Left 4 Dead

[Trubinator]

I didn't like my first online coop experience either. Some jock sounding person was yelling "fucking idiot! you are a fucking idiot!" at me because I didn't instantly save him from a hunter after he ran ahead for miles. Then he tried to have me banned, which luckily failed in the voting. Finally, after my infected kill score was about 200 over anyone else in the match, the guy told everyone to "let trubinator die" during the finale, leaving me dead on the ground as the plane took off. Nice community...

 

[CommodoreKong]

DLC announced for L4D today, a new campaign called Crash Course. Crash Course is set between the No Mercy and Dead Toll, and will be playable in all modes.

It's coming this September and will be free on the PC (Of Course) and 560 Microsoft points on the 360. Should be a nice way to tide people over until Left 4 Dead 2.

 

[Commander Vaughn]

So what good does the game of the year edition do me if I still have to pay extra for DLC? That's kind of frustrating...

 

[CommodoreKong]

So what good does the game of the year edition do me if I still have to pay extra for DLC? That's kind of frustrating...

The Game of the Year edition was just the game plus the content already released. Future content wasn't included. It mostly seemed to be a way to relaunch the game and keep it on store shelves longer.

Since I got the PC version I'll be getting the content for free.

 

[Trubinator]

I wish IGN and the like had announced this with screenshots and a preview.

 

[CommodoreKong]

I wish IGN and the like had announced this with screenshots and a preview.

I bet we'll get screenshots and more details in the next few days.

 

[Reverend]

I didn't like my first online coop experience either. Some jock sounding person was yelling "fucking idiot! you are a fucking idiot!" at me because I didn't instantly save him from a hunter after he ran ahead for miles. Then he tried to have me banned, which luckily failed in the voting. Finally, after my infected kill score was about 200 over anyone else in the match, the guy told everyone to "let trubinator die" during the finale, leaving me dead on the ground as the plane took off. Nice community...

Pretty much sums up my experience too. It's sad because it's a really good game and can be quite enjoyable but is quickly ruined by one or two overly competitive elitists. I've actually not bothered playing if for a few months now mainly due to ban happy jar heads, particularly in Vs mode.

 

[Hermiod]

I didn't like my first online coop experience either. Some jock sounding person was yelling "fucking idiot! you are a fucking idiot!" at me because I didn't instantly save him from a hunter after he ran ahead for miles. Then he tried to have me banned, which luckily failed in the voting. Finally, after my infected kill score was about 200 over anyone else in the match, the guy told everyone to "let trubinator die" during the finale, leaving me dead on the ground as the plane took off. Nice community...

Pretty much sums up my experience too. It's sad because it's a really good game and can be quite enjoyable but is quickly ruined by one or two overly competitive elitists. I've actually not bothered playing if for a few months now mainly due to ban happy jar heads, particularly in Vs mode.

On the other hand, I've played with complete strangers and worked well as a team.

Left 4 Dead is no different to any other online game, especially on Xbox Live, you are much better off playing with people on your friends list.

 

[Commander Vaughn]

My roommate and I tried this on Expert mode the other day, and it's pretty hard to do with the AIs. Anyone have any tips?

 

[Hermiod]

My roommate and I tried this on Expert mode the other day, and it's pretty hard to do with the AIs. Anyone have any tips?

Have a poke through the Left 4 Dead Wiki. There's loads of tips on the pages for each chapter, each type of special infected etc with some specific ones for Expert.

One very simple tip for expert is this: Stay The Frak Away From The Witch. She will kill you with one hit. Not incapacitate you, kill you.

 

[PKerr]

I didn't like my first online coop experience either. Some jock sounding person was yelling "fucking idiot! you are a fucking idiot!" at me because I didn't instantly save him from a hunter after he ran ahead for miles. Then he tried to have me banned, which luckily failed in the voting. Finally, after my infected kill score was about 200 over anyone else in the match, the guy told everyone to "let trubinator die" during the finale, leaving me dead on the ground as the plane took off. Nice community...

Pretty much sums up my experience too. It's sad because it's a really good game and can be quite enjoyable but is quickly ruined by one or two overly competitive elitists. I've actually not bothered playing if for a few months now mainly due to ban happy jar heads, particularly in Vs mode.

Same here.
I don't know how many time I've been kicked just signing in.

 

[Reverend]

On the other hand, I've played with complete strangers and worked well as a team.

Left 4 Dead is no different to any other online game, especially on Xbox Live, you are much better off playing with people on your friends list.

Oh same here mate. In fact I've never played any online games with friends, I've never really gotten into online communities in that way.
Like I said, I really enjoy the game, but the increasingly elitist/snob behaviour of a certain minority have put me off it for a while. When I boot up Steam I look at my installed games and thing to myself :-

"Do I want to spent 20 mins trying to find a lobby that actually has 3 other people in it that don't all log out if the game doesn't start within 0.025 seconds or 30 mins hopping from one "quick start" game to the next, getting booted because their mate just got disconnected or because I don't have my mic plugged in and physically can't type fast enough between moving and shooting...OR shall I just play TF2 and actually have some gurenteed FUN?"

