I Noobtube
Posted on 5th Jan 2010 at 12:32 by Joe Martin with 59 comments
I know there are a lot of people in the bit-tech community that object to Modern Warfare 2 either out of practicality (“oh, how it lags!”) or principle (“No dedicated servers means no buy!”), but I’m not going to delve into all that right now. I’ve had a very good experience with Modern Warfare 2 multiplayer and the more I play it the more I love it. That’s a fact.
One thing that’s been bothering me lately though, is the amount of abuse that gets bandied around in-game and how I’ve never been able to play a game without someone crying about overuse of the noobtube. It’s something I seriously don’t understand.
For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about then here’s a quick explanation; the noobtube is an under-barrel grenade launcher that attaches to most assault rifles. It takes up an attachment slot on that gun and comes with two shots only, though you can resupply if you’ve got relevant perks. The grenade it fires explodes on impact but is affected by gravity and it must travel a set range before exploding – making it useless at short range. It’s a powerful weapon, but the appeal is curtailed by the low ammo count, restricted range, long reload times and fact that it fills an attachment slot.
As the slang term indicates though it’s something that lots of people – mainly the ones who are being noobtubed – look down on. They cry, cry, cry about people who use it as a main weapon. It’s that bit I can’t understand because, to me, the grenade launcher seems a perfectly valid tactic. Good players should be able to adapt to it instead of resorting to whining.
The Way It Was Meant To Be Played?
I use the grenade launcher myself. Not all the time and not for my preferred class (SCAR-H with ACOG Scope and FMJ as my primary and a Stinger as a secondary weapon), but I do have custom classes which incorporate it and I’m happy to use it when the need arises – though when I do then the abuse inevitably starts, if it hasn’t already.
I can understand part of the problem; that people don’t like losing and they’d prefer it if the whole game was fought on a level playing field with everyone in the same big skirmish – but if that’s what they want then why aren’t they playing Quake? In Quake everyone had the same weapons and the same abilities. The main appeal of Modern Warfare 2 is that it isn’t like that. You can customise your loadout to suit your tastes and complement your skills, adjusting your role in the battle to what you want it to be.
If there’s someone sat on a hill with a sniper rifle killing everyone then you can call him a camper if you want, but surely he’s just doing the same as you? He’s playing the game as he wants to play it and how he plays it best. It should be obvious that rather than wasting the time to type out a badly abbreviated insult you’d be better off getting behind him and laying your hands on a revenge bonus.
We all have our peeves in the game. I don’t like people who use smoke bombs and thermal imaging together because to me that seems a little cheap…but I tolerate it because, well, I have to. It’s part of the game and I know that if I whine about it then all I get is a loss of self-respect and time, so I just wait for the smoke to clear. What that person was doing was a perfectly valid tactic.
What makes it good
Why is the grenade launcher so different and why is there no distinction drawn between relevance and reliance? It seems that if you use the launcher at all then you’ll be labelled a noobtuber immediately even if the in-game situation called for it. To me, that’s foolish – there’s a distinct line between someone using the launcher correctly and someone who is blatantly exploiting the structure of the game.
At the end of the day what really irks me is the judgement that’s incorporated into the slang – the noobtube. I see a lot of ‘pro’ gamers and people in clans (who usually ram the fact home but also insist they don’t have entitlement issues) complaining about noobtubers, but I never see the grenadiers whining that the other side is using FMJ or scopes or melee attacks and that that is unfair. To me, that speaks volumes about the type of people who initiate the abuse.
I’ll end with a nice little quote on the topic which I’ve stolen from Garry of Garry’s Mod. He sums it up rather nicely, I think.
“It seems like whatever weapon I use in MW2 everyone thinks I’m doing it wrong. If I snipe I’m a camper. If I use the grenade launcher I’m a noob tuber. If I use Tactical Insertion I’m a TA Exploiter. What’s next – you’re a violence noob if you try to kill the other team – because you should get the diplomat unlock and try to settle your differences with a mutual agreement outside the game?”
Let me know your thoughts in the forums.
One thing that’s been bothering me lately though, is the amount of abuse that gets bandied around in-game and how I’ve never been able to play a game without someone crying about overuse of the noobtube. It’s something I seriously don’t understand.
