GoW2 - Co-Op, Horde and Online Matchups [Archive] - Advanced Media Network ::: AMN Forums

Monkeylord

10-29-2008, 10:10 AM

With just over a week to go before we face those darned Locust again, I thought now would be a good time for everyone to start thinking about arranging co-op buddies, and have a place to start laying down the first arrangments of online meets.

Just state your name, Timezone and prefered difficulties for each game mode, and we can start getting organised for what is sure to be a bumpy ride.

Once concrete arrangments have been made I will update this post with the details. ONLY POST IF YOU'RE ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN THAT YOU CAN COMMIT TO THE TIME/DATE YOU AGREE TO!

To help with the differing timezones (cos we ain't all Americans here, let alone in the same part of the same countries) use this link to synchronise our collective asses - http://www.timeanddate.com

CONFIRMED CO-OP BUDDIES
Buddy Magert (EST) - ???
MR EPIC (PST) - DEANZ
Darc Requiem (EST) - ???
Monkeylord (GMT) - HGW XX/7
Sascha-AMN (PST) - ???
prime_timer (PST) - ???
cubeenigma (CST) - ???

ONLINE MEETS

Game Mode:
Time:
Date:
Attendees:

Buddy Magert

10-29-2008, 10:25 AM

I am on the east coast Eastern Standard Time and i will be getting it midnight and will have a private room ready for all Kombo people who wanna get down. Im also down for some co-op and horde.

Everybody can add me so that i can see when they get on and invite them to the room.

MR EPIC

10-29-2008, 02:26 PM

I am on Pacific Standard Time (PST) and will also have the game at midnight. I am down for playing all modes and game types, but would prefer to start campaign on "Hardcore" or whichever mode is the second toughest. After one play-through then I'll be ready to jump into "Insane" or whatever they're calling it now.

What I'd like to know is if anybody on Kombo is down to run through co-op on the original GoW just to get prepared for next week?

Darc Requiem

10-29-2008, 02:46 PM

I think Insane difficulty is now called "Epic has unlimited Torque Bow ammo and Host Advantage" I could be wrong though. Anyway I'll be seeing you guys on line as well. Like Epic, I want to finish the single player first though. Somebody has to been the on padding yall kill counts. ;)

Monkeylord

10-29-2008, 02:57 PM

GMT here.

Mine's pre-ordered with PLAY.com and they've been pretty good to me release wise and I may have it the day before... launch latest. I'm down for co-op and any multiplayer mode anyone wants to try.

What I'd like to know is if anybody on Kombo is down to run through co-op on the original GoW just to get prepared for next week?

I'll do it :) I was gonna try and book next week off work (I still have 19 days of annual leave left!!!) but my boss was off sick today. I'll let you now tomorrow if I get the week. If I don't we may have to do it Sunday (I'm out Sat eve) or something. I'm sure we'll work something out :)

Sascha-AMN

10-29-2008, 07:25 PM

Im on PST. Cant give a time that Id be available for certain though, cause of school. The first weekend the game is out though (game arrives midnight on Thursday, right?), Ill be playing all day for two days straight. Probably on ranked though, where I can anonymously regain the skills I once had :P

prime_timer

10-29-2008, 07:31 PM

I am 100% down for some co-op action this weekend on some GOW.

I'm on PST or MST. Not too sure if Daylight Savings has gone down yet. If yes, MST. If not, PST.

I'll be completely unable to pick it up at midnight, but rest assured it will be secure in my grasp on November 7th and I will be playing the god-loving sh.i.t out of it on Friday and the weekends when I've actually got that awesome thing called free time.

Monkeylord

10-30-2008, 04:48 AM

I've just managed to book next Thurs and Fri plus the following week (06/11-15/11) off work, so I'll be at the mercy of your horrible timezones. Just remember that your afternoon/early evening is my middle of the god-damned night so I may not be able to be overly vocal lest I wake the missus up!

:D

Buddy Magert

10-30-2008, 08:39 AM

Hit me Up Sunday Epic im down wit some Co-OP and Darc since we on the east coast we will probably have the game at the same time so we can start CO-OP thursday night.

prime_timer

10-30-2008, 12:16 PM

Buddy Magert

10-30-2008, 12:35 PM

Hey MonkeyLord darc is EST too we are both in the DC/Maryland/VA area.

Monkeylord

10-30-2008, 12:46 PM

And we certainly don't want that! Hope to see you on Monkey =)

You'd just find it funny... I'd find it "painfull" as she'd beat the ever loving **** out of me (plus my dick will remain "dry" for at least a week! if you know what I mean).

Hey MonkeyLord darc is EST too we are both in the DC/Maryland/VA area.

Updated :)

prime_timer

10-30-2008, 12:50 PM

I'm a man as well Monkeylord. I don't want to see you go beaten and sexless.

Buddy Magert

10-31-2008, 11:02 AM

My wife just told me that she will stand in the line at midnight launch so i can get the gold Hammerburst. I wonder how much "man work" ( if u are married u understand what i mean) is this gonna cost me.

"Honey can u .....".*Groans while he commences 4 hours of crap he just did not want to do*LOL

By the way im bumpin this up cause we need more folks.

cubeenigma

10-31-2008, 11:05 AM

i would play horde mode with you all but you all would hate me for not getting active shots when we need them badly :\

Buddy Magert

10-31-2008, 11:07 AM

i would play horde mode with you all but you all would hate me for not getting active shots when we need them badly :\

Hey i sent u a friend request im not the best either and what timezone are u in.

cubeenigma

10-31-2008, 11:22 AM

Hey i sent u a friend request im not the best either and what timezone are u in.

central and its not that im not good, i just have team mates that hate me when i play with them that complain that we lost a match because in the middle of a battle i refused to active my reload so they got the win

as in team mates im talking about random people in my ranked match team, not my "clan"( which consists of 2 people actively playing gears ranked and one other that just plays CoD4, and had my GF in there too but she joined an active clan -_-) since my clan doesnt get active

MR EPIC

11-06-2008, 02:59 AM

Well, since a lot of you guys are on EST I'll be playing the campaign tomorrow night with DEANZ. I have to work over the weekend but I'll be home at night to play as much player/ranked/horde matches as possible.

