Left 4 Dead

I've actually found Advanced to be about right for me, until the finale at any rate. I can blast through most levels on Normal in a few minutes with a buch of people keeping up.

It's true, the finales are difficult, but not that difficult. A couple of nights ago we very nearly finished Blood Harvest on only our second attempt on Advanced, only getting smoked by the last tank. Personally I like a challenge. Expert on the other hand I imagine is frankly impossible, but that's kind of how it should be if you ask me.

Originally Posted by quack


I had a go at online co-op last night, again on easy, with 3 human players. We were waiting for the APC to arrive at the farmhouse and the director was just pure evil. It sent wave after wave of zombies at us, including 3 tanks one after another. One of the tanks made mincemeat of one of the players, so we were down to 3.

However, I seriously dread to think how many times I will die on Expert! :)

Three tanks? Lol, you were too good! Remember the AI Director adjusts the game to suit your play style, if you're doing stupidly well (which on Easy I imagine you were) the Director will spawn more and more enemies in an attempt to balance the game. Playing it on a harder difficulty setting (which above everything else gives the enemies more health and you less), you'll enivitably do less well with the standard number of enemies, so the Director won't need to send three tanks after you. Remember the game adjusts to you. Expert will always be impossibly hard and in Easy the zombies are target practice, but it will vary depending on how well your coping (health, ammo, number of incaps etc. etc.)

If anyone hadn't noticed, I'm mildly addicted to the game. The other night I had a "quick go" before going to bed, and my girlfriend dozed next to me until I finished. Needless to say she wasn't too impressed when I finally woke her up to go to bed at 3:30am.

Ah, the "adjusting to your ability" thing makes a lot of sense.

I had a lot of fun just on my own last night, with sv_cheats turned on, playing with the console commands.

Huge endless mega mobs are so much fun.

I might have to have a go with this particular config - making expert look like easy!

I'm starting to think it may just be broken. Four players on normal skill, whittled down to one and then I as the last player am hit with literall a tank, smoker, hunter and two boomers all at once? That's not an AI director, just broken AI.

I agree sometimes i dont think it is really taking much into account, having baul and joe leave us, thanks to some horrendous laggg, ( tims mothers fault i think? ) we got hit by a tank which took out Han, and then another one spawned when i was ALONE. ie everyone else was dead!

I played through "No Mercy" last night in a little over an hour on normal but that was with the ninja shot fall on their sword bots. When I played the demo the bots were over powered in normal but fell a little short on advanced, going to find out tonight.

Advanced is the way to go imo. Its hard enough for me, and I can avoid all the l33t kids that populate expert coop or verses servers.

Still havent survived Blood harvest on advanced though.

advanced is the way to go, for sure.

I can do advanced now, but I find I have to play them on normal first so I learn the layout. Otherwise I take too long looking in siderooms and the AI directors ups the rapage.

Originally Posted by gibber
Advanced is the way to go imo. Its hard enough for me, and I can avoid all the l33t kids that populate expert coop or verses servers.

Still havent survived Blood harvest on advanced though.

Blood Harvest is the only one I can't do. The finale is just brutal, and that corn field gives me the willies every time. I always end up just legging it across now and hiding in the house. "Shhh, they don't know I'm here!" :)

Originally Posted by Bauul
Blood Harvest is the only one I can't do. The finale is just brutal, and that corn field gives me the willies every time. I always end up just legging it across now and hiding in the house. "Shhh, they don't know I'm here!" :)

Pfft. Blood harvest is by far the easiest one to do and the house can be held easily by just two survivors and one AI. PM or Text me - we'll team up and take it together!

The corn field however can be a bitch.

I think it was fury who showed us a sweet trick to hold the barn rather than the house, works so well.

Everyone is upstairs, two people sit on the wooden beams that overlook the ladder, 2 people the other end covering the only way zombies can get in through a whole in the barn roof, and watching whats coming in. Usually there is an ammo deposit up there too.

We had 2 tanks, one that couldn't climb up to us so it was just shooting fish in a barrel, and the other got stuck by the house's patio fence thing haha.

This game is ruining my education.

I've found the easiest way is to get in the house at the top of the stairs. One person can hold the stairs on their own and, with all the doors closed, the other three can manages the three doors and offer support. If you stay in the hall at the top of the stairs then you can just take them down as they come through the windows. If you need to run for ammo then someone can run down and cover the bottom of the stairs.

If a a tank arrives then you can make it out of the windows to get some height and distance on him before he reaches the house. If a boomer comes or if a disaster strikes then those who've been targeted can retreat into the bathroom at the top of the stairs. There's only one way in or out of there, so with plenty of melees you can just knock the zombies back and keep them out, shooting when needed. the fact that the room is so small means smokers can't easily get you.

Sorted.

