Thread: Quick self primer (autoprimer)

Had a thought that maybe this would be interesting:

If you had to give the people you play with on your team in L4D2 a quick primer on your play style, what would you say?

Notable categories that I can think of off the top of my head:
What you rely on from your teammates?
What you are good/bad at skill set wise?
How you communicate over the mic? How you expect your teammates to communicate?
Quick summary of your game knowledge (spawn locations, spawn rotations, map layout, typical plays/calls, more advanced things...)

And I will start it off:

I typically rely on my teammates to call notable things (hear an SI, SI spotted but did not kill, a consumable/throwable that they can't pickup themselves. Say if they are behind/ or need help (ask for help generously). I rely/want my teammates if they are in the middle positions (place #2,3) to kill SI. If you are in the lead position you are hoard clearer, last place is a dual role/ play babysitter for anyone that needs help. I rely on my team to do that, and that is how I play. I usually rely on my team to coordinate without much communication game wise. I like to talk about other stuff while playing, its a social avenue for me. I could almost care less about the game.....

Now for playing SI I rely on my team to plan the attacks. Just talking goal wise, I find 'stop the other team' harder than 'get to end point'. I don't call plays myself, almost always. I play a really good spitter and tank. Boomer being my worst SI. Playing as SI I rely on my team to be able to 'hit' when someone says hit.... not wait till 2 people are already dead to go in.... All mic communication should be about where to hit when dead, then the caller should say 'GO' about 2 seconds before he himself goes in (there is noticeable mic delay in game)!!!

For myself I only ever talk about the game when I notice something that I can't immediately resolve. I call an SI that I see when I can't kill it quickly. I call when I hear a spawn and a general direction. I only call items when I myself did not use them. I try to remember to call it when I am going to rush ahead really far, but only when all SI are dead.... and I try to call holds/helps when I need it. Other than that I look to talk to my teammates about non-game stuff.... that's really why I like this game, you can have close/intimate conversations and get to know who you play with.

Which leads me in to my skill set. I know all the maps extremely well. I know all the guns, I know the SI, I know the distances the SI can hit, I know the common and uncommon hit spots, I know every spawn spot for items, I know the chokes, the times to book it, the times to run for it for distance.... I plain out know the game and all the 'feelings' and when to act on them.
What I don't know a lot of the time are my team members I don't know if your a dead-eye shot, I don't know if you are terrible at clearing hoard, I don't know if you check every nook and cranny for items, UNLESS I have played with you a ton. Which I am glad to say is a lot of TPG people. I know what to expect from Kanati, BT, Thorson, Scum, Raush, Morning, Andy, Green, etc. etc. I even know what to expect when such people are having a quote 'Bad Day' end quote or even when they are drunk/drinking.

My biggest fault is relying on new players to play like my friends that I am used to at this game. I don't play well trying to pick up slack. I expect the well oiled machine that is used to my own play style, and that, and that is my biggest failure at this game.

I don't care if you have a mic or use it if you are good enough to not have to. Like Golgo or Dawkins. Either of them can get away with it because they are good enough to wipe an entire SI hit all by themselves in a pinch. If they are on my team I don't worry about what they are doing. They just know what to do based on what else is going on. Everyone else... I don't particularly care if you don't chit chat as long as you call things out that need to be called out. Like "ZOMG I'M HUNTED!" And call it out. Don't mumble it once and wait until someone goes "WTF!? <NAME> IS ALMOST DEAD!" Sometimes you aren't heard mumbling over the zombies and tank music and witch screaming and shotgun blasts. If you don't get a response, call it out again. LOUDLY. When I get hunted I'll say it once. "HUNTED!" and if I don't get an immediately response I'll continue to call it out "HUNT. HUNT. STILL HUNTED." until someone does respond even if it's "yes I fucking KNOW you are hunted!" At least I know you heard me. What I don't like with mics is incessant yammering about how bad your school day was while we're trying to clear horde or how drunk you are while the tank is pounding the snot out of me. And for fuck sake I don't need to know EVERYTHING that one person sees. Especially scouting ahead at the beginning of a round. That's annoying as hell. I don't need to know where everything is before we play. That's part of the fun, running across stuff. Parish 2 is somewhat important to know which location has the better weapon, but you can find that out when you are dead after it starts. Don't spend five minutes scouting out the entire map and yammering on about there being a pipe bomb at the camp site 3/4 of the way through the map. ESPECIALLY if the other team has already readied up. Once the other team has readied it's game time. Get your ass back and in place. There's a few notable people that just talk. And talk. And talk. and... you get the idea. Sometimes it's even relevant information. But there's too MUCH. I chit chat occasionally but rarely once we're out of the safe room. Then it's business time and keep comm to a minimum.