For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about then here’s a quick explanation; the noobtube is an under-barrel grenade launcher that attaches to most assault rifles. It takes up an attachment slot on that gun and comes with two shots only, though you can resupply if you’ve got relevant perks. The grenade it fires explodes on impact but is affected by gravity and it must travel a set range before exploding – making it useless at short range. It’s a powerful weapon, but the appeal is curtailed by the low ammo count, restricted range, long reload times and fact that it fills an attachment slot.
As the slang term indicates though it’s something that lots of people – mainly the ones who are being noobtubed – look down on. They cry, cry, cry about people who use it as a main weapon. It’s that bit I can’t understand because, to me, the grenade launcher seems a perfectly valid tactic. Good players should be able to adapt to it instead of resorting to whining.
The Way It Was Meant To Be Played?
I use the grenade launcher myself. Not all the time and not for my preferred class (SCAR-H with ACOG Scope and FMJ as my primary and a Stinger as a secondary weapon), but I do have custom classes which incorporate it and I’m happy to use it when the need arises – though when I do then the abuse inevitably starts, if it hasn’t already.
I can understand part of the problem; that people don’t like losing and they’d prefer it if the whole game was fought on a level playing field with everyone in the same big skirmish – but if that’s what they want then why aren’t they playing Quake? In Quake everyone had the same weapons and the same abilities. The main appeal of Modern Warfare 2 is that it isn’t like that. You can customise your loadout to suit your tastes and complement your skills, adjusting your role in the battle to what you want it to be.
If there’s someone sat on a hill with a sniper rifle killing everyone then you can call him a camper if you want, but surely he’s just doing the same as you? He’s playing the game as he wants to play it and how he plays it best. It should be obvious that rather than wasting the time to type out a badly abbreviated insult you’d be better off getting behind him and laying your hands on a revenge bonus.
We all have our peeves in the game. I don’t like people who use smoke bombs and thermal imaging together because to me that seems a little cheap…but I tolerate it because, well, I have to. It’s part of the game and I know that if I whine about it then all I get is a loss of self-respect and time, so I just wait for the smoke to clear. What that person was doing was a perfectly valid tactic.
What makes it good
Why is the grenade launcher so different and why is there no distinction drawn between relevance and reliance? It seems that if you use the launcher at all then you’ll be labelled a noobtuber immediately even if the in-game situation called for it. To me, that’s foolish – there’s a distinct line between someone using the launcher correctly and someone who is blatantly exploiting the structure of the game.
At the end of the day what really irks me is the judgement that’s incorporated into the slang – the noobtube. I see a lot of ‘pro’ gamers and people in clans (who usually ram the fact home but also insist they don’t have entitlement issues) complaining about noobtubers, but I never see the grenadiers whining that the other side is using FMJ or scopes or melee attacks and that that is unfair. To me, that speaks volumes about the type of people who initiate the abuse.
I’ll end with a nice little quote on the topic which I’ve stolen from Garry of Garry’s Mod. He sums it up rather nicely, I think.
“It seems like whatever weapon I use in MW2 everyone thinks I’m doing it wrong. If I snipe I’m a camper. If I use the grenade launcher I’m a noob tuber. If I use Tactical Insertion I’m a TA Exploiter. What’s next – you’re a violence noob if you try to kill the other team – because you should get the diplomat unlock and try to settle your differences with a mutual agreement outside the game?”
Let me know your thoughts in the forums.
59 Comments
Discuss in the forums ReplyThe only thing that annoys me is people exploiting the ridiculously easy knife mechanic, and sometimes the ridiculously overpowered akimbo shotguns (though I do use the akimbo G18's and they're not much better).
Don't even get me started about those that camp up and start randomly shooting through walls towards spawn points - they piss me off even more than noobtubers do. It's cheap and unsportsmanlike, and again demonstrates absolutely no skill.
There is a way to use the grenade launcher tactfully and skillfully, but too many don't - all they do is tube away.
There is nothing like as satisfying as getting a quad kill in headquaters with the grenade launcher!
What bugs me is when under 18s are on servers.
I completely agree here though, although people running around with dual machien pistols and those dam dual shotties can get annoying.
