I, too, need to complete a couple of Co-Op maps. Namely, The Village and Nepal Warzone on Crushing.

Turtle, nice playin with you man.. to get back on track I hate co-op!

WOoo! another double cash weekend!

Yeah, 5 days of Double Cash. It's going to be pretty nice. I just hit 61, hoping to get at least another level or two over the weekend. Play, play, play.

I'm frustrated with Uncharted, though, because it's so difficult for me to be consistent, right now. I can go 12-2 one game, with zero effort, and the next, I can play my heart out, and still end up going negative. There's just something wrong with me, lately, I'm just playing incredibly poorly.

Last night was the same thing. Busted out an easy Rage on Plaza, and then there were games last night I'd just go negative, and there was nothing I could do about it. No matter what I tried, it just felt like nothing worked.


There's a big discussion going on, about some proposed Plunder changes, over on the Naughty Dog forums. I'm curious to see what comes of it, it all sounds like a pretty interesting discussion. They're trying to find a way to stop Plunder from effectively being a 20 minute deathmatch, and to stop the people who use Plunder as a way to pad their K/D's.
It's an interesting distinction, I was actually talking to a few people about it earlier, and I think that it's necessary that you have a player or two to fill a "slayer" role. If the other team is respawning, or is tied up in a firefight with someone else, it leaves the rest of the team to focus on running the treasure, and capturing. The biggest distances swings are made when the majority of the opposing team is killed, so it's only natural that it's a role that has to be filled. Just like you should really have a dedicated treasure runner, with Bearer, or a team to chain throw it across the map.

I do like that they're trying to get our feedback though, and see what we think, about some of the ideas they have. One is a huge cash bonus for ending the game quickly, I think arne gave it a timeframe of like, 5 minutes? Or having the Captured medals scale up in value, to give each team some more incentive to get those captures, and not just use their BoH's to make it worth the time.

I know what you're feeling Endlo, the last week or so of my being level 56 was incredibly unreliable, I could have a fantastic game, and in a few minutes do terrible. I find that if you just take it easy, relax, stick to basics it should pass. Or maybe having a full clip may have had something to do with it.

I'm really glad they are acknowledging the problems that the community is having with Plunder. I get just as frustrated as the next person sometimes when I play plunder, but I still love it because when you have teammates that fill their role and everything comes together it's almost impossible to stop you from scoring. I'm so glad they raised the cash cap (which really only affects Plunder) and I really agree with a lot of the changes being discussed and I encourage all of you to post your opinions on ND forum, they don't visit this site.

Making beta access as a reward for hitting 60+ would be another stupid mistake by ND, I laughed when Charlie or Turtle said they should make a code for pre-ordering Infamous 2 (which I will be getting on release), because as many of you know, that was the story with the first Infamous game.

I'm the one that actually brought up the possibility of rewarding early beta keys to high-level players. It's a valid rumor at this point, and it wouldn't really be unfitting. The only thing that anybody really has to go off of, is some more of arne's trademark vague wording, on the blog that introduced the level cap update. ND wants to do something for the high-level community, what exactly that means, in terms of rewards, is completely speculation at this point, but it doesn't seem that out there.

I am glad that they're trying to address Plunder. The thing is, it really shouldn't be an issue. A huge problem with Plunder is that it affects your K/D, and with that, you'll find a ton of people who play Plunder exclusively to pad their K/D. They have no intention of moving or touching the treasure, they're in it for the easy kills, and the length of time that they have to get those kills. A Deathmatch is limited in time, and in kills, Plunder will often run the full clock, and has no kill cap, meaning that they can really get away with as much as they can manage, and there's not much that can be done.

By removing Plunder from the gametypes that affect your K/D, these players would have no more reason to play the gametype. It stops being an all you can kill, until the timer runs out Deathmatch for them, and they'll have to move elsewhere, to fulfill that need. That leaves the mode open for players who want that objective-based experience, and who want to work as a team to play a good game of Plunder.

