Cod4: Can't we all just get along?

One of the givens in gaming, especially in FPS gaming, is that players getting their asses kicked will put the blame on something besides themselves. In CoD4, it's been popular to blame weapons, perks, or tactics which are considered cheap or, in gaming parlance, noobish. I'm going to post one of my classes here, exposing its noobishness to the world.

Weapons:

Probably the most reviled weapon in Cod4 is the M16A4. (I think the Grenade Launcher, or "noob tube", is a close second.) Even in non-HC, two bursts from the A4 is a kill. And, in HC, one burst, as long as it hits, is plenty. People call it a noob weapon, but it was actually one of the last weapons I mastered. I ditched it for full auto ARs as soon as I could. I found aiming the M16A4, with my relatively slow reflexes, was a real problem. And, as a burst fire weapon, M16A4 was a big disadvantage in CQB for me. Since I usually play HC TDM, I have one M16A4 class set up like this:

M16A4 (RDS or Silencer)

Claymores or Bandolier

UAV Jammer

Deep Impact

Depending on the map or the lobby, I'll use the RDS or the Silencer. I had an awesome game once on Overgrown just laying low and putting bursts into unsuspecting run & gunners. I usually like to skirt the edges of a map to minimize the chances of getting bushwhacked from the flanks/rear. Tactics and loadouts can change if there are co-operative & communicative team-mates, tho. If it's a map where I'll have to be on the move, I'll switch out the M16A4 for the G36C with Steady Aim. (The G36C for my money is the best all around AR. It has the least idle time animation making it more accurate for a lot of players. See Den Kirson's site for details.) This all doesn't mean that others don't have an axe to grind with other weapons. I've seen threads on the IW forums complaining about the M4 as if it were some kind of death ray. And I've had some bad personal experiences with douches giving me a very bad time with the Skorpion. What do you guys think? Eye of the beholder? To me, if it works for you, it works for you. It might not work for me, but then I've got my trusty M16A4 and I'm camping all the way across the map from you.

Perks:

It's a tossup for me which is the more hated perk, Juggernaut or Martyrdom. I guess for non-HC players, it's Juggernaut, often referred to as "Juggernoob" and other ill-spelt variants. It's a mystery why, tho, since Juggernaut necessitates exactly one more bullet impact. One. Is that that big a deal to the non-HC crowd? You non-HC guys tell me. Strangely, Stopping Power is never decried as a noobish perk. Apparently, getting a kill with one less bullet is not noobish but being able to take one extra bullet is. Go figure. For the HC guys, I can tell you, Stopping Power and Juggernaut are largely wasted perks. Most weapons kill really, really fast in HC, so Stopping Power is just overkill. (No pun intended.) And, frankly, Juggernaut just gives a nice big red cross for guys with lousy aim like me to put follow up shots on. When I shoot 'em, Juggernaut or not, they still get dead. For the HC guys, the most hated perk, hands down, is Martyrdom. Most everybody hauls ass as soon as they've fragged you, so they don't get caught in the grenade's kill radius. (Two exceptions are Killhouse and Shipment. Definitely equip your FFA class with Martyrdom for those two maps.) You just don't get that many enemy kills with Martyrdom. In HC, however, you'll get a lot of kills -- friendly kills. Please, please, please, don't use Martyrdom in HC.

Tactics:

Apart from outright, unprovoked team-killing, the most hated tactic in all FPSes, especially CoD, is camping. Your team will have players who think that you should never stand still in CoD4 multiplayer. That's their philosophy: Run & gun. And they'll try to indoctrinate the occasional camper, like yours truly, with some subtle points of argument. Like flash-banging you. Or shooting your claymores. Or stabbing you to death. Or blowing your head off with a shotgun. Yes, I know, in objective-based games, camping isn't a good tactic. But, jeez, in HC TDM, can the anti-camping bigots on my team just leave me alone? When I play HC TDM now, I'll usually ask whether the team is running and gunning or just going to hold down an area of the map. Since no one is using mics, I rarely get an answer. When I was playing World at War, I played with a crew of tactical players who co-operated and communicated. Our general strategy was to hold down all approaches to the most advantageous positions on the maps. Usually that meant holding the initial spawn and some areas forward by setting up a layered defense of interlocking fields of fire which cut to ribbons any approaching enemy. Maintaining a relatively static position on one side of the map also meant the spawns didn't randomize much.

I haven't been able to do that much on CoD4 since I don't have a regular crew for that game. (My old crew is still doing World at War, which I think is a mistake, since CoD4 is the closest approximation of MW2, and they should get reacquainted. They joined me in a few games, got their clocks cleaned, and went back to World at War.) And, of course, pub players don't use their mics. Except, of course, for bitching about the camping afterwards in the lobby.