HGW XX/7

11-06-2008, 05:21 AM

Monkey, you know I get off work around 6AM PST? That means prime Gears time for both of us, as I'm wide awake.

Monkeylord

11-06-2008, 05:30 AM

You wanna co-op G2, Sean?

HGW XX/7

11-06-2008, 05:52 AM

Make a date and time, I'll buy some Guinness, and it'll be good times.

Monkeylord

11-06-2008, 05:56 AM

Cool, we'll sort something out - I'm off tomorrow and all next week :D

You're 6hrs behind me, so you're available from about 12pmGMT onwards.

I shall send the wench for Guinness later - I only have 3 cans left :(

Buddy Magert

11-06-2008, 11:34 AM

ANybody on the east coast down for some co-op at midnight.

Somebody...
Anybody...
U all dont have to jump at once. LOL

Sascha-AMN

11-06-2008, 08:54 PM

Ive finished up my exams, so Ill probably pick up my special edition of the game at midnight from Best Buy. Dont know how long Ill be able to play online though, cause Im freaking exhausted.

Darc Requiem

11-07-2008, 06:35 AM

Damn I'm exhausted. Going to be at 3am and getting up at 5:30am is real bitch. It was completely worth it though. Hey Buddy send me a message on XBL when you want to do some co-op man. I won't lie, I'll probably end up taking a nap when I get off of work today. Don't know though, I REALLY want to play some more Gears. I'll be home around 6:30pm.

Buddy Magert

11-07-2008, 08:01 AM

HGW XX/7

11-07-2008, 08:11 AM

Monkey. I'll be on in 2 hours for about the rest of the day. You will message me, and we will do this damn thing.

Darc Requiem

11-07-2008, 08:27 AM

I got u ill prob be on at like 1 or 2 AM tonight cause i got a family get together but if ur down lets do it. After u message u made me rethink about stayin up all nite. Im tired ass crap but today is my last day at my job before i move on so i really dont care. LOL

Cool. I'm off tomorrow so I'll be up. I'll just take a nap when I get home. That way I'll be able to stay up until the wee hours of the night giving those Locust some "religion." I loved that joke when Marcus and Dom told it to Carmine. :D BTW Is it just me or does Tai seem like Vulcan Raven reincarnated?

Buddy Magert

11-07-2008, 08:28 AM

Yeh he does......

Monkeylord

11-07-2008, 09:20 AM

Monkey. I'll be on in 2 hours for about the rest of the day. You will message me, and we will do this damn thing.

Thy will be done.

MR EPIC

11-07-2008, 04:40 PM

I had a blast last night guys. Thanks to MonkeyLord. Lucas, Coral, Sean, Bloodein, and Cubeenigma for putting up with my drunkenness. I shall be the same way tonight. :)

Monkeylord

11-07-2008, 05:15 PM

You devil, you ;)

Remember, man - Worcestershire sauce! ;)

Darc Requiem

11-07-2008, 05:21 PM

I had a blast last night guys. Thanks to MonkeyLord. Lucas, Coral, Sean, Bloodein, and Cubeenigma for putting up with my drunkenness. I shall be the same way tonight. :)

Beers and Gears huh? I may have to snag a twelve pack. Depends on what I'm up to tomorrow.

Monkeylord

11-08-2008, 01:19 PM

Boylicious

11-08-2008, 03:27 PM

:) i think someone needs to be said about my skills considering I havent played this in months.

Better than Mr. Epic and Cubey. I think so. :)

OAR

11-08-2008, 03:31 PM

If only my ****ing ROUTER would connect to my Xbox, which it has no trouble doing so to my PS3, then I'd be able tog et back online. But no. It can't

problem fixed...now my mic doesn't work....ah...ha.........ha......

Sascha-AMN

11-08-2008, 04:41 PM

Im ready to go all day all night for the next two days :D

Boylicious

11-08-2008, 05:09 PM

Im ready to go all day all night for the next two days :D

Finally, i was beginning to think you were scared.

Darc Requiem

11-08-2008, 06:08 PM

Darc, OAR... I had a lot of fun playing Horde with you two - we'll have to definitely do it again soon.

Like I've said many many times already, I have all next week off so if you guys (and by "you" I mean EVERYONE) start posting some times in GMT for when you're gonna be around I can make sure I get online at the same time for multiplayer shenanigans ;)

It's always a blast to play some multiplayer with you Monkeylord. We senior citizens have to stick together :thumbs up: I think I played horde for 6 hours day. Finally had to take a break. I really like the shield. Especially when I can down a Kantus and snag their pistol to use with it. I never read the instruction booklet that comes with my games so, I don't know its name but it has a lot of firepower for a sidearm.

OAR

11-08-2008, 06:29 PM

The gorgon man, the gorgon. Also, That guy in our hoard who got like 10 kills with a mortar round...fun

HGW XX/7

11-09-2008, 10:41 PM

I apologize, Monkey. My friends and I were going at it in Horde and we went wave 1 through 50 nonstop. I'll probably be able to do more campaign a bit later tomorrow.

MR EPIC

11-10-2008, 02:01 AM

I'd just like to say that the multi-player in GoW2 is terrible IMO. It doesn't have the same level of addictiveness as the original, for several reasons. Being forced to use matching making is disappointing. What Epic did to the shotgun is unforgivable and what they did to the torque bow is outright idiotic. It's a sad thing to me because now that multi-player has been ruined, it makes Horde mode and campaign seem that much more hollow knowing that they are the premiere modes now in the game.

Sascha-AMN

11-10-2008, 02:15 AM

LOL, I knew this would happen. Gears fans are reacting the exact same way to the sequel as Halo fans did to Halo 2. Its different from what they know and have gotten attached to, so they don't like it.