There are a few ideas out there. The main ones were a reduction in the value of Medals, to give less incentive to farm kills and camp, but this seems double-edged to me. People are going to want their kills, and want their money, so in a way, this could backfire, and nothing would really change. They would still be padding their KD, and earning some money for it, but the money was peripheral.
One is a large reward for finishing the game quickly, arne hints that it could be large enough to almost cap you out, if it's achieved within 5 minutes. It would scale down after the initial 5 minutes. Hand in hand with this, a few people have suggested a penalty for That Was Embarrassing, to encourage both teams to play for the captures.
I do like the idea of the Captured medals scaling up in value, though. It's a neat idea, it would make the gametype much more valuable for lower-level players, and could really bring a lot of new players into it, because of it. When you don't have access to a badge, Plunder with Deposit is pretty much as good as it gets for making money, and by giving that a substantial increase, it would promote more attention to Plunder, and draw in some new players.


My biggest frustration with Plunder was honestly the spawns, and the fact that it affected my KD. If I'm the treasure bearer, I get punished because really, my job is to make the idol move, and I get little reward out of that. It's much more rewarding for me to fill a slayer role, hit my cap because of my BoH's, and not have my KD drop as a result. There's very little incentive, or reward to actually move the treasure, unfortunately, for a lot of higher level players. It's just more efficient for us to kill the opposing team, and make our money that way.

I think they need to remove Plunder from the gametypes that go into K/D calculation, and implement some simpler changes, like a scaling Captured. That, along with hopefully an update to the spawns on Plunder, seems like it would do a world of good, and would be at the very least, a large step in the right direction.



A big part of my inconsistency is that we're playing Plunder. I can't play like how I'm used to, because I'm a Deathmatch player. I'm out of my element somewhat in Plunder, especially given my preferred campy style. Most of my good games happen in Deathmatch, while my inconsistent games will occur in the other playlists. Part of it is that I'm still struggling to find my booster set-up as well, so as I'm rotating through the day, trying to find where exactly I'm still most comfortable, my performance can swing pretty wildly based on what I'm using.

Sorry I wasn't really together today Endlo and doing my job as a protector, even though we mostly played competitive playlist.

Actually Silver, great example, the match we had right before I left in the Sanctuary... all hammer whores and pistole spammers.. 2 games before that Charlie used the GAL the whole time.. and scored a headshot.

I think All Comp and Deathmatch, for the purpose of getting money, are way more efficient. Everyone in a double-cash treats Plunder like an unlimited opportunity Deathmatch, that's just the way it's been, since we've been having double-cashes. I'm going to be stuck in a gametype for it's full duration, and get 150k.

Or, I can go rock Deathmatch, which are going to last around eight to ten minutes, on a good game get at least 100k, and then be on my way. You end up coming out ahead, on the money, and if you throw in All Competitive, you can justify running way more abusive booster set-ups, then Deathmatch would allow, because of the one-hit-kill gametypes. Invalid and Come Get Some is some good for getting your money, with little effort required.

Good posts above. Sounds like peeps have been getting some good matches in for sure. I have to go out on a run and then get a few hours of a work project completed on top of making dinner. I hope to get a little playtime but I have to be up at 6am tomorrow so....we'll see....

Endlo, Silver and myself really wrecked... 'cept last game... nice of you guys to let me take back 4 though..

superdragon222 wrote:

Endlo, Silver and myself really wrecked... 'cept last game... nice of you guys to let me take back 4 though..

Uuumm, take back 4?

That headshot was epic.

It was raist had one like that when we played a while back. and you guys let me capture 4 treasures..

Dude, its not about WHO gets the cap. If one teammate gets the cap, EVERYBODY wins and gets the cash for that capture. Its a team matchtype and as such the whole team is rewarded

Don't care... I got 4 caps... but no thank you's

Thank you very much, I cou-WE could not have won without you.

Thanks...

I'm not really going to be playing any more Plunder, during the double-cash. It's a waste of time.