What I rely on other people to do? Hit when it's appropriate. I am a fan of constant pressure. Most of the time that means continually hitting TOGETHER. I know. We all get a little trigger happy now and then and we go without everyone else in. Ok. It' happens. Just don't do it ALL the time. But sometimes... "appropriate" might mean a delay spit in a critical spot (roof of carny 2 is a good one)... Hunting someone that has fallen behind regardless if anyone else' spawn is up... A smoke before a drop (even if it's not a death smoke) that could be costly... Or if a team is continually splitting up and don't clear well... Keep the spawns rotating. All that chip adds up.

Clear horde when NEEDED. I don't care if you don't kill every last zombie. If there's one straggler zombie the guy in the rear should be running backwards clearing those anyway. Not a big deal. But if one person is boomed and has 50 horde on him/her... HELP THEM CLEAR. At no point should someone lose 50 points to a horde just because everyone else saw a shiny deagle or molly in the corner and ran to get it. If you are in the front, and you run into 20 zombies... STOP. It's horde clearing time. You could probably run past, but then SOMEONE is going to have to deal with it and you might get capped by an SI hit in front while everyone else is clearing the horde you bypassed.

STAY TOGETHER AS SV. Really. Is it THAT @$%@#%$ hard? I've seen teams of new people that do this FAR better than some highly experienced teams lately. There are some vets that know when the SI is down it's time to move. And that works great if ALL people are on the same page. But that's not always the case. BT loves to do this and runs forward not realizing he has one, two or sometimes all THREE of his teammates back far enough that if the SI get a hit up, shit is gonna hit the fan QUICK. One person doing this against an experienced SI team are going to get slapped silly. That one person up ahead gets hunted and then one or two more SI cover that attack as the others run up to help. Suddenly an SI attack that could have gotten shut down QUICK turns into two health packs down or more.

CLEAR SI !!! I don't care WHAT you are doing currently. Unless you are clearing an SI that is attacking YOU, then your job IMMEDIATELY is to clear the other SI. There is no job more important that killing SI. Common by themselves aren't going to take down the team. But a well placed 3-cap will. And MOST of the time you have a half second to spin around and kill that hunter before another SI gets you too. MOST of the time that 3-cap isn't going to hit immediately and at the same time. You will get a chance even if it's a small one to clear at LEAST one of the SI and stop the 3-cap from being successful. And if you are one down that's the difference between points and a wipe. Let me say that again in a longer and more drawn out way... Your job in this game as SV is not to kill common, get distance, shop for guns, mollies, etc... IT'S TO KILL THE OTHER TEAM OF SI. If you can do this effectively you will win or at least make it a match.

Where do I need work? What's my liabilities? I've been getting easily discouraged and I don't know for certain but I believe I'm probably not playing up to what I could when I do so. I get 700 points down and it's check-out time. I just want to get it over with. I *feel* like I'm still trying but I do notice that I just don't give a shit if I miss the hit or leave a few zombies chasing us.

I am horrible with a big horde. I mean HORRIBLE. I'll lose 50 points to a horde in a bad situation. I just seem to get horribly early melee fatigue and need to reload like 3 times more often than I should or something. If I have a machette or something it's not too bad. I can handle it then. But pistols and a tier 1 weapon and I'm fucked.

I get a little trigger happy sometimes as SI and I'll go when I see an opening for one and forget that everyone else might well be down. I think I'm getting better at this and don't do this very often any more. But I just *HATE* to give people more room to move than we should. Sometimes I also lead an attack in a non-normal location thinking "ok they will all follow" only to look back and find nobody bothered to follow my lead. Ok. Well that's both my fault for not announcing it and their fault for not GOING. And of course this can be compounded by the mic-lag which can be pretty significant at times.

I can't reliably deadstop my way out of a paper bag. If K-Mart had a blue light special on deadstops I would forget my credit card. I get them. Just can't do it reliably. I've tried early pushes, late pushes, middle pushes... don't matter. Hunter still hops on me, goes "kitchy kitchy koo!" and I'm on my back wondering wtf it takes to deadstop the mother fucker.

What am I good at? Tank rocks. I'll hit you with a tank rock from the next county over. And I'll giggle every single time I do. I love to throw rocks.

I play enough that I know the players. Pretty well. I have a PRETTY good idea what any one of you are going to do in a given situation. I actually lead a team that I thought was going to be raped against a pretty good team last week (or so) and I decided at the beginning that in order to win we had to hit as SI in unexpected ways. And as SV do things "differently" than expected. Obviously it helped that we did very well with clearing SI (REMEMBER, THAT'S YOUR JOB!!!) but some of those unexpected hits I am certain are what got us the win. I don't lead often because I don't like doing so. But occasionally I do and I don't do horrible at it.

