A funny cartoon someone made for MW2. And its sooo true. LOL
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Well, I am leading a team again!
HGN decided to create a competitive MW2 team for our community and they put me in charge of it so I have a lot of work to do. I'm setting us up some scrims, we have just joined game-battles and may even play in the upcoming tournament on MW2Tournaments.com which will actually be for prizes. So yeah, I'm pretty excited. We also have our new website going and Spooner is hard at work adding new videos to our YouTube channel.
Here is our current MLG Game-Battles roster. We will also be adding Mr. Pain, Re-Owner and Resistor soon.
My CTF Capping Guide from the MW2 forum
I decided to post my guide on here and update it a bit.
This guide is mostly for lone cappers because you can't really depend on having help in pubs. I may make a capping guide for clans later. I don't care for this game that much but I usually do a capping guide for every game so here we go...
Classes
CTF is my favorite mode so I currently have 4 (my 5th class is for FFA, TDM, and SnD) different classes that I use for capping, depending on the situation. I know that some cappers prefer using a handgun with the tactical knife but I don't have any experience with that so I'm going with what works really well for me. My opinions may change when I hit 70 but this is what works at the moment.
Capper 1 UMP with Silencer, Magnum with Tact Knife, Claymore, smoke grenade, Marathon, Lightweight, Ninja. I prefer using Ninja on this one because commando with the tact knife is cheap. But if you're new to capping, using commando will be helpful.
This one is made for pure speed and elusiveness. The first thing I do is place the claymore at some point in the route I plan to use to get back to our flag in case I have a chaser on me. It works pretty well. And I like to use the smoke grenade for multiple reasons. Its useful for going through open areas, its useful for tossing at the flag if you know where their campers are, and sometimes if I'm playing an open map like Wasteland, I like to toss the smoke nade in a different direction to divert a defender's attention away when I'm approaching the flag. You wouldn't believe how often it works.
Capper 2 UMP with Silencer, G18 with silencer , stun grenade, tactical insertion, Marathon, Cold-Blooded, and Ninja. This is my stealth capper class. I use the tactical insertion for another quick capping attempt after I die. Its easy to catch defenders off guard right after they kill you.
The next two classes are for kicking some ass. ;O)
Capper 3 ACR with Red Dot, Spas-12, frag grenade, stun grenade, Marathon, Stopping Power, Ninja. If you see the Spas-12 in my hands, it means I'm coming to kick your ass before I take your flag. This is the loadout I use when they have a lot of defense on the other side or I'm just annoyed. LOL
Capper 4 ACR with Red Dot, Akimbo G18, Tactical Insertion, stun grenade, Maration, Lightweight, and Commando. This is another good one for kicking ass. And I use commando to eliminate fall damage (I use some crazy routes on some maps) I rarely knife with this class. This is probably one of the cheaper classes in the game but when you're playing against a stacked team in a pub, it helps even the odds a bit.
Knowing the maps
The most important thing for any good capper is to memorize every single part of the map. You need to know the best capping routes, where you can break off into an alternate route if necessary, where every object is that can be used as cover, where people usually camp, where people usually try to cutoff a capper, etc...
Awareness
You always see people talking about awareness in almost any type of fps gaming guide because its one of the most important things for any fsp gamer. This is especially important for CTF. You need to know what is going on around you at all times. You need to listen for sounds, watch for movements, know where both flags are on the map when they get taken, constantly be looking around and moving, watching areas where people like to camp, etc...
Route-Running
One thing that always makes me laugh is when I see someone grab a flag and then basically run in a straight line back to their base. Needless to say, they die more often than not. One thing you need to do is to learn how to zigzag and use cover (trees, pipes, vehicles, anything that obstructs the chaser's view) while running. The majority of my deaths as capper happen either immediately when I grab the flag or when I get back to my own flag area to discover half the opposing team waiting for me. I don't die (except on a couple of maps that I'm still learning) as often on the run back to my flag area because I make it very difficult for people to hit me.
Do NOT run in straight line, learn to use cover while running, and do NOT use the same route over and over because it makes you predictable and an easy target.