It's the people that run around with it equipped, shooting it at the first person they see, almost definitely getting the kill, and then doing that again and again until they run out of ammo. It's almost a sure kill per shot, and it is just a cheap tactic to get as many kills as you can with the least amount of skill or effort. They then run out of grenades, suck terribly, die, and then start the process again.
It's the use of it that bugs me, not the actual mechanic.
You'll probably find that's people grinding the XP reward for the grenade launcher kills unlock (10 iirc)
You used to get the same sort of people complaining if you ever unleashed this gun. And, with very little skill - just point and shoot - you could clear a room of 4-5 other players quite easily. And the temptation to do so was often too great, despite the abuse you'd receive.
It's my first memory of a massively overpowered weapon in an on-line game, and sprung to mind reading this article.
But this is the game and its better in MW2 because the games are smaller, so its harder to spam it as much. Whereas (and I've used it in the past) in CoD4 you can just point it at places where you expect people to be and get 1-2 kills every time. Easy peasy.
The grenade launcher is also very effective at close ranges, no detenation direct impacts kill instantly.
It's not the cheapest or most annoying thing to do in the game, but it's still annoying when people run around with grenade launchers and nothing else.
The main problem with the nade launcher is that people will shoot once and get multiple kills, that really does not take any skill at all. It's a weapon that takes no skill to use, hence the noob aspect of it. It's hard to respect the skill of someone who uses such a weapon.
I have always thought that airstrike and helicopter kills should not count towards more airstrikes and helicopters. To get an airstrike or heli you should have to get the kills with bullets. Sometimes I equip the nade launcher to strictly shoot at heli's. I never ever use the nade launcher against non nade heavy teams.
No one is saying it's an exploit. We're saying it's a cheap and skill-less way to get kills (when used this way at least).
this is what's frustrating
(I didn't play cod6 however)
"and it must travel a set range before exploding – making it useless at short range." is also just rubbish, you just get the direct impact kill when the nade doesn't have time to arm.
Yes, it frustrates me to pieces when I have a long kill streak and then some random 'tard accidentally gets me with the damn tube. I don't rant in-game, though, as it's just retarded as well. I also have SERIOUS problems with martyrdom users, and even more so as I couldn't be bothered to have the game sounds on and can't hear the nade dropping. In CoD4 I'd also like to physically harm everyone using 3 nades perk, but thank god that one didn't make it to the MW2.
The best whining I've presenced so far was in Wasteland and a guy was sniping all the way, HQ game. A guy from my team popped with " "X" stop sniping!" - OMG I laughed so hard and even made fun of him xD
Now, a well placed GL can make the difference and is tottaly accepted. I even used martyrdom when protecting HQ, got killed and some went flying high!
There's a line, at least for me, which perk, attachment is used is due strictly to the game mode. That's is having a kind of strategy and knowledge. Just random GL everywhere is kind of annoying.
Oh for the record, once I entered a TDM that the host or something bugged it, the enemy team was firing GL like M240 without reload! And today i got another cheater using aimbot and wallhack to get the nukes in Hardcore, suffice to say that even his teammates killed him xD
The problem is there isn't any way to stop people using "noob" weapons and perks. You have to use GL to get the under barrel shotgun anyway so you have to use it at some point.
Most of the bitchers and whiners, from what i've seen, like to believe they are "pro" when in fact they are mediocre at best. Personally I play for fun, if I lose, oh well. If I win, yay me. I feel that if you start to whine and bitch you are taking it too seriously and it becomes less enjoyment. Its supposed to be entertainment, so enjoy it. Who cares if you die, pick yourself up and get some payback.
Brads
well devs have to.. they got the numbers- this crowd is getting bigger and bigger every year
I actually agree with this. On previous COD games, if anyone moaned about something then an admin or regular would just pipe up and point out that it's allowed in the server rules, and if they didn't like it they would have to leave. That always killed the accusations and arguments dead.
I would use exactly the same argument against you. I want to enjoy the game, and that can not be done when the joy of a skillful kill (hell, even a skillful death is enjoyable for me) is ruined by someone running around spamming the GL with no actual skill at all. Sure, I am competitive, and winning is even more fun, but losing is still great when the match has been full of skilled and intelligent players.
