Left 4 Dead

[Falconeer]

I don't know what to say.
First "autoshotgun him" isn't that viable when you don't have auto shotguns. And we only faced him wth T2 weapons once out of 25 times.
Second, melee him? You draw his aggro, he turns and knock you out. Game over.

I can't really apply any kind of tactic when he basically oneshots anything he can connect to. Melee or ranged.

[Aez]

Crawl into a hole and die then   I also had problems with tanks but I followed all the good advices that were posted and my group completely own tanks now.  We only have problem if we are surprised in a confined space.  I even got the tank buster achievement for killing one with out taking damage.

[Prospero]

Molotovs really help. Plus, flaming tanks look 

[Zzulo]

I don't know what to say.
First "autoshotgun him" isn't that viable when you don't have auto shotguns. And we only faced him wth T2 weapons once out of 25 times.
Second, melee him? You draw his aggro, he turns and knock you out. Game over.

I can't really apply any kind of tactic when he basically oneshots anything he can connect to. Melee or ranged.

Yeah he wont turn around and knock you out. See there's this thing called reaction time and he's not a very fast one. If you don't pick up autoshotguns on Expert then you already are doing something wrong. Even without t2 shotguns you still go up into his face and shoot him. He can only focus on one player at a time, so while he's chasing whoever the other 3 pile on him. They never last long if you do that. However most people just start running for some reason instead of taking advantage of his tunnel-vision AI

Tanks usually only are a problem for my team when we also get other boss zombies on us. Otherwise they're easy

[Falconeer]

If you don't pick up autoshotguns on Expert then you already are doing something wrong.

Doing wrong?
Tell that to the director.
We have faced a tank in the same map now 20 times in a row and got autoshotguns only once. What possibly could we do differently to get better weapons? I don't think it's up to us.

That said, the advices are working and we got some better results. Kinda overwhelming still, though.

[Zzulo]

no, I meant that if they don't choose them when they're available, they're making a mistake. They are excellent on Expert for both tankslaying and hordeslaying (hordes are actually dangerous on expert)

[NiX]

I used to choose the auto-shotgun until I realized it's a flaming piece of shit during horde rushes. Horde rushes, pull out M4, crouch and let the headshots roll in. I usually get 1st or 2nd for most headshots because I can take about 80% of a horde down with them.

I'd say pick the gun you're comfortable with. The auto-shotgun is not the holy grail of guns in L4D. A lot of people ignore the fact that shooting a tank in the back takes longer than getting headshots on him. Whenever I get dropped by a tank I know I have time to look up and pop him in the face before he can strike the killing blow. I've died during tank attacks and still listed with double the damage as my team.

Falcon - 2 shotguns and 1 with the Uzi. Despite peoples hate for the Uzi, if you're only using the T1 weapons, it's best to run up with the Uzi and unload into his face while your teammate melees to take the aggro.

[Zzulo]

that's the thing though, you can use your M4 to get headshots for full damage, but the autoshotgun already does full damage at close-medium range no matter where you hit them (most of the game is at this range, and if they're on you it'll be hard for you to get any headshots)

Taking out 20 zombies in 4-5 bullets is very possible with the autoshotgun, and you very rarely run out of ammo. Which is why I love it so 

[Triforcer]

I wish they would remove the hunter power of crashing my computer so severely that I have to reload Vista from the factory settings and lose all my accumulated installations.  Seriously.  Only playing the hunter has the power to crash my computer. 

[Falconeer]

I wish they would remove the hunter power of crashing my computer so severely that I have to reload Vista from the factory settings and lose all my accumulated installations.  Seriously.  Only playing the hunter has the power to crash my computer. 

Clearly you are not using autoshotguns 

[Triforcer]

I am discovering, more and more, that successful Versus mode for Infected is 90% a good Boomer and about 10% a good Hunter.  If the same idiot keeps getting Boomer, and they never capitalize, you are doomed.  I've never seen a Smoker that really mattered much, they are by far the weakest of the three.

[Yoru]

My brief experience with Versus seems to line up with that. I also find the Boomer the most fun, since it seems to be primarily about laying a good trap for the Survivors - lurking around corners or in unexplored rooms, and popping out in the middle of everyone to shower the living in vomit-bait.

The hunter is a bit more situational, but if someone gets separated and the hunter has decent aim with the pounce, he can do a lot of damage quite fast.

The smoker seems to only be useful in concert with the other Infected. He can either serve as a distraction, or pull away key survivors while the group is panicking over a puke incident or a pouncing Hunter. Or better yet, both. Teamwork among the Infected - or at least striking simultaneously - drastically improves their efficacy.

[Xurtan]

The smoker seems the most tactical, and hardest to use. I've only seen a few times where he really mattered. Once, in one of the Blood Harvest maps (Meh, can't remember which) we were in a house fighting a horde, and doing fairly well. Until I got pulled out of the second story window to the ground, and thus raped, by a smoker. My team not noticing I wasn't protecting that side of the room anymore, got overwhelmed.