MattFurtado-AMN

11-10-2008, 07:03 AM

I think it would be a far assessment to compare Gears of War 2 to Smash Bros Brawl. Fans of Gears of War and Melee were both disappointed with the sequels because of certain changes to the gameplay design. What they exploited and depended on in the previous title was no longer as easily accessible.

HGW XX/7

11-10-2008, 07:08 AM

I love how the focus is no longer on the Shotgun.

Darc Requiem

11-10-2008, 07:22 AM

I just love how fun it is personally. I like competitive multiplayer but its nice to play a game with a great co-operative multiplayer aspect. I love playing the Horde and the team versus team aspect is intact from the original Gears of War. Gears of War 2 is the perfect balance of cooperative and competitive multiplayer for me. The game has exceeded my expectations. The campaign is much improved and the multiplayer is great too. I guess Gears 2 really is bigger, better, and more bad ass after all.

MR EPIC

11-10-2008, 07:29 AM

I love how the focus is no longer on the Shotgun.

Of course you do, because like many you're not what I'd call a Gears of War fan. I think you looked at Gears as another good online game to choose from, but for many of us it was much more than that. The game-play was completely different than other shooters on the market and it's that difference that made so many of us appreciate it who otherwise wouldn't have if it were similar to the rest. Now, the franchise is just like any other shooter on the market, to the dismay of many of it's core fans.

And Smash Brothers is a very fitting comparison for many reasons. The main issue to me is that, like Brawl, GoW2 has a lot of new bells and whistles but lost it's core game-play and won't likely be the game many of us played for 2 years straight.

Sascha-AMN

11-10-2008, 11:59 AM

What, we disagree with you about the balance and that somehow discounts our love of the game. You can enjoy a game and still recognize its flaws.

What they exploited and depended on in the previous title was no longer as easily accessible.

Well put. Those that became attached to the broken elements for whatever reason, whether they genuinely liked the gameplay that resulted or simply enjoyed the success they found exploiting the flaws simply need to come to grips with the changes and adopt new strategies.

I'm going to write a blog post about this for the site.

MattFurtado-AMN

11-10-2008, 12:13 PM

I look forward to your blog post, Sascha.

I thought about writing one comparing Brawl/Gears 2 and how each disappointed hardcore fans and followers due to the changes they received.

MR EPIC

11-10-2008, 12:30 PM

What, we disagree with you about the balance and that somehow discounts our love of the game. You can enjoy a game and still recognize its flaws.

This is not the point I'm trying to make at all. There are two types of people who played Gears of War's multi-player: Those who were fans shooters in general and those who were specifically fans of Gears' type of game-play and who largely stayed away from other shooters. I put HGW in the first category. Am I saying that is a bad thing or using it as a negative? No, I'm not. I'm saying that those in the first group may have enjoyed the game at times but felt it was either broken or unbalanced, enough in many cases to play it in limited portions compared to a typical Gears only gamer.

Well put. Those that became attached to the broken elements for whatever reason, whether they genuinely liked the gameplay that resulted or simply enjoyed the success they found exploiting the flaws simply need to come to grips with the changes and adopt new strategies.

I'm going to write a blog post about this for the site.

You actually might be misquoting Matty, as I don't think he was using his statement as an endorsement of GoW2's new game-play. I can't speak for him personally, but I've played with him quite a bit and know that he was also fearful of EPIC changing the core gameplay for Gears 2 and made sure to keep the original just in case. And knowing how much he loved to use the shotty, I can't imagine his outlook of the new mp gameplay (at least initially) was overwhelmingly positive.

And for the record: Who in the hell ever said that the shotgun in GoW was either too powerful or the most powerful weapon? That is the craziest thing I've ever heard. Many of us may have focused on the shotgun after a while, but that's only because we felt it was one of the few weapons which actually took skill to use. Why do you think a lot of us complained about getting lancered or getting actived by the the sniper rifle in the first place? If anything those weapons, along with the boomshot were either vastly overpowered or used for cheap kills. The shotgun, the torque bow, the sniper (used for headshots) and even the chainsaw were the weapons which took skill to use.

DEATHSTAR

11-10-2008, 12:52 PM

I ended up using the shotty out of necessity in GoW1. My DSL connection wouldn't allow for me to keep in sync with a map and the shotty was the easiest weapon to compensate for lag. If you all could see where I had to shoot on my screen to land a hit you'd probably be in disbelief. But it was fun and I was still able to be competitive in ranked matches.

For some reason when I started playing with you all, and doing private matches the sync still remained a problem even though I had upgraded to a cable connection.

I can't explain my sync issues with this game cause I don't have that problem with other shooters I play. I'm interested to see if GoW2 will be any better for me online and I look forward to being able to use the weapon of my choice rather than the one I know will work. I may still end up liking the shotty, we'll find out on the 19th.

In the campaign the weapons feel very familiar and I will give credit on one thing, the new campaign encourages weapon variety more IMO. I ran out of Lancer ammo and damn near went through a whole act before I was "given" one again, I had to work with what I could find laying around.

Also, I remember chainsaw duels in the promos. Do those ever happen in the campaign? I have yet to have one and I'm past the halfway point of the game.

MattFurtado-AMN

11-10-2008, 01:41 PM

You actually might be misquoting Matty, as I don't think he was using his statement as an endorsement of GoW2's new game-play. I can't speak for him personally, but I've played with him quite a bit and know that he was also fearful of EPIC changing the core gameplay for Gears 2 and made sure to keep the original just in case. And knowing how much he loved to use the shotty, I can't imagine his outlook of the new mp gameplay (at least initially) was overwhelmingly positive.
You're right. At first I was like "WTF" to the shotgun and felt like something was off. I have come to terms with it and have begun to adjust to using it at close-range, but I still don't feel like I can kill 3 people with my shotgun when being rushed like I could in the first game. That one shot down or one shot kill doesn't feel there.

