It's been a while since I posted in here... place smells 'musty'.

The thing is, with the whole level sixty caper, it was intimidating to see a party lining up against you with a chunk of 'X' sitting there... It was unnerving knowing you were going up against people who knew the maps backwards, who had worked out exactly where to patrol to cover the most power weapons and keep map-control for their team. It was... But now for a majority of them, they're just people who have played the game for a long time. ND realised the 'us versus them' of the higher levels was slowly being wiped out simply by more people achieving it, it feels damn good to take down a party of level sixties when you're only just entering the numeral phase of your game.. It feels damn good to see them having to resort to positive boosters while you rock double negs. All ND have done is allowed the higher-ups to be special again, to be 'marked' in game so that you can set your sights on them and bring them down, I applaud the decision and only wish they'd included newer boosters as well, like Aqua.

Now, down to business.... I know I'm a week late Reo, and for that I apologise, but here's your video.

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Leo337 wrote:

[video link]

Wow, that was a sweet match, Reo, and that's coming from someone who's gotten a few Fury medals of his own on that map.

Pretty gutsy using an AK with Half-Loaded on.

I personally like the new level cap. Gives me something more to go after than just level 60. Even though I do think the matchmaking still needs work. One team of level 40's versus a party of 60's and highers. Not very fun getting owned 7-40.

Leo, no need to apologies at all.
Thanks for helping out

The main idea, when I asked Leo to post it, was to get some feedback on the faults I make in that game, as I feel they are very typical for me.

Anyone, feel free to point out some areas where you would have done differently and if you don't mind, some pointers on my playstyle overall.

I am thoroughly sick of getting blind-sided, brawl-traded etc.....

Also, thanks Turtle. It did take some time getting adjusted to Half-Loaded, but it bascially forces one to burst with control, I'm still working on it. Especially now since I've noticed alot of guys implementing the "sniper jump tactic" where they just jump around like maniacs hoping to make the other player spray their ammo all over the screen, only to get you while reloading.

There's definitely an art to scrambling. Jumping is pretty common, and really useful, but it definitely is a pain.

Using Down the Irons right now, I can't imagine not having Rapid Hands, especially with Half-Loaded. I hate not having it even with a full clip.
The vid looked good, Reo. With any luck, I'll have my laptop tomorrow, and I can try to post some in depth stuff.

Still debating on my negative of choice. I've been playing Plunder a lot lately, so I've been okay with Come Get Some, not sure how I feel about it in Deathmatch yet.


I've gotten some choice hatemail today. Nothing is more rewarding.

HA HA, are you serious? hate mail? you were GIVING them SA, ohwell.

I want some hatemail aswell

When I get to 57, I'll be using glassjaw and half-loaded for quite a while. Hopefully that'll teach me to get rid of my old ways (rush n' pistol+melee).
I really want to become more of a mid-long range player, but at the same time so good with the FAL that I can win most CQC's with it.
Thinking of going 92FS + FAL, seems like a good combination for most maps.

Endlo, I'll probably be on at your timezone/usual gametime the next couple of days, would be awesome if we could go through some of the things we've been talking about sometime then.

Just got back on UC2 yesterday and I suck. I can't aim because I've been playing RDR to much with auto aim. Im never going to get above 60. But, the FIFA World Cup skins are pretty cool!

Endloslung wrote:

There's definitely an art to scrambling.

Add to the to-do list for another workshop?

Yeah, Scrambling is going to be part of the workshops I had planned out covering the fundamental stuff, along with basic accuracy, strafing, some map layouts, cornershooting, etcetera. There's a lot to cover under that umbrella though, there's a lot that goes into the foundation of becoming a solid player, but a lot of it is just stuff you're either shown, or you pick up along the way. Once you get it all in place, the goal is for it to really become second nature, and you shouldn't need to think about it.

Scrambling is definitely under that category, but like a few other things, might facilitate a few smaller workshops, instead of trying to hit you guys with a huge block of information and stuff to think about, all at once. By breaking it up, we'll be able to focus on specific parts of gameplay, and then run those drills over and over, until everyone is comfortable, and they can start to work it into their everyday play. After a while, like I said, it's habit, and it won't really matter, it'll just be natural. I definitely want Vash to be there, at least, for the scrambling workshops, he's the one who taught me, and then I was able to incorporate it into my playstyle. Invalid was a huge tutor there as well, because really, you can't afford to be shot at, so you either have to learn to scramble and immediately press an advantage, or scramble away and leave the situation alone.


