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[FRAG ON] Quake Live Open Beta. Major update Dec. 9. All deviding be zero removed!
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Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Quake Live is a completely free, ad supported, browser-based PC FPS based on Quake 3 (IT'S NOT QUAKE 3) aimed at both casual and competitive players. It features full stat tracking, achievements, a friend lists, clan support, and an evolving player skill matching system.
Now, I'm going to assume you're at least passingly familiar with the Quake series, and Quake 3 in particular. Quake Live is based on Quake 3, but is not Quake 3. The weapons have all been rebalanced, the maps have all been modified, there are new console commands (aka CVARs, mostly borrowed from CPMA, OSP, and 3W), and a few missing CVARs. As far as I know, the netcode has been reworked, too.
THIS OP IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION.
GETTING STARTED
Step 1 -- Go to the Quake Live website and click on the massive "PLAY NOW" button.
Step 2 -- Follow the steps laid out before you. Fill out your info to create an account, verify with your email, etc. You know the drill here.
KEEP IN MIND THAT YOUR SIGN IN NAME WILL BE YOUR IN GAME NAME AND CANNOT BE CHANGED, ONLY MODIFIED WITH COLOURS OR A CLAN PREFIX.
Step 3 -- Download the game and play the Skill Test while it preloads for you. The skill test is a short movement challenge map followed by a quick 1v1 with Crash. Don't sweat it if you can't get far in the movement challenge, and Crash will dynamically adjust her difficulty depending on how you're doing. Your skill placement will be based on your movement and fighting skills combined and is only used to help place you in servers with others around your level. It can be increased through playing the game and you can join servers above or below your level any time.
Step 4 -- You're done! You can now go to your "Home" page and join games whenever you want. You can also play offline practice games against bots.
The Gametypes
Currently there are 5 different gametypes in Quake Live.
FFA -- The most basic gametype. You spawn with a machine gun and whatever bad looks your mother gave you, from there you're on your own. FFA games are very fast paced, with quicker weapon respawns than the other gametypes and a heavy emphasis on balls-to-the-wall action. These maps are both time and score based, but you'll rarely make it to the timelimit. There are powerups, and they drop on death.
To win at FFAs you need a keen sense of judgement and very good map knowledge. When you spawn you always need to know where the nearest weapons are, where the nearest enemies are, and what the most likely fighting point is. Good positioning and the ability to run when you need to will give you a huge edge, especially now that the MG has been nerfed -- it's almost always a better idea to run when you spawn than to try and fight it out with your worst weapon. Knowing how to control the powerups (Quad, Regen, Haste, Battlesuit) is also very important.
DUEL -- One of the ultimate tests. Duels are 10 minute 1v1 matches in which you spawn with only your MG while others look on and make catty comments. There are no powerups in Duels.
Unlike FFA, this gametype is very timing and control based. It's not enough to just have better aim; you need to be able to get your weapons and deny your opponent his, you need to time armours and the megahealth. Positioning is important, but map and spawn knowledge is what sets many players apart.
TEAM DEATHMATCH -- Players are organized into 2 teams and must get the highest score when the time runs out to win. Team Deathmatch (TDM) features the longest weapon respawn times and is the only gametype so far that has friendly fire enabled. It also has powerups.
Probably the most misunderstood gametype. It's actually one of the hardest (if not THE hardest) gametype to play well. Weapons respawn very slowly, so controlling them is very important, and without proper teamwork you'll end up with one guy having 3 weapons and everyone else running around with their MGs. Proper TDM is based on very tight teamwork, with the emphasis on controlling important weapons and areas until the Quad spawns. Quad does not drop on death, so even if you have to kamikaze it, you need to pick it up.
CAPTURE THE FLAG -- Players are on 2 teams. Everyone spawns with MG. This mod features rune-like "team powerups," regular powerups (which drop), and modified versions of the Quake 3: Team Arena weapons: the Chaingun, Nail Gun, and Proxy Grenades. Either capture 8 times or have the most captures when the time runs out.
Quake CTF is actually a very deceptive gametype. It's not, as many assume, about balls out offence or solid defence. Well, solid defence is important, but not as important as powerup control. More than even TDM, powerup control is the most important thing in CTF. Weapons are everywhere and respawn quickly, dying is unimportant unless you're the flag carrier, and solid defence will always beat equal offence. Close matches always come down to powerup control. There's a subtle give-and-take while each team loads up on weapons and armour while they wait for the Quad. Whichever team gets the Quad will have a chance to break the other's defence and easily walk away with the flag. Expect a lot of furious action and close calls, but unlike the other gametypes, dying isn't often a problem.
CLAN ARENA -- Clan Arena is a round-based gametype based on Rocket Arena. There are 2 teams and each player spawns with all weapons (except BFG and the Team Arena weapons), and 200/100 health and armour. When you die you're out for the rest of the round. The last team left standing takes the round, and the first team to win 10 rounds takes the game.
Clan Arena is a pretty basic concept that's mostly just for messing around. Honestly, right now it's the most poorly done gametype in Quake Live. Spawns are still random and the ammo has not been balanced with the weapons in mind -- rockets are the most dangerous spam weapon, but you get 50 each round so there's no reason to ever stop spamming them. It takes 6 rails to kill someone from full health, so even hanging back for those isn't as effective as just constantly spamming rockets everywhere.
The Weapons
Guantlet -- Your basic melee weapon for last ditch attacks or humiliations. Does 50 damage.