I want to adjust to the weapon and see what I can get out of it. Thus far, the shotgun is only good for 1-on-1 battles and you have to aim it. My biggest strength in the first game was the idea of not holding the LT to aim and shoot. I liked being able to aim and shoot from a free stance. So far, that doesn't seem possible in GoW2. That of course also goes for the Boomshot. I never held down the LT when using the boomshot. When shooting the boom now without aiming I'm finding myself shooting it directly in front of me even when I know my gun isn't pointed that close to me.

All I know is, if I start to play against the old people I use to dominate in GoW and find them killing me, I'll be displeased. They won't be killing me from increase of skill, instead they'll be killing me because the game limited my abilities.

Boylicious

11-10-2008, 07:02 PM

Yahhhh another game where everyones not playing together. Oh I miss the OXbox days.

HGW XX/7

11-10-2008, 07:05 PM

Of course you do, because like many you're not what I'd call a Gears of War fan. I think you looked at Gears as another good online game to choose from, but for many of us it was much more than that. The game-play was completely different than other shooters on the market and it's that difference that made so many of us appreciate it who otherwise wouldn't have if it were similar to the rest. Now, the franchise is just like any other shooter on the market, to the dismay of many of it's core fans.

And Smash Brothers is a very fitting comparison for many reasons. The main issue to me is that, like Brawl, GoW2 has a lot of new bells and whistles but lost it's core game-play and won't likely be the game many of us played for 2 years straight.

My friends will be playing Gears 2 as our game of choice, because it's the first shooterto bring back a real team aspect to adversarial play since Rainbow Six 3. Halo, Rainbow Six Vegas, and Call of Duty (all of 'em) may claim to have team focuses (especially in certain gametypes) but they don't really mean much. Gears 2 I can finally get our old crew of about 9-10 people back together and play private matches with eachother, knowing that there'll be a team focus.

Gears 2 didn't have that aspect for us, because the constant retooling of weapons throughout the lifetime of the game, and the blatant host advantage. It wasn't a team game so much as it was a game focusing on connection speed.

And for the old school fans who just don't feel Gears 2. There's always Gears 1. I played Rainbow Six 3 while Rainbow Six Lockdown, Critical Hour, and Vegas were all released. Sometimes you have to just play the games you like regardless of how old they are.

Also note: The 'team' aspect that I speak of might only be meshing with my group of Live friends, 'cause we've been playing together forever. I don't expect it to be a "team" game if you're joining randoms, or people who generally don't play as a team.

Sascha-AMN

11-10-2008, 08:05 PM

I look forward to your blog post, Sascha.

I thought about writing one comparing Brawl/Gears 2 and how each disappointed hardcore fans and followers due to the changes they received.

Feel free to write one. I think we'll probably end up arguing two different sides of the same coin. Whose ever goes up second can link to the other blog :D

[QUOTE=MattFurtado-AMN;500200]You're right. At first I was like "WTF" to the shotgun and felt like something was off. I have come to terms with it and have begun to adjust to using it at close-range, but I still don't feel like I can kill 3 people with my shotgun when being rushed like I could in the first game. That one shot down or one shot kill doesn't feel there.

Well then mission-****ing-accomplished for Epic Games! There's nothing tactical about rushing into a group of three enemies, bouncing around and nailing them with shotgun blasts fired from the hip. Sounds more like Quake. Nope, now you have to wield a shotgun like you would in an actual battle, sneaking around and getting in close, preferably from behind or the side, and unloading with the barrel a few feet from the target. Shotguns arent rifles, and they shouldnt work as such.

And for the record: Who in the hell ever said that the shotgun in GoW was either too powerful or the most powerful weapon? That is the craziest thing I've ever heard. Many of us may have focused on the shotgun after a while, but that's only because we felt it was one of the few weapons which actually took skill to use. Why do you think a lot of us complained about getting lancered or getting actived by the the sniper rifle in the first place? If anything those weapons, along with the boomshot were either vastly overpowered or used for cheap kills. The shotgun, the torque bow, the sniper (used for headshots) and even the chainsaw were the weapons which took skill to use.

You can track the efficacy of weapons by the trends in usage. For example, almost everyone agreed immediately the frag-tagging was overpowered when Gears of War hit the market. Why? Because every match was filled with nothing but frag-tags, and they were incredibly easy to get kills with. They became the focus of the game because the effort needed to kill using them was far lower than the effort needed to kill someone with any other weapon in the game.

Likewise, see the shotgun. Almost immediately it became the primary weapon of choice for 99% of the game's audience. Why? Because it was easier to score kills with it than any other weapon. You could wade through lancer fire, unload a single shot and come out the victor. Asinine. The weapon was effective from an obscene range for a supposedly short-range weapon. The spread of the weapon allowed players to shoot from the hip easily (under their ego-inflated pretense of 'accuracy'). In execution mode, you were always better off with the shotgun, because it was just as likely to blow someone's head off or torso in two as it was to down them, and if it did down them, then you were already right on top of them anyway, so there was no way they were getting up. It was simply a better option than any other weapon in the game. Players all had their favorite support weapons, but every player ALWAYS kept a shotty on hand. It was clearly the best weapon in the game, and when a weapon is that far ahead of the pack in efficacy it is clearly OVERPOWERED and UNBALANCED.

The Lancer was initially underpowered, so you saw relatively few people using it. Then it got beefed up to the point where it could take down a charging shotgun user easily from mid-range. Then it was boosted again and became overpowered, to the point where you had players circle-strafing with shotgun-users at close-range and WINNING. I dont know what updates happened after that, cause that's when I stopped playing.

MR EPIC

11-10-2008, 09:09 PM

Shotguns arent rifles, and they shouldnt work as such.