Come to think of it, the best times I've seen for a smoker is when they're pulling survivors down off buildings. That one map with the petrol station and the construction lift that you raise to summon the horde? When the survivors are walking across that small roof, pulling a survivor down into the horde always seems to cause chaos. Inevitably one will jump down, and at least one more won't notice and will continue on. Fun fun.. 

[Zzulo]

Wow, the smoker is one of the best classes. Go in with a boomer first, try to paint at least 3 of them (to stagger them) and then attack with the hunters while a smoker takes a third. This usually brings a team down to yellow/red because of the ensuing chaos. The smoker is there to incapacitate one of the survivors and drag him away from the others while the infected occupy the remaining ones.

I agree that a smoker on its own is not very effective though, but you have a larger chance to survive your first attack compared to a hunter at least. Dragging people off ledges, forcing their team to clusterfuck is always nice too 

[Prospero]

Only tangentially related, by way of zombies:

Bush presser on zombies

[TheWalrus]

That video is gold.

I fired up steam for the first time ever. I are newb. Downloaded the whole pack as I've never played any of them. Unfortunately, I get a real sweet system hang on the loading page that after the intro. Gonna have to find out whats going on there. Le sigh. I heart zombie apocalypse.

[Fabricated]

Boomers can be negated by slick players when they get Tier 2 weapons, since they can use the assault rifle and hunting rifle to peg them through walls. People need to use grenades more as they find them. You always get them in finales, and usually right before crescendo events so if you huck a bomb the instant a boomer tags someone you can buy a fair amount of time. Also, a reasonably alert group can render smokers useless as long as a tank isn't out. The instant you hear or see someone get snagged, shoot the tongue, tada, you're done. Meleeing hunters out of the air is pretty hilarious too.

[Jobu]

Zooooeeeeeey...ooohhuuhhhh

[stu]

I haven't had much time to play this game since I purchased it, but man... it's hella fun. Nice to have something casual that isn't Peggle or Geometry Wars.

[Le0]

This game is pure win, I mean slaughtering hordes of zombies can't be not fun can it? 
Can't wait for more campaign etc..

[Falconeer]

Well well, the finales at expert level are insane. I think my DNA just isn't prepared for this, no matter what. 3 tanks? At expert? While fighting hordes? Colour me overwhelmed. Oh, almost forgot, whine!!!

[NiX]

Zooooeeeeeey...ooohhuuhhhh

I almost spit out my cheerios onto my keyboard. Oh man.

[TheWalrus]

Figured out my problem. Like a tard I forgot to set zone alarm. 

[Yoru]

The matchmaking system in this game sucks raw unwashed yak balls. Whoever thought they could release a PC shooter without an integrated server browser was a retard and should be keelhauled in the Hudson River before being fed their own deep-fried intestines.

Seriously, is it THAT hard to pick games that don't have pings akin to having a paraplegic midget hobble back and forth with my commands? Unless I use the sekrit hidden server browser (open dev console, type "openserverbrowser") I tend to get stuck on a server halfway across the world or worse, meaning I get to leave the game and try Russian Matchmaking Roulette again.

And the server browser makes no distinction between restricted (e.g. friends-only) games and open games, nor does it show game lobbies, so I can't find a game that's starting and also has decent connectivity. Half the time I try to join friends-only games, and L4D then ungracefully fails by putting a modal popup window behind my server browser - I have to hit tilde twice to open/close the dev console to release the dialog's modalness, close the browser (because god forbid it be movable), and then close the modal dialog before randomly trying yet another server.

Spend 3 years polishing your gameplay experience and then 3 minutes on your game-entry experience? Way to go, pigfuckers.

[Sky]

Hey, they could contract DICE for the browser! 

[Ironwood]

Scary Stuff.

[Triforcer]

As a Hunter, I'm getting a lot more "second chances" then I thought I would.  Was on 2nd stage of Apartments today, and while 3 ran down the alley, one dicked around in the safe room and I pounced him (got 7-8 good hits).  Two teammates run back, shove me off him, shoot me a little, and immediate run back out.  the guy is facing away from me (toward the door) I pounce him AGAIN and get another 7-8.  This time, when the teammates ran back, they all fired until well after I was dead.   

I understand forgetting about a hunter when its dark, getting swarmed, etc., but in the safe room, brightly lit, 3 on 1, with no other zombies attacking?  Cmon. 

[Lantyssa]

Figured out my problem. Like a tard I forgot to set zone alarm. 

If you have a network problem, and you use Zone Alarm, it's always fucking Zone Alarm.

[TheWalrus]

I do believe this game is the most fun I've ever had. Now if I can actually get any good at it is another story. Going to run through all the maps again on normal and see if I can get the lay of the land before I show up in a multiplayer game looking all stupid.

[gryeyes]

I do believe this game is the most fun I've ever had. Now if I can actually get any good at it is another story. Going to run through all the maps again on normal and see if I can get the lay of the land before I show up in a multiplayer game looking all stupid.

