Any XBox Live players here?

I haven't been able to play much the last couple days, but I expect to be able to get some in later. I was able to have some fun sniping some punks that kept flocking to this window in the urban map (can't remember the name of it).

So, when are you getting Skyrim?

 

Got it. Probably trading it in.

It... wasn't what I expected.

 

Wow and wow. I didn't think you'd have gotten it already based on the shiny newness of MW3, and trading it in? It looks so <insert egregious expletive here> awesome.

 

Yeah. On a PC loaded for bear on max settings (I should have bought it on PC, but then there are other issues even that wouldn't fix. Like boring as all holy <explitive> combat).

AC:R comes out on Tuesday. It just got a lot cheaper.

 

Ok, Jim. I'm going to add you next time I log on.

 

My wife took the kids out to a movie, so I had the rare opportunity to play on live a couple hours at a normal, human time.

Lo and behold, TTF is on! And on the longest AFK in XBox Live history. I'll catch ya sooner or later.

 

It's like the changing of the guard lol. The stars will align one of these days I'm sure.

 

I thought you were joking about that, but turns out my youngest rugrat discovered the controller and turned the xbox on. Apparently I've been signed in all day.

 

Well, that explains it then.

 

There was a patch for MW3 yesterday. It was supposed to fix the lag issues.

Fail.

Oh, if you're lucky enough to get into a lobby where everyone is 4 bars, it's great. That's rare. And the latency correction is still awful, which means there are some guys in almost every lobby intentionally lowering their ping. It's disgusting. You can always spot them. They're the ones killing you with seemingly a shotgun blast (all you hear is "BLAM" and you're dead), but you never saw them until AFTER you die. On kill cam, he's been in front of you for several seconds and actually sprayed you to death. Or you come to a face-toface, shoot first, put a dozen rounds into him and die, but kill cam shows you doing absolutely nothing and he's the only one who fired. Yep. Why would I even try to kill him? I'm a pacifist. When I see the enemy, all I do is wave. Or run at him trying to hug him. /facepalm Or you die a nanosecond after seeing a guy (who sometimes doesn't even appear to be facing you) with zero time to react. Now, I'll accept that an 18 year old has faster reflexes than my old ass... but not that much.

That's only half of spotting them though. The other half is that they have the LOWEST ping in the whole lobby (1-2 bars where most had 3-4)... but they're on the east coast (close enough to me) while people from the west coast have more bars, or have gamer scores over 30K (no dedicated gamer like that will settle for a shoddy connection... or at least they didn't in the past), or (big tell here) are hidden as to appear off-line. I don't know what's sadder. That the game is coded this way which allows people to legally lag switch (that's essentially what they're doing). That people will exploit a faulty system in order to wag their e-peen... or that people feel like they HAVE to do it in order to compete since so many already are.

This video demonstrates what I'm talking about:

[youtube:1710qxl7]wJOpFCCnv0E[/youtube:1710qxl7]

I had no problem with the old way: the fastest connection has the advantage. At least you knew the score, and it was only the host you really had to worry about. This new way, you have no chance. None. Even if you out-position them, flank them, and shoot them in the back, they have time to turn and kill you, and yes, you guessed it: you never fired.

I hate being that guy who quits in the middle of games, but I will not stay in a match where I may as well just stand still and wait to die, because nothing I do matters. My new policy is, if I run into more than one person seemingly invincible, I'm out. I know there are guys who are just TOO good. And there's certainly a lot of people way better than I am. I don't mind that. If I die due to my own stupidity, or slow reaction, or the guy was a beast, I can tip my hat and hopefully learn a trick or 2 from him. When it seems like I may as well be picking my nose, because according to the game, that's all I was doing, that I can't accept.

On the bright side, I tried some spec ops last night, and that was pretty fun.

 

Wow, just...wow. That explains a lot. I've been victim to that. Was driving me frickin' nuts the other night. What a major bummer. There's no arguing that the fastest connection should be rewarded, not punished. I'm in awe of how ridiculous that is. Hope it gets fixed soon. Guess it's back to MOH for me for a while then.