This is another assumption about shotgun wielders that I think you're mistaken about. Whether or not it was powerful at long range wasn't what most of us cared about, as we were usually in someone's face anyway when firing at them. But now, even at close range the days of running through three guys at once is all but over. Likewise the days of doing a forward roll or a side roll from behind cover and popping someone's head are over. Why are these things important? Because THAT IS WHAT MADE GEARS OF WAR WHAT IT WAS! To put it bluntly, the amazing feel of getting a fancy, flashy, stylish kill followed up by onlooker responses of "OOOOOOOOH" or "HOLY ****" is what gave us that empowered feeling and drove us to want to do it over and over and over again.

I totally appreciate where you're coming from Sascha and not only am I willing to try to give this new multi-player a chance, but I also feel it is ultimately inevitable for the majority of us naysayers to do so. The point I would just like you and others to acknowledge is that, no matter how much we accept this game in the future, balanced team-based game-play will never make up for stylish, satisfying kills no matter how much we wish that to be true. And for that reason, I don't see the same people who played the original GoW multi-player doing the same as consistently and for as long of a period of time with GoW2. Basically, whether you guys felt the game was broken, unbalanced or whatever you'd like to call it, THAT was how the simple, modest little multi-player called Gears of War continued to be played for the better part of 2 years.

HGW XX/7

11-10-2008, 10:38 PM

Shotguns arent rifles, and they shouldnt work as such.

Tell that to the Rainbow Six Vegas team. You can put a scope on the shotgun and literally snipe with them. It's why they're restricted in every room you join.

Also, I thank EPIC games for adding the alternate control scheme. It makes me happy.

prime_timer

11-10-2008, 10:43 PM

I've only played a match or two with bots, but I can already tell the difference between the two games. There is a more definite need to use and embrace cover. While in Gears 1 I could easily run and hopskotch my ass through firefights by dodging, weaving, and rolling. In Gears 2 this is much harder to do, and found myself getting decimated by bots on NORMAL!

The shotgun I can live with. It's a close range weapon, it's only effective at close range. Makes sense. As somebody who would use any weapon in the game (and you all know from playing with me that this is true.), this doesn't really bum me out and I'm glad this is going to encourage creative weapon combos.

Hammerburst changes. Some of you fellas aren't as happy as you thought you'd be with the weapon. Personally, I love it. I've popped more heads with the hammerburst than any other weapon in the game thus far. It's effective at mid-to-long range, and effectively using melees can make it lethal at close range I've found. The only thing I like more about the lancer is the rate of fire and the deadlier melee via the chainsaw. Both have their pros and cons and I find I'll be switching out between the two as they're both awesome weapons.

EPIC, I have to disagree with you on the Torque Bow reticle change. Thus far with the new reticle I've nailed folks with ease, and I've popped a head or two with the ****ing thing also.

So far, I really enjoy the game and should be playing with you guys late tonight or tomorrow for sure.

MR EPIC

11-11-2008, 01:06 AM

Okay, so we had a breakthrough tonight. Matty, Cube, and myself may have forced the shotgun a little bit but we ended up having some sweet kills as a result. Two-piecing is actually easier to do in this game, provided you're on an open map and can charge at the enemy without taking too much lance fire. I was also able to do my side flip and shotgun blast a couple of times. This gave me more hope for my future of multi-player in this game.

Mind you, we didn't get carried away with this since most of our wins and losses were based on teamwork and weapons other than the shotgun. I used a lot of lancer, some chainsaw, Gorgon pisol and boomshot. And how can I forget some of the sweet kills I was able to get both with torque bow and sniper rifle? I popped a couple of heads, which is more than I can say for my time with the original Gears' sniper. So far tonight it's been good times.

Buddy Magert

11-11-2008, 08:20 AM

Just to let everybody know im off today and will be playing the box all day hit me up.

DEATHSTAR

11-11-2008, 09:05 AM

Is lag and host advantage still an issue with this game?

Monkeylord

11-11-2008, 09:10 AM

Is lag and host advantage still an issue with this game?

Seems to be a mixed bag... I've only experienced maybe one or two moments of brief lag, but I've mainly played with the guys from here, so a transatlantic connection is bound to lag every once in a while. I've been very surprised at how good my connection has been, compared to previous experience.

I have read online about other people having issues with lag, but they've been mainly based in continental America, so I can't explain it.

Maybe some whiners just have ****ty internets, lol.

Sascha-AMN

11-11-2008, 03:13 PM

Alright, so I didnt get as much Gears of War 2 in on the weekend as I had hoped. Too much partying. Im pretty much wrapping up the campaign for a second time now on hardcore with a buddy.

I want to play the campaign on insane. Doing so alone is tantamount to suicide so Im looking for recruits to battle through with me. You dont have to play the game on insane, you can set the independent difficulty all the way to casual if you want. I basically just need someone to draw fire while I recoup damage behind cover.

I also haven't touched Horde in awhile, and those achievements are calling my name like the hot, naked sirens that they are. I want to play horde with the Kombo crew. Im free tonight and pretty much every night this week.

Also, I hope to play some submission or wingman with the kombo crew too. Those that are finding the new balance frustrating may find getting to grips with it more fun when you're battling against friends instead of drunken frat-boys.

MR EPIC

11-11-2008, 03:43 PM

Sascha-AMN

11-11-2008, 05:01 PM

Buddy, Prime, Sascha - We'd all love you guys to jump in with us but until it actually happens I don't think that many of us will get our hopes up. Too many hollow promises in the past. :P

Last night was a blast with Sean, Coral, Bloodein, Matty, Darc Requiem, Cubeenigma, Philip, Crimmiglez and some of their friends.

Argh! I didnt know you guys were playing last night. I was out drinking. I totally would have been down. What modes did you guys play? Did you all play together at once, or did people come and go?

Monkeylord

11-11-2008, 05:22 PM

Sean, lemme know when you're available to finish co-op - My 360's drive is being buggy (having trouble opening and closing, and makes odd noises every so often) and I really wanna finish up before it dies on me completely.