Before I end this, I need to discuss one important aspect of becoming an elite capper. You absolutely MUST forget about kd/ ratio. Don't look at it and dont worry about it. A truly elite capper is probably going to die and die often. As a result the elite capper will probably have more deaths than kills. Why? Because the main difference between an elite capper and a good capper is that the good capper will often go for unneccessary kills on his way to or from the enemy flag. When you do this, two things happen: First, they know you are coming. Second, they know what direction you are coming from. An elite capper will ignore potential kills unless the person is a serious threat to your cap on the way back (camping a spot that you plan to run past) or they are directly defending the flag.
A true test for any capper is to grab the flag and get back to your own flag without firing a single shot but that can be difficult sometimes. But regardless, you should NOT go for a kill unless you absolutely have to... Remember, your main goal is the flag so don't get distracted and don't give away your position.
One time in a CTF match I played on another game, I actually went 7-33 while capping. And in the end, my team won because of the 5 caps I had. That's what really matters above all to a true capper... Capping the flag. Don't worry about the rest and you'll find yourself capping easily.
I'm going to make some videos of my capping routes for each map sometime next week and post them on youtube. I'm not going to give away all of my routes but I'll post one good one for each map. I'm sure some people are saying, "oh what could she possibly know, she's only been playing a little while and i've been playing since the game was released!" Well, I've seen experienced people on this game who run bad routes and don't use cover very well. I've only been playing for a month and already average 3-4 caps a game and have only had a handful of games where I didn't cap at all. I've also been a capper on nearly every fps game I have played for the past 10 years, I've been a capper on several very successful CTF teams, and even won a tournament for capping on a game. So yeah, I know a thing or two about the subject.
------------------
UPDATE
Well, I joined a scrim last with -IA- against [LsD] and it gave me a few more ideas for my CTF Guide.When I joined the game and we were waiting to start a couple of the [LsD] guys decided to mock my name for some reason. And of course that irritated me and I wanted to completely own them in the scrim. So when the map started, I picked my ass-kicking capper class and immediately rushed their flag area. The big difference between doing this in a pub against random players and in a scrim against an organized clan is that the clans generally have good defenses in place. That was the case with [LsD] so I died repeatedly. I did manage to kill several of them in the process but I wasn't able to grab their flag. This went on for about 3 minutes into the first half and the score was still 0-0, so at this point I finally decided to chill and use a method that works. So what I did next is....
Learn to Adapt
Having problems with Tubers? Is that annoying sniper on the roof taking you out everytime you touch the flag? Is your route being shut down everytime by clever defenders? Being able to adapt to situations is another important quality in a capper. If what you are doing isn't working you need to try something different. Experiment against their defense and find a weakness. Even though the [LsD] guys thought it was funny to mock me, I have to admit they had an excellent defense and my method of rushing in with guns blazing was failing miserably. So I tried something different.....
Timing and Patience
These are two more things any good capper needs to learn. After my many failed attempts at rushing the [LsD] flag, I decided to take another approach and waited nearby for one of the other cappers on my team to grab. After he grabbed it and ran off around a corner, two of the chasers went after him and killed him. This left one person behind guarding the flag so I immediately took him out, snatched their flag and ran in the opposite direction of the original capper, which meant the other two guys were out of position to chase me. This resulted in an easy cap for me and the other good thing about it was that it forced the defenders to start checking that spot (and others) to be sure that I wasn't hiding there again.
So one my next run, I went to the roof of the building near the flag and waited for my other capper again. After he came in and was killed before he even touched the flag, they started checking the spots to make sure I wasn't going to come rushing at the flag again. So while they were distracted, I killed them from the roof and then jumped down and snatched their flag. Again, another easy cap.So now in just a couple of minutes, I had capped against them twice and at the end of the scrim they didn't mock me anymore.
This guide is mostly for lone cappers because you can't really depend on having help in pubs. I may make a capping guide for clans later. I don't care for this game that much but I usually do a capping guide for every game so here we go...
Classes
CTF is my favorite mode so I currently have 4 (my 5th class is for FFA, TDM, and SnD) different classes that I use for capping, depending on the situation. I know that some cappers prefer using a handgun with the tactical knife but I don't have any experience with that so I'm going with what works really well for me. My opinions may change when I hit 70 but this is what works at the moment.
Capper 1 UMP with Silencer, Magnum with Tact Knife, Claymore, smoke grenade, Marathon, Lightweight, Ninja. I prefer using Ninja on this one because commando with the tact knife is cheap. But if you're new to capping, using commando will be helpful.
