Left 4 Dead Update released

[Hectic Glenn]

Loads of changes / fixes for this update. Some good, some I'm not sure about. But we will see how they play out. You can see the full list here, but the most important ones are below

• Tank melee attack can now hit multiple Survivors in one swing
• Fixed Tank punch being able to hit targets behind walls
• Fixes to 'Tank parking'. The Tank will now run back and attack the Survivors if he becomes AI due to two players expiring the frustration meter
• Fixed a case where the Tank was moving too slowly while crouching and being shot
• The order that the teams play as Survivors is now determined by which team has the higher overall score. The winning team will play as Survivors first
• The Smoker tongue can now target and grab victims through common infected
• Increased the cone in which a Smoker can grab a target
• Boomers that explode in mid-air will now hit Survivors directly below them with Bile
• Reduced the damage that burning Hunters do to pounced victims
• Adjusted the time at which players take over from bots to avoid 5 seconds of the bot standing idle while the player finishes connecting.
• The scoreboard now shows the numeric value of a player's ping
• Games in a finale are now joinable via the Friends and Steam Group games list

Interesting changes to the tank and smoker, let us know your thoughts. Steam News.

 

[nipples]

If they removed extra damage for fire entirely I'm going to be pissed, it seems like a legit strategy to me. I bet people just bitched about it because their teammates were dumb enough to let them die.

 

[DoctorWeeTodd]

Yaaay and hiss!

I like the fact that the Tank can hit multiple peeps with one swing now. However the missing ability to hit through walls is a downer. It may have been an exploit, but seriously what kind of wall can actually hold a Tank? And it is usually only used in situations where the survivors camp an area where the Tank can't access, such as a bathroom stall or under the stairs. So in reality it was an exploit for countering an exploit.

I really dig that the Smoker can finally snatch someone through a horde now. I hated how they were useless once a Boomer drew in a swarm. It was always strange how there was no splash damage for the Boomer exploding in the air, and the Hunter always did ridiculous amounts of damage while on fire.

 

[Reginald]

Tank melee attack can now hit multiple Survivors in one swing

Awesome.

Fixed Tank punch being able to hit targets behind walls

Never encountered, but obviously good.

Fixes to 'Tank parking'. The Tank will now run back and attack the Survivors if he becomes AI due to two players expiring the frustration meter

Shame. I was quite a fan of letting AI take over. It helped combat the exploit on No Mercy 3.

Fixed a case where the Tank was moving too slowly while crouching and being shot

On No Mercy 4? Thank God. It was so infuriating.

The order that the teams play as Survivors is now determined by which team has the higher overall score. The winning team will play as Survivors first

Fantastic. Should be pretty game-balancing.

The Smoker tongue can now target and grab victims through common infected

Much-needed. Will be a lot better at beating corner campers. Boomer, wait for swarm, drag. Nice. :E

Increased the cone in which a Smoker can grab a target

Not sure what this entails entirely. Is it an increased degree of auto-aim? Which would be good. But whatever it means, a Smoker buff is always good.

Boomers that explode in mid-air will now hit Survivors directly below them with Bile

Sounds good. Should hopefully mean a fix for when you are shot literally 2 feet above the ground but for some reason don't slime any survivors.

Reduced the damage that burning Hunters do to pounced victims

Shame.

Adjusted the time at which players take over from bots to avoid 5 seconds of the bot standing idle while the player finishes connecting.

Good. Can be a game-wrecker.

The scoreboard now shows the numeric value of a player's ping

Good. Never understood why it never did. I can remove the hot-key I have for net_graph now.

Games in a finale are now joinable via the Friends and Steam Group games list

Heh. Thought this happened a while ago. *shrug*


Nice update.

Did we know there was a new game download notification by the way? A little pop-up in the corner of the screen?

 

[hool10]

Lot's of good changes but I'm wondering about melee. Valve really needs to fix that melee and rage quiters. *Other things like what Reg mentioned with the bottom right hand corner thing. Also Lamb 2 Slaughter has finally been fixed. Why doesn't Valve say everything that they fixed or added?!

 

[Sheepo]

These are all very good.

 

[PimpinPenguin]

lol, it reset the achievements i didn't earn.
One thing i don't understand is that when i was using the net_graph command it said my ping was 83 yet the ping next to the coloured bars said it was 116. Which is right?

Overall it sounds like a solid update. And i really like the fact the the winning team goes first cause.

 

[Naudian]

These are all very good.

 

[Parrot of doom]

Still no fix for lame 4-survivors-corner-camping-melee tactics. Gay.

 

[knut]

Lot's of good changes but I'm wondering about melee. Valve really needs to fix that melee and rage quiters. *Other things like what Reg mentioned with the bottom right hand corner thing. Also Lamb 2 Slaughter has finally been fixed. Why doesn't Valve say everything that they fixed or added?!

You can't ''fix'' rage quitters. Rage quitters suck, don't get me wrong, but you can't stop people from leaving a game mid-way considering that there is a whole boatload of reasons for why they may have left in the first place (disconnected, had to go out, bored, dislike of map or players, etc etc etc)

 

[JFry]

Sounds like a good update. I know some people aren't happy with it but I think having the static tank/witch spawns was the best solution and the score determining who goes first should balance it better.

 

[Sheepo]

These are all very good.

Oh, so that's how you're gonna play it?