Buddy Magert

11-11-2008, 05:50 PM

Ive been finishing up the campaign when i had time but now that im done onto horde and MP. Ill be back on wednesday and thursday night to wax u guys. Nobody hit me up today so i took a much needed nap. See u guys tomorrow I PROMISE

MR EPIC

11-11-2008, 08:04 PM

Argh! I didnt know you guys were playing last night. I was out drinking. I totally would have been down. What modes did you guys play? Did you all play together at once, or did people come and go?

We all played together at once in a private match and it was loads of fun. You should try it sometime. :P

Sascha-AMN

11-11-2008, 09:34 PM

We all played together at once in a private match and it was loads of fun. You should try it sometime. :P

No ****. God damn stupid women, with their alcohol and their dancing.

Monkeylord

11-12-2008, 06:13 AM

Sounds like we need to arrange a time when as many of us are available as possible.

I'm back at work on Monday, and I don't see my 360 lasting much longer than a couple of weeks tops, so I'm gonna wanna cram as much time with you guys as I can over the next few days. I also have to figure in keeping Hollie happy - when I'm playing, she's gotta be doing something else. Fortunately, because of timezones when you guys are on en masse it's usually the middle of the night for me so she'll likely be asleep while we shoot the crap out of each other.

So, I'm available pretty much any time. You guys better start listing your availability so we can arrange a killfest.

:)

MR EPIC

11-12-2008, 06:32 AM

Monkeylord

11-12-2008, 06:59 AM

If anybody is interested I will be working on getting the remainder of my achievements tomorrow (aside from Seriously and 1999 of course). I might play some campaign, but the main focus will be on multi-player matches and helping those who don't have their "Horde" achievement yet. I'll be on practically all day so you can catch me just about anytime.

Just lemme know what time to come on (GMT preferably) and I'll endeavour to be on for as long as I can.

Apart from the campaign I have the same achievements as you to get (beside the "Parting Gift" one where I have just 1 more explodey death to mete out).

DEATHSTAR

11-12-2008, 09:34 AM

To anyone that wants to a cheap way to get the 1999 achievement

You can kinda sim rounds without actually playing them, as long as you're willing to idle your 360 with the controller plugged in. It will take a few sessions but here's how:

Set up a local execution match
Set the round limit to more than 1 on the off chance that the bot finds you (hasn't happened to me since I put him on the casual setting)
One Bot set to Casusal
Time limit 1 minute
Set the map to "River"

Basically what happens is, the bot will never find you in 60 seconds as it will go for about 3 to 5 weapon pickups before it even tries to find you. By they time it starts heading your way, the round will end in a stalemate. Stalemates count as rounds. So every 2 minutes you'll rack up a round (1 minute for the round, 1 minute for the in between screens).

MR EPIC

11-12-2008, 01:33 PM

Robb and I already talked about this, but the strategy only works on certain maps. Last night I was going one on one with a bot on Mansion and I decided to take a break and let the game go idle. The guy didn't find me for a few rounds, so when I read about this strategy I figured it might actually work. So this morning I woke up early, set up the same match and went back to sleep for about two hours. When I got back up the match had been over for some time, which tells me the guy had found me. So then I went to Avalanche and that Locust rushed my spawn right away when I tried to remain idle. Robb says you'll have a better chance at this tactic on River, so if I decide to do this again that is the map I'll use.

MR EPIC

11-13-2008, 01:12 AM

Double Post

Tonight was a lot of fun playing Warzone with a bunch of regulars. Even Sascha joined and got his head popped once or twice. =)

Afterward we played Wingman and I was paired up with Sascha who basically carried our team. It was five two-man teams and I played like absolute garbage the first match.

Later I had a five man team of POT TAKER, TRILL LIFE MOB, xPYRO1x, Carungi, and myself and we played a bunch of ranked Warzone. We completely dominated for the first few matches until we met up with this team of 5 real good players. We lost the first 3 matches and it was a bit discouraging but we came back and made it 3-1. Then we lost the next match so it was 4-1 and the game was all but over. Well we played as a team and ended up winning the next 3 matches in a row to tie it at 4 a piece. The last round one of my teammates ran off and got chainsawed leaving us outnumbered and outgunned so we ended up losing, but that would have been the most epic comeback in GoW2's short history. It was a great match to be a part of. Good times.

prime_timer

11-14-2008, 11:54 AM

Sorry I bailed on you guys last night, but I had to get some sleep. After the 2:30 a.m. palooza that was Tuesday night/Wednesday morning, I wasn't going to end up doing that again.

MR EPIC

11-14-2008, 01:12 PM

Best GoW2 Night So Far!

I think our group consisted of Sean, Philip, Crimmiglez, Diesel TS, Ground Eagle, Monito, PF the Kitsune, War Machine, DerFuehrerStu, and then later both Violent Breed and Prime Timer.

We played a lot of Wingman, which is five teams of two players going at each other, and for some reason Sean and I came out on top in like 5 out of the 6 matches that we played. Not only is Sean a very good teammate, but he was also beastin' on fools last night with the shotgun and the two-piece tactic. I had some good rounds myself so it made for a very fun and overall dominant performance by the two of us.

We also mixed in some five on five matches like Warzone, Excecution, Guardian, and Submission which was also fun as hell. During this one match I had the two-piece workin' for myself and had a ridiculous score of 20 kills and like 9 downs. Everybody else had roughly 6-7 kills aside from Ground Eagle who had 12. Not sure how but I was on fire.

MattFurtado-AMN

11-14-2008, 02:08 PM

I was going to join you guys but the room was full.

Sascha-AMN

11-14-2008, 03:12 PM

PF the Kitsune

11-15-2008, 12:45 AM

Last night was indeed awesome. I could definitely use some practice, but I think I'm starting to get the hang of things.

Also... I didn't burn anything

Sascha-AMN

11-15-2008, 04:12 AM

Tonight was a pretty good night. I was a complete dick to my teammates, unfairly taking out a tough day on them, but there were enough laughs and cheers of victory to offset the constant stream of aggressive, wise-ass remarks I think.

