[Multiplatform] Carl on Duty: Black Cops - Holy crap a patch

So despite most of you donging all over it pre-release, the slow cascade of people getting this has begun. Toku and Russ have been playing it, my rental showed up which somehow led to m00 buying it, and then hilariously Skills has bought it. Also for those of you who know them some of the other guys from Shimms' group have it; SoupClan rented it from Gamefly as well, and at least Shimms will probably be buying it Black Friday and more of those guys might get roped in as well. So it seemed appropriate to make a thread, since it looks like this will probably get some level of play from enough people. I think most of us will still main Halo, but this seems like a good alternative go to for at least a couple of months as the two games could not be any different.

I still haven't played much (I'm level 12 and just unlocked Custom Classes, Killstreaks, etc), but since we all have familiarity with MW2, I'm just going to pull this condensed list of main differences from that game.


Classes - unlocks are different; you still obtain XP in the same ways, but you also earn COD points (which is a horrible name) that you have to use to actually buy stuff. So you still unlock gun x at level x, but then you have to spend money to buy that gun, along with attachments, equipment, perks, etc.

Wager Matches - 4 modes in which you can put up your COD points in a match against other players; the top 3 players at the end earn their ante back plus a bonus, everyone else loses their ante.

Contracts - Somewhat similar to Reach's Challenge system. On a daily/weekly basis, there are 3 different sets of contracts you can purchase. Once you purchase the contract those COD points are gone, so if you don't complete the contract you're out that money, but the contracts tend to pay very well (usually up to ten times what you paid for it). The contracts are things like knife an enemy in the back, get 10 headshot kills with a certain gun, etc. What's interesting on these is that you have an in-game time limit to hit them; so rather than being given a time limit of say 5 matches, it will give you 45 minutes while alive in-game to complete them. You can complete a contract multiple times while it's available that day/week, but once you've completed it there's a cooldown time until you can purchase it again. The ones I did had about an hour or so on average.

Prestige - You now max out rank and can Prestige at Level 50, but there are now 15 Prestige levels. Like before you unlock additional Custom Class Slots at higher Prestige levels, as well as other unlocks (like camos, playercards, etc).

Visual Customization - You can now buy and edit your Playercard (the nameplate behind your name in lobbies, Titles in MW2), as well the Icons that appear on your Playercard. You now buy the icons, and can buy 12 layers of them so you can pull off some Fortza type bullshit if you are so inclined (you can do some basic rotating, color changing, and outlines). You can unlock more Playercards and Icons as you rank up, but they still must be purchased. You can also buy custom reticules (I was killed by someone with a smiley face laser sight), gun skins, and other visual flair but I apparently haven't gotten to any of that yet so I can't comment.

Killstreaks - Deathstreaks are completely gone. Killstreak kills no longer "stack," i.e. getting kills with your Sentry Gun Killstreak don't count as kills towards your next Killstreak.

3 kills - Spy Plane, aka UAV
3 kills - RC-XD, a remote controlled car strapped with explosives
4 kills - Counter-Spy Plane, aka radar jammer
4 kills - SAM Turret, a placeable turret that destroys aircraft
5 kills - Care Package, works as before by dropping a random killstreak or ammo crate, can now also drop a Special Weapon like the Death Machine (a player-usable minigun)
5 kills - Napalm Strike, drops in a firestrike (think Harrier Strike but with fire)
6 kills - Sentry Gun, just like before
6 kills - Mortar Team, choose three locations on the map to bombard with mortar strikes
7 kills - Attack Helicopter, just like before
7 kills - Valkyrie Rockets, launcher with two remote controlled rockets
8 kills - Blackbird, a recon plan that reveals enemies and their direction, NOT destructible
8 kills - Rolling Thunder, a B-52 Carpet Bombing (aka Harrier Strike)
9 kills - Chopper Gunner, similar to MW2
11 kills - Attack Dogs, as annoying as it sounds
11 kills - Gunship, allows you to pilot a HIND with rockets and machine gun, can be destroyed