 

[mchammer75040]

Hmm right after this update, I jumped into Vs and it tried to actually connect me to DA and DT...several times, but it would kick me right away, telling me I'm either missing a file or that the server was full...did anyone else get this? Looks like they are in the midst of play testing..sweet maybe we will get the update soon.

 

[Naudian]

Oh, so that's how you're gonna play it?

I could have quoted you and been all "This." but that would be boring!

 

[Sheepo]

Explain that to my FIST!

/me punches you right in your face!

 

[Jintor]

Yay to everything except Tank parking.

I just found it hilarious to park tanks in the ending saferooms.

"YAY WE'RE ALMOST THERE OH GOD NOOOOOOOOOOOOO"

 

[DreamThrall]

Still no fix for lame 4-survivors-corner-camping-melee tactics. Gay.

Tank melee attack can now hit multiple Survivors in one swing
The Smoker tongue can now target and grab victims through common infected

Also, learn to play. :thumbs:

 

[Sheepo]

Also, learn to play. :thumbs:

http://www.halflife2.net/forums/showthread.php?t=152397&page=5

 

[bbson john]

perfect update. I was thinking about the smoker tongue being unable to grab enemy owing to the combination of latency and grab-cone factors. Now the most annoying shits in versus are fixed.

 

[Jintor]

 

[Operational]

Sounds like a good update, although I hear the Fire Hunter nerf and the Tank buff are bugged (Fire Hunters do no extra damage instead of less, Tank multi-punch doesn't work).

Did we know there was a new game download notification by the way? A little pop-up in the corner of the screen?

Yeah I saw it for this and some TF2 updates recently.

 

[Gorgon]

These are all very good.

Yep:smoking:

can't wait for the 1st DLC

 

[PriNcE oF SpAcE]

how much extra damage did hunters on fire do anyway? wasn't aware it was that significant.

sounds like a good update....though it makes sense for the tank to be able to swipe at multiple people I'm not sure he really needed a buff...most teams wipe at the tank unless they have molotovs handy(or in open areas with green health).

 

[Hectic Glenn]

how much extra damage did hunters on fire do anyway? wasn't aware it was that significant.

Seriously, it was a lot, not worth pouncing on anyone unless you are on fire. The pounce damage was an extra +10 regardless of distance. And clawing just melted health away to an incap within 5 seconds. Without it, hunters are pretty useless in many maps.

 

[Jintor]

Multi tank is fux0red, it doesn't work full stop.

Flame hunters need to be buffed slightly. Or at least debugged.

 

[DreamThrall]

Seriously, it was a lot, not worth pouncing on anyone unless you are on fire. The pounce damage was an extra +10 regardless of distance. And clawing just melted health away to an incap within 5 seconds. Without it, hunters are pretty useless in many maps.

Any of the infected are pretty useless on their own, which is the point. Hunters are great, even without fire, for picking off stragglers, pouncing with lots of zombies around (boomer or not) and coordinated attacks with the rest of your team.

tl;dr - you don't need fire to be an effective hunter.

 

[bbson john]

Hunter is not meant to be inflicting direct damage. Hunter is used to assault isolated survivor. For example, hunter can be used to incapacitate survivor at some unreachable places such as the first rooftop of No Mercy finale. Hunter gameplay does not rely heavily on fire pounce.

 

[Asknoone]

Lot's of good changes but I'm wondering about melee. Valve really needs to fix that melee and rage quiters.

Yeah Valve, fix the rage quiters, jeez, they are so broken.

 

[Eejit]

They should have fixed rage-quitters during beta.

 

[DreamThrall]

You guys should just kick/ban rage quitters. That'll show em.

 

[The Brick]

Hunter is not meant to be inflicting direct damage. Hunter is used to assault isolated survivor. For example, hunter can be used to incapacitate survivor at some unreachable places such as the first rooftop of No Mercy finale. Hunter gameplay does not rely heavily on fire pounce.

But it does make it ohhhh so more effective.

 

[Marler]

Interesting, quite a lot of fixes, but where are the newq gamemodes and new versus modes?

 

[PimpinPenguin]

Interesting, quite a lot of fixes, but where are the newq gamemodes and new versus modes?

You have to wait much longer for that. And don't forget that the 360 and PC are getting them at the same time.

 

[cabbs]

So... closet camping is probably alot harder now, correct? Though survivors will still get stuck against a wall of zombies in most cases.

 

[Fiberawptic]

You have to wait for that. And don't forget that the 360 and PC are getting them at the same time.

fixed... man, you like to take a blow on Valve every chance you get, don't you? If around a month or sooner is a long time for you, then what isnt?

 

[PimpinPenguin]

fixed... man, you like to take a blow on Valve every chance you get, don't you? If around a month or sooner is a long time for you, then what isnt?

If it's on time, and i don't remember Valve giving any solid release date for it. So how do you know it's going to be out around a month or so. No sorry i didn't say anything bad about Valve there. Jeez you really are a Valve fanboy who can't bare anything resembling criticism aimed at them can you .

 

[Jintor]

Valve time man. I don't think it's taking a dump on Valve to say "We have no idea when they'll release what they're saying, because they have an entirely different perception of time to the rest of the world". Hell, it's the truth.

 

[Sheepo]

It's a very exaggerated truth.

 

[Jintor]

You only say that because you can see the future.

 

[Sheepo]

I answer to God.