Penny Arcade - Comic - View To A Kill

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Penny Arcade - Comic - View To A Kill

Videogaming-related online strip by Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins. Includes news and commentary.

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Zenigata

[Escape button mashing intensifies]

Quid

I like kill cam. You can learn some good tricks.

Inquisitor

Personally I prefer the kill cam off, I'd rather watch my teammates to have the best idea of what the situation is when I respawn.

Tofystedeth

Kill-cam is handy because it lets you know where dudes are that killed you from when you were unaware of their presence. Also lets you spy on ult status.

But also it can make you feel like a complete nincompoop as you watch them evidently run past your field of view, look at you, then fire 3 shots into your dome without you noticing.

geekoid

The best thing I've used killcam for is to call somoen out for wall hacking. "You know we have killcams and can see you shoot through walls, right?" Followed by them dening and then immediately leaving the game.

Zomagic

Yeeeeah, I'm so strongly in the first camp that I'd rather just let it slide when some wallhacking dick comes along. There's literally nothing you can do about it in the moment. I'm actually far more enraged about smurfs who should be playing competitive matches screwing with casual play. Of course the matchmaking system puts their level 5 in your level 25 match, because they're amazingly good, but are only supposedly level 5. In reality, they've played the game for like 500 hours. I feel like this is about Overwatch, and I REALLY hope they start banning smurfs. It's not like a MOBA or an MMO, where you have to level up all over again. LITERALLY the only thing separating lower and higher levels in Overwatch is just time spent on the game. Which means smurfs fuck up the matchmaking system. I'm always incredibly suspicious of anyone who is 20+ levels below the rest of the assembled team.

Quid

geekoid wrote: »

The best thing I've used killcam for is to call somoen out for wall hacking. "You know we have killcams and can see you shoot through walls, right?" Followed by them dening and then immediately leaving the game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7HdUq3B5GA

Or you're playing against someone trying something silly as seen around 00:25.

Obviously wall hacks are an issue too tho.

Linktm

I like Kill Cam so I can learn tips and tricks, it's funny how much stuff I've picked up on other characters when playing Overwatch just by learning how they've killed me in the past. I can play my first game as DVA or Hanzo and have a pretty good idea of things I can do.

admanb

Zomagic wrote: »

Yeeeeah, I'm so strongly in the first camp that I'd rather just let it slide when some wallhacking dick comes along. There's literally nothing you can do about it in the moment. I'm actually far more enraged about smurfs who should be playing competitive matches screwing with casual play. Of course the matchmaking system puts their level 5 in your level 25 match, because they're amazingly good, but are only supposedly level 5. In reality, they've played the game for like 500 hours. I feel like this is about Overwatch, and I REALLY hope they start banning smurfs. It's not like a MOBA or an MMO, where you have to level up all over again. LITERALLY the only thing separating lower and higher levels in Overwatch is just time spent on the game. Which means smurfs fuck up the matchmaking system. I'm always incredibly suspicious of anyone who is 20+ levels below the rest of the assembled team.

If they're level 5 in a level 25 game they're not actually smurfing.

Zenigata

admanb wrote: »

Zomagic wrote: »

Yeeeeah, I'm so strongly in the first camp that I'd rather just let it slide when some wallhacking dick comes along. There's literally nothing you can do about it in the moment. I'm actually far more enraged about smurfs who should be playing competitive matches screwing with casual play. Of course the matchmaking system puts their level 5 in your level 25 match, because they're amazingly good, but are only supposedly level 5. In reality, they've played the game for like 500 hours. I feel like this is about Overwatch, and I REALLY hope they start banning smurfs. It's not like a MOBA or an MMO, where you have to level up all over again. LITERALLY the only thing separating lower and higher levels in Overwatch is just time spent on the game. Which means smurfs fuck up the matchmaking system. I'm always incredibly suspicious of anyone who is 20+ levels below the rest of the assembled team.

If they're level 5 in a level 25 game they're not actually smurfing.

Yeah, it's funny to hear someone complaining on the other end of the spectrum. It was really annoying as a low level to keep going against those level 30-40's. Now as a level 22, I can face off against level 90-120's with confidence! As though players who've been playing the game for 100+ hours to my 12 hours aren't going to be a lot better. As long as there's another guy my level on the enemy team I feel ok, but one time it straight up put a team of level 20-30's against a team of level 70-90's...

