that I feel like I am doing better in general. Many lessons learned in BO carry over to MW3. So I think I am learning faster in MW3.

I feel better about MW3 than I did a month ago. I am starting to get into the groove and learn my maps and find my guns and get my head shots and earn my XP. There is still a lot of times to die at B still, but I think I am dying more productively than I was in BO since I at least know what to learn from dying.



Bigger and Bigger and Bigger
The site has had an influx of new members. With the new game there are a whole batch of new players looking for people to play with so they are not stuck in random pubs like we were in BO. With the new Elite stuff and the clan tags and everything else we are more visible now than ever. I claim the new member thelastbeer as my recruit since he PM’ed me about the group after playing with me in a lobby on Wednesday. Welcome and I hope you like it here beer. I am sure it had something to do with my hacker Style Gold Tags.

I admit I feel a little overwhelmed by the influx of new players in the group. I used to pride myself on welcoming the new people and adding them to my list and inviting them to matches. I know when I started I was interested in getting invites, so I figured I would make new people feel welcome as well. With all the new players this is no longer a realistic option. I can’t add everyone to my list and I feel bad about this. I keep looking for people to delete, but the more I look I am not finding anyone to get rid of. In fact I think I deleted/added Death threat HC like 4 times and he keeps re-adding me. I think I keep thinking he is someone else… My thought is the desire to want to play with a group like ours is the same even if the join dates are different so I try to make room. I give people a shot, send out some invites and if they jump in I try to keep them. If they don’t reply or don’t ever show up I delete them. Darwin essentially runs the show on my list, which is essentially how the group has run since the beginning. If you show then you are in. If not then have a nice life and good luck. This approach has served me well since I think it has allowed me to hang on to the people I have always played with and makes room for new people who I don’t want to miss out on.

As someone who has been here for a long time I want to say welcome and I hope you like it here. As one of the many new people bear with us while we figure out what it looks like to be a 30 now since everyone can no longer know everyone. If you are deleted from my list don’t take it personal, it just means I have not seen you in a while. If you show up I will find room for you.

New people- go forth and add everyone you can to your lists. When I started playing I had 20 people on my list for months. 6 person parties were rare. Midgymarsh and I played like noobs for weeks it seems before anyone else came to play with us. He and I are still buddies despite his trip to the dark side and I will always answer his invite since he is one of my oldest friends on here. What I am saying is add the other new people and be that first friend out there. Send out invites to everyone you know if your list is small. This is how it was in the beginning for the old timers as well. Soon you too will suffer the feelings of guilt I know I have for not being able to include everyone you would like to.


On a final note: Gameplay
MK14 is my favorite gun. Rapid fire, Red dot, Stalker and the other perks of your choice. I run 2 support KS: UAV and CUAV. I am popping them almost as often as I reload. Keeps us with radar and denies them the same. I used to run the specialist KS chain with hardline for the XP, but I found that if I could not see people on the radar I was dying a lot anyway. The team seems to play much better when these killstreaks are in use. When I am feeling especially randy I run the Strike KS with UAV, Pred, ACH overwatch. That helicopter is good at killing things. Only when connection is good and I am against noobs. Earned it 2 times on Wed. New record for me because I am a noob.

Winicott, I so appreciate your blog posts. It is funny how much your experience w/ COD and the clan mirror my own. Your contributions to the match on B flag and to the forums with your words are immeasurable regardless of KDR. There is not one part of your post that I can find fault with. Kudos on stressing the importance of reaching out for friends and how those lists change and evolve. I hope your family is feeling better. Funny how a virus can plague a household for longer periods of time as one person after the other comes down with it and you hold on to the hopes that maybe this time it'll skip over you. I ramble. Great entry as always!

You ramble? I think the post is 750 words or more...

Glad you liked the post and can identify with my experiences in game and out. I was not able to get to my thoughts on the complaints about lag... maybe another time

I have been cleaning up some form of bodily fluid or another from some member of the house for most of the week. The only creature in the house who I have not had this with are the dogs. I am sure they are waiting for me to lower my guard...



