Disher Family Fodder
That double points weekend with the release of the new maps really screwed me up. I leveled up quick the the final couple levels were frustrating, playing at level 50+ with level 20 weapons… pfft.
But the dead is done, now on prestige level 8 and sneaking up on the elusive gold cross.
Though I have half a mind to stop at level 9 and call it done. Starting over it getting kind of old.
Currently:
Level 40-something. I flipped over this weekend during the Double Experience Point Extravaganza that was part of the new map releases.
While double experience points helps you level up faster, it kinda screws with you. I’m somewhere in the 40’s but my weapons have only been upgraded to about where they’d be if I was in the 20’s. So this kind of puts you a little behind the 8-ball if you will.
You just don’t have the tools you’re used to having at this level (perks aside).
I was half thinking about stopping at this level but will need to do at least one more to round out my weapon differential.
The new maps are great, they claimed (4) new maps but only 3 are really playable. Kill-House is pretty useless.
COD 4 remains one of the better games I’ve played, but it’s wearing thin. There are things they really need to fix. (these probably won’t make sense if you don’t play the game).
* Party or Lobby Migration is good, but host migration during a game needs to take place, even if it only moves to the user with the best overall connection. That won’t help when that person leaves, but it would help game performance.
* It needs a messaging system that pops up to let you know you’ve received an invite. Similar to the way the PS 3 notifies you that friends are logged on/off. In game is when you need this. When I push the start button it’s to switch weapons, not to see (and dismiss) a bunch of useless invites received 5 minutes prior.
* When someone performs an invite, they should be forced to wait for those to expire before moving on. It would help with those impatient folks who invite people then go join another room, only to screw up the folks that they invited.
* Tone down the noob tube.
* Tone down Jaugernaut.
* Fix the sniping with the ACOG, for real this time.
* Show the blast radius of what killed you in the kill cam. I die from stuff (claymores usually) that I’m no where near.
* mute in the Lobby, please…
* Oh and fix the hard core team killing… Allow users to vote a player out.
Last night I flipped Prestige over again… On my way to that elusive gold cross.
So I am again a level 1 with next to no weapons and the quest to build up the arsenal starts all over again. I am no one over 1/2 way if you count the 55 levels it takes to get to the first one, I have completed the task 6 times. It takes time…
I’m hopeful that when the new maps are released to the PS3, we’ll have a double experience point period, that might help me cap off a prestige in one weekend as opposed to about 2 weeks of play.
Currently at Prestige level 5, I’m going to flip the switch in a few minutes.
OK, it seems there are different opinions on the value of Prestige Mode in Call of Duty 4.
Some folks embrace it, others just whine and call it dumb. The latter folks coincidently are either overly concerned with their stats or often times are the folks less skilled.
So basically it’s like this:
In most other First Person Shooters with online play you have a couple modes:
1) You have nothing or limited weapons. You run around the map and pick them up. Doom/Quake or Unreal tournament style. This is Old School mode in Call of Duty 4.
2) You have all the weapons and abilities that you’re ever going to have when you start the game (from an online perspective). You play, and it gets old.
Call of Duty is different in that you have to earn new weapons, and ‘Perks’ or add on. When you start you’re at Rank 1. You have available to you 3 simple weapons classes with limited weapons.
For example you have an M16 available, and it has the grenade launcher attached. No special sights. Just the standard Iron sights.
As you score points, generally by killing the enemy, you increase your rank. As you score kills with each weapon you unlock add-on for them including a red dot laser sight, to silencers, grips or even ACOG scopes.
Each weapon has milestones to unlock each of it’s add-on. Typically; 25 kills for red-dot sight, then 75 kills for a silencer, then 150 kills for the ACOG Scope. Of course there are different add-on for different weapons. An ACOG scope wouldn’t be useful on a shotgun.
In addition to weapons upgrades you score points by completing some in game challenges. They can be as simple as ‘Vandalism – Blow up x number of cars’ to killing each member of the other team at least once, etc.
As you progress you unlock more challenges.
So here’s the rub, or the fun depending on how you want to look at it.
You work your way from level 1 to level 55. By the time you get to level 55 you should have all of the perks and weapons available. Doesn’t mean you’ve upgraded each and every one though. I have yet to max out a sniper rifle, I’m just not patient enough to sit in the bushes and snipe people all day.
Each of levels brings with it an icon, from a simple Sargent strip up to 55 which is a 5 Star General.
When you get to essentially level 56 you have a choice. That is move into ‘Prestige mode’.
If you take the leap, you basically give everything back and start again from Level 1. The difference is your in game icon is now a Prestige icon for all 55 levels.
There are 10 levels to prestige:
I’m currently a Level 4 working my way up to the gold cross. (each of them is modeled after a high ranking medal of honor in one of the armies represented in the game as explained here)
There’s one more twist… For each of the weapon classes; Assault, Sub Machine Guns, Light Machine Guns, Shot Guns and Sniper Rifles…
If you complete all of the weapons challenges for each class you’re rewarded with a gold version of one of the guns. For the assault class it’s a Gold AK-47.
This in itself kinds of says your bad-ass, because completing these means you’ve scored a really high number of head-shots with each weapon. Some folks work very hard to achieve this, yet when they kick over into prestige they lose those weapons. The gold version doesn’t have any other attributes other than it’s gold.
I liken them to Chad Johnsons Gold Grill he wears when he plays. It’s all about ‘bling’ and nothing else. While it means you’ve accomplishes something, it isn’t all that.
Because it’s painful at first you’ll find a pretty large number of folks who will end up stopping at one level and staying ’55 for life’.
I think that’s kind of weak.
Make no mistake to get to the gold cross it takes a lot of work and more importantly a lot of time.
But that’s what drives the game and keeps it interesting. If you couldn’t dump and start over, the game would get routine rather quickly.
I don’t plan on stopping until I’ve gotten the gold cross.