Community: Message List

Re: Black Ops server and bad lag problems

donotreply@activision.com — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 18:02:10 GMT

I get this message occasionally too, usually backing out to the main menu solves the problem, or failing that, restart the xbox.

The lag you talk about is a can of worms, plenty of other threads on here explaining it all, if your interested go have a look.

Re: 3arch / Vahn - I hope you are watching!

donotreply@activision.com — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 20:18:34 GMT

How they managed to get 'lag' out of an Elite post i'll never know

Anywho, yeah i expect them to do a lot of things different for BOps 2 Otis, we'll have to wait and see i guess.

Solving the YAAR problem (LMG'S)

donotreply@activision.com — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 20:53:32 GMT

The problem for me in Black Ops was that the LMG'S had very few advantages over the AR's in almost any given situation.

Possible solutions, some may be a bit radical and some over the top, but it might well spark a discussion where a decent compromise is reached.

1. More ammo in the clip, M60 aside, the ammo capacity in BOps was far too small, Stoner63 i'm looking at you!

2. Deployable bipods, when deployed recoil is halfed, a rather obvious one.

3. Have specific 'LMG nests' built into your map design, overlooking the B flag on domination for example, yet still far enough away to making shooting people off of the objective a challenge, i.e far enough away to make it 'out of range' of a sub for example. (combine with No.2 listed above)

4. Award XP and score points for 'suppresive fire', if you provide supressive fire whilst your team caps an objective then you get a reward.

5. Have it so the guy sporting the LMG can resupply small ammounts of ammo or grenades to teammates, and award them XP for doing so.

6. Give them a damage buff against aircraft, make them a viable alternative to the anti-air missile.

I'll leave it there for now, some ideas listed above are a bit radical and a new approach for COD, but the LMG class needs something quite unique to make them stand out from the crowd, having subtle differences between LMG's and AR's does'nt really work.

Give some feedback on the above, and add your own ideas, if we get a decent response i might make a list in the OP.

Re: No revenge spawns? Bowling must be joking! w/Commentary

donotreply@activision.com — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 17:34:03 GMT

Liking the vids Wiggy, sums up everything to do with MW3 quite nicely.

Keep up the fine work.

Re: Will i get Banned ?

donotreply@activision.com — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 17:31:19 GMT

Hmmm...so let me get this right, a 'friend' done the glitch for you, and then you got hacked...72 times...

Seems legit...

Re: Use mw2 scope in animation!

donotreply@activision.com — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 14:50:18 GMT

I'd just like to draw attention to the last line of the original post.....

That is all.

Re: Black Ops 2 - Matchmaking Suggestions

donotreply@activision.com — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 10:38:22 GMT

Couple of points, firstly nobody likes joining those games in progress where you're put on a losing team it sucks but as it it with the ability for players to leave the match without consequence joining in progress is the only way that stacked lobby's can be re-populated. Until a penalty for leaving is brought in i don't see any other way.

Secondly, map filter is a bad idea for a number of reasons, there will always be those players that select the map to use to their advantage, i.e. a sniper would always select 'Array' or full party's would always select 'Nuketown only', COD is about adapting your playstyle to suit the different maps, if it were not for that then they may as well only ever make one map right??

The reason it works in BF3 is because the maps are HUGE, it does'nt matter what map is selected you can still easily use every class on every map.

Not bashing your ideas, just offering a little perspective.

Re: (Update) Famas Debate

donotreply@activision.com — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 20:43:40 GMT

The only valid point you made was weapon balance cannot simply be achieved through simply looking at weapon stats.

Everything else is complete fiction.

Even with limited playtime it's quite obvious what weapon is the best in the game, the Famas had one of the highest if not the highest ROF in the game coupled with high damage and managable recoil madfe it the best option in almost every situation you would encounter. That much is obvious through playing the game.

What i want from a COD game is balance, in a one v one situation the better player should always win the gunfight, what the Famas (and the 74u) did was to give a player who would have normally died a better chance at winning that gunfight, that in itself does'nt annoy me all that much, what does annoy me is when the better more skilled players use the guns mentioned, now what are we left with??

Famas wars! It's gets boring FAST!

Re: Looking for good players UK or Ireland

donotreply@activision.com — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 12:54:59 GMT

You have posted your K/D so i take it you play TDM exclusively??

Re: Understanding the 'Lag' issue, where Black Ops went wrong and what needs to happen for the next game.

donotreply@activision.com — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 12:52:40 GMT

Easy there people...easy now, i can't keep up with all of the responses!