In any case, it would be ****ing AWESOME if people stayed in the freaking game until the end of the match. There's no fun to be had in dismantling a team with less players than you in a territories mode, be it king-of-the-hill or Annex.

Also, I clearly need to learn the art of two-piecing. The lancer will always be my bread-and-butter, but once things get in close, the two-piece shotty combo is just unstoppable. I see why it works so well. Not only has the shotgun been nerfed to the point where a melee does the same damage as a shotgun blast from a few feet away, but the melee also STUNS the enemy, opening them up for the finishing blow. Combine that melee with a sprint, and you can basically close the gap, melee, and blast away a lancer-user from anywhere closer than mid-range.

That said, I still dont see how anyone can prefer the shotty-happy gameplay of the first gears to the smoother, more even combat of the second game. Im gonna write that blog post for sure now, hopefully have it done for monday.

MR EPIC

11-15-2008, 03:25 PM

It's been a lot of fun guys. I hope that Gears of War 2 has a lot more staying power with the KOMBO crew than the original, as there are so many different modes and game types to keep us busy for quite a while.

Played some ranked today with Cubeenigma, Kidd Enigma, Blinger, and Outer Haven. We all did very well and got lucky enough to find a couple of rooms which were undermanned. Couple of funny quotes though: One guy said "If I had my whole crew with me we'd 'rape' you guys" and another guy said to me "Your B button is bigger than my dick". To both of those comments I simply offer a :brow:.

Blinger101

11-15-2008, 05:22 PM

Ahaha. So THAT'S what the guy was saying! Hahahaha. I'm still up for some Horde mode tonight though if anybody is interested.

Monkeylord

11-15-2008, 07:13 PM

To both of those comments I simply offer a :brow:.

Roffle

So, I'm back to work on Monday. BOO!

Thanks to my sleep schedule being out of whack from my week off, I've decided that if I don't stay up tomorrow evening then I'll probably not make it to work. Thus, I'll be up all night tomorrow.

If anyone wants to co-op through with me (from Act 4 Ch3 onwards) that'd be appreciated. Also I'll be up for whatever multiplayer ass-kicking you guys want to dole out to me :)

SpaceOddity

11-18-2008, 09:47 AM

Finally have it, Played through a chunk of the campaign last night, sorry I declined your invite epic, but my roommate had just bought the game and was pretty set on us doing the co-op campaign. However now its in the game collection so I look forward to joining you guys in the future.

Man the side story about Dom's wife is cheesey as hell, watching roided out guys in giant body armor talking about feelings, now there is something I can relate to!

Do like the more epic scale, more open enviorments, and the feeling that this is actually a war (i think the new story does help put the battles your fighting in a more global scale). Good action, but i still find the whole combat cover style pretty bland, i just wanna run in and gun ****ers down is that so wrong?

Sascha-AMN

11-18-2008, 05:15 PM

/\

Its not wrong, its just not the right game for it.

Blinger101

11-18-2008, 05:41 PM

Hey guys. I'm up for some Horde mode tonight. Sorry I didn't join your game last night EPIC, but I was fiddling the the new dash for a minute and wanted to get some new arcade games. :P

OAR

11-18-2008, 05:58 PM

yo bling, friend me, and we'll play

and I FINALLY GOT THE MAP PACK TO WORK!!

MR EPIC

11-18-2008, 08:10 PM

Congratulations OAR. I'm also up for some Horde guys so let me know.

Erik - Put the game on casual and your wish shall come true. :)

MR EPIC

11-19-2008, 06:15 PM

Double Post

Guess KOMBO is done playing GoW2 together already. :rolleyes:

Anyway, among the numerous problems which plague GoW2's online mode (network issues mainly) Epic needs to set a round time limit for Submission quick fast and in a hurry. Myself and 4 other players on my team spent the better part of one hour last night (48 minutes to be exact) playing a match of Submission, which should normally average somewhere around 10-15 minutes.

Submission is the mode where you have to Drag either Hanley or Chaps to one of two designated points on the map. But thanks to the inclusion of the silly downing ability of the smoke grenade, you can lose hold of the character every 5 goddamn seconds. This means that either the other team gets control of the character or that if you do pick him back up (which is tough when he's blasting at you with more power than anybody on either team) you now have to drag him to the furthest capture point.

Basically, with no time limit the game can go back and forth forever and with two good teams it's likely to happen more often than not. I had teammates that had to go to work and school last night and this became a problem where they almost had to quit. But more importantly, WE JUST DIDN'T FEEL LIKE PLAYING THAT LONG EPIC GAMES!!!! This needs to be fixed ASAP along with a lot of other network and game problems which I'll be writing to both Epic and MS about.

Sascha-AMN

11-19-2008, 08:19 PM

/\

Not done, just busy this week. I should be online Saturday.

Monkeylord

11-22-2008, 06:53 PM

I got loads of requests to play tonight... sorry I couldn't oblige fellas -had a buddy round, and that meant we were playing Scene It and Lips all night.

I will be joining in the melee again soon though, I promise :)

Sascha-AMN

11-22-2008, 07:15 PM

I wanna play some ranked tonight, so anyone up it should get online around 8pm PST.

SpaceOddity

11-23-2008, 02:16 PM

I'm bored, why is no one ever on playing when i actually have free time. XboxLive is so quiet

Buddy Magert

11-23-2008, 07:19 PM

Fellas im bout to jump on in a minute so lets get it poppin and by that i mean some heads.

MR EPIC

11-24-2008, 12:39 AM

Sorry I couldn't join tonight buddy. I was with a five man team who were destroying people tonight and none of us wanted to leave the group because of how much success we were having. Sorry to Blinger as well.

MR EPIC

12-02-2008, 08:21 AM

Buddy Magert

12-03-2008, 02:54 PM

Ill be on tonight if anybody is interested.