Reo, that sounds good. I'll probably be goofing off on the new laptop today, so I'm not sure how much I'll be on, plus I have an interview to go to tonight. We'll definitely get some of that stuff worked on, but I'm going to be honest. I don't play a ton on the new maps, so I'm not sure how much I'll be able to help out. I can show you what I do know though, but really, you guys probably already know more than I do. I've noticed the DLC maps really don't get much love anyway, though. Whenever we've actually set out to play with our DLC on, we have a hard time finding players. I play most on the DLC when I get funneled into shorted lobbies, from the non DLC matchmaking. Has anybody else noticed this as a trend? It might be the times that I play, admittedly, which are usually later in the day, and late at night into the early morning.

Thats fine, Im gonna get an early one today anyway, exhausted after work

We'll get to it in time, don't worry about the DLC maps, I usually (99% of the time) play with standard settings.

I'm not a huge fan of the Highrise, but I do enjoy the other maps. It just seems like every time I turn on the DLC preference, I struggle to find a lobby. When I do get put into DLC lobbies, it's because the DLC was so shorted out, on players, that the filter took us, and put us into a lobby that will still be short. There's really no way to win, it seems, to get good games on the DLC maps.

Maybe it's just me playing at a time that isn't great to catch players who actively play on the new maps, but I dunno. The filter isn't very good, for the DLC maps, and ND has admitted they wish they could do a better job of keeping things seperate. I wonder what the issue is, with the low number of players, because it seems like quite a few people bought the DLC.


We'll try to get it done soon, Reo. I apologize for it taking this long, we've both been kind of on opposite schedules, lately.

All right! Hit 55! Only two more levels until I can get rid of this accursed Invalid.

Reonista...*neck crack* *knuckle crack*
Let's get crackin!

0.34 Good awareness and good scramble rout led for him just blindfiring. Good grenade, which would have been just as easy of a task as aiming.

0.42 Unlucky grenade. But since you can already see him start your blindfire before you turn the corner before he has time to retaliate. Also when he scrambled, back off and just shoot his face off. If he had more aggression, he could have done a blindfire/ mele combo and traded.

1.14 Good shot, burst fire helped you be more accurate with half loaded to get the easy kill.

1.23 Good, quick reactions got you that kill. But unluckily there were 2 other enemies down there.

2.11 Take a good, big jump off of that ledge instead of walking over it. Obviously there were no hands on the ledge but that doesn't mean that he wasn't just standing below the ledge waiting for the trap to spring. If you jump over ledges where possible enemies are, they have almost no chance of getting a Jedi pulldown on you.

2.35 I was hoping that this would happen. You were shooting the M4 when half loaded treats it's purpose. Having played with half loaded for 6 full levels an amazing method to use is when running out of long gun ammo for a clip, quickly pull out the trusty hand gun and fire away. It works very well, and nearly negates half loaded with out a faster reloading booster. Lucky for you your buddy was there to bail you out when you should have been dead to rights.

2.47 Obviously there was someone there because of the grenade thrown. So before you pass the stone you should be aiming. If you didn't have the M4 or get a headshot that probably would't have been a kill.

2.53 Good job of being ready, as the Marco Polo could tell. But for the second kill, another good shot but use the tip at 2.35. If that person could aim, that streak wouldn't have happened.

3.22 Good listening, and good awareness of your teamate's death got you that nice kill.

3.33 Good awareness and camera usage got you three easy kills, great job.

4.27 There is a guy there because the teammates were shooting at something. When making that turn position your camera down elow and maybe even be aiming. That was a preventable death that cost you a great fury.

4.56 I heared a girl grunt. Since there are no girls for the villains, the bottom right should be immediatley checked out since there is an enemy there.

5.31 Don't take that shot. She immediatley went for cover, which gives her the advantage in that situation. Also, you may not have been noticed as an easy target for a down the irons user.

6.43 That was a good idea to leave that situation alone. You have another teammate who could have goten it or if they were playing take-turns-shooting-from-behind-cover, you could have the option to flank the enemy.

Overall good match. 2.57 KDR. Probably $50,000 as well although the victory was not to be.

