VladPiranha

1 can go either way.  I'm not worried.

2 is something I've wanted for a long time.  Don't forget that an entire team can (and is meant to) pitch in for special ammo.  To make it too cheap is to make it too plentiful.  We don't allow infected to share points for the same reason that it'll make too many tanks.

3 is a deal breaker for me.  At that point we'd have wandered too far from standard L4D2.  Pros will like it, but new people will end up using pistols out of ignorance.  That'll be funny....until they're on your team.

Neurotic pains in the neck are nothing new, but we're finding more and more of them out there.  The trouble is not limited to relationships, but involves a pervasive, malignant attitude problem that isn't gender specific.

The problem is the narcissism that our society promotes these days.  Ever since the tail end of Gen X, where I fit in, kids have been told that they're all unique and special and encouraged to 'just be yourself'.  Good intentions aside, that attitude promotes the idea that you are fine the way you are and anyone who has a problem with that is a bully.  Peer pressure has been demonzied as a force that results in drug addictions and teen pregnancy, but we've forgotten that social scorn is also a strong motivator to discourage antisocial behavior.  Think back on how 1990s culture maligned conformity and glorified individuality.  We're now feeling the effects of that.  People think they're entitled to do what suits them best and that everyone else is obligated to adapt to their needs or they're just selfish.  People like that have always existed (they're called A-holes), but now it's expanded beyond mere attitude problems to a lifestyle choice for huge quantities of people.

There are a ton of people out there who are single for a reason and they assume it's because everyone else is the problem.  That's a horrifying conclusion to arrive at, but it's the truth.  You can't imagine how many guys I know who would rather pick the low hanging fruit because of the lack of personal responsibility involved than really work hard to be a better person and find a relationship that will make both parties happier and stronger.  Many of those same people have also had to deal with infidelity since their partners eventually grow up and, as a result, feel trapped in a short-sighted and immature life that they no longer want.  Building a relationship upon such a poor foundation is like painting over rust and I'm astonished how few people understand that.

I can't really speak for what kind of crackpots women deal with out there as a result of all this malarkey, but I know men have to deal with a bunch of 9-year-olds trapped in women's bodies who think the world owes them something because they were born pretty (again, something that results from luck, not effort).

In my experience, the only way to really succeed in love, and in life, is to cast aside contentment and always question your worth.  That struggle for self-improvement is good for the heart and soul.

Just throw train cars all over the place.  It'll make it really easy to spawn in and make games far less predictable.

Whenever I set up a really beautiful witch farm, people will usually kill the survivors before they can even get to it.  That sucks on two levels.

-There's a good deal of evil scheming and plotting that go into a quality witch farm.  To cheat its gardener out of some running and scraming is just selfish and mean.

-Most of the time witch farming only occurs when a team is winning by a good margin.  If your team is going to win anyway, why not play with your food?

Slow down, people.  Enjoy the simple things in life and start witching the living hell out of the survivors.  Have a sense of style, for crying out loud.

I've always wondered if we couldn't get an upgrade that made all infected immune to fire.

That finale is actually the greatest boomer/jockey map I've ever seen.  It goes beyond zany fun there and actually becomes strangely effective.

Friends,

I'm not the rain-or-shine sort of L4D2 player I once was, but I've been in the servers enough lately to notice a slight shift in the culture.  Maybe this has been sliding so gently and slowly that none of us have paid it much mind or even felt the shift, but I feel like we're not the warm batch of brothers-in-arms we once were.  Frustration and cynicism seem to be running rampant in the servers and I worry about the condition of our community in the server and on the forums.  God knows I have a reputation for anger born of arrogance and that it's my least attractive trait.  What frightens me is that I no longer feel like the odd man out when I lose my temper.  I see more and more people worrying about self-service these days and it's strangling whatever kind of brotherhood that sets us apart from the rest of what's left of Left 4 Dead's abyssmal community.  Those of you who have played this game for two or three years, back before the official Valve servers shut down, can attest to exactly how toxic the player interactions were (and probably still are).  We were, and still are, a lush island of peace and order in a sea of misery and contempt.  It's a bit ironic that a game that was designed to focus so intensely on teamwork and cooperation would host the most egocentric, selfish and cruel players since DotA or Counter-Strike.  It's a blessing that the GC community has never tolerated the kind of damage that their breed of parasites would inflict.

