YO Gaming Community

In order to stop lots of passive hatred towards each other, we blatantly need a thread of Do's and Do Not Do's for Left 4 Dead.

We can make a tider one later when we know what we want in it, so for now just spam up this one with stuff you think everyone should know. Like for example...

Boomers : Melee Boomers away and make sure your team aren't nearby before shooting them. (NICK)

Holes And Ladders : Once one person has jumped down a 'point of no return' it is too late to run back for that pipe bomb / pills / holy grail. The risk of a Smokering is too great, go down as a team !

Witches : If you headshot a witch with a sniper rifle she will stumble backwards before running at you, thus giving the team an extra second or two to fill her with bullets.

Alarmed Cars : STOP SHOOTING THE BLOODY CARS OBRAXIS.


And even though I am sure to forget one...

The YO Versus Rules

- No autoshotguns.

- No cupboard camping.

- No shortcuts.

- No fire on finale tanks.


The YO Versus "Everyone Be Cool" Rules

- If someone goes AFK, say so in global chat. Everyone should pause and wait for them to return (unless it's during an event or Tank attack or something)... it is not cool for Infected players to use this time to run ahead and destroy doors / walls, nor for Survivors to explore the nearby rooms. Say in global chat when the player has returned and then resume the game.

- If you have to leave mid-game, say so in advance and ideally try to find a replacement for yourself.

- Similarly, it is perhaps best not to join a game starting at 8pm if you know you are going out at 8.30. (Especially considering the game itself will probably not start until 8.45)

- Do not leave during the finale. Once the button has been pressed the server "locks" itself and nobody new can join to replace you. Leaving after the button has been pressed dooms your team to playing 3v4. Obviously you can leave if your house is burning down, but if it's just a "meh" quit try to hold it in until the end of the round.

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There's loads more, both obvious and non-obvious, so I'm sure everyone can find something to contribute.
Let's make this the best darn L4D it can be.

I see far too many people blatantly failing as Boomer over and over, despite any advice from me and others. Apparently no one in-game understands German, so here's some basic tips. Note that these are just my ideas on how to play the game, some people might disagree. If you do, though, obviously you suck.

- Boomers are the key to every proper Infected attack. Try your best not to waste them.

- Get as many people vomited upon as possible. Don't waste your attack on single survivors.

- Don't take ages to spawn waiting for the perfect spot, but don't attack without your Infected teammates being ready to spawn either. Watch your HUD.

- Don't spawn far away, in neither height or distance. A lot of people will notice and locate a boomer instantly.

- Don't spawn behind survivors while they're progressing forward.

- Generally, if the time between your spawning and your attack is more than 2-3 seconds, you suck.

- Try spawning in front of survivors in their progressing direction, behind an obstacle or a wall, behind a corner etc. You can spawn behind even the thinnest trees on Blood Harvest if you stick to them.

- It's tricky to find the exact right time between them being able to walk up to you and melee you, and them being too close to shoot you without being blinded. In my experience, it's shortly before you cannot spawn anymore due to being too close. Try getting a feel for that distance and spawn shortly before it.

- Try spawning when they're distracted. During a crescende event, you can usually walk into someone's line of fire and explode on all survivors (drop down vent shafts!). Witch setups can also be effective.

- Most of the time it's better to die after an attack, since spawn time is pretty much equal to recharge time and you can reposition yourself.

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Also some general survivor tips...

- Stick together. That includes knowing where your teammates are at all times.

- Ignore infected that are a mile behind, unless all of you agree to go for them. Being dragged off by a smoker because you waited for him on your own while everyone else moved on is not the greatest thing to do.

- Always use melee first when anything is close to you. In exactly 100% of all cases, it is the better option. Shooting a boomer into everyone's face because you are panicking is not the greatest thing to do, either.

- When biled upon, use melee exclusively until you can see again. Making a boomer explode on your non-blinded teammates is not the greatest thing to do, either either.

- Don't go ahead if you suck at spotting boomers.

Will add more as I keep noticing stuff in-game.

My personal gripe....

Do NOT go afk as infected if you are waiting in-line to spawn, or are a Boomer. Boomers are arguably the most important infected class and it can royally screw a map up by you doing so!

You have loads of information on your screen, use it !


When playing as Survivor your teammates health and what they are carrying is right there in front of you.



In this image you can see Nick has pills and a pipe bomb, and Princess and Bart have medkits, pills and pipe bombs. Therefore you know that if you stumbled upon a medkit you should inform Nick by name (or perhaps Princess, as she is bleeding out), whereas if you find a pipe bomb you know none of them are interested.

Also, armed with this information you would know that given the choice between taking a pipe bomb or a molotov, you should take the molotov. And, verging into health-management territory here, you can organise swaps between pills and medkits depending on who needs them most.

I do not expect to see anyone else spamming "Molotov over here !" when everyone has one !



Since the last patch, the infected HUD is useful aswell...



Next to everyone's health bars you can see their class. If they are dead there will be a countdown timer showing how long until they are able to spawn. If the icon is blinking it means they are in ghost mode.

It's not as extensive as the Survivor HUD, but the Survivor HUD is right there for you to see if you press Tab.



From this you can see the Survivors health (it is useful to check this rather than relying solely on coloured auras, as the aura does not take into account health from pills. A player can have a red aura but still have more heath than his 3 green aura'd teammates). You can also see what grenades they have, which is useful for the team to know during Tank battles. In the above example, Smudgeh is the only Survivor with a molotov, so the normal boss Infected should perhaps focus on incapping or distracting him while the Tank gets close.

KNOWLEDGE IS POWER. USE WHAT THE GAME HAS GIVEN YOU !

