Why I don't play COOP that much anymore

[viiper]

When I first started playing, before becoming a squad member, it was fun. Lots of people playing, maps were hard and challenging, and people used Teamspeak. I enjoyed playing.... until BO 1.6

It started as a joke between me and a few others. That the mod was allowing the AI to change and morph as needed. But then I saw things that made playing COOP less and less enjoyable. Getting shot by a stinger was the first. A stinger can't shoot a human. I get shot out of a tank by an MP5. 4-6 stingers to take one helo down, but just one passing by in the same zip code takes mine down.

Then there were the unmarked death zones. Being spawned in front of 50's and rockets. As though the intention was to rack up kills against the player.

Now all I see is me getting shot through rocks, boulders, large hills, concrete, underground, etc. And it seems to be continuing. I play consistently with 1-2 people. Maps are dynamically changing weekly. Proners are invincible to grenades, rockets etc until they stand up. AI is shooting you and not even pointed in your direction.

I used to play more in COOP servers earlier in the evening. But the God mode that the AI is in is ridiculous.

I don't expect any change. Just if anyone was wondering why I enjoy DM's over COOP's these days, that is why.

[Bubbachuk-PG-]

When I first started playing, before becoming a squad member, it was fun. Lots of people playing, maps were hard and challenging, and people used Teamspeak. I enjoyed playing.... until BO 1.6

The key . . . Lots of people playing.
Maps play harder with a few players in them than they do with 10 or more players in them. Why?? . . . With just a few players in the server the Bad Guys have less targets to defend against and will concentrate their efforts on them.
In short . . . the maps have not changed at all . . . the participation has changed drastically.

Maps are dynamically changing weekly. Proners are invincible to grenades, rockets etc until they stand up. AI is shooting you and not even pointed in your direction.

Maps are dynamically changing weekly
Maps don't change themselves. The number of players dictates how the map will play.

Proners are invincible to grenades, rockets etc until they stand up
Question . . . would you expect to catch more shrapnel standing or prone?

AI is shooting you and not even pointed in your direction
AI's acquire targets by sensors, not sight. This happens all the time and is not correctable by the map maker.

I have been practically begging for some players to learn how to make COOP maps for years. It would amaze you to see what goes into making a map and give you a better appreciation of the process and why things happen the way they do.

Summing it up . . . the maps are not changing themselves . . . lack of player participation dictates how the map plays.

It also appears the days of a full or near-full server are over and, if viiper's post reflects the sentiments of other players, well, it's kind of obvious, isn't it?

[Country Joe-PG-]

Having thought about your post for a few days I have some comments Viiper aside from Bubba's which are all true BTW.

In monitoring the stats I have observed many players' kill stat ratios are higher since switching to 1.6 than they were in 1.5 including mine.
One reason is that many AI's now in 1.6 simply stand around until you engage them. Meaning if you are a bit stealthy you can kill them way before they kill you. This includes stinger AIs. However, when you use any sort of transportation AIs zero in you quickly. Especially stingers.
DD Huntor says he did nothing to the AIs characteristics in creating 1.6 but it was a noticable difference during the transition from 1.5 to 1.6 in the AIs engagement and activity.

To your point Viiper, yes we had a few death maps. Mostly created by TAR but between Bubba and I we have toned many of them way down. As for the remaining map makers I can assure you our philosophy is not to create DEATH maps and it never has been. Rather we simply try to make them challenging. If that means that on some maps a player dies more than others then so be it.

As for the unmarked death zones, I am guilty of doing that!
You are allowed only so many items in a map so when I bump up against the items limit I sacrifice warning signs. The point being I and other mappers want players to move in a certain direction rather than circle around and create a shooting gallery map. In other words we rely on players' memories to avoid death zones after playing a map a few times.

Lastly, I'm sorry your playing experience isn't what it use to be Viiper but the fact is the majority of our maps were created for 5 to 10 players and Bubba is right we just don't get the participation we had way back when. The only solution I can offer is if you're dying too much then try and play the maps slower. Since I tend to play when no one is playing, slowing down has worked for me in reducing my deaths.

CJ

[Red Dog-PG-]

You could make the health points of a player slowly go down giving the player a chance to get out of the death zone. You can control the health points from slow (-1) to instant death (-100) with this WAC script.

PLOOP
if !ssnarea(player,1) then
ssnaddhp(player,-10)
text("<cff30>YOU'VE LEFT THE MISSION AREA")
wave(XXX.wav,400)
endif
END

[Bubbachuk-PG-]

That's one way to do it but I prefer to set up the death zone and health rate in the "Item Attributes" Window. Both ways are effective. It's just easier in the Item Attributes Window and easier to adjust plus I don't use the limited resources of the WAC scripts.

[Country Joe-PG-]

You could make the health points of a player slowly go down giving the player a chance to get out of the death zone. You can control the health points from slow (-1) to instant death (-100) with this WAC script.

PLOOP
if !ssnarea(player,1) then
ssnaddhp(player,-10)
text("<cff30>YOU'VE LEFT THE MISSION AREA")
wave(XXX.wav,400)
endif
END

Yep. Been using that ploop on new maps a updated maps as well as the way Bubba does it. Both ways work great to keep players in bounds.

[itchypav-PG-]

I stepped in ploop once.

[Bubbachuk-PG-]

LOL . . . You'd be surprised at how much PLOOP you've stepped in playing our maps!!