Of late, I've been favouring tha latter option. Still, I might give it another go soon, especially with a new campain on the way and I've yet to play the lighthouse level yet.

One very simple tip for expert is this: Stay The Frak Away From The Witch. She will kill you with one hit. Not incapacitate you, kill you.

Would you believe I once got kicked for successfully killing her before she had a chance to stand up? Got right up behind her and unloaded an auto-shotgun in her face. I think they just booted me on general principle for showing off.

 

[Trubinator]

Sadly, I think the more "fun" and "accessible" games tend to have poorer communities. Games like Left 4 Dead, Halo 3 and Unreal Tournament are all fun, but anyone can play them. Therefore, you get the two-year-olds with foul mouths and college morons who can't play nice. Conversely, in more elitist and prohibitively difficult games like ArmA and Civilization, you tend to get much smarter (and nicer) people. At least, that has been my experience...

 

[Hermiod]

One very simple tip for expert is this: Stay The Frak Away From The Witch. She will kill you with one hit. Not incapacitate you, kill you.

Would you believe I once got kicked for successfully killing her before she had a chance to stand up? Got right up behind her and unloaded an auto-shotgun in her face. I think they just booted me on general principle for showing off.

That's ridiculous. A good team should always have a guy with a shotgun for Witch Cr0wning. The auto shotgun is particularly effective against Tanks as well.

If people just want to play with their friends on Xbox Live then they should use the party system and/or set up private games. I bet most of the time they refuse to do it because they want to be in a ranked game so they can get achievements and move up the ranking table instead of just playing games for fun.

 

[Cutter John]

Witches aren't that big a problem. Even if you don't crown her, an alert team can fill her full of lead before she does much damage.

Now see, I never had a problem with Co-op play on the PC. If you take the time to go through the missions solo first, then playing with others shouldn't be a problem. Heck I've been playing it pretty steadily for about two months and I enjoy helping new people. As long as they stick close and follow suggestions that is (God help you if you stumble onto a team of ten year olds). It adds to the challenge, and its cool seeing them get achievements. I've met a few idiot players, but most have been pretty cool. And its easy enough to quit and find a new game if you run into a pack of griefers

Personally I'm more of an M16 fan since I prefer to strafe my shots. With the autoshottie I tend to burn through my clips too quickly and find myself out of ammo by the time the horde reaches me, and reloads take forever. Plus I don't like getting that close to a Tank.

OTOH I don't find Versus all that much fun. I play games to have fun, and Vs just seems too much like work. And getting booted by pissed off teammates the first couple of times I tried it kind of tainted my opinion. I've stuck pretty much with Co-Op on Advanced mode.

 

[Hermiod]

^Witches are very tough on Expert. If you try the trick where you shoot her from a distance with the other survivors acting as a firing squad then she will often change targets and attack anyone who gets in between her and the one who startled her. Since attack = instant death, this can be a problem.

I find having a good mix of tier 2 weapons on your team helps. Getting achievements through regular play is one thing, but you get a lot of people who are just boosting.

 

[JonathonWally]

I love killing zombies, I do it like it's my job!

I'm pretty casual though when it comes to gaming, I'm more for the good times than the hardcore victory or whatever.

I won't lie, I'm not the greatest at gaming, but if anyone wants to play some casual L4D or other games on xbox live I'm JonathonWally81

Hit me up.

 

[Goliath]

Sadly, I think the more "fun" and "accessible" games tend to have poorer communities. Games like Left 4 Dead, Halo 3 and Unreal Tournament are all fun, but anyone can play them. Therefore, you get the two-year-olds with foul mouths and college morons who can't play nice. Conversely, in more elitist and prohibitively difficult games like ArmA and Civilization, you tend to get much smarter (and nicer) people. At least, that has been my experience...

I think that's at least partly true. I played Red Orchestra for the first time in weeks recently, and I was amazed at how polite and well-behaved everyone was, compared to L4D.

But another factor is simply the small size of the teams. When there's only four people on a team, the assholes are much more noticeable, and it's much easier for them to ruin everything for others.

But OTOH... Killing Floor has the same kinds of small teams as L4D, and only once have I ever encountered the same kind of douchebaggery among KF players as I have among L4D players. And KF is more difficult than L4D. So maybe you had it right the first time.

 

[Trubinator]

Just played a survival match last night and had a slightly better experience. I still have yet to play a match where a 12-year-old doesn't start squaking into the mic though. I had hoped that buying the PC version would screen out those types, but oh well...

 

[Mistral]

I find it a mixed bag. Some good games-some bad. I hate the games where someone is using glitches to cheat the game experience-and it happens a lot on the 360. I ran through a game where my team got 1 health pack-and the other team always had them. Frustrating, and a waste of an hour+ of my life.