Today there is plenty of different pieces of news to talk about. This includes Quick Scoping, Napalm Strikes, Theater Mode in Private Matches, and much more.
It's been a pretty quiet few days and weeks in Call of Duty land, but that has suddenly changed. From news to heated debates, there's certainly a lot to talk about today.
It's only reasonable that we start off by talking about the most heated and debatable subject over the last few days. It was just 2 days ago when Treyarch's Community Manager Josh Olin stated that they were trying to "gimp" quick scoping in Call of Duty: Black Ops.
As you would have guessed, this didn't go down quite well. The community is split in half enough as it is and with half siding with different arguments, it only got worse. The debate has took to twitter, petitions, and forums.
Both Josh Olin and lead Design David 'Vahn' Vonderhaar have visited the official Black Ops forums to reassure people as to why they've took this design approach.
Vahn made it known as to how each class has it's own purpose. For example, a shotgun should be used for close-range combat whereas a sniper is designed for long-range combat. So it makes sense that a shotgun shouldn't shoot someone from a far distance and that a sniper shouldn't kill someone from a close distance. Therefore weapons are designed to suit certain techniques and combat styles, but they are concerned that people are using the weapons in a way that doesn't match the intended design.
As some users on the forums have mentioned, leaked beta footage (which we're still not covering..) appears to show that quick scoping is still intact. But in a separate post, Vahn mentions about how they still weren't satisfied with how "easy" it was to quick scope despite the efforts that they have made. So because of this, they have made more changes which will show up in the first title update so that it requires "a higher degree of skill to use effectively". A
But despite being a design and engineering decision, it's the Community Manager that has been getting the blame and hate messages.
A comparison that has been thrown around a lot is why do they consider quick scoping "cheap" when grenade launchers and other explosives are also hated by the majority. But as Josh Olin states, "explosives are not more power than quick scoping" because you only have one (or two) explosives and "not magazines worth in rapid succession" like sniper rifles.
He believes that quick scoping kills are cheap because "you're firing your bullet, getting your one-shot-kill while the screen is still black from pulling up your sights". Josh then goes on to say how it's an exploit because you're using the aim assist to your advantage while the bullet travels in a straight line "to get a laser-accurate One-Shot-Kill". He states that although quick scoping does require timing, it doesn't require aiming.
Many people find quick scoping fun and use it to create cool montages, but as he says, there are plenty of other ways to create just as effective and cool montages. If everyone had the philosophy that quick scoping is possible if you try hard enough, then it would lead to a lot of people running around with just sniper rifles, this isn't the direction that Treyarch wants.
We've been contacted by a few people about the possibility of including quick scoping in private matches, and as Josh Olin says, he will try and see if the team will make it a configurable option in private match but that he can't make any promises.
Of course, as he says, because something is funny doesn't necessary mean that it is right. There will always be people who like something, and people who don't. But when there's loads of people complaining, it seems like there's much more hate for the decision, but that's only because they're making more noise than those who approve of the decision.
You can check out the full posts on the CoDHQ via the following links.
A new Intel post on the CoDHQ has arrived here » and it talks about the Napalm Strike killstreak in multiplayer.
The Napalm Strike can be called in after you have earned 5 kills and you can then choose a target and direction on the map. Once called in, just sit back and watch on as the plane fly over from above and drops a load of hot napalm on the target area. It will kill anyone unluckily enough to be in the target vicinity but the napalm will also continue to burn on the ground, meaning that anyone who foolishly gets too closed will be incinerated.
The Napalm Strike is a ideal killstreak to use in objective-based game modes where you're either being overrun, or the enemy is on top of the objective with no one around to deal with them.
It's exactly two weeks today that everyone worldwide will be able to get their hands on the game! Vahn has posted on the CoDHQ forums to inform us of some information and reassurance due to various different members of the development team jetting off to launch events around the world. But there will still be members of the team at the studio to ensure that the game has a succesful launch with little to no problems. So for Vahn's tops on how you can let your views and the game's problems known in a polite and constructive manner, check out the topic here ».
Vahn has also posted on the CoDHQ forums here » to let us know that Private Matches can be recorded by Theater Mode! This will be great for those fun little shenanigans that may occur as well as for clan matches. Considering Private Matches are said to have a lot of in-depth settings and RC-XD's can have no time limited (meaning Races can happen), it ought to be a lot of fun. Theater mode can be turned on in the settings menu but because of file size, you will have to keep the game to under about 20 minutes. Vahn has also said on his twitter » that they are planning something big that will be declassified soon, in response to a Theater mode question.
CVG have added two new Black Ops articles. One talks about the game being the 'most emotional Call of Duty yet' and the other focuses on a few Wager Match tips.
To check out the 'most emotional' article, head over to here » and to check out the Wager Match article, head over to here ».
The Washington Post have also added a new article which talks about the Single Player mode. It also features a new never-before-seen image which looks to be set in a very similar (or exactly same, you could say) room to that featured in the GKNOVA6 » viral. The article does contain minor spoilers, specifically for the beginning of the game, so read it here » at your own discretion.
Discuss this article on the DW24/7 forums here »
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