I was capping out just fine in Deathmatch, and was actually doing better than I had been, for the past few nights. Vash and I were discussing boosters some, and we both agree that Glass Jaw cannot be the answer. As much as I want Fleet Foot back, I would much rather play with Come Get Some or Half-Loaded, as my negative. Glass Jaw just hands out too many free kills for me to be comfortable with right now, and gives players an out, when one isn't deserved.

I also stand by Down the Irons being the most broken booster in the game. As I was saying earlier tonight, Situational may let me see through walls, but it sure as hell doesn't let me shoot through them. I was running DtI and CGS today as my main Plunder set-up, and in some Deathmatches, and the number of kills that you can directly attribute to it, is insane. When a player is completely obscured, I shouldn't be able to damage them. After they've run into a building, or taken cover, I shouldn't be able to just keep pecking with my AK, and kill them, it's ridiculous.

true.. that's why I was running fleet footted, which also allows me to ninja/sound whore better. I don't use characters with audio tracks either to disallow them hearing the vocal cues

Do you mean Walk Softly? Unless I'm misunderstanding, Fleet Foot has no effect on a character's sound, so I'm not sure what you mean by ninja/sound whore better.

The vocal cues are a pretty big giveaway sometimes. My main skins are the Coles, anymore, so I don't have a set of noises, just footsteps to worry about. I still like rocking Donut though, and for a long time, I ran UDF Drake and Prokaso, and really, wasn't very affected. It doesn't make a huge difference, because most players are just that unaware of how to read those cues. In the end it comes down to really just using whatever skins you want, and rolling with it.

If you're trying to squeeze out the most competitive edges possible, then the obvious choices are Marco Polo and Genghis Khan. They're small, easy to miss, they have no vocal cues, and have no visible drawback, like a glow.

being a level 43... yeah. and yes I did mean walk softly...

You know those Plunder games that are fast, fun, have team-mates that will play the objective or do their best to protect the carrier? Say the changes ND is supposed to make to Plunder actually make this common will you play Plunder more? This is a question to everyone because it seems to be a general consensus that Plunder blows and I want to know everyone's opinion so please reply (preferably after reading the Naughty Dog forums on this subject).

I personally play Plunder almost half the time lately because maybe I'm just a crazy junkie, chasing that awesome feeling of playing with competent, reliable teammates that play the objective. That feeling you are lucky to get once a week because of the B.S. that is shotguns and Situational Awareness/Down The Irons or players kill farming like *ADMIN EDIT*

I think that this game is very good, but it could be so much better if they fixed Plunder. I don't care if they make it impossible not to max out by raising the value of "Captured" medals, Plunder has given me some of the, no, THE best moments of online gaming I have experienced, It just happens so rarely that I can't really enjoy it because I'm too worried about how long it will be before I can enjoy the game like this. Plunder can be fun if ND makes it fun.

Endlo, what booster will you be using in slot one with CGS if you feel guilty for using Down The Irons?

Endloslung wrote:

I'm not really going to be playing any more Plunder, during the double-cash. It's a waste of time.

I was capping out just fine in Deathmatch, and was actually doing better than I had been, for the past few nights. Vash and I were discussing boosters some, and we both agree that Glass Jaw cannot be the answer. As much as I want Fleet Foot back, I would much rather play with Come Get Some or Half-Loaded, as my negative. Glass Jaw just hands out too many free kills for me to be comfortable with right now, and gives players an out, when one isn't deserved.

I also stand by Down the Irons being the most broken booster in the game. As I was saying earlier tonight, Situational may let me see through walls, but it sure as hell doesn't let me shoot through them. I was running DtI and CGS today as my main Plunder set-up, and in some Deathmatches, and the number of kills that you can directly attribute to it, is insane. When a player is completely obscured, I shouldn't be able to damage them. After they've run into a building, or taken cover, I shouldn't be able to just keep pecking with my AK, and kill them, it's ridiculous.

I almost never play plunder, I'm deathmatch all the way.

I mean I was just in a party with Vash, Endlo and Prizma and we played objective and shut them out.. Besides the insanity of the other team it was a good time.. So if people played it like it was supposed to be played then yes I would.

Wish I could have been there.