I agree. That's how the thing is meant to be used. It is great fun. Someone else would have only thrown a grenade anyway. But in my eyes this is not "noobtubing" at all, and neither is what Joe does. So your title is wrong Joe!
Tooooooooooooooooooooooooob
The only other thing that anoys me is when I get a close range snipe and it doesn't kill them and last stand where I would have got a headshot/bullet penetration kill or it get stolen.
All classes + RPG.
Why? I don't get hammerd for being a noob tuber, and I still have skills. Oh last stand is a bit annoying.
Besides, i'm getting quite good at using it by now. I managed to kill two snipers that were covering eachother by jumping up from behind a wall halfway through the map and shooting mid-jump. The cool part was that somebody was spectating and made a video, so their complaining made them look utterly foolish after the vid was shown to others :D
the problem is that the "balance" in real life does not translate well to a game. in real life you can pack in more bullets than grenades, and dead is dead, no matter how you got that way. a bullet is more efficient, so it is the weapon of choice over explosives.
in a game dead is temporary, ammo is only limited per life, and the game is designed so ammo conservation is not really necessary. therefor the tube sees a lot more action than it would in reality.
in this case the "realistic" performance of the weapon effect is clashing with the decidedly unrealistic result of that effect (i.e. dead teammates don't stay dead, and no ammo is actually expended, there is no reduction in future availability).
of course this is all for fun, so the "realism" of effects and consequences is a moot point, but many people like MW2 because it has a lot of stuff that actually exists. it is liked for its "realism" and the thrill it brings when you immerse yourself in that type of story.
you could drastically alter play to be more "realistic" if you did not limit ammo to "per life" but rather limited it to "per time limit." that would make ammo conservation essential, and weapon usage would drop considerably if you only got a few GL rounds and a few clips of ammo every few minuets. of course you could make things even more realistic still and limit lives to one per day, or even one per serial number. the question is would that make the game more fun, because ultimately that is what the game is supposed to be.
the real key that developers have to keep in mind is the play balance. if a weapon is OP and gives an unfair advantage it needs to be changed so that the playing field is more level and the skill of the players is more accurately measured. when you have OP weapons running rampant you are not so much testing the skill of the players, but are instead pitting one bit of code against the other. if players always prefer one bit of kit to another, that probably means that one bit of code is stronger than the other.
all things considered, GLs are actually OP, but not because they get an easy kill. they are supposed to do that. they are OP because the are too easy to access, and too numerous for their relative effectiveness compared to the other weapons. there needs a way to limit their use, so that you only use them when you really need them and not just whenever you go around a corner. skill comes not just from your ability to twitch and hit a target, or you knowledge of the map, but can also come from your decision on which arms to bring, and when you choose to use them. MW2 has a little bit of this, but the way ammo is allocated takes away some of the strategy and tactics that is present in RL, and creates problems with how certain weapons are used.
there are other weapons that are also imbalanced, for one reason or another, and a few of the larger caliber weapons i think could use a boost to their power to make them more "realistic" or a few weapons are a bit too accurate, and the knife kill mechanic is just annoying and needs to be redone, but that is just my personal opinion. i think the way you are rewarded for kill streaks could be expanded to a few of the more fun small arms as well. that might work.
sorry i did not know it was that long!
Noobtubbing ftw
YEAH RIGHT! I'll use it more often when someone whines about it nonstop. It doesn't matter to me whether I kill you with bullets or a grenade, but if you're complaining about the M203 when I kill you with it, your death is much more satisfying to me. It's not useless at short-range, either, since you can peg people with it if you have a good ping. I love using it, and nothing said online will deter me from doing so. Besides, I only get 2 grenades per life, and I don't use scavenger, so you'll most likely see more deaths from my bullets or knife than you'll see from my M203. This might, perhaps, be the most satisfying thing about using the M203; you kill someone with it, they start crying about "noobtubes," and after you've run out of grenades, you kill them repeatedly with bullets (fired from your ironsights) because you've not yet died.
Of course, it's not all about the "lulz" I get from M203 kills. If there is an enemy aircraft on the map, it has first priority for my M203, for the good of the entire team. Some days I just don't feel like using the M203, and it won't stop me from killing you with one of the many other weapons in the game.