Perks - Stopping Power, Juggernaut, Danger Close, One Man Army and Commando are all gone. Worth noting also that Scavenger now does NOT restore Grenade Launcher ammo, so Noobtubing like in MW2 is effectively gone. Now to unlock the Pro versions of Perks, you have to complete 3 specific challenges. The perks in BLOPS are:

Lightweight: Move faster / Pro: No fall damage
Scavenger: Resupply from dead bodies, does not resupply launchers or equipment / Pro: Doubles your starting ammo and replenishes tactical grenades
Ghost: Undetectable by Spy Plane and Blackbird / Pro: Undetectable by aircraft, dogs, infrared and sentries, enemies don't see your name or red crosshair when targeting you
Hardline: Killstreaks 1 kill earlier / Pro: "Re-roll" results of a Care Package
Flak Jacket: Extra explosives resistance / Pro: Extra fire resistance and reset fuse when you throw back grenades

Hardened: Extra bullet penetration / Pro: Bullets do extra damage to Aircraft and turrets, reduced flinch when shot at
Scout: Hold breath longer / Pro: Switch between weapons faster
Steady Aim: Extra accuracy when shooting from hip / Quicker aiming after sprinting and quicker recover from knife lunges
Sleight of Hand: Faster reload / Pro: Faster aiming down sight with non-scoped weapons
Warlord: 2 attachments on primary weapon / Pro: Start with one extra lethal and tactical grenade (excluding smoke)

Marathon: Longer sprint / Pro: Unlimited sprint
Ninja: Move silently / Pro: louder enemy footsteps, makes you completely silent
Second Change: Pull out pistol before dying / Pro: Survive longer and any teammate can revive you
Hacker: Detect enemy equipment and explosives / Pro: Booby trap enemy care packages and turn enemy killstreaks and equipment friendly (???)
Tactical Mask: Reduces effect of Flash and Concussion grenades / Pro: Reduces effects of Gas and Concussion grenades, reveals location of flashed or stunned enemy

Weapons - Grenades and Equipment are different slots now, as opposed to being lumped together like MW2. Shotguns are back to Primary weapons.

-You can now dive to prone which is sort of hilarious.

-Party Chat is allowed now in all playlists but Search and Destroy. Fuck you IW.


So far I'm enjoying it; pretty much feels like MW2 with changes that range from good, bad, or indifferent. Probably my only particular disappointment is the SCAR being gone as that was my go to gun (and so far I haven't really liked any of the Assault rifles I've unlocked), and none of the Killstreaks really do it for me. Although it might overall be for the better that Killstreaks don't seem as super broken in this as they did in MW2. Also the UI in lobbies and menus isn't great, took us a while to find shit and it's just really not intuitive.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Supposedly the PS3 version is even worse than the 360 version in terms of online framerate and lag, which is almost unbelievable.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Right, but everything you've said 100% happens all the fucking time on 360, which is why I'm appalled at people saying it's even worse on PS3 than 360, since it's barely playable on 360.

How ya doing, buddy?

I am shocked.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

That thread is speculation, but in all honesty there's probably at least some partial truth to that; the fact that MS is apparently paying out any amount of money to Activision I'm sure contributes, but I agree with Shin that it was probably at least largely driven by the fact that the price on the service hasn't changed in 6 years.

Also holy fucking shit, we just had a 31 game winning streak, absolute madness.

I was speaking idiomatically.

You mean because 99% of my friends list is playing this instead of Halo now? Yeah, you're right.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I tried to get out of the chair but it was too laggy and after the host migration I was back in the chair

FELIPE NO

Actually I did tell you that, but you were probably too busy having your mind blown that you could get out of the chair

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

You and a couple of the European dudes yes. I still get on in the mornings to do Challenges, and I see Roflfox on a bit (probably doing the same), but basically everyone has transitioned to blops. I'm assuming that Shimms and those guys are still playing Halo, but I haven't seen them on in a while, and I know at least Shimms said he was going to try to get blops on Black Friday.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Some specifics on the patch m00 was talking about in the lobby the other day; according to their forum notes on this this was submitted to the console manufacturers (or to be submitted) Monday, and via their little FAQ from that point to actual release it's out of their hands, and usually takes about a week to a week and a half from that point. So sometime next week on this stuff? The party issues and knife lunge reduction are probably the most relevant.