I wanted to reflect on how difficult it is to balance keeping old friends and finding ways to get new ones. I was here from when before we had a site and met up in game from a post on the BO fansite (now the MW3 Forums). Now here we are. 480 plus and getting bigger as we sport hacker tags and are on Elite. How do we manage that change? What being a 30 look like now? These are all things I wonder about. I know that as a group in the past we have dealt with these issues as a group and everything has worked out fine. I am sure this next transition will be weathered as well.

I was wondering when this would pop up. Thanks for putting the game and status of >30< into perspective.

Oh man, GOLD BOND all the way. Have you ever tried that stuff??? Magic.

audiopile wrote:

I was wondering when this would pop up. Thanks for putting the game and status of >30< into perspective.

Your welcome. When the fuck do you play? Clearly I need to stay up later to run with you WC boys.

There are some big changes going on around here. I am not sure how it is going to turn out honestly. I hear some messages that are a little bit worrisome, but I think through some discussion and the establishment of some boundaries we should weather this thing OK.

This is how I see it. At first the group managed itself. We had 200 people, but 70% came and went. 15% played when we didn't. 15% were on when we were on. No on had to decide who to keep and who not to keep. Now 15% is 100 people. What to do? I had UK guys who I love, but have to decide if I am going to keep them on or not. I have OG who I never see. What do I do with them? I have connections problems that are so bad that the game is almost unplayable. The party system does not make it easier to connect with others.

How do we manage this and still maintain what we love about our group?

As one of the new faces this is the 1st blog I have gotten to read, this is amazing to, in previous clans I have been a part of the forums would be filled with pissing contest and unfunny iternet videos. It is nice be able to read some thing intellgent as I kill some time at work. Thanks for taking the time to put it togeter. Also if u find your self on in w.c hours and have an spot for me on your list im always happy to die to with a fellow clan mate on b.

Sith

Good blog wini as usual. Long but very informative. Things have changed a little since the old days but not so much at the same time. We are all still the same poeple with the same ideas that we had a year ago. It would be tons better if we had a good party system that would allow me to join you're room whenever I wanted instead of having to send you an invite so that you can send me an invite and/or a message just to figure out that one of our parties or both were full. It will get better and I for one am not going anywhere anytime soon, and hope that everyone else realizes that this is where they should be also. Shorty and the crew haven't gone anywhere either they are still just a internet link away.

Good read Wini, thanks for the post.

I know not everyone uses the forum but how about we start logging into the chatbox when we are online and looking to party up. I played alot of mag and they had a seperate lobby for your clan showing all that were online even though they may not have been on your friends list. I hate to think there are people in the clan that are playing alone because no one on their friendslist is online at the same time. I have not used the chatbox so I am not sure if this is possible, but if it may be a good direction to go for now.

Nice blog as usual wini. I'm finding the move to this game a lot smoother than others are...I feel like I'm probably better here than at black ops. Clearing your corners is huge on these maps as there are a lot of corners that lead to long corridors...think the streets of resistance, or around the buildings of bakarra and mission...if you're creeping the corners you catch a lot of people sprinting...you definitely don't want to be the one running around the corners. I've slowed my game down a bit over the last week with solid results.

Game feel is starting to develop for me now...and it will come. I'm almost half way through 2nd prestige with a little over 2 days in game time. I'm just now starting to get to the point where I can glance at the mini map, see my guys mostly in one corner, and switch directions to the point where I'm pretty sure the bad guys are spawning.

As for the new guys and friends lists...I usually play about the same times most days and with the same guys...funny thing, I've played a bunch with nixon...and the other day we were in a lobby and he sent me a friend request...I just assumed he was on my list. I have room to accept most of the new requests I get as long as they claim 30...and when I run into the same group of new guys repeatedly they eventually end up on my list. If I add a person and don't see them I delete them...I don't think it bothers them cuz they never notice as we never run into each other anyhow...

Oh...and there is only one bond...always has been always will be...the OB Sir Sean Connery

Safety first, Wini. lol

By the way, I'm curious to know who else thought Roger Moore was the best Bond? Love me some Octopussy!

