I’m a gamer and I play way too much Call of Duty. I buy new games and don’t play them because I keep playing Call of Duty. I buy most of the expansion packs for each game, so they are making a decent amount of money from me, like the rest of you. It is a great game, but it has major flaws which I’m pretty sick of.
This post is mainly about Black Ops 2 because it is simply the most recent one that I’m playing. Most of these things apply to the previous Call of Duty games of which I’ve owned 2 or 3.
Thanks to Brett for his help with this article through brainstorming and bitching.
Quickscoping
Quickscoping is when a dickhead with a one-shot-kill sniper rifle aims down sights (scopes) for enough time for the auto-aim to lock on to the person, then fire. All of this happens very quickly they aren’t even looking down the sights properly. Someone can use the right sniper rifle as a long range one-shot-kill shotgun that almost always kills.
I was so sick of it I sent a message to one guy and his response was “Ppl wouldnt play it if there wasnt quickscopin”. What happens when one quickscopers shoots another? Are they like, good shot buddy harhar. It needs to be fixed for the next version. For our sanity, please.
Switching to hardcore is only a temporary fix since it doesn’t have the range of lobbies. I was once quick scoped by someone in MW3 in the cockpit from the top of the roof in the Terminal map. They guy couldn’t even see me and it went through the wall of the plane.
There should be an award for people killing quickscopers. I’m tempted to start posting gamer tags of quickscopers so people know to avoid them or they are shamed into stopping.
Dropping on the ground while shooting
It just isn’t possible to do. A mate and I tried doing this with nerf guns and it really is impossible. I laughed out loud the next day when I realised that the symmetrical carpet burns on my elbows were from attempting this.
Bouncing Bettys are way too good
No one uses Claymores any more. They used to be everywhere in the original Black Ops. You shouldn’t be able to throw a Bouncing Betty – this one I’ll admit is fun and funny.
Grenades are mostly useless in Black Ops 2
They were much more destructive in all of the previous versions. Not sure why they changed this one.
Errors. Errors. Errors.
There are constant errors such as:
- ‘Migrating hosts’
- ‘Notice – Server Disconnected’
- ‘Host Migration aborted – No good hosts found’
- ‘Error modifying session’
To name just a few you’ll see 2-3 times per game and for the rest of the night.
When a game does end abruptly in the middle, and you jump out of the lobby because it was too laggy they put you on ‘probation’. “Probation. You have earned a probation for quitting out of Public Match games too often. Finish games completely to avoid probation. Probation time remaining 1:00”. Of course I’m going to jump out of a game that is too laggy and has just bounced us to the lobby – that is my chance to get out.
A lot of these errors seem to be because of the way games are hosted. You don’t connect to a server, you all connect to the player with the best Internet connection. When it is no longer the best connection or it gets overwhelmed the game lags, some of you lag then it switches hosts. Then you run into the problem of no one in the lobby being able to host so it gives up and spits you back to the lobby.
Add to that it is the only serious of games that hard crashes the Xbox (ie, hold power for 3 sends) now and then.
Not being able to join or start a party to play with friends
Have some mates playing the game too? Good luck trying to play with them on Xbox Live. We get constant errors if either of us try to host or join with CoD or Xbox live. We’ve mostly given up on it. The only random combination we’ve found to works is that sometimes someone can join us during a match, if it isn’t full.
The future isn’t very futuristic in Black Ops 2
The trailers put spun Black Ops 2 as a futuristic version, which I was originally a bit worried about. The only thing futuristic is the shock charges, Dragon Fire that gets killed easily and one of the scopes that no one uses.
Pro versions of perks have been removed
I liked spending time and doing challenges to unlock pro perks. Now there is no challenge, gamification or advantage having spent time unlocking them.
Getting the same ‘message of the day’ each and every time I play the game
This has been happening since Revolution was announced. I bought the season pass so stop bloody sending me the same message time I turn the Xbox on! Alternatively give us the option to never show the message again.
Dumping you back to the main screen with no error
Recently while playing Black Ops 2, and trying to join a game it just fails and just dumps you back at the main screen with no error or explanation. Sometimes this can happen a few times in a row. This also happens while
Logging me out of Xbox Live in the middle of a game to install a game update
My Xbox live status changed mid game, which was weird. When getting back in again I received a message to install an update. You have no idea how annoying this is mid game. The first time it failed with status code 3f4a-0000-d080-0200-8007-2741 which took me ages to actually get the thing installed. I was willing to give it the benefit of the doubt initially and I couldn’t be sure, but it just happened again (12 March 2013). Now I’m waiting for the update to install before I can play the game again. Fail.
No global persistent muting of other players
All Call of Duty games have this problem. The shit that other players talk is ridiculous and I have no wish to listen to it. Now every time I join a game I have to go through the motions of muting the lobby. If I forget to do this and some ass hat won’t shut up mid game I have to work out who it is scroll down to their name and mute them, which is very painful and interrupts the game. In Black Ops 2 I’ve noticed most people don’t have a microphone set up which is a good sign they are probably decent people just wanting to play the game. Those that do are generally annoying and more than likely quickscopers. Halo never had this problem, it had a global option to mute all players.
The unsporting conduct of other players
This one isn’t against the game but some of the people playing the game. I love how the game opens up the mic for a few seconds once you’ve killed someone – it is great to hear. Occasionally you’ll get fussy players whinging that you’ve killed them – that I don’t understand since it is part of the game. It is amazing how many players can’t hack losing or getting killed. Then there are those players that send you messages if you beat them. Halo had the same problem – I never cheated or played badly but I got lots of people reporting me.
Murmuring ‘join my clan or lobby’ audio messages
Those quiet messages from kids “come and join my clan we are great it is invite only” which you can barely hear are very annoying and completely pointless. Seriously, get a USB keyboard if you want people to join or take you seriously. If you have a squeaky voice I’m not going to take you seriously but I won’t know that if you send text. A shout out to the guy in MW3 zombies.
The lack of the zombie lobby in Black Ops
Zombies in MW3 was the main game type I was playing at the end. It was hilarious, fun, exciting and there was a real sense of team. I miss these game types in Black Ops. A mate and I did play the Black Ops offline zombies quite a bit but it wore off pretty quickly.
Leagues that have no players in them
Leagues are a nice idea and I got ranked in them when the game was first released. Whenever I tried to join a ranked league game there were never any players available. I gave up and never played it again until recently. I’ve just sat in lobbies for 10 minutes not being able to find a game. 6 of us sat in a lobby for 5 minutes waiting for just 2 more players, only 2. When there was a game it was super laggy but I was still on full green status. Maybe there are too many leagues and not enough players or they didn’t count on players never playing it again. It is also possible the timezones don’t align for players. Most people I’ve spoken to have the same experience and also don’t play them. Leagues are a waste of time for most people.
In conclusion, I’m not sure if I’ll buy the next lot until some of the obvious problems are fixed. I’d encourage you to do the same. I also recommend reporting any player that is a bad sport or takes advantages of bugs in the game.
Leave a comment if you’ve experienced any of these or have a bug that annoys you that I’ve missed.