I still find it really amusing that your initial reaction to the level increase ended up being the opposite of what you're doing. Double negatives? Oi, lad.

I'm pretty excited for it. I'm still trying to find my negative, I'm torn between Glass Jaw and Half Loaded. I'm tempted to keep trying Come Get Some, but it's really inconsistent, and short of running Situational again, there's really no way to turn that into an advantage. I'm also arguing with myself, that it shouldn't have a lot of impact on my typical style, and I just need to stop trying to push this stupid aggressive agenda. I'm not sure I want to rock Glass/Half, but maybe I should. Double the negative, and it can only push me to keep getting better.
Come Get Some is an odd negative, because really, there's just some situations that it will put you in, that you cannot avoid, but in an inverse sense of Situational. Players are much more stationary when trying to abuse Situational, but this is constant, and mobile, so they tend to be more aggressive in pursuing the "free" kills. There's just not much you can really do to mitigate two or three people being able to stalk you, and it really damages your ability to scramble away and find a way to leverage your situation. When coupled with Situational, it allows you to trap players, and push that leverage, but again, you run into the issue of simply having too many assailants from too many angles, to be able to cope with occasionally. I guess it's a matter of asking yourself if the easy money is worth the occasional unpreventable death.

It's nice having to think about this stuff again, and I like having such a lofty goal to shoot for. Getting to 70, or 80 is going to take a lot of effort, but it's really almost renewed my interest in playing again, because it's definitely a goal that I want to work towards.


Congrats on the V, Turtle. I know it seems a long way off, but you're getting to the gold, and soon, you'll be able to rock that Glass Jaw. Glass/Half is probably the most forgiving double negative set-up, and I know you already love that FS.


All this talk of negatives has me wondering which part of my game I want to focus on for a while. I think that's where the choice will end up being made. Glass/Half will force my accuracy to improve again, and I'll be able to ween myself of wanting to be overly aggressive, simply out of not being able to afford the risk of melee, or not being able to drop multiple people in a skirmish. I'll have to skirt the high traffic areas again, and be intelligent with the fights that I pick.

Come Get Some/Situational would help me work on the psychological aspect a bit, again, and being able to force traps, and manipulate players into expected reactions. Plus, Situational is a handy booster to have, for doublechecking.
There's really not much point to running Invalid again, unless I felt like being masochistic, and punishing myself for making any mistakes. That's not necessarily bad, but it's a lot to ask yourself, to not take a single FAL burst, or two rounds from an FS.

I actually don't mind Invalid. I've been running Invalid and Half loaded for a while (since I hit 54, I just haven't said anything because everyone said I was crazy ) I don't get discouraged by low K/Ds often. As long as I make the money and I feel like I had an alright game, then I'm fine with it

Although Glass Jaw does sound like a nice replacement to Invalid. Hell, anything other than Veiled makes me happy

I guess it depends. Given that I like to camp it up, I could probably run Invalid with a lot less impact than a few of the other guys. It's unnecessary though, because really, after a point it's just being masochistic. For you guys, I get it, you really want to see that cash roll in, and there's a lot of drive to level up, but after Glass Jaw, there's not a lot of point to punishing yourself like that.

The lowered amount of money you may get definitely balances out with your increased ability to generate kills. Invalid may be worth a ton, but it's also pretty hindering, in terms of what you can get away with. I think there are a lot of good lessons to be learned there, moderation in conflict, learning to pick your fights, and push every advantage you have, and the increased focus on scrambling, for example.
At the same time though, after a while, most of that will become second nature, and so habitual, that there's no need to increase that handicap again, unless you're doing it to prove a point. Which, admittedly, a few of us have done. You stand to learn just as much from running something like Glass and Half, and you're not nearly as fragile, and can begin to branch out again. Invalid, for a lot of people, forces them to make some stylistic compromises, and you can really begin to start finding your own again after that phase, it's just that you'll begin to incorporate the lessons learned from the intense focus on self-preservation.

Invalid and Come Get Some are really the weirdest boosters. They're pretty huge handicaps, but they keep you pretty honest, in how you can play. I'm still not sure where I evaluate CGS, on a "teaching" standpoint, as far as negatives go, I think it has some potential when coupled with something like Situational, and you start to manipulate other players into making bad decisions, but even then, it's arguable.
Invalid teaches you the most, really, but really forces you to make a lot of compromise to accommodate it successfully, and really, I think that's where a lot of the lessons are learned. It pushes you so far out of your comfort zone, that you have no choice but to adapt quickly, or suffer greatly.