That would be me Walldog. Respect to the other actors, but he is the one that I will remember in the role from when I was a kid. Not an ideal role model by todays standards, but hell I wanted to be the 6 million dollar man as well...

chef wrote:

That would be me Walldog. Respect to the other actors, but he is the one that I will remember in the role from when I was a kid. Not an ideal role model by todays standards, but hell I wanted to be the 6 million dollar man as well...

Sweet! He is the Bond I grew up with too, so in my mind, he's always been the "best". And seriously, I think Octopussy was my favorite. I mean, a traveling harem gymnast assassin group? What more could you ask for?!

walldogkl wrote:

Safety first, Wini. lol

It is not just good advice, it is possibly a life philosophy.

Winicott1001 wrote:

walldogkl wrote:

Safety first, Wini. lol

It is not just good advice, it is possibly a life philosophy.

I miss playing with Wini.

Good read as usual Wini.

And I'll take the new guy please. I love Craig's Bond as he was meant to be from the Fleming books.

Very nice Wini! All thought provoking material.

And Moore for me too. I haven't seen many of the other Bonds, so he is it.

As I've said before I love to read your Blogs, you should think about writing a book. About the new influx of members I personally think we should designate a mentor per region to bring the new guys from thier region into lobbies to meet everyone so everyone isnt so overwhelmed.

Thanks Vegas. N8 says there is no money in it... and he has interesting things to write about.

I think that is a good idea since it gives new people a person they then 'know' so they can meet people. The problem is the mentor then has to be around when the new person is around. We dont even do set practice times and getting a set meeting time to play 4GC is a struggle. I like that you want to make people see welcome and are willing to reach out to do it.

Good read. I voted for the original. Sean Connery all the way baby! Writing is fun, but does pay very little. Manic can chime in on that one. I tried to really take in new guys back in BO, but now my time to play is even less than before with work so I play with whoever I can when I get the chance to hop on for an hour or so. If its new clannies great, if it is my favorite old crust farts great.

Good post Wini. I voted Roger Moore, but he was a bit of a pussy when compared to Daniel Craig. (I have never read the books).

It has taken me about 20 hours of gameplay to finally feel somewhat comfortable with the maps. I think we could all do better on the callouts. Crap, sometimes I hear nothing but my own babble the entire match.

I really like KC, but some of you bastards kill so fast I don't have any time to call in my care packages!

I probably have only played a dozen games of Dom to be honest. Having too much fun with the SMGs that I never used in blops.

Yes as usual very good reading. I am also starting to finaly feel somewhat comfortable with the maps.

@FBD if I am on I am always up for KC if you need more people. Love running around with my PP out I mean my PP90.

FBD- KC I can hold my own. Mostly evenish most of the time. Dom? Savvy & Nixon figured it out apparently. I am still prone to going 8-19 and gettign killed by the same sniper 12 times. I too have found a love for the SMgs that I hated/not competant enough to use in BO.

Agreed 20 hours of gameplay was about where I was not clueless.

You also poseted on another thread about the Clan list. Wondering if there is a way to see status of players on that list. I too would empty out FL to make room for new people.

Great read as always Wini. Honestly Blops spoiled me to put it best. Dom was easier to play with fewer choke points and the way the maps/flags were set up. I had no problems moving around between a few of them and picking off anything i could see. I felt i could dominate any match and tear the enemy up but i just dont have the same confidence playing MW3. Hell i felt more comfy with MW2 and knew what to expect. MW3 on the other hand most of the maps have more nooks and crannies than a Thomas' english muffin. IW wanted to eliminate camping and make it more run n gun but i think some of these maps make it more camper friendly. Add in screwy spawns and it can lead to some huge frustration. Its getting better and my stats are rising but nowhere near what i expected coming into the game. Im hoping some new maps sometime soon pump some fresh life into the game. Id love some more mid range fighting personally but i still can strap on a smg and run around and kill my fair share. KC is decent but its so much hit or miss for me. It all depends on spawns and connection more than anything. To me its also more luck than strategy. As far as the size of the clan rising i have some concerns but hopefully things will straighten themselves out. What irritates me is lately the at least 10 or so newbies that sent me FR so i accept them and then i never see or hear from them again. I send them invites and dont ever play with them or even see them post on the forums. Like ive said why join if you arent going to play with us?