Did i imagine the hundreds of threads created about this very subject over the past 13 months?

Maybe it was just me out of 20 million+ players that noticed it??

Either way i created this as i did'nt want this issue to be lost in all of the other(less important IMO) stuff in the other general feedback threads because it's far too important for that.

Weapon balance and knife balance would be so much easier to achieve if the networking was fixed, so whilst we argue and debate over what shade of orange we want our guns to have and just how sticky we want our sticky nades to be, maybe we can take a step back and address the real issues affecting the game.. hmm

Just a thought, that is all.

Understanding the 'Lag' issue, where Black Ops went wrong and what needs to happen for the next game.

donotreply@activision.com — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 11:42:16 GMT

So it's about that time of the year where the Treyarch devs get feedback from the commuity, what they're looking to improve on for the next installment.

The number one issue for me with Black Ops(and W@W) was this whole lag issue. Let's try and understand this issue further.

The community definition:

Now we are not game developers so we tend to gereralise when we describe these issues we see in game. Framerate drops, rubber banding, less that accurate killcams, and poor hit registration to name a few all tend to all get grouped together, we call this grouping 'Lag'.

We then say to the Treyarch team 'this game lags please fix it'. That's like me bringing my pet to the vet surgery and saying 'my pet's sick fix him up please'

Now if i gave symptoms and and brief description of what exactly is wrong with my pet it is likely that the vet will be able to do their job far more efficiently and effectively, see what i'm getting at??

Vahn himself stated this in a thread i read a while back and it makes sense, so i'll do my best to explain further.

Now onto the topic at hand, we'll start with framerate drops.

Typically the only time i notice this is when a napalm strike drops in and sometimes after a successfull host migration, both appear to fix themselves within a minute or so of the game running.

It's a problem, but for me it's not game breaking, just a tad annoying at times.

Rubber banding: A very rare occurence in my oppinion, typically the only time i have seen this is where the host of the game is dropping large ammounts of information i.e. everyone but the host is showing a 1 bar ping.

Killcams: Typical symptoms are watching a killcam that is either not accurate with what happened from my perspective or it being out of sync with what happened on my screen.

Now this next part is a question i guess, we've always been told that 'killcams are not an accurate representation', why is this so??

Now i'm not a game developer so my understanding is somewhat limited but as i understand it, killcam information is taken from the host's perspective, all desicisions i.e. who shot who first etc. are calculated my the server(host of the game), the host then sends that info to me so i can generate the killcam, therefore why is it not accurate??

Poor hit registration: A problem that has plagued Treyarch games past and present(IMO). Typically symptoms include: Me shooting some dude where on my screen my crosshairs/ironsights are on target yet i don't get a hitmarker.

Headshots not being recognised as such.

Shots not registering on anyone running/walking perpendicular to my line of sight(very common)

An in game example of these issues taken just last night from a couple of games include a point blank shot from the Olympia yielding just a hitmarker and not a kill, and four hitmarkers on the same guy using an M14(cross map WDM), statistically is that second example even possible?? I mean if i hit someone in the toe four times at max range how many shot's is it to kill using the M14, i was always lead to believe it was a 'two shot kill at any range'

Possible solutions: Just a few ideas i thing might help.

Host selection is your starting point, if i'm sitting in a lobby with a friend that has a solid fiber connection with oodles of bandwidth there is no reason why he shoud'nt be given host, so many times we have had to put up with unstable host's being picked when clearly there are better options available.

I presume the aim-assist is server based, i believe it should be client side based, again this is tied into the issues above but when i aim at someone i want to be helped to aim at where they are on my screen and not where the host deems them to be. (first thing i noticed when i played Black Ops for the first time, was it client side based in previous COD's??)

Crucial decisions like who shot who first could be calculated client side, then timestamped and sent onto the host?? If that's a bad idea(i read it was somewhere recently but can't remember where) maybe someone could explain why, thanks.

Lastly, you may or may not be trying to do too much at once, is it a coincidence that the COD games that have the most stats available to view either through in game menus or through Elite are 'laggy'??

Is theatre dragging everything down with it??

IMO: Playablity > Stats

This is not a rant thread i'm genuinely interested in solving what i believe is the biggest flaw in Black Ops, i've done my best to explain what it is that is wrong, if Vahn happens to read this and needs more detail i'll do my best to provide it.

Hopefully others that see the same thing i do whilst in game will post and add their input.

Cheers.