How I roll as Survivor :

Focus on keeping the other 3 people alive rather than yourself. In theory this would mean you had 3 people focused on keeping you alive, however in practice I tend to end up crying when Hunters rip 50 health points out of me or I get Smokered at a 'point of no return' because I stayed to cover the idiot who went back to get a pipe bomb.

I went into art mode and knocked some images up that I'm sure can get plenty of use...







For example...



"I've heard you need to use your medkit before closing the safe room door in order to maximize your health bonus"



Unused medkits are automatically included in your health bonus.

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"I've heard detonating the petrol station on No Mercy 3 will 1-shot a Tank"



It will also outright kill Survivors rather than incap them.

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"I've heard Obraxis is capable of playing a whole map without setting a car alarm off or accidentally standing on a witch's face"



Tales have been told, but it's all just rumour at this point.

Added to the "everyone be cool" rules :

- Do not leave during the finale. Once the button has been pressed the server "locks" itself and nobody new can join to replace you. Leaving after the button has been pressed dooms your team to playing 3v4. Obviously you can leave if your house is burning down, but if it's just a "meh" quit try to hold it in until the end of the round.

"What the hell guys, I'm scared to play with you as you seem like you'll snap at me for any tiny mistake I make."

Not so. We're perfectly happy for people to blunder their way through games detonating Boomers and triggering car alarms, as long as they learn and eventually stop doing it.

Think of it like growing up... when you're a baby it's fine for you to go out in public, dribble all down your front and poo yourself. You're a baby, you don't know any better. However when you've been alive a few years it ceases to be acceptable; Nobody wants to change a 32 year old's nappy.

The people who get rage directed at them are the ones who despite having played loads of games are still making the same stupid mistakes they made in game 1, and will continue to do so no matter how many times they're told not to.

Ive got a pro tip, make sure you open and close doors in fluffys face non-stop if you want to play with us more than once!!

BIG TIP

Do NOT under ANY CIRCUMSTANCES open the door to the safe room, if you're already in it.

If your teammate is just outside the door, don't bother opening it up for them. They can do that themselves. You're just more likely top open the door to a hunter-in-the-face insted.

So, for the sake of your teammates...don't open the door!

not sure if these are 'pro tips', but they are tips...

-it's best not to stay exposed out in the open, so that hunters can't get 25 dmg pounces on you, e.g. NM3 after the diner, i prefer to go along the truck so that hutners can't reach you... By sticking to vertical edges, it's quite hard to be pounceed upon form teh same side, so you only have to worry about the opposite side. Same with BH5 - when leaving the safe room, I like to stick to the left , as i know for sure, that hutners can do 25 dmg pounce from there... thus by being directly under them, you are harder to hit, and even if they do hit you, the dmg is minimised.

-i also use the assault rifl, and so ammo can be a problem. if someone is boomered in a tight corridor, i usually switch to pistols (as this has infinite ammo). this applies to areas such as the diner kitchen area on NM3, or the train carraiges of nm2.

-if an in capped guy has been boomered, i like to stand on top of them and melee. if you are not melee you are unlikely to take much dmg, while also saving ther peron under you.

-(something i don't use but have thought about, when i cant sleep...) this applies particularly to finale maps: reloading a gun can sometimes take a while.. it's quicker to either switch weapons ( which would be quickest) or to change a weapon and change back immediately. (if you have full ammo, already, but an empty gun, you pick up the same gun immediately)

- even while boomered, it's also quite easy to spot who has been huntered, as their name tags will be sluightly lower than their usual height... shooting at them accurately while being punched and kicked is another matter...

-walking, although makes you invisible, is not instant. so if you continue to walk round the corner at the same speed, it doenst take a genius to work out approximately when you'll be appearing...


on more map specific points:


BH2 - as soon as i leave the safe room , i usually close the door on the right.
- snb likes to check that bottom room...
- after the event, and just about to enter tunnel, i think it might be beter to go downstairs inside then through door, to minimise exporusre outside



BH3 - i , personally, think it;s best to run quickly through the initla bottom outside area to avoid hunter pounves...



BH4 - once again, to avoid the uber pounces, ive also suggested going right as soon as you leave the safe house. this avoids the 25 dmg pounce, but you have lower visibility...



NM3 - after diner, run directly opposite to under the pipes and thew follow under the roof then round to petrol station, OR follow along the truck and into garage...

Welcome T7 Some nice pointers in there!

-As a hunter, use the ceiling and walls for your advantage, if you pounce straight it will be easier to hit you, if you pounce up on the ceiling and then down you will be harder to hit (I personally love the up downside backwards 3 combo pounce, where you do a 180 around the survivor, giving even the best aimers a challange)

-As a hunter when there is at least 1 survivor more then the current count of special zombies, its better to run and scratch then pounce

-As a boomer try to stick to a wall or a corner so it will be harder to shove you away

- As survivor, if you have T1 shotgun, and being attacked by more then a few zombies, shoot and melee straight after, almost at the same time, thus you can shove them back and kill them in the same time.

Could people please stop doing this :



You're playing against a team who have a class that can drag you away from the rest of the Survivors, and quite literally anything between you and the Smoker will cause you to snag and stop moving... so why in the name of God do so many of you insist on jumping on top of ledges, barriers and fences in prime Smoking areas ?!

I even see people jumping on the sides of the rope bridge on Blood Harvest 1.

Yea, thats a good tip, but you CAN do that when the smoker is dead, like in that picture

btw, theres this myth that says finishing with medkits on low hp gives less points then using that medkit and being on full health.

Can some one explain that system?

Bullshit. Medpacks count to score as if you had used them.

yea, thats what I said, but then the score of my team with medkits and low hp was the same as the score of a fully healed team with no medkits.