As a follow-up to my review of Quake Live, I'm going to share a few observations on how people play. Take it for a strategy tips list, or if you don't muss your hair with such matters, a glimpse into the world of people who waste their time with far more commitment than you do.
There's more noobs than you think. When you're first starting out in online play, you might think that everybody must be better than you, since you're getting smeared as soon as you spawn. Actually, if you're even playing, you're ahead already. Drawing conclusions from the stats on the awards page, 35% of players have never completed an online match (not win, mind you, just finish one), 89% have not played more than ten total hours since signing up, and only 36% of players have ever won a single online match, ever.
Using the gauntlet exclusively is not a winning strategy. The gauntlet is the glowy spinny buzzsaw thingy that is everyone's fall-back, ammo-free weapon. It's a close-combat weapon only. I see a lot of players whose strategy is just to run pell-mell through the map with the gauntlet, trying to rush everyone. I laugh when I see one coming, because (a) gauntlets make noise, so it's impossible to sneak up on anybody, and (b) all I have to do is move away and shoot with anything I have on hand.
Everyone complains about lag and ping. But if you play on a server within your country, ping shouldn't be a problem. Try playing a practice mode with bots, where the game is local and guaranteed low-ping. If you play against four AI opponents on Hardcore difficulty and can't at least dominate there, then ping is not your problem.
There's less cheating going on than you think. If you think a player is using a cheat, trying following them in spectator mode. You'll find that they just have good strategy, at least as far as I've seen so far. Most of the best players simply stay on the move all the time.
Camping is not cheating. Camping is a strategy. Every map has some good spots to hang out, where cover is good and weapons, health, and armor spawn frequently nearby. By all means, do whatever you can to make a camper's life more uncomfortable! Finding camping areas and kicking the camper out of their comfy little nest is part of the fun.
Run the maps in practice mode, solo. You can select the option 'just me' in the customization part when you're starting a practice match. That way you can run a map and discover all the secrets, item spawns, and ideal strategic points. Make sure you know how to get to an important area quickly from anywhere. Explore. Find good camping spots, sniper's nests, and fast escape routes.
For those of you bored out of your minds at this, I'll get back to my regular content eventually. But hey, it is sometimes also important to show that, yes, Linux can be an enjoyable gaming platform, and Linux geeks can enjoy ourselves like normal human beings once in a while.
Comments:
Go to the movement wiki for Warsow (link below), and read about the movements - down load the lessons - then practice them in a training session. The videos are the best I have seen for bunny hopping, and strafe jumping. Strafe jumping is what will take a medium player to a better medium player the fastest route.
The videos have depictions of what keys and mouse moves are being made with each training exercise.
http://www.warsow.net/wiki/index.php?title=Movement
