FORUMS_

I just backed out of a lobby mid-game, immediately closed Black Ops 2, and shut down my PS3.  I simply couldn't take this game anymore today, and today is hardly unusual in the grand scheme of this release.

I've been rational about this, I've been patient.  I've defended the game, and the developers, time after time again on this forum and on Twitter.  I'm not some 12 year-old throwing a hissy fit because my KDR is too low or Ghost doesn't work the way I want it to or whatever else among the myriad of complaints which have come along with this game.  I'm an adult, and I've run out of patience waiting for a fix, or at least for some sort of official admission that a fix is needed.  The in-game lag is ridiculous, the hit detection is often no better, and worst of all, there is no consistency whatsoever to any of it.  A one shot kill in one game will turn into not even a hit marker in another, even if set up identically down to the nanosecond.  Hell, even within the same game it can change, and often does.

I'll provide some examples, if you'd like.  I'd be glad to provide you with video clips to go along with them, but since Theater is (still) not working I'm afraid I won't be able to do that at this time.  At any rate, some of my issues just from today's games:

-Six hitmarkers from the FAL against a single foe, from perhaps 10-15 meters distance.  The only attachment on the weapon was a red dot sight.  After his target-finder aided spraying finally connected and killed me, a teammate put him down.  I got a 25-point assist.

-Bump into a player in the "doorways" between the center atrium & B-Dom on Raid.  I'm armed with an S-12, laser sight equipped, which I immediately point-blank into his hip.  Hip, mind you, because he's facing exactly 90 degrees away from me.  I die by his knife a split second later.

-Back to the FAL again, this time on Slums.  I'm headglitched behind a stack of tires and firing directly into the head of a player headglitching behind a crate 15 meters away.  I literally fire off half of my clip, in semi-auto fire, without a single hitmarker.  I die instantly when he finally sees me and returns fire with his MTAR.

-I join a Dom game on Carrier already in progress.  My team is down more than 30 points shortly into the second half, but I spawn in anyway.  Within my first second of play I'm dead to a Hunter-Killer Drone.  Respawn, make it 10 feet before I see an enemy.  I've switched to my BR-23 while moving, and fire three bursts directly into his chest and head area from within 5 feet.  I then die to a shotgun blast from his Remington.  Later in the game I spawn in near the C flag and literally haven't taken one step before I'm dead to an MTAR with target finder.

-This one wasn't even on my end, as I'm taking the example from another player's killcam: The lobby leader in points storms into a cabin on Hijacked and lays waste to two people in short order with his Remington, just as a third brushes past him while barrelling through the doorway.  He turns, aims down sights, and lets loose a shot directly into the side of this player's head, with the barrel up against his ear.  The player continues past him, where he managed to fell him with two additional hip shots.

-My personal favorite: while equipped with Flak Jacket (and no other tier one perk), I had spawned in several seconds prior and was just getting back into the action on Slums when I was struck by an HKD.  I was not damaged in any way, shape, or form at this point, not even from jumping.  At the same instant the HKD insta-kills me, a message pops up on my screen telling me I've just earned the emblem for surviving explosives with flak jacket.  I watch the kill cam; there are no other explosives in the area, just the drone.  And it doesn't even direct-impact me.

The things is, at any random time in any of those examples, I might survive, or I might get the kill with one shot.  The S-12 is the worst in this regard; even with long barrel and laser sight equipped (and nothing else), a shot from 3 feet away may result in an instant kill, a hit marker, or absolutely no damage depending on the host's mood.  I've fired 8 shots point-blank into an opponent's chest and then died before.  I've also hipfired once from 30 feet away and gotten an instant kill.  I've got my search settings set to "Best".  I'm on a high-speed cable connection.  According to the in-game menu I'm at 4 bars.  But it doesn't matter...hits become misses, dodged shots become hits, and allegedly bullet-proof cover becomes transparent.  I've died to a single burst from the BR-23 before...through a concrete pillar.  Again, this is according to the killcam, not only my screen.

In a given session, I might have a game where I go 41-17, followed by one where I'm 12-38.  It's not my opponents, it's not me, and it's not lack of map knowledge...it's the game itself.  My score for a single full Dom game has fluctuated between 725 points and 6300, no joke.  I have as many 4000+ scores as I do under 2000.  This is not just since release date, or from day to day: this is during a single session, few of which last more than two hours before I'm so sick of the BS that I shut down the system.  Top-tier players and You Tubers have commented on these issues, have shown video evidence of them; it's not just us peons.  The issues exist, and while we cannot realistically expect a quick fix, we at least deserve some official acknowledgement that they're in the game, and are being worked on.

I've seen Vahn say before that he plays this game all the time online and hasn't experienced these issues.  I'd like to personally extend him an invitation to come over to my place, fire up my PS3, and see it for himself first-hand.  If the first couple games go flawlessly, never fear--given enough time we'll be watching enemies teleport out of our sights and getting one-shotted by Type-25s hip firing from 20 feet away, all still on an alleged 4-bar.  And then, given enough time again, we'll be back to hitting on all of our aimed shots and picking people off from across the map with our PDW.

Quite a lot about this game is truly innovative in the series, and deserves commendation; but none of it has any true value if the underlying system which makes the game playable is fatally flawed.  At some point, one grows tired of "trying again", day after day, in the hopes that the latest hotfix will improve things.  At some point the joy of a few good games is finally outweighed by the vast majority of frustrating deathfests, when you know you've outplayed your opponent but die anyway, or when you're dead to a killstreak (or to direct gunfire) before you can take two steps after spawning.  And at some point, you just stow the disc carefully away on a shelf and find something which is more enjoyable to play.

How confident are you that we'll all come back?