I don't think I would want to rock Come Get Some. It's like everybody having permanent Stich on you all the time. At least with Invalid you can still sneak around and do your thing, but I've learned a lot from it. I discovered better ways of moving around the map, so keep myself out of high-potential death zones, along with using my angles and camera to my advantage. (After watching a cinema file, I didn't realize how much I use my camera ) And to be honest, I don't mind dying a lot. It keeps me modest (which is what I like to do) and people can't complain about me having a low K/D because... well, what do you expect?

It's actually worse than players using Situational Awareness because they don't have to stop what they're doing to locate you, a small but notable difference.

Charlie, that's exactly my point, in regards to Invalid. It forces so many aspects of your game to improve. Your camera work, your ability to travel intelligently around a map, your ability to pick the correct fights, and letting the right backs go running away, without a shot. It forces you to improve, by altering just about everything about how a person plays, and forcing them to do it better. The problem is, after a while, there's a cap on what you can learn, and how much you can stifle your play style, before it becomes detrimental again.

Invalid is like a workshop on fundamentals, that lasts for 2 levels. You can stretch it more, if you guys want, but really, you'll come to value Glass Jaw for letting you get back to your own style a little bit, instead of having to bend so severely to a booster. There are things to be learned from your limitations, but there's also a time to cast aside those limitations, and keep learning from other aspects of your play, or other boosters.



Come Get Some is strange. I liked the ability to run either Down the Irons, or Rapid Hands, while having a fairly manageable negative, that made it easy to cap out. Plunders, Turf Wars, any random objective gametype really, and it's easy to mitigate the drawback, because players are focused elsewhere. The problem is, I'm mainly a Deathmatch guy, it's just my preferred gametype, and where I feel most comfortable. It's a pretty large detriment there, because you're giving your opponents a free Situational, that they do nothing for. It doesn't require them to stop moving, and waste time with manual inputs, and it doesn't stop, letting them constantly monitor you behind cover, or where you have yourself positioned. I'm torn on how much I want to believe it affects me, as a camper, but it's a hard line. You'll occasionally have people breaking your spot, or trying to throw that sneaky grenade, but you should also really be aware of those threats. There are times when you'll just not be able to handle the X number of people coming for you, Come Get Some just makes those situations more apparent.

There's also the ability to use it with Situational to set up some really cool things, and it's nice to be able to see how your actions affect another player, and how they react in kind. There's a lot to be said for honing those instincts, and learning to play a step ahead, and Come Get Some/Situational Awareness is another way to work on that skillset. It's one that comes in time as well, and I know I've talked to some of you guys about this a little bit. The biggest advantage you have is your experience. If I have my FAL trained on somebody, and I hit them, I can pretty accurately guess the next step. If I'm in a skirmish, there's a game of cat and mouse going on, and after a while, you'll find yourself coming out on top, because you know what to expect, you can predict what their response is, and use it against them.

There's no substitute for that instinct, and it really does just come with experience. You have to put yourself into those situations, and learn from them, and you'll develop a strong intuition, that you can start to trust. You'll be able to go with your gut, and trust the decision that you've made, often times before the other player has really decided what their next step should be.

I apologize for the double, but it's on Charlitos' behalf.

He's about to get his level X, and wants people to jump on, we have 3 slots open in the party, that we'd like to have people present for.

Charlito's X Birthday, happening now! Get on!

I'm so sorry Charlitos, but I am (trying) to study for my English exam tomorrow morning. Any other night I would come, but I'll be there in spirit

How do I delete a post?

Once again, Congradulations on the (true) X Charlitos Although I'm probably going to fail my exam thanks to you

Oh, and never put an RPG in my hands when I'm overtired again

:grenade: :grenade: :grenade: :grenade: :grenade: :grenade: :grenade: :grenade:

Your welcome for the failed exam But a fun birthdy party indeed. Lots of cake and presents and dancing. Lots and lots of dancing. And who could forget the beautiful fireworks thanks to UnicornCharlie. It has never felt so good to have 2 pretty colors on the side of my screen. The low point of the night was pretty shocking though, and my fingers were hot and stiff and my arm was numb!