Re: Unofficial Knife Feedback Thread

donotreply@activision.com — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 14:42:35 GMT

I said this in an earlier post, for those suggesting a "one to the front, two to the back" senario, think about it from a coding perspective, what if the enemy is side on? or almost side on? Now how many hits does it take to kill??

If we go with this method we're opening up a can of worms, the best solution IMO is to make it so it has to be equipped before it's useable, if it's not equipped them it's a two hit kill all round with the butt of the gun.

Re: Unofficial Feedback Thread

donotreply@activision.com — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 14:37:50 GMT

^cwatz above is spot on, i'd quote you but i can't seem to find the button!

Back in the day we had no crutch, we got better through practice and i believe today's casual gamers should have to go through a similar process, randomness does not equal fun.

Re: The Offical Quick Scope Poll

donotreply@activision.com — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 18:14:27 GMT

I'm a little late, i hope Vahn get's a chance to read through the douzens of pages.

Let's not beat about the bush with this one, MW2/3 sniping is far too easy.

Most of what makes it easy is down to the scope in time, with is far too fast.

And for this reason the points listed below will be with regards to Black Ops sniping in general.

In Black Ops every single gun can raise and shoot enough bullets to kill someone before the sniper has a chance to fully scope in, that gap becomes greater with SOH pro.

To me that is enough of a dis-advantage to render the snipers balanced.

I'll say this again, if you get killed by a sniper in Black Ops, chances are YOU done something wrong.!

Every weapon in the game has a learning curve, you need to spend time using it to get better with it and sniper rifles are no different.

I've used snipers extensively on almost all of the COD titles (~55,000 sniper kills in W@W alone) and it is through practice, trial and error that i have gradually got more efficient at aiming and shooting the sniper rifles, up to a point where the time it takes me to aquire a target and kill him can be considered a 'quickscope'.(sometimes)

Should my years of practice and effort now be nerfed because it's deemed overpowered?

I think not, i never go into a game with the intention of quickscoping only, but i will play aggressivly with it, and if a close range target shows himself i'll take him out, this is not something that you can pick up overnight, if you think it is, TRY IT!

So where are all of these OP snipers then? Where are all of these guys with their 5k/d's and their infinate w/l?? where are the guys that can dominate with a sniper rifle??

You have more chance of winning the lottery than coming across one of these guys in game, they do exist but they are few and far between.

The quickscoping patch we seen on release of Black Ops came across as half-assed and not thought out, firstly it dis-advantaged 'true' snipers coupled with the fact that a dragscope would negate the patch, i'm still not happy with the random bullet travel which still exists in Black Ops now, but it's at least a useable weapon for those either silly or brave enough.

Please continue giving us feedback this topic Vahn.

Re: Unofficial Knife Feedback Thread

donotreply@activision.com — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 18:42:46 GMT

The old system was fustrating due to the lunge being inconsistent, the panic knifing aspect, and the lock on/aim-assist feature that it came with. It would seem that anything within a 180 degree radius had a huge benefit from auto locking onto the target which is wrong especially if i lose out whilst putting shots on target.

The invincibility during the lunge also needs to go(if it exists), it's far too inconsistent, sometimes i can kill them mid-lunge and sometimes they simply ignore my bullets and kill me, that's not acceptable.

Solutions: Make it as a useable equipment, as in it needs to be pulled out to be active

0% lunge and no aim-assist, and no invincibility frames(i guess 0% lunge would fix that)

3,5 would address most of my issues with the system.

Re: Unofficial Feedback Thread

donotreply@activision.com — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 17:38:26 GMT

More stuff i forgot in my first couple of posts....

Knifing - Needs to be looked at, to be honest getting rid of the one hit kill is probably unfair but suggestions to make it more balanced

1. 0% lunge, there should be none whatsoever, it's a receipe for disaster.

2. No aim-assist for the knife.

3. Alternative to 1 and 2 is have it as equipment, so it needs to be "pulled out" before becoming active.

Also, making it a 2 hit kill to the front and 1 to the back is trouble, there will always be situations where the enemy is side on or almost side on, it's just going to lead to more WTF moments IMO.

TL:DR version of all my posts = Make it like Black Ops but without the "lag"

Re: Unofficial Feedback Thread

donotreply@activision.com — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 20:06:51 GMT

More stuff....

'Revenge spawning'

Rumours of it's existance continue but having played MW2 and MW3 i'm in no doubt of it's existance.

Probably themost fustrating think a gamer has to put up with is killing a guy and having him re-spawn just around the corner from where he died, so now i get to watch a killcam where it shows me killing him, him re-spawning and getting the cheap 'revenge kill'.