This one is made for pure speed and elusiveness. The first thing I do is place the claymore at some point in the route I plan to use to get back to our flag in case I have a chaser on me. It works pretty well. And I like to use the smoke grenade for multiple reasons. Its useful for going through open areas, its useful for tossing at the flag if you know where their campers are, and sometimes if I'm playing an open map like Wasteland, I like to toss the smoke nade in a different direction to divert a defender's attention away when I'm approaching the flag. You wouldn't believe how often it works.
Capper 2 UMP with Silencer, G18 with silencer , stun grenade, tactical insertion, Marathon, Cold-Blooded, and Ninja. This is my stealth capper class. I use the tactical insertion for another quick capping attempt after I die. Its easy to catch defenders off guard right after they kill you.
The next two classes are for kicking some ass. ;O)
Capper 3 ACR with Red Dot, Spas-12, frag grenade, stun grenade, Marathon, Stopping Power, Ninja. If you see the Spas-12 in my hands, it means I'm coming to kick your ass before I take your flag. This is the loadout I use when they have a lot of defense on the other side or I'm just annoyed. LOL
Capper 4 ACR with Red Dot, Akimbo G18, Tactical Insertion, stun grenade, Maration, Lightweight, and Commando. This is another good one for kicking ass. And I use commando to eliminate fall damage (I use some crazy routes on some maps) I rarely knife with this class. This is probably one of the cheaper classes in the game but when you're playing against a stacked team in a pub, it helps even the odds a bit.
Knowing the maps
The most important thing for any good capper is to memorize every single part of the map. You need to know the best capping routes, where you can break off into an alternate route if necessary, where every object is that can be used as cover, where people usually camp, where people usually try to cutoff a capper, etc...
Awareness
You always see people talking about awareness in almost any type of fps gaming guide because its one of the most important things for any fsp gamer. This is especially important for CTF. You need to know what is going on around you at all times. You need to listen for sounds, watch for movements, know where both flags are on the map when they get taken, constantly be looking around and moving, watching areas where people like to camp, etc...
Route-Running
One thing that always makes me laugh is when I see someone grab a flag and then basically run in a straight line back to their base. Needless to say, they die more often than not. One thing you need to do is to learn how to zigzag and use cover (trees, pipes, vehicles, anything that obstructs the chaser's view) while running. The majority of my deaths as capper happen either immediately when I grab the flag or when I get back to my own flag area to discover half the opposing team waiting for me. I don't die (except on a couple of maps that I'm still learning) as often on the run back to my flag area because I make it very difficult for people to hit me.
Do NOT run in straight line, learn to use cover while running, and do NOT use the same route over and over because it makes you predictable and an easy target.
Before I end this, I need to discuss one important aspect of becoming an elite capper. You absolutely MUST forget about kd/ ratio. Don't look at it and dont worry about it. A truly elite capper is probably going to die and die often. As a result the elite capper will probably have more deaths than kills. Why? Because the main difference between an elite capper and a good capper is that the good capper will often go for unneccessary kills on his way to or from the enemy flag. When you do this, two things happen: First, they know you are coming. Second, they know what direction you are coming from. An elite capper will ignore potential kills unless the person is a serious threat to your cap on the way back (camping a spot that you plan to run past) or they are directly defending the flag.
A true test for any capper is to grab the flag and get back to your own flag without firing a single shot but that can be difficult sometimes. But regardless, you should NOT go for a kill unless you absolutely have to... Remember, your main goal is the flag so don't get distracted and don't give away your position.
One time in a CTF match I played on another game, I actually went 7-33 while capping. And in the end, my team won because of the 5 caps I had. That's what really matters above all to a true capper... Capping the flag. Don't worry about the rest and you'll find yourself capping easily.
I'm going to make some videos of my capping routes for each map sometime next week and post them on youtube. I'm not going to give away all of my routes but I'll post one good one for each map. I'm sure some people are saying, "oh what could she possibly know, she's only been playing a little while and i've been playing since the game was released!" Well, I've seen experienced people on this game who run bad routes and don't use cover very well. I've only been playing for a month and already average 3-4 caps a game and have only had a handful of games where I didn't cap at all. I've also been a capper on nearly every fps game I have played for the past 10 years, I've been a capper on several very successful CTF teams, and even won a tournament for capping on a game. So yeah, I know a thing or two about the subject.