Enlong

I dislike kill cams because I feel as though I spend more time in the kill cams than I do playing.

But that's an issue with my abysmal play , rather than the cam.

Tofystedeth

Zomagic wrote: »

Yeeeeah, I'm so strongly in the first camp that I'd rather just let it slide when some wallhacking dick comes along. There's literally nothing you can do about it in the moment. I'm actually far more enraged about smurfs who should be playing competitive matches screwing with casual play. Of course the matchmaking system puts their level 5 in your level 25 match, because they're amazingly good, but are only supposedly level 5. In reality, they've played the game for like 500 hours. I feel like this is about Overwatch, and I REALLY hope they start banning smurfs. It's not like a MOBA or an MMO, where you have to level up all over again. LITERALLY the only thing separating lower and higher levels in Overwatch is just time spent on the game. Which means smurfs fuck up the matchmaking system. I'm always incredibly suspicious of anyone who is 20+ levels below the rest of the assembled team.

I don't understand this post at all. At least not in regards to Overwatch.
There isn't even a competitive mode yet. You can't drop your level. There is no smurfing.

shoeboxjeddy

Yeah, panel 2 is the only reason I haven't turned it off. As furious as watching it makes me, I'm pretty sure that having no idea why I'm dead would be worse.

Zomagic

Tofystedeth wrote: »

Zomagic wrote: »

Yeeeeah, I'm so strongly in the first camp that I'd rather just let it slide when some wallhacking dick comes along. There's literally nothing you can do about it in the moment. I'm actually far more enraged about smurfs who should be playing competitive matches screwing with casual play. Of course the matchmaking system puts their level 5 in your level 25 match, because they're amazingly good, but are only supposedly level 5. In reality, they've played the game for like 500 hours. I feel like this is about Overwatch, and I REALLY hope they start banning smurfs. It's not like a MOBA or an MMO, where you have to level up all over again. LITERALLY the only thing separating lower and higher levels in Overwatch is just time spent on the game. Which means smurfs fuck up the matchmaking system. I'm always incredibly suspicious of anyone who is 20+ levels below the rest of the assembled team.

I don't understand this post at all. At least not in regards to Overwatch.
There isn't even a competitive mode yet. You can't drop your level. There is no smurfing.

Nonsense. I realize there's no competitive mode YET- yet being the key word- but they're clearly of a skill level where they should be waiting for that, instead of dicking around with casual players. And if you don't think there are smurfs, all it takes is buying a second copy of the game. If you genuinely want me to believe that someone gave themselves the battletag "instalose" and could headshot an entire team as Genji, basically from his EXACT maximum range, without taking a scratch, at level 4, then I think you're being incredibly naive, and I am going to laugh at you. Even if someone is incredibly good at FPS, it takes longer than that to learn the mouse sensitivity and the nuances of each game. I don't know WHY someone would want to buy another copy of the game and do that, but then again, I'm not a petty little 13 year old shithead on summer break, with access to mom's credit card, who would rather win than be challenged. (That is to say, I understand their motivation to win, but I don't understand why anyone would prefer winning to getting better, against people of their skill level.)

Edit: While I gave only one example, I'm seeing a LOT of these kinds of players in the afternoon. Clear troll names, super low levels, and way too good for the matches they're in. It's been bad enough between the hours of noon and 4PM, that the first thing I do when assemble hits is check the roster for these little worms, and leave before penalty sets in if I see one that's pretty obvious. Battletags that insinuate some form of pre-existing relationship to the game are a dead giveaway.

Zomagic

admanb wrote: »

Zomagic wrote: »

Yeeeeah, I'm so strongly in the first camp that I'd rather just let it slide when some wallhacking dick comes along. There's literally nothing you can do about it in the moment. I'm actually far more enraged about smurfs who should be playing competitive matches screwing with casual play. Of course the matchmaking system puts their level 5 in your level 25 match, because they're amazingly good, but are only supposedly level 5. In reality, they've played the game for like 500 hours. I feel like this is about Overwatch, and I REALLY hope they start banning smurfs. It's not like a MOBA or an MMO, where you have to level up all over again. LITERALLY the only thing separating lower and higher levels in Overwatch is just time spent on the game. Which means smurfs fuck up the matchmaking system. I'm always incredibly suspicious of anyone who is 20+ levels below the rest of the assembled team.