^If that happens you're going wrong somewhere.

Re: Unofficial Feedback Thread

donotreply@activision.com — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 10:50:40 GMT

Thanks for the continued support and congrats on Black Ops.

I'm on the 360.

1. Lag

For the love of all that's holy please sort out the constant connection/lag/hit detection and framerate drop issues that plagued Black Ops. The number one rule as far as i'm concerned is that a player should not have to die due to something that's not his fault, i and many others can accept being out played or out flanked by the enemy but losing a gunfight due to lag grinds my gears.

Weapon balance would be a lot easier for you guys if the bullets i put on target registers as being on target, this was especially apparent when using guns like the M14 and Olympia, not having good shots register whilst using those guns is a death sentence.

Also closely related is the in-consistency with the shotguns, i have many times shot someone at point blank range only to get a hitmarker and adversly i have got one shot kills from 30ft away, we need consistency, please sort it out.

2.Killstreaks

I like the way they were set out in Black Ops, although i think having a killstreak that has the potential to spawn kill repetadly has no place in the game, chopper gunners and similar killstreaks have the ability to rack up an silly ammount of kills, greater effort needs to be applied to balance them, being spawn killed by a chopper gunner 10 times in a row is not fun, and no player no matter how good or bad they are deserves this.

If you are going to integrate pointstreaks such as the support streak you need to find a way to balance it better, having them not reset upon death leads to spam, although in theory i like the idea of rewarding flag cappers in this mannor.

3. Scoring/scoreboard/SPM

Black Ops has it almost perfect, at the end of a game i want to know how much i helped the team through flag caps/defends and this was a great addition to the series, please bring it back.

Would it be possible to show your SPM at the end of every game as well, if your're lacking space then take out assists and show kills, deaths, caps, defends, SPM.

4.Maps

Again Black Ops had it right, great map design, with MW3 everything it far far too cluttered, too many vehicles left lying around, too many boxes, crates, bits of paper flying around, keep it like Black Ops, keep it simple.

As an example i was playing Resistance the other day (MW3) and i was shooting someone whilst backtracking, but i got 'stuck' on a lampost, crap like that does'nt add anything to the game, it just annoys the gamer.

Maze like maps like there is in MW3 is a big no no, some buildings should be accessable but don't put 3 million different buildings with 37 different windows/doors in it, it adds nothing to the game or the game play, if i'm walking down a flank route i don't always want it to feel like someone is always watching me. That setup only encouranges camping.(camping has a part in the game too, in moderation though)

5. COD points/XP

Again a great addition, the balance was perfect, i never fealt like i had too many or too few COD points to spend, bring it back.

6. Perks.

The number one complain was balancing Ghost, when most of your team in a Domination game is using it there's something wrong.

things like jugg suits and ballastic vests that give you increased health have no place in COD in any way, shape or form, not as a perk or as a killstreak.

7.Game sound.

I understand you wanted to take away the ability to 'soundwhore' in Black Ops but i think you nerfed it too much, the balance lies somewhere between Black Ops and W@W, also in game sounds such as the silos on Silo! and the train on WMD are simply annoying.

8.Sniper rifle balance.

The way it was towards the end of Black Ops was a reasonable compromise, i still don't think the random bullet travel is fair(it still exists), but the magic wobble we saw at the games release was quite frankly stupid. keep it the same as Black Ops towards the end of it's yearly cycle.

9. Other points/forgotten points.

Some pro perks are far too good to be just a 'pro', thingsa like SOH pro needs to be it's own perk like it is in MW3.

Give us perk that let's us cap flags faster, make the pro version silent plant/defsue for SnD.

That's all i can think of now, i'm sure i'll post back with stuff i missed out.

Thanks in advance.

Re: Elite Stats Incorrect...?

donotreply@activision.com — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 12:38:28 GMT

According to Elite i average 128 kills per game.........seems legit.

Re: PLEASE SIGN HERE IF YOU FEEL FREQUENTLY HANDICAPPED BY LAG COMPENSATION

donotreply@activision.com — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 10:57:53 GMT

Are you aware of how little data actually 'flows' through the network whilst you're playing?

No, thought not, anyway it's very little, i would estimate less than 1Mb per second, you don't need huge bandwidth to play COD it's the speed and quality of your line that's more important.

I have a 2Mb line but one with low pings and very little jitter yet i still find myself "one second behind" in almost every game i play, being handicapped by lag affects plenty more people than those with super ammounts of bandwidth.