Not shooting the shit out of your team is 95% of not sucking at this game. You dont need to know map layout just follow your team and dont shoot them heh. Everything else is cake.

[TheWalrus]

K. Been trying single player expert. Getting my ass whooped. Made it past the apartments after biting it a couple times. Cannot get past the frigging subway. Tanks eat the whole group alive. I get a lot of bad timing, but I can see where having actual people would make this easier. (Hello explosives.)

Now I'd just like to know the objective of the multiplayer game. Is it just get to the safehouse asap? It's ok to lose a guy and pick him up again later?

[Trippy]

If you are close to the safehouse you won't have the option of saving your dead teammates. Otherwise the rescue spot will always be in front of you along the main path so you might as well get them unless they are griefers or something.

[Warskull]

I used to choose the auto-shotgun until I realized it's a flaming piece of shit during horde rushes. Horde rushes, pull out M4, crouch and let the headshots roll in. I usually get 1st or 2nd for most headshots because I can take about 80% of a horde down with them.

Auto-shotgun is quite good vs rushes as long as you get the before the spread out and circle.  Plus the tank does not take extra damage from headshots.

Autoshotgun: Good overall gun, just does no damage at long range.  It has a good spread so it can drop 2-3 zombies at once, great fire rate, and the best burst damage of any gun.  The downside is mostly its reload.  It takes longer to reload than any other gun and even longer if you interrupt to fire.  At the same time the ammo for the auto-shotty tends to go the farthest.

Assault Rifle: Good fire rate, excels at the mid range.  It can clean up a zombie horde just as well as the autoshotty if you sweep head height.  Plus it handles a spread out horde a bit better.  It doesn't absolutely destroy infected at close range like the autoshotgun though.  It also tends to chew through ammo faster.  A superior reload to the autoshotgun.

Hunting Rifle: High damage, extremely accurate, and its rounds go through multiple zombies.  The shotgun will pierce one zombie, this thing will go through 4-5.  If a horde comes at you, the hunting rifle can kill most of them with 4-5 shots (if they are lined up.)  The downside is that it has terrible accuracy on the move.  Each shot is very powerful and can drop a regular zombie in 1-shot on any difficulty.  The best way to pick off distant special infected also.  A phenominal anti-tank weapon.  Practice with it a bit.  It is very accurate when crouched, pierces almost anything (goes through most walls), and each shot is very high damage.  Against hordes do not aim for the head, aim for the body where it will go through 2-3 zombies.

The specials:
Boomer:  Pretty straight foward.  Bind a kill command, run into a cluster and vomit/explode.  Covered players cannot see glows through objects (including other zombies) to tell who is getting pounced.  It is extremely useful for slowing down players.  You usually set-up everyone to really wreck the enemy team.  The worst mistake I see players make as a boomer is trying to hide and survive.  Boomers are extremely loud and once you spawn they will find you in short order.  If you want to wait for some allies to get their spawn, chill in spawn mode, once you spawn you need to act fast.

Hunter: He's your damage.  Jump from up high or a longer distance to stack up more damage.  Set yourself on fire for extremely damaging pounces (they take the burn damage when you are on them if you are on fire.)  He's pretty straight forward and quite powerful.  Practice wall jumping and fancier pounces to make him more deadly.

Smoker:  A lot of people dislike this infect and underestimate him.  He's actually quite good.  His damage is poor, but he is the only infect that can forcibly separate the survivors and force them to back track to save someone.  Examples of when he really shines is when you pull someone off the roof after the lift in No mercy 3 or pull them out of the window in the room shortly after where they usually get med packs and ammo.  A good pull can set-up your hunters to get a nasty pounce on the guy who comes to save them.  The smoker suffers a lot from a bad team though.  Bad hunters steal his constricts by pouncing them (leaving him with no tongue and unable to deal with the guy who comes to rescue.)  If you have bad boomers you may never get the change to get a good pull.  He needs the chaos to work his magic.  However, when he works it, the survivors get screwed.

[SnakeCharmer]

I really hate the auto shottie.  Too much friendly fire, too long of reload, and it seems like every PUG I'm in some retard gets it and tries to shoot at stuff halfway across the map.  It's basically for n00bs who can't aim.  I've never had an issue with ammo for the AR, because I use the melee strike and double pistols so much.

The assault rifle is the superior choice all the way around - it cuts through wood / wall better, and cuts through multiple foes like a sniper rifle.  There's not a single area that the sniper rifle is needed or that the AR doesn't do just as good a job. 

[Trippy]

The game will continue your reload if you interrupt it with a push back attack. Hence with the shotties if you are being rushed, you can fire off a few blasts, hit reload, start meleeing, watch the ammo counter increment and then start shooting again when you have enough shells loaded instead of having to wait the entire time it takes to reload a full clip from empty. That makes the auto-shotgun great for "door defense" work since you don't get the long periods of no firing while you are reloading like you do with the non-shotguns.