If they're level 5 in a level 25 game they're not actually smurfing.

I realize it's not necessarily true, but it can be. To be THAT good, you'd have to play only a single character, and never try any others, because it only takes a few matches to get to level 5. I wasn't even familiar with all the characters until around level 20, so I find it pretty spurious that anyone could be good enough at level 5 to be getting into level 25 matches. I work at night, and game during the afternoon, and it's summer. I assume that most adults who work during the day and game in the evening are seeing a lot less of it, because they're not dealing with you know, summer on the internet. After the majority of adults get home from work, they obviously begin to outnumber these types of smurfs, and it's less of a problem.

furlion

Sometimes people make low level accounts just because they can. I played against some one in Smite, on the PS4, named Twerkules who wrecked my entire team. Now someone had to make an entire account just to do that. Smurfing knows no logic.

Inquisitor

You know in Overwatch you can queue up with friends right? And then it matchmakes your whole group. I'm only level 30 something but routinely end up in games will people over level 100 thanks to queueing with friends. I hold my own just fine though as its not like Overwatch is a particularly hard game to play.

ArbitraryDescriptor

I'm so lost here.

Is the jerk the level 4 who is punching above his weight class, or the level 30's who are using the lowbie as anchor to fight weaker teams?

dennis

ArbitraryDescriptor wrote: »

I'm so lost here.

Is the jerk the level 4 who is punching above his weight class, or the level 30's who are using the lowbie as anchor to fight weaker teams?

As far as I can tell from the outside looking in (and using google), there is no such thing as a "weight class" in Overwatch. "Level" isn't the same as it is in something like WoW, where higher level characters are intrinsically more powerful and have better equipment. In Overwatch, leveling simply gives you cosmetic items. So being level 4 doesn't put you in a different "weight class" at all. All it does is indicate how long you've been practicing playing the game. So someone coming in at Level 4 when they've actually been playing the game 10x longer than the level 30s who are in the match with in it is actually the one who is punching below his weight class, if anything.

Anyone who actually knows what they're talking about feel free to correct me.

Tofystedeth

Yeah, and the only way to drop your level is to just buy an additional copy of the game ($40 minimum) and make a new bnet account.
And there's really no way to stop that, so...

Zomagic

ArbitraryDescriptor wrote: »

I'm so lost here.

Is the jerk the level 4 who is punching above his weight class, or the level 30's who are using the lowbie as anchor to fight weaker teams?

Dennis is correct. There isn't a class per se, but the game collects stats and matches you to people of your skill level. Levels indicate roughly how much time people have spent in the game, because there are only a few variations in how much xp you get. Most of the time, you get matched up with people who are around your level- anyone too more than ten levels under or over the average team level, is either really good or really bad. On the other hand, when it's really late/ early, it gets a bit more random, just based on the lower number of players. For instance if you see that a team's levels are : 19, 25, 26, 20, 30, and 18, the average is in the low 20's. That's pretty normal. It means that most of the players have probably spent around 20-30 hours playing Overwatch. If you get 19, 25, 26, 20, 30, and 4? It takes like a few hours, to get to level four. You can get there on the first day you buy the game, so something's amiss. There's much less of a skill gap between higher levels, but at that level, you shouldn't even be familiar enough with the maps to be effective in the low 20th level group. For one thing, you wouldn't even know all the Widowmaker perches yet, and you'd get popped off constantly.

Bursar

Or the level 4 is in a group with one or more of the other players and they both got placed into the match. There's no way of knowing who is in a group together in the game. If I saw numbers like that, I wouldn't expect the 4 to be good, but I wouldn't immediately jump to purposeful mischief on the opponents' parts either.

Leon2309

There is also the problem that in Overwatch you can gain levels by fighting AI. So, someone who is in there 20s could get placed with a bunch of level ones simply because the game records them as having never played before, no matter what there actual skill level is.

cB557

Well if they've only fought AI, it's still gonna be pretty low.