The M60 – Still a “noob cannon” (BFBC2)

Prepatch, if you used the M60 (Medic kit), especially with Magnum Ammo then you ran the risk of being labelled a “noob”. It never happened to me, despite my much documented desire to abuse the M60 for all it was worth before the patch nerfed it. Mike suffered the abuse for using the M60, but then he seems to get abuse no matter what weapon he uses…..

One thing he’s commented on a couple of times in game is that since the patch came out he’s noticed MORE people using the M60. I don’t think I play as much as Mike so can’t really say how statistically true this is, and I don’t pay that much attention to who kills me with what. But one thing is for sure – the M60 has not been patched as strongly as expected. This can be seen from the following post patch stats from Den Kirson (I love you Den):

Stats from Den Kirson's site (Link above)

As you can see, despite lowering the top and lower base damage stats the M60 still has the highest damage per bullet in the Medic class. Admittedly, it does have the lowest fire rate, but considering the increased spray inaccuracy that has been introduced with the patch this is a minor issue as bullets still have to hit to count.

Effectively, this means that the M60 is STILL the most powerful Medic gun which means it is STILL in the realms of noob-dom (if your thinking is that way inclined).

So to all those people who deliberately handicapped themselves and their teams by refusing to use the M60 prepatch in the misguided notion of FPS honour, but are now using it: You noobs!

To everyone else – your job is to win. Pick up the most effective and deadly combination you can, get in the helicopters, get in the tanks, saddle up a heavy MG and annihilate the self harmers. If you receive messages proclaiming your noob-dom, make sure you thank them for watching your victory via the kill cam.

It’s just a game, play it YOUR way.

Peas and loaves.

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Find me on PSN – evaDlivE

Surviving BFBC2 Multiplayer – Part 1

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Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is probably the hardest multiplayer game of recent times for a newbie to survive in. Unlike Modern Warfare 2 you don’t get a taster of the classes you’ll be able to unlock as you level up, you don’t have a Copycat Killstreak available. In fact you get pretty much no help at all. Not even from the instruction manual.

If you’ve come to BFBC2 from MW2 and think that you can waltz in and be beast from the get go then you’d better think again, otherwise you’ll end up crying into your Gatorade. Thankfully, and with the help of the wonderful world of the intertubes I’m going to attempt to redress the imbalance by giving a heads up to all the new players out there. This can never be a definitive guide – I don’t have the time, and seriously don’t have the 1337 skillz to cover everything in the game. Hopefully areas that I’m sketchy on, have missed, or gotten completely wrong will be commented on by someone with more knowledge.

To begin with we’re going to go over getting started. We need to do this as EA appear to have forgotten this fairly important part.

Getting Started

When you start the game you can alter the brightness, volume and sensitivity settings – the run of the mill stuff that most people do. *Note* If you have been playing Modern Warfare 2 you’ll probably find the control quite sluggish in BFBC2. In MW2 on the PS3 I play on sensitivity 3 – on BFBC2 I have the sensitivity up at least 60% and even that can be too slow some times.

BFBC2 Multiplayer Options

Once you’ve finished fiddling with the settings go back to the main screen and choose the Multiplayer options (this being a Multiplayer guide, it would make sense to choose it). The two options we’ll look at in this part are Play Now and Play with Friends.

Play Now

No friends - no problem

If don’t have any friends online, don’t want to play with them, or simply have no friends then you can jump into a game using this option. Choose your game type, level and whether or not it’s hardcore and away you go…..good luck.

Play with Friends

When you choose the option ‘Play with Friends’ you get a screen with three choices – join a friend in their game (but not necessarily in their squad), create your own squad, or view game invites.

Joining a friend’s game.

To join the game of a friend who is already playing you need to highlight their name (as long as it has BC2 next to it) press X (on PS3) and the game will try and join you up. If the server is full you’ll get a message saying as much. You can either then try again until you do join their game, or choose someone else to join. When you get into your friend’s game it’ll put you in their squad only if there is a slot available – otherwise it’s pot luck whether you are friend or foe in game.

Creating your own squad

If you like to be organised and have it all worked out before hand you can create your own squad by clicking on the Create Squad Button. From there you can send invites to your friends and once accepted they will appear in your Squad box. Below the Squad Box is the area where you select your game type. When your squad is together and you’ve chosen the game type you can select Find a Game at the top to launch the multiplayer.

Create Squad and View Invites

Accepting an Invite

If you are invited to a game you can use this option to view your message invites. It’s not usually an issue if your friend is setting up a squad in a lobby, but if they are already playing then you need to pull your finger out or you’ll miss your slot.

That’s it for Part One. In Part Two we’ll be looking at the classes available to the new player and in game comms.

Peas and loaves.

Find me on PSN – evaDlivE

Check out BackslashGaming.com for gaming news, views and reviews.

Misplaced Code of Honour – I’m not cheap, I’m MLGpro!

