Call of Duty: World at War

The learning curve for Call of Duty World at War (COD Waw) multiplayer was a bit steeper than Team Fortress 2, which meant a lot of frustration.

The flow of the game was very strange since you spawned in behind a random teammate on the map instead of in one part of the map so you could push in the same direction. There is a period of confusion when you respawn after death, where am I, which way am I facing, which way is my team pushing, where are the enemies probably located? It kind of sucks. The diversity in map styles means you not only need to understand the layout of the map, but also how the other players are probably going to play it.

After a while, I was able to get the flow of the game enough to stay high in the leaderboard with the MP40 with an aperture sight, but I wanted more. I was annoyed with the lack of power from most of the rifles, and that the way players were dealing with it was by feathering the trigger, unleashing an absurdly well grouped 8 shot string in half a second. It was a problem with the game mechanic, but it was still acceptable. I probably would have given up on this game had I not been so attracted to the C&R firearms. :)

Part of the achievements in the game is to unlock add-ons for each gun. A certain amount of kills with one gun gives you the option of adding accessories to it such as silencers, flash hiders, scopes, aperture sights, rifle grenades, and bayonets

After watching this, I saw something I wanted from the game. High damage, accurate, iron-sighted shooting. The Mosin had the highest damage of all the rifles except the crazy sniper rifle I hadn't yet unlocked, so I used it with the "Stopping Power" perk for more damage, and got the one-shot-kills I wanted.

More frustration.

Playing deathmatch with an unscoped 5-shot bolt action rifle means you need to be very aware of your strengths and your weaknesses. Unfortunately, I kept falling into counter-productive styles of play. Charging around a corner or suppressing with the rifle were bad ideas. Yet somehow, I automatically kept doing so. I was back at the bottom of the leaderboard, but I wouldn't give up.

Eventually I found the right balance of mid range offense, and long range defense. Being able to see what your enemy sees when he kills you was very helpful. Moving the movement stick slightly seems to make small movements in your position, but externally, your body moves quite a bit when switching from immobile to mobile.

I wound up going with the Mosin with a bayonet, Bouncing Betties (mines), Stopping Power (+damage), and Deep Impact (+penetration). Being able to cover the rear of your shooting position with Betties helps significantly, and you can always use them in friendly areas and wait for the the teams to switch sides on the map. Teehee!

One night, I went 20-3, then a few nights later 19-2 (not sure which is better), and had tons of fun doing it.

You still run into shitty teams, bad spawn points, and bad circumstances, but getting the shots you know you should get make it worth it.

I keep trying to play other styles, and will switch when my "Old School" class is not suitable to the battlefield conditions, but I still come back to it. Probably for the same reason I play pump paintball on speedball courses against semi-autos.