------------------
UPDATE
Well, I joined a scrim last with -IA- against [LsD] and it gave me a few more ideas for my CTF Guide.When I joined the game and we were waiting to start a couple of the [LsD] guys decided to mock my name for some reason. And of course that irritated me and I wanted to completely own them in the scrim. So when the map started, I picked my ass-kicking capper class and immediately rushed their flag area. The big difference between doing this in a pub against random players and in a scrim against an organized clan is that the clans generally have good defenses in place. That was the case with [LsD] so I died repeatedly. I did manage to kill several of them in the process but I wasn't able to grab their flag. This went on for about 3 minutes into the first half and the score was still 0-0, so at this point I finally decided to chill and use a method that works. So what I did next is....
Learn to Adapt
Having problems with Tubers? Is that annoying sniper on the roof taking you out everytime you touch the flag? Is your route being shut down everytime by clever defenders? Being able to adapt to situations is another important quality in a capper. If what you are doing isn't working you need to try something different. Experiment against their defense and find a weakness. Even though the [LsD] guys thought it was funny to mock me, I have to admit they had an excellent defense and my method of rushing in with guns blazing was failing miserably. So I tried something different.....
Timing and Patience
These are two more things any good capper needs to learn. After my many failed attempts at rushing the [LsD] flag, I decided to take another approach and waited nearby for one of the other cappers on my team to grab. After he grabbed it and ran off around a corner, two of the chasers went after him and killed him. This left one person behind guarding the flag so I immediately took him out, snatched their flag and ran in the opposite direction of the original capper, which meant the other two guys were out of position to chase me. This resulted in an easy cap for me and the other good thing about it was that it forced the defenders to start checking that spot (and others) to be sure that I wasn't hiding there again.
So one my next run, I went to the roof of the building near the flag and waited for my other capper again. After he came in and was killed before he even touched the flag, they started checking the spots to make sure I wasn't going to come rushing at the flag again. So while they were distracted, I killed them from the roof and then jumped down and snatched their flag. Again, another easy cap.So now in just a couple of minutes, I had capped against them twice and at the end of the scrim they didn't mock me anymore.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
I joined the Home Gardening Network!!
I joined a little gaming community/clan on MW2 called HGN: HumbleGamingNation. I don't know them well yet but they seem to be an ok group of people. And of course my loyalty is still to Estrogen but it looks like we will be moving to another game (possibly BC2) so I joined these guys to have people to play with.
Yeah, yeah, I know the words "Humble" and "Vixy" just don't sound right together but still... ;O)
Anyway, feel free to check out the youtube channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/HGNation
Yeah, yeah, I know the words "Humble" and "Vixy" just don't sound right together but still... ;O)
Anyway, feel free to check out the youtube channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/HGNation
Ohh nice! My new logo for my upcoming myspace
Wookie is currently designing a new logo for my new myspace page and it will also replace the ViXeN logo on my blog. She is still making some changes and hasn't removed the backgrounds in
the pics she used but so far it looks great. Click on the image to see the full
sized logo.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Estrogen Elite at the next Blizzcon and Quakecon!
Myself, abentwookie, and kalli will be attending Blizzcon this year and then we (along with 3 other core members: ) will also be at QuakeCon. We may add other events to our calender.
Hey welcome to my new blog.
I want to thank the wookster for creating this and my new myspace page. She did a great job as usual. I'll mostly be using this blog to discuss gaming but I may get into some other things as well.
Some people who used to know me from other games may wonder what I have been up to lately so I'll start with a quick update. As many people know, I have been on an extended break from competitive gaming for a while now but I haven't stopped gaming entirely. Last year I actually spent a couple of months playing an FPS games called Combat Arms and became the #1 ranked player for DeathRoom (twice) and SnowValley (once)
And now I am officially back from my break and playing Modern Warfare 2. I had originally planned to make my return to competitive gaming with Estrogen Elite on this game but it is a little disappointing so we may play another game instead. However my plan to take this team pro hasn't changed. So watch your backs, PMSclan. You're about to have some serious competition.
I am even thinking about attending some tournaments on my own again to see if I still have it. So yeah, I'm not even close to being done yet. ;O)
Some people who used to know me from other games may wonder what I have been up to lately so I'll start with a quick update. As many people know, I have been on an extended break from competitive gaming for a while now but I haven't stopped gaming entirely. Last year I actually spent a couple of months playing an FPS games called Combat Arms and became the #1 ranked player for DeathRoom (twice) and SnowValley (once)
And now I am officially back from my break and playing Modern Warfare 2. I had originally planned to make my return to competitive gaming with Estrogen Elite on this game but it is a little disappointing so we may play another game instead. However my plan to take this team pro hasn't changed. So watch your backs, PMSclan. You're about to have some serious competition.