This is not a lecture on how we organize our games.  It isn't a critique of our admins on how they perform a job that is increasingly difficult and demanding.  I'm not calling out players for being difficult to deal with when they're struggling with a shrinking game community.  This isn't some sort of angry forum post meant to serve as a 'wake-up call' or anything dramatic like that.  All I ask is that we all stop for a moment and ask ourselves if we actually enjoy this game anymore.  The word to focus on here is game.  Left 4 Dead 2 is meant to be an enjoyable experience - friendly competition in a world of zany, zombie action where even your own horrible demise will be a humorous and memorable event.  Our servers are a place where we can all sit down and use our gifts of humor and cleverness to contribute to something meaningless and, in doing so, make it meaningful - the entire purpose of games.  The old adage about victory being insignificant compared to a game well played?  I'm finding more and more truth in that wisdom as I see more and more difficulty in the ability to enjoy what was once so easy to laugh at.

We've all spent a great deal of time grumbling about new players and the influx of their kind after every Steam sale, but if you take a few steps back and really analyze matters from a more objective vantage point, there's a shocking sort of revelation waiting for you.  Outside of the rushers, griefers and trolls, we have people who are inexperienced and want to enjoy what we all know is a phenomenal game experience.  They may not be the most skilled competitors, but their hearts may actually be in a more honest and innocent place than ours.  They intend to shoot zombies and reach safe zones just like the rest of us, but simply lack the experience to do so.  There is no instruction manual for how we play.  There is no tutorial level.  There is only us, the members, the veterans, the community.  Like it or not, we're the best venue for this game now and its purpose is what we make it.  So many of us play for points, for ranks, for prestige and reputation.  These amateurs play for fun.  That is why they'll always be winners while we continue to lose our minds arguing with one another over arbitrary points.

Again, I'd like to emphasize that this is not some sort of rant to chastise anyone in particular.  This is just a challenge to every single one of you whom I value as teammates, as community members and as friends.  Make this the game it once was.  Be the tolerant, vibrant pillar of strength that makes your team's effort a worthwhile endeavor regardless of outcome.  I've joked many times about 'moral victories', but they are the true fibers that bind everything we love here together.  Where there are questions, you must provide answers.  Where there is imbalance, you are obligated to be the counter balance.  Don't leave teams stacked because you don't want to sacrifice your chances of victory.  If even a loss for your new team would be enjoyable due to your contributions, that is a true victory.  If you can help the underdogs snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, that is the greatest test of your skill and leadership.  If you are half the player you think you are, then make the game as fun as you possibly can.  Buy witches instead of tanks to give the losing team a fighting chance.  Use a weapon you have very little practice with to really show your skill.  Pull punches to keep the fight going. 

If you truly want to be the center of attention and earn respect instead of merely demanding it, then there's no better way to obtain it than true, honest to God leadership, something we're in desperate need of these days.  I want you to join with me in having fun again.  I want to see people forget about the pretenses we think are so damn important and simply interact.  Where do we all go from here?  That's up to me.  That's up to you.  That's up to all of us. 

Isn't his name alone reason for reprimand?

I was expecting it to be on the patio/deck area back a bit.  I've gotten thrown from that one.

I used to have a hotkey bound for sending Maestro all of my points.  Keeping him alive is a full time job.  If I bound a similar key for Peanut, it would probably get worn out from overuse.  Why must Peanut be so tasty?

In all seriousness, though, it's not a bad idea to have keys to dump points into the admins.  They're the most experienced with the buy system, so they can help you get your points where you need them in a really big firefight.

As I understand it, Realtek audio drivers will also cause problems and there isn't much you can do about that.  The best you can do is hope that they aren't the source of your crashes.

Is anyone else sick of laser sights?  They seem to break the very thing that balances out most of the guns.  Many trade power for accuracy and the laser sights completely ruin that.  Not only that, but it's one of the things that makes it harder for people who aren't used to the !buy system to keep up.

We just had a mix of this happening last night. At the start of the passing. Myself and another person were picking up the bot because we were in an easy to defend area. We didn't want to give the other team the easy points for buying up the sputters for the stair case. However, then the bots started getting bogged down in the hallway before the bar. Spit was flying everywhere. At this point we as a team decided to leave them. Then one player went back to help them. We asked them not too, but they didn't listen. That person was incapped and eventually died because we couldn't safely get in there to help them.