Quote:

Issues Addressed:
* • Resolved several issues with parties getting disbanded unexpectedly.
* • Updated handling for UPnP-enabled routers to improve matchmaking conditions where users had strict or moderate NAT types. Also added in-game communications so that all players are aware of their NAT type in the Player Match party lobby.
* • Addressed issue that prevented the “Load MP by Default” option from saving when other specific option combinations were set.
* • Prevention of exploit that allowed players to keep custom classes and killstreaks after prestige.
* • Addressed an issue where Flak Jacket Pro would not always protect against ground fires left by Napalm Strikes.
* • Prevention of users losing their killstreak reward when switching classes at the start of a new round in round-based game modes.
* • Addressed an issue where the incorrect perks would appear when spectating another player under certain circumstances.
* • Added round start explosive delay to China Lake grenade launcher to give it the same round start limitations as other explosives.
* • Contracts will now reset when the player Prestiges.
* • Prevention of Valkyrie rocket exploding upon release under rare conditions.
* • Prevention of Gunship and Chopper Gunner failing to give player full control under rare conditions.
* • Prevention of an issue where a player will get teleported outside the map boundaries under very specific circumstances.
* • Additional security measures to enhance detection and banning capabilities.

Gameplay Tuning:
* • Limit the ability to re-roll supply drops using Hardline Pro to Care Packages only, no other killstreak drops.
* • Added a negative influencer to all spawn points to decrease the chances of spawning near an enemy. This will further improve spawning protection on top of previous updates.
* • Additional sound mix tuning for Ninja Pro users – increased ranges and volume of enemy footsteps, and removed player footstep sounds on concrete material types.
* • Increased headshot multipliers for sniper rifles. Sniper rifles with suppressors equipped will now always be ensured one-shot kill headshots.
* • Subtle increase in sniper rifle accuracy when scoping in.
* • Added a render delay to the red diamond player indicators that appear when controlling the Gunship, Valkyrie Rocket and Chopper Gunner. When a player first spawns, this will not appear for a period of time.
* • Additional minor reductions in knife lunge.

Also for the lol's:

YouTube Video

YouTube Video

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Weird that you`re still having party issues skills, we played some and still have it a bit, but it`s much better overall in terms of people getting dropped randomly. You and russ always seem to have a ton more issues with lag and whatnot than the rest of us though.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

You`ve had the problem where you don`t get control of the chopper gunner? I`m just curious because I`ve never heard anyone mention that, including you. The first I had ever heard of it was in the patch notes. I didn`t really get a good feel for if knifing is any better or worse last night, was too busy raping dudes nonstop and going 30 and 5 like all night.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Weird. I don't doubt it, I just hadn't actually spoken with anyone that had even mentioned it. I got a few Chopper Gunners last night, but again I was on a roll and killing dudes so bad I didn't even notice the red diamond thing either way.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Apparently on the new Major Nelson podcast he revealed that the first Black Ops DLC maps will be coming on 2/1/11, $15 for 4 new multiplayer maps and 1 zombie map.

Edit: Some details (apparently) from GAF:

Quote:

Stadium - Hockey rink.

Discovery - Antarctic German research station.

Kowloon - In Kowloon City, China. Rooftop map, WITH RAIN!!!!!

Berlin Wall - East v West Berlin, Famous checkpoint Charlie.

Ascension - Zombie map, no info....


All maps have those cool "scripted" events.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

You'll love this bullshit Skills: just went 32-2 on Havana Deathmatch in Ground War. The best part though is I got a Chopper Gunner from my Care Package, then earned a Chopper Gunner on the regular right after. They finally took out my first Chopper Gunner, immediately called in the second.

I imagine they were probably mad.

FELIPE NO