I am even thinking about attending some tournaments on my own again to see if I still have it. So yeah, I'm not even close to being done yet. ;O)
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Maybe FPS games and gamers have evolved while I was away from gaming and maybe I'm already turning into a dinosaur. Or maybe FPS games are doing the same thing MMO's have done since World of Warcraft was released. MMO's are all being dumbed down to be like World of Warcraft because of it's success. What this means is that we are stuck with a bunch of dumbed down cookie cutter games designed for casual gamers. Whatever the case may be, FPS games have changed and I don't like it all.
I actually started noticing these changes long before I left, the problem just seems to have gotten much worse recently.
Here is what I'm talking about:
1. FPS games are not MMO games. Let me repeat that... They are NOT mmo games. When I load up a shooter, I expect to be able to use any of the weapons immediately. I don't want to level up for weeks just to be able to use a shotgun or whatever other weapon I want. If I want to grind away for hours, I'll go play WoW. Enough with the leveling crap in FPS games.
2. It seems that FPS games are becoming more and more noob friendly (easy) every year. I only needed to play MW2 for a couple of days to notice several irritating things. The helicopter stuff is beyond stupid. Could they possibly make it a little easier for people to get instant kills that require no skill? I remember back on the latest Tribes game (Tribes Vengeance) I was complaining about how they had dumbest down the series to make it easier for casual gamers to play. I had made a comment several times about how a company would one day add a nuke weapon to a game that would instantly kill everyone on the map. Well, that day arrived with the MW series. I told everyone it would happen because of the way companies were adding more and more over-powered weapons and noobtubes to games but no one believed me. Now they do. LOL And its only going to get worse of course. After the way MW2 has sold tons of copies, you can bet the dumbing down of our FPS games will never end now.
These game companies are making FPS games so easy that any noob can start playing and easily kill a skilled vet with no trouble at all. And considering the amount of time and effort us oldschool gamers put into becoming good, that is more than a bit irritating.
3. The CTF in fps games now seems to require very little actual skill or strategy. Which is good because most players don't really play it. They just camp for kills like we're playign TDM. People don't know how to defend the flag, cover cappers, etc... Its the same with other objective based modes as well.
4. FPS games seem to be all about graphics now instead of challenging and fun gameplay.
5. The lack of dedicated servers is annoying. I hope this doesn't become a trend.
I actually started noticing these changes long before I left, the problem just seems to have gotten much worse recently.
Here is what I'm talking about:
1. FPS games are not MMO games. Let me repeat that... They are NOT mmo games. When I load up a shooter, I expect to be able to use any of the weapons immediately. I don't want to level up for weeks just to be able to use a shotgun or whatever other weapon I want. If I want to grind away for hours, I'll go play WoW. Enough with the leveling crap in FPS games.
2. It seems that FPS games are becoming more and more noob friendly (easy) every year. I only needed to play MW2 for a couple of days to notice several irritating things. The helicopter stuff is beyond stupid. Could they possibly make it a little easier for people to get instant kills that require no skill? I remember back on the latest Tribes game (Tribes Vengeance) I was complaining about how they had dumbest down the series to make it easier for casual gamers to play. I had made a comment several times about how a company would one day add a nuke weapon to a game that would instantly kill everyone on the map. Well, that day arrived with the MW series. I told everyone it would happen because of the way companies were adding more and more over-powered weapons and noobtubes to games but no one believed me. Now they do. LOL And its only going to get worse of course. After the way MW2 has sold tons of copies, you can bet the dumbing down of our FPS games will never end now.
These game companies are making FPS games so easy that any noob can start playing and easily kill a skilled vet with no trouble at all. And considering the amount of time and effort us oldschool gamers put into becoming good, that is more than a bit irritating.
3. The CTF in fps games now seems to require very little actual skill or strategy. Which is good because most players don't really play it. They just camp for kills like we're playign TDM. People don't know how to defend the flag, cover cappers, etc... Its the same with other objective based modes as well.
4. FPS games seem to be all about graphics now instead of challenging and fun gameplay.
5. The lack of dedicated servers is annoying. I hope this doesn't become a trend.
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