Yeah, Passing hates bots.  There's so little you can do about it too.  Unless it's a micro-game (like 3 vs 3) or have teams of ten that consist largely of veterans, I almost never see a team make it all the way to the end.  It's usually a big rush to get as far as you can before you're tanked to death and that usually happens right after that choke point.

 

 One scenario that's a bit controversial is the stubborn hero running back to save the bots while ignoring his teammates' pleas to leave them for the team's sake.  This is one of the very few instances of leaving teammates behind that most members condone. 

 

Occasionally (not too often) a bot goes down in a totally safe spot, like not near a choke or anything, and then people start freaking out because I go to pick it up.

 

that's basically feeding 15+ free points to infected

 

Remember, though.  Their indifference is a violation of rule number one.  Hell, I'm usually the least eager to leave bots behind even though Rochelle bots are practically playing for the infected.

I live by two golden rules and encourage all other players to do the same.  They tend to clear up any ethical dilemmas.

1.  You need to make a reasonable effort to save bots.

2.  You can't sacrifice the safety of human players for the sake of bots.

Rule number one is priority until the saving the bots will be too dangerous.  If saving the bots will get people killed, then rule number two comes into effect.  One scenario that's a bit controversial is the stubborn hero running back to save the bots while ignoring his teammates' pleas to leave them for the team's sake.  This is one of the very few instances of leaving teammates behind that most members condone.  While protecting your teammates is a primary concern, if they're blatantly violating rule number two, they're a threat to the team and can be abandoned to their fate to prevent others from suffering.

I can tell you that things can be far worse. 

My old clan decided last spring that they wanted to do a get-together somewhere in the summer, preferably July, but were having a hard time picking a place to do it.  I stepped forward and said I could host something in my area if it would work for a venue and everyone said it would be a great idea, especially the person organizing the event.  I ended up renting a place and made plans for transportation for everyone.  After the information was posted and we were all well past the point of no return, everyone started making excuses to duck out.  The person who was supposedly organizing matters and getting things together fell of the face of the earth.  A year later, he still hasn't said a word to me even though I know he's active on Steam.  In the end, one person showed up and was as disappointed as I was on a personal and financial level.  We both lost hundreds for being the only people who really believed in the event and held to our promises.  There's a reason I stopped wearing that tag last year.

My old clan can bleed out in a ditch.

I agree with Sky that too much can ruin things.  Even though there is a different multiplayer dynamic to the server, the roles and gameplay are still quintessential Left 4 Dead 2.  You revive teammates, hold off hordes, shoot special infected and so on.  It's pretty straightforward, which gives new people unfamiliar with our !buy system and hotkeys a fighting chance at contributing with whatever skills they've picked up from other game modes.  Now that Valve has completely dropped server support for the game, there's probably more need than ever to make it recognizable to the average player bouncing from custom server to custom server.  As much as I'd love to see really crazy menu options, I try to remind myself that, while this would be hilarious fun for veterans, it would befuddle newcomers even moreso than our server does now.  Steeper learning curves would only lead to further elitism.  I sometimes wonder if we've gone too far as it is.

After listening to you commentate Jackie, I just realized what your true calling is, although you may be a little too late.  You should have been the commentator for the Nickelodeon show Guts.

We don't have slime, but we can still puke all over someone if they say "I don't know".  Classic.

I'm dropping by to verify.  This guy was a pain in the butt.  Definitely ban worthy.

With cheap fire and bile, killing a tank is easy enough to begin with.  We don't need to make it even worse for the infected.

The random tank thing always made victory more of a game of chance.  Victory was often a matter of which team got a tank that knew what the hell he was doing.  Even the most airtight choke points can be utterly wasted by a new player.  I for one hope to never see that again.

I will never give up my boomers.  NEVER!  Why the boomer hasn't been given a spinoff game, I'll never know.  I'd rather have him on my side than Rochelle.

How about a cover/re-mix of 'Ding Dong the Witch is Dead'?

There needs to be a Wizard of Oz campaign for this game, now that you mention it.

Let's not forget the instant classic "Stay off the roof".

If this was an all-girl band, they could call themselves the Dangerous Witches.