Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Team Fortress 2 - The Sniper!

The Sniper is one of my favorite classes. They come equipped with three weapons that include...
1. Sniper Rifle (Primary)
2. Sub Machine Gun (Secondary)
3. Machete Blade (Melee)

Your main goal as a Sniper is obviously to snipe people from behind the back, but it's the targets you choose that make the difference. Your number one target, as in all PvP games, is the Medic (healer). After a couple of minutes of healing a Medic will get a 10 second invulnerability (think Paladin bubble), this means you want to take them out before their invulnerability is charged and ready to be used.

With your sniper rifle equipped, right click to zoom in. You will notice a meter in the middle of your screen charging up. This meter determines how strong the shot will be, but you don't have to wait for it to be full to take a shot (although it is advised).

The best method is to take a vantage cover point and zoom in from behind that cover. Your cross hairs will be zoomed in on the box you're crouching behind, but that is ok, you are only charging to full capacity. Once you are charged, side strafe out from behind your cover, but don't take the shot, just notice where everyone is and go back to cover. Now that you have a mental picture of everyone's location, pop back out and take a shot at someone you noticed before, and always aim for the head, always! Whether you miss or get the shot, immediately side strafe back into your cover and let the gun charge again. Rinse and repeat this method.

On some of the larger maps it is possible to snipe engineer gun turrets, and these are just as important as Medics when choosing targets. They will take a few shots to take out, but most engineers are only concerned with Spies and are oblivious to snipe attacks against their turrets. The same applies to all engineer items, but turrets are more important.

Listen for the Spy calls and take note. If you hear your team call out that their Spy is disguised as a Soldier, then start taking pop shots at every Soldier from your team since you usually have a better view then the people in the fray of things. I've taken out a ton of Spies like this.

Lastly, If you get charged you always have your secondary sub machine gun, and your melee machete knife. These are both substantial backup weapons, but as with any class if you aren't using your main weapons you aren't playing to your strengths. If you find yourself just using the sub machine gun over the rifle, then just switch to the Heavy class, as that is automatic weaponry at it's best.

Now get out there and pretend you're Mark Walberg in the movie Shooter, or Gallagher with some watermelons if Marky Mark isn't your thing.

Friday, November 2, 2007

Warhammer Online Newsletter - October 2007 Issue

"In addition, we’ll be making changes to the RvR (open field RvR FTW!) and Server Rule Set Systems. These changes bring WAR a step closer to fulfilling the promise that “War is Everywhere” while ensuring a great play experience for those that do not choose to engage in RvR 24x7. This is another example of how EA Mythic talks to the community, listens to what they have to say, and takes action. We will continue this process over the next three quarters as we continue to develop, expand and improve WAR."

This is excellent news!!! My major concern with WAR is with the battlegrounds that resemble the BGs from WoW. I would hate to see RvR turned into an instanced scenario with even numbers on both sides on a small map! I don't mind if a battleground feature is implemented, but the problem is, and this was stated by the developers, that the BGs will contribute the most points towards capturing a territory. If we've learned anything from WoW, it's that players will always take the easiest route to more substantial rewards. This means WAR PvP, at it's current state, will end up like WoW PvP with the battleground system.

At least this excerpt from the previous month's news letter shows that they are addressing this concern, let's hope it turns out well!