Sascha-AMN

12-03-2008, 05:43 PM

Double Post

Played some territorial matches tonight with Sascha, Coral, and two guys from my friends list. For all the complaining we did I don't think we lost a single match after the very first one. This helped my rank to raise to 3040 in the world, whoot!

It was fun. Ive said it a million times, but complaining doesnt mean you're not having fun, it just means you're invested.

Moment of the night for me came on a match of King-of-the-Hill on Blood Drive. We had to hold down the flame-thrower spawn. Epic was in the middle of the hill two-piecing people while I had flanked through the indoor area to the garage area for a nice cover-laden view of the area. Epic was calling for support 'Hello?! Where is everyone?! I need help!' and Im like 'Im right here, behind you lancering them! Why the hell do you think they keep falling down?!" Enemies charging at epic fell to their knees right in front of him, letting him kill them with a single shot or melee.

MR EPIC

12-03-2008, 07:53 PM

Yeah that was a pretty funny moment.

Played some more today with Sascha, Pure Luck, some Irish Kid and Sgt POW and we pretty much steamrolled people. Sascha and I had our differences (as we sometimes do) but that didn't stop us from winning what I believe was all rounds but one. Look forward to playing with Prime and the rest of you guys later on tonight.

Sascha-AMN

12-03-2008, 11:12 PM

Yeah, sometimes I get out of line. When that happens I just turn the mic off and play. It was fun. I added everyone in the group to my friends list so we can team up again.

And my GOD does the Ruins map SUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK.

MR EPIC

12-03-2008, 11:49 PM

originalself

12-04-2008, 03:07 AM

Got destroyed a lot tonight but had fun going through all the maps with epic.

prime_timer

12-04-2008, 12:13 PM

Didn't have such good luck with the team of Cereaal, Pot Taker, Prime Timer, and Liquid Flame. Pot Taker couldn't get a kill to save his life and nobody could seem to stay in the hill for more than 5 seconds.

yea sorry bout that **** man. After that match on Avalanche we barely won (if we won at all. I was too high to remember that ****.), I lost my groove.

MR EPIC

12-04-2008, 03:36 PM

Don't worry about it Prime. I'm not a great Gears 2 player myself, I just consider myself to be pretty good. But regardless, when I play these public matches I get frustrated when people don't understand their roles. Sometimes people worry more about their kills than they do about just getting in the damn hill and they also forget to do important things like pick up downed allies and throw/stick smokes in the proper places. Sorry about taking it out on you guys. That last team we played was just darned good.

MR EPIC

12-15-2008, 08:07 PM

Played some with Sascha and a few other guys earlier and it was pretty fun. We won 2 out of 3 matches of Submission and Sascha ranked up while another person on my friends list got his achievement for that game type. We didn't do so well in Execution on Ruins, but that can be a tough map if you don't know your way around and are left without the power weapons. I'm feeling comfortable now with the torque on this game, not quite where I was in the original but good enough.

Sascha-AMN

12-15-2008, 08:10 PM

Yeah, I had fun. I just wish people would stay off Xbox Live if they arent prepared to use their mics to communicate. In Halo 3, fine, I dont need to hear your voice, but in a tactical game like Gears of War, Rainbow Six, Team Fortress 2, you're just dead weight and free kills without a mic.

And I LOATHE Ruins.

prime_timer

12-22-2008, 01:04 PM

Gentlemen I am home all day today and for the next two weeks. lets play some ****in gears.

Buddy Magert

12-22-2008, 01:14 PM

Ill see u tonite prime we can get it in!!!!

Buddy Magert

12-24-2008, 08:01 AM

Had some great times gaming last night wit primeNihilist,Epic,Rat Overlord,Sascha,venom4death and DreDayzz. I got a little tired at the end so that why i was eating so many donuts.

Sascha-AMN

12-24-2008, 04:44 PM

SOOOOOOO much fun last night. Even the last few games where I couldnt get a kill to save my life were fun in a pathetic sort of way. We need to record our conversations and trash-talk during these sessions - they would make HILARIOUS podcasts.

Sascha-AMN

01-03-2009, 02:41 AM

This is the last weekend of my winter holidays! Im back to school on Monday. I'll still be able to play with you guys, but not nearly as much, so lets get some play-time in this weekend!

Buddy Magert

01-07-2009, 03:13 PM

ILL Be On Tonight Fellas LETS GET IT IN!!!!!!

prime_timer

01-07-2009, 03:40 PM

This is the last weekend of my winter holidays! Im back to school on Monday. I'll still be able to play with you guys, but not nearly as much, so lets get some play-time in this weekend!

I'm prime_timer, and this post echoes my very thoughts

Buddy Magert

01-07-2009, 03:40 PM

SO ill c u tonight then prime?

prime_timer

01-07-2009, 05:07 PM

I'll try to hop on. I been goin to the gym every day since the 30th and Im usually pretty worn out when I get home. And really ****in hungry.

MR EPIC

01-11-2009, 02:43 AM

I "Spidermanned" somebody with the Torque Bow! - To "Spiderman" someone in Gears of War is to pop their head off while they are upside down (halfway through a flip) just like to "Superman" somebody is to pop their head off while they are laying out flat (at the beginning of a roll). Well I had this guy chasing me with a shotgun and when I turned around to see where he was at, the guy was already attempting to dive-roll towards me and pop me at the end of it. Before he could, I blind fired a torque bolt at him and it took his head off while he was upside down right next to me. It was the most impressive thing I had seen in a GoW match in months.

I finally experienced "Host Standby" - I was playing Wingman with Cereaal and during the first round we managed to rack up 10 points quickly (the average per round is like 3 pts). I guess the host, fearing that he was going to lose, hit the old standby switch on his router and froze us out of the remaining rounds. We'd each see a load up screen and then when the actual game started we'd all be dead except for one guy, the host. Not only did I file a complaint about this asshole, but I sent him some lovely messages to boot.

originalself

01-11-2009, 05:11 AM