Also, I didn't think I'd need to point this out, but the devs of CoD have NEVER prioritized realism. I'm pretty sure the complaining about the "noobtube" is a function of this game's audience. I used to play America's Army almost exclusively, and it was the most "realistic" combat game at the time (it probably still is, today; I don't play the new version). The game had the M203 grenade launcher, and it performed in much the same way as it does in CoD. No one ever complained about being killed by the M203 in America's Army, and, if you've never played, it was much easier to die in that game than it is in CoD. I didn't ususally go for the "g-spot" (grenadier) in America's Army because I liked the perks of being Squad Leader (armed only with an M16 and a few grenades, but received additional radio commands, could set waypoints, and gave his teammates reduced fatigue and a slight accuracy bonus when they were close to him) but I never complained about being killed by the M203; I can't recall one person who did, even though it had the same capabilities in AA that it does in CoD. I believe the gamers that played AA when I played acted, on average, in a much more mature fashion than those that play CoD.
TF2, BF2 and CoD all suffer from it.
Heheh, that's what I do.
Actually if you're new to a game (not just MW2) and you're playing with people that have >100hrs of practice...of course you take the biggest instakill gun you can find. Otherwise you're just fodder, and there's no fun down that lane. :D
I used to play America's Army too and no one really moaned about 203s on that except when people launched it at the spawn point on the bridge map.
My preferred class is a stealth one-UMP with silencer and ACOG, Bling Pro, Cold Blooded Pro and Ninja Pro. I either use a shotgun with grip and silence or a stinger.
I also use a nice sprinting riot shield class for HQ games, a sniper on the larger maps as I was sick of getting picked off as I ran from cover to cover. A grenadier class and another one that I use for upgrading whatever weapon/perk I want upgraded.
The most annoying thing I find is the akimbo shotguns or the sprinting knifers on the smaller maps. Smoke and thermals don't bother me as I think it takes a bit of skill to use the thermals at first.
Shock horror.
People can whine all they want, when the player with a lower score tells the player with the higher score that they suck, I can't help but just laugh.
There is a flaw with your argument. Those people that complain and are at the bottom of the score boards would likely be at the bottom anyway, regardless of what weapon whoever they are complaining about is using. That is just an excuse. Granted. But just as often, you find the person using the noobtube is at the bottom also.
You seem to be assuming that everyone that dislikes the noobtube sucks, when in fact there is a balance between those that suck and use it, and those that suck and complain about it. I'm not going to say I'm always top, but 4/5 times I am in the top three, and I still don't like the noobtube. I'm not going to bitch and whinge, since some people will just use it more out of spite. It's just a case of watching out for it, and cursing IW for using such an abusable weapon.
Besides, it doesn't matter where you are on the scoreboard, the point still stands that it is too easy to use as a one shot one kill weapon, die and do it all over again, and get more or less a 2:1 K:D. When I see someone using it properly, I like to add those people to my friends, whether it is on 360 or PC.
and yes dedicated servers would fix the problem of marty, tubes, last stand, hackers, glitchers, and just noobs in general.
HANG ON!
I tend not to use it as at anything more than 20-30 feet it's faster to fire a bullet on target.
That said I am playing on 360, maybe it's different on the PC.
Had several semtex, 203s, RPG, grenade, Pave Low all try to kill me and failed. Only things that killed me was when several of the enemy flanked me but they generally died right after as the rest of my team were nearby. I still ended up with a k/d of 6/6.
problem with MW2 cant really do that to the Xbox matchmaking system they use, Hardcore mode is not playable due to Shot lag (like gears of war on the Xbox 360 Host norm always wins when doing the saw attack) shot lag is the time it takes for your shots to get form your PC to host to the other one your shoting, when your on rounds where kill cam is on you can see most of the time when you Die that you did not even let an shot off but (when you did), on top of that every one Camps on hardcore mode any way (mite be due to the 10 sec re-spawn timer that is norm not on COD4 servers)
until COD6 has dedicated servers its just an console game that runs on an pc i will Not be paying for any DLC add on packs why i even bought it is unknown (think its due to there are no other good games around just release BF 1943 all ready)