But what about when the tank arrives and you're all stuck in this tiny bathroom because the zombies are not dead and blocking your way ? :(

Originally Posted by Stickeh
But what about when the tank arrives and you're all stuck in this tiny bathroom because the zombies are not dead and blocking your way ? :(

Never happened to me yet, because it's so easy to hold the top of the stairs even on advanced.

Don't get me wrong - being on the beams is a safer plan, but to me it feels too much like a glitch or exploit to be fun.

Oh i know, while its a sure-fire way to win the level, it wasnt half as fun as screaming your head off while being chased by a tank around the house, shooting down on it just made it too easy.

Reminds me of the versus game we had the other day, we got so over run me and a friend decided to just leg it and leave the other two AI players behind,running to the train safe house just before the cornfields, the tank noise sparked up and bill was ahead shouting DONT TURN AROUND, i had to look i was so caught up in suspense, and there it was bounding down the tracks a big ass tank with about 20 zombies in front of it, just like on the opening video the tank was getting closer and closer and i was just killing off the front few zombies, luckily JUST made it to the safe house in time. I've never had my heart pumping over a game before!

Mmm, I dunno. The hallway is the best place to hold the line in the house, but the problem is the tanks. As they can spawn basically anywhere outside the house, they have a nasty habit in my experience of sneaking into a room downstairs you can't see from any of the windows upstairs. Before you know it, he's in the house and charging up the stairs, and the only thing to do is leg it out of the house, and that in itself is suicide.

The barn trick does work particularly well if everyone knows where to sit, I first saw it in action last night on normal (I was finishing off one of my girlfriend's games) and we completed it without being hit once. I would have gotten the Untouchables achievement if it wasn't for a single Zed that hit me on the way into the truck. That said, on Advanced I imagine it takes a great deal more teamwork, and if you're good enough as a team to do it without difficulty on Advanced, it's time to move to Expert.

And if you can do it without difficulty on Expert... then well you're just too good aren't you?

Originally Posted by Stickeh
there it was bounding down the tracks a big ass tank with about 20 zombies in front of it, just like on the opening video the tank was getting closer and closer and i was just killing off the front few zombies, luckily JUST made it to the safe house in time. I've never had my heart pumping over a game before!

I tried that a few days ago. All was going to plan, the horde was miles behind us, no worries. Apart from the witch, sitting in the doorway of the safehouse. We ended up sacrificing a player to lure the witch away whilst we hid in the safe house and giggled like small school girls.

Originally Posted by Bauul

And if you can do it without difficulty on Expert... then well you're just too good aren't you?

Yes, yes you are.

We attempted to play through them on expert last night, but the game never really started off so it fell apart. Got to try it sometime, though with some of my clan members its not the zombies i have to be worried about, its friendly fire incidents!

Originally Posted by Bauul
Mmm, I dunno. The hallway is the best place to hold the line in the house, but the problem is the tanks. As they can spawn basically anywhere outside the house, they have a nasty habit in my experience of sneaking into a room downstairs you can't see from any of the windows upstairs. Before you know it, he's in the house and charging up the stairs, and the only thing to do is leg it out of the house, and that in itself is suicide.

Not at all. You can usually get out the window and over to the barn if you need to, or run backwards to the front door without taking damage. If the tank comes in the window then the stairs are clear, so you can take them.

Originally Posted by CardJoe
Not at all. You can usually get out the window and over to the barn if you need to, or run backwards to the front door without taking damage. If the tank comes in the window then the stairs are clear, so you can take them.

Fine, lets have another game and you can show me how it's done if it's sooooooooooooo easy.

By the way, if it turns out you can do it without difficulty, I'm going to shoot you in the back and blame the zombies. Just so you know. ;)

Don't forget to invite me in! Though i need to be doing work, I WANT SHOOT MORE ZOMBIES WOOT.

Greetings!

Someone asks Gabe Newell why the EA logo is on the L4D trailers:
http://ih8evilstuff.livejournal.com/16992.html

Greetings!

Major update yesterday:

Left 4 Dead Update Released

* Finding a dedicated server when starting the game from a lobby is now faster and more reliable
* Versus mode is now locked to Normal difficulty
* Difficulty on a server is now locked to the one set by the lobby reservation
* Fixed lagouts/spikes after level transition
* Fixed directory issue with spray logs in some cases
* Fixed video settings not saving after closing video options dialog
* Corrected a boomer suicide exploit
* Several minor localization fixes
* Fixed disabling cheats incorrectly resetting data

What i really want is an easy way to connect to my own server via the lobby right now its a bloody mess.

I'm in the process of making my mini zombie proof
seehere

Originally Posted by steveo_mcg
What i really want is an easy way to connect to my own server via the lobby right now its a bloody mess.

I use sv_search_key to connect to my own server without problems. Set it to some semi secret phrase in your server.cfg and set it in your clients console after you start L4D. You can then start a 'play with friends' lobby, set the permissions to public to fill up with randoms. When the matchmaker searches for a server, it will only match a server with a matching sv_search_key (ie yours). It works very well for me atm.

This is for a server on the LAN.