 

I just tried an experiment. I streamed 2 full length movies at once and logged onto Live. I normally have an open NAT, but my NAT went to "strict."

I took the perk setup I have that I do the WORST with. The gun I do the worst with. And no killstreak rewards for air support kills. UAV only.

First match I enter, the match is half over already. I go 15-3. Who knows how good the score could have been in a full match with killstreak rewards TOO!

All 3 of my deaths to the same guy. A gold gun wielding, 4th prestige already, ALSO lagging SOB. (I killed him twice)

It went from feeling like I suck horribly at the game, to feeling like I was almost in Godmode.

Now, I'm NOT endorsing this at all. Quite the contrary. If I, an older man with slower reflexes and below average skill could make the game THAT easy, then you know it's WRONG. And anyone doing this intentionally and knowingly is CHEATING.

Now back to playing honestly and getting my ass handed to me. But if they don't fix this soon, I'll be trading in the game and it'll be my last CoD. I look forward to Respawn's (the company founded by the IW guys dicked over by Activision) first game.

 

I'm gonna have to do a little before and after experiment of my own later to um...verify your findings.

Seriously though, I agree. Exploiting this and creating a lag is cheating plain and simple.

 

So, I was too tired to actually experiment, but I did update and play, and either I just got lucky, or it's better. I didn't have any of the 'suprise, your dead' lag issues.

 

Playing during the day is better. You're more likely to get a lobby where everyone is 4 bars. when that happens, the game is great.

Playing at night, or in a lobby where everyone is intentionally lagging is not.

 

I was playing at night- around midnight/12:30, but I must have gotten a lucky lobby. Shoot, I was hopeful.

 

Maybe. Maybe you're just getting better lobbies. The last 2 nights I tried to play it was literally unplayable. My guns were loaded with spitballs and I was getting killed by guys who hadn't even appeared yet.

But last weekend, I had a few lobbies with everyone running on a good connection and it was good. Oh, *I* wasn't that good. But it was playing decent and wasn't so frustrating.

 

Don't worry. That's the case for us older gentlemen.

The lag just makes it even worse...

 

Finally I get a chance to play with TTF!

And he kills me first chance he gets.

Good playing with ya. Kept me a little subdued rather than my usual raging ways.

 

Heh heh...that was fun. Glad we finally got a chance to play, though I'm a frickin' newb compared to you. I only had a few hours of sleep the night before, so I'm usually much more animated than that. Not that I'm making excuses for how much I suck...I'm just usually more 'alive' than that. Come to think of it, I think I saw you on here at O'Dark hundred yesterday AM...when do you sleep?

 

I don't really.

I only need about 5 hours a day. And yesterday, I had my "Dad's napping on the couch" day most of the afternoon, so I barely slept this morning. If I take a nap, my sleep schedule gets all messed up... but the weather felt like good napping weather. That, and working a later schedule has made me mostly nocturnal. Generally, I don't go to sleep until after 4 or so, and I'm usually up by 9-930.

I don't know if you were around then, or remember it, but years ago on the old board, we had a "Steelers Insomniac club" thread going for a long time. I was one of the founders. I've been on this schedule for the better part of 13 years now. Truth be told, I was always a night owl, even when I worked mornings.

It's just as well last night though, I had a ton of things to do in the morning, so I just stayed up and did them early. Took a light nap afterwards. I'll be beat tonight, but that will help me sleep at a normal time (for me anyway).

 

Oops I did it again...

I wasn't going to prestige this game, this time. I finally got the guns/setups/perks just the way I liked them, and I was doing well with them more often than not. I hit 80, and just kept playing. I even got a gold gun!

Now, tonight, I don't know what sick, twisted madness came over me, but I went and prestiged. I regretted it almost immediately. And it's going to be a long haul getting those back.

At least I spent my token on unlocking a gun early. So my sweet MP7 was mine to use again as soon as I hit lvl 4... which took one game.

Better hurry, TTF. I'm about to lap ya.