I’ve noticed a trend in many YouTube Modern Warfare 2 commentators lately. The trend is like a self imposed Code of Honour. I’m all for being honourable and upstanding. But these codes of conduct are paradoxical. Essentially, if you use weapon x, attachment y and perk z then you are cheap. In the most recent video I watched – on Machinima no less – the YouTuber was going on about how cheap the grenade launcher is (I think he referred to it as a ‘noob-tube’). Obviously in this example the commentator must have been playing in a very non-cheap way. After all, it would make sense to validate your opinion about what is cheap, by not being cheap yourself. You’d think…..

So this guy is camping with an ACR and Commando Pro while attempting to lecture on ‘cheap’.

At the moment it’s trendy to post in the comments on YouTube that the grenade launcher attachment should take up a perk slot…….why? If you want that then you need to be playing CoD4 where the grenade launcher ATTACHMENT was not treated as an ATTACHMENT. Why should it take up a perk slot when none of the other attachments do? You get two grenade rounds with the launcher attachment – two! If you pair it up with One Man Army you not only lose a perk slot, but you also lose your secondary weapon…….is that not a reasonable trade off?

In reality, the grenade launcher is a fairly ineffective weapon. Two rounds, slow reload, limited accuracy. If someone is running around with the grenade launcher shouldn’t you put your artificial code of honour to one side and really smite them?

It’s not like you’re not having an 18th Century Duel, this is not Call of Duty: Pistols at Dawn – you’re there to defeat the other side. And you should want to do that as decisively as possible. If you choose to limit your loadout then the phrase “Death before dishonour” will be true for you many times over.

Ironically, being ‘cheap’ is a public game phenomenom. In the world of competitive gaming there is no such thing as cheap – the point is to win as quickly and decisively as possible. In a game where the core of it is shooting the enemy in the face, doing it as effectively as possible should be the norm. Zip to 4 minutes 20 seconds on this video for the lowdown:

I use some loadouts and tactics that even I consider to be cheap. But if they need to be used then so be it. If you’re stupid enough to fall for the same trick more than once then you only have yourself to blame:

So the next time you’re called “cheap”, don’t be hurt. Just remember that you’re not being cheap, you’re being MLG Pro!

Peas and loaves.

Find me on PSN – evaDlivE

Is the Heartbeat Sensor for Noobs

One good thing about this WordPress blog system is the stats. It shows me the search terms that people use to get here. Mostly it’s the same thing over and over, but occasionally there’s a term that is related to something I’ve posted, but is not explicitly answered.

The search term “is a heartbeat sensor for noons” was there today (and I take it that ‘noons’ is a typo for ‘noobs’). I thought it was a very good question since the Heartbeat Sensor, like every other attachment and perk, attracts the suffix -noob when it is used in game. Ironically the person who is killed is the one yelling “noob!” which doesn’t really make sense as the person who caught the dead is the ‘noobish’ one for getting killed – not the person who racked up the kill or kills…..

So, the HeartBeat Sensor. It’s not an attachment that I use as I find that I get tunnel vision with it. Staring at the Aliens-esque blips moving on the screen I tend to get killed from behind. But that’s not to say that it is useless or noobish. You just have to learn how to use if effectively. So here is my quick list for effective Heartbeat Sensor use:

• 1 – The HBS is an aid, just like the UAV. But you cannot fully rely on it. As such, it is important not to become fixated by it.
• 2 – Remember that the HBS refreshes about once a second. This means that moving enemies are potentially at least one second closer than it is showing – even more for Marathon/Lightweight enemies.
• 3 – The HBS will not show up people using the Ninja Perk – but does show up Cold Blooded users who will be invisible to UAV. This is probably the number one reason why you should not become reliant on it. While you’re scoping out the area and not picking anything up, I (because I tend to use Ninja a lot) could be coming directly towards you. And while you’re looking at the HBS I could already have spotted you….
• 4 – It’s usefulness is reduced when in buildings with multiple floors as it only shows you the relative distance away and not whether they are on the same level or not.
• 5 – Avoid camping with it. And by camping I mean proper camping. i.e. sitting in the corner of a room with your gun trained at the door. Not because camping is wrong, but because you’ll get killed very easily through camping. Claim an area and patrol it while maintaining a strategic presence with the aid of the HBS.

It’s important when using the HBS to pre-empt the incoming enemy rather than allowing them to come directly to your position. The HBS gives you their relative position so you should move to a point where you have the best chance of winning the engagement by launching a surprise attack.

Here’s a video from Wings of Redemption where he uses the Heart Beat Sensor in conjunction with the Scrambler perk to lure enemies to his position so he can kill them. For most 1337 players the HBS and Scrambler perks are considered worthless, but here they are used to great effect:

But to answer the original question: Is the Heartbeat Sensor for noobs? No it’s not. It’s not any more noobish than any other attachment. Although you’ll always have the complainers who consider any perk/attachment combo that they are not currently using to be noobish. So you know what? Sod them, use what you like. If someone calls you a noob, load up One Man Army, Danger Close and the Pro-Pipe and noob them to death! You’ve bought the game for your enjoyment, not to adhere to another person’s crazed concept of how the game should be played.

You can find more information on the Heart Beat Sensor at the Call of Duty Wiki

Peas and loaves.

Find me on PSN – evaDlivE