I'm proficient with everything. Even if I'm not great at anything. Jack of all trades master of none sometimes is better than specializing.

I'm very good with ranges. I know how to throw a molly in a window at distance. I can reliably drop spit at max range. I can, as previously stated, drop a rock on you anywhere. Grenade launcher? As long as you don't walk in front of me while I'm using it I'm not going to Maximus Boomus your ass.

I'm reasonably fast (outside of being horded) at clearing SI. I know that's my primary job and will take a hit on myself to get that hunter cleared if I have to. I'll clear that jockey while I'm being smoked instead of trying to clear the smoker first. Better to clear one and hope my team does the same than miss and have two capped players.

That's enough. Hand cramp! HAND CRAMP!!!

I like it, keep it coming.... its nice to read self critique.

What I rely on from my teammates:
1.) That you have a mic- Majority of the time I can hear and figure out where someone is hunted, charged, smoked, etc, but there are those times when I need that person to yell out that they are attacked.

2.) That you clear horde- Too many times I see old and new players alike not clearing horde. If you think they don't really affect you, you are completely wrong. I have seen one common infected fuck up a situation single-handily. Also don't just shove them out of the way, shoot them in the fucking face till they stop moving.(Exaggeration) When it comes to Boomer horde, don't back yourself up into a corner. That is the easiest way to get fucked up. If you keep moving and back-peddling in a circle you won't get hit as much. Learn what "shove" techniques work for you. "Shove, shove, back-peddle, and shoot/melee." Also, swing your melee by swinging your mouse from right to left while hitting mouse1 or vise versa.

3.) That you clear SI- This is a must and for me is the #1 priority of new players. When a team sees a new player on the other team they will purposely boom you and attack the other three players, because they know you can't clear for shit and don't know how to handle Boomer horde. Learn to use your sound. Like I said earlier, the good players don't even need their team to let them know when they are attacked, they will hear it and immediately know where you are. Work on this yourself.

4.) That you keep pace- Always know where your teammates are. Whether you are in front or behind, know that you are either that person in front who needs to slow down or that person in back who needs to stop shopping. If you are running ahead or shopping behind, let your team know. I'm at fault for not doing this too.


What are you good/bad at skill wise:
Good- Pretty good at everything. Despite some I think I am quite good at leading a team to victory, whether that be with new or old players.

Bad- Need to work on leveling chargers. Need to work on not VOICING my frustration, which I know I have been doing quite well lately. Always could use improvement in communicating with me team.

Gtg to work, will do the others and add more later.

Simple, TRY YOUR BEST. FUCK OFF ON YOUR OWN TIME.....Good Day!

I like it when my teammates shoot the common and clear me when I'm pounced. Eating charges and stuff is a shame but hopefully we can clear you!
I'm not bad at anything or good at anything, I'm just okay.
I don't like talking on the mic because I have loopback on and I dislike my voice, plus it shows how terrible the delay is. I will toss out a "x-ed!" where x is the name or action of the SI capping me. I expect my teammates to do the same.
I know a bunch about the game I guess. As in I can guess the next hit pretty well based on death order and know the various spots of interest to hit at.

Above all though, I'm an elitist. I don't think that reading about me will really tell you much about me, play with me in a game or two, get to know me if you want to know me!

I hope that my team knows how to move while boomed, knows how to go in together as SI, and can clear SI relatively quickly in a good order (don't kill the smoker first if someone is charged or pounced).

I am personally good with tank hittables, but I am bad with tank because I really only like going for hittables... I am decent at deadstopping but I kind of suck at stopping any other SI.

I communicate differently depending on the team. I don't like being a caller because I can't relate what is going on in my head through my voice and it just confuses people, but if I take it slow I can make sense every now and then. Usually I just like to let someone else call things and maybe add something here or there. I always call when where and what I get hit by. I also like to call out when infected spawn and things like that.

I know most spawn locations, and can get a general idea of what is coming up next rotation although I am not an expert at it. I know all L4D2 maps very well. Plays and calls vary on the team, but I know all the basics that an average team should know as well as some more advanced things.

I just read that "more advanced things" after typing that last sentence... so I shall elaborate. Some advanced things include high pounce spots that can't be seen or heard until it is nearly too late, some tank hittables that seem impossible to get where you want but you can, bunny hopping in certain areas to surprise spawn as SI, some jump routes to get places quicker as SV, and I can rocket boom proficiently.


We need some more of these. They are interesting.