Machine Gun (MG) -- Your spawn weapon in most gametypes. It has been significantly weakened from the Quake 3 version, doing only 5 (compare 7) damage per shot now. Useful only for finishing off near death opponents or annoying someone at long range. Hitscan.
Shotgun (SG) -- Now one of the best overall weapons. The spread has been reworked so that even at mid-long range you'll be getting decent damage out of it. Close up it's extremely dangerous, and they're all over the place anyway. Does 10 damage per pellet, 11 pellets in a random spread. Hitscan.
Grenade Launcher (GL) -- A basic spam and keep away device. Grenades bounce easily and do 100 damage for direct hits, 50 close splash.
Rocket Launcher (RL) -- One of the signature Quake weapons. Amidst all the weapon nerfs the RL has become king again. Does 100 damage for a direct hit, 40~ for close splash.
Lightning Gun (LG) -- Another Quake signature, the LG has been toned down considerably. It now does progressively less damage the further away your target is, though the range has been increased slightly. Does 7-6-5 damage per cell (compare 8). Hitscan.
Plasma Gun (PG) -- A mid-tier weapon that hasn't changed. Does 20 damage per hit, with a very small splash radius. The highest DPS weapon excluding the BFG, but also the hardest to use properly.
Rail Gun (RG) -- The RG has been nerfed. Love it or hate it, that's the way it is. It now does 80 damage (compare 100) and still has the same 1.5 second reload. Hitscan.
BFG -- Shoots really fast plasma-rockets that do 100 damage per direct hit and have good splash. The same as Quake 3.
Chaingun (CG) -- A variation of the Quake 2 weapon. It now fires while it spins up, but fires very fast when at full bore. Hitscan.
Nail Gun (NG) -- From Quake 1 and changed from the Team Arena version (which was basically the PG without splash). It now ricochets around corners if shot properly.
Proxy Grenades (PL) -- Pretty much sticky grenades or mines. You can shoot them at floors and walls and they will explode when an enemy comes close enough. They're very easy to see, and the explosion is telegraphed by a signature beeping sound, so you can easily avoid them in most situations. However, you can stick someone with them and they will explode after a while or when they receive damage. They do 100 damage for direct hits and pretty good splash otherwise.
Powerups
Powerup spawns are map and gametype dependant. These special powerups last for 30 seconds or until you die. They will drop (with the same timer) in FFA and CTF.
QUAD -- Back to its full strength, having Quad will 4x the damage (including the splash damage) of all your weapons. Best used with the newly overpowered shotgun, making it an almost guaranteed kill from most distances.
REGENERATION -- Will slowly regenerate your health and armour (if you have any) up to 200/100, and will prevent armour and health decay.
HASTE -- Increases your movement speed and rate of fire.
BATTLESUIT -- Absorbs part of the damage you take from every shot and negates splash damage.
FLIGHT -- Only on a couple of maps. Give you the ability to float around using the jump button so you can become a massive target.
INVISIBILITY -- Only on a couple of maps. Makes you invisible, but you can still be tracked by footsteps, muzzle flashes, projectile trails, and other powerup glows.
Team Powerups
Only available on select CTF maps. The aren't timed and only go away upon death or if you manually drop them. You can only have one at a time.
Doubler -- Increases your damage by roughly 30%.
Armour Regen -- Regenerates your armour back up to 100.
Guard -- Basically extra armour. Reduces all incoming damage by a percentage.
Scout -- Increases movement speed and firing rate, silences your footsteps, and negates self-damage from RL, GL, and PG.
Single Use Items
You can carry one of these at a time. Use with the "use item" command.
Med Kit -- Instantly recovers you to 100 health.
Invulnerability -- A rare item. Freezes you in place but makes you invulnerable to everything but proxy mines.
Personal Teleporter -- Instantly teleports you to a random spawn point.
Kamikaze -- Kills you and explodes in a huge radius that will probably kill anyone nearby and damage and push away those further from the initial blast area.
MAPS
Quake Live features modified versions of many Quake 3 maps as well as an increasing number of Quake Live exclusives. The maps vary greatly in quality, with many of the Quake 3 maps only being good because they're familiar to most. The Quake Live exclusives are actually pretty nice so far, and currently there is a 6 maps in 6 weeks promotion going on.
ADVANCED SECTION
Once you want to move past the basic move, point, shoot gameplay of every other FPS around, Quake Live will give you as much as you can handle with advanced movement and configing, both of which are essential parts of the Quake experience and musts if you want to progress as a player.
CVARS AND CONFIGING
Making your own custom config is one of the most important rituals all Quake players eventually go through. It's like building your own lightsaber, and every config is unique. Here I will try and answer questions and give details on the more important CVARs and other advanced console options.
The first thing you'll want to do is carefully read over the official Advanced Client Options topic (at least the OP) on the Quake Live forum. Once you've enabled your console you're free to start messing around.
Now, the GUI gives you a lot of options. You can bind all your weapons and change graphics setting, all that neat stuff. That's all well and good to begin with, but console variables are deep and meaty options that will benefit your game.
As a start, I will make my basic CFG available here. To use it you must download it and paste it into your "baseq3" folder, which you'll probably have to do a search for (and it'll probably be a hidden folder). For XP users it'll probably be under "C:\Documents and Settings\user\Application Data\id Software\quakelive\baseq3". Once you've placed in the baseq3 folder start up a practice game and type /exec page0 in your console. The config file will load, and you'll have to do a video restart (vid_restart). You can see all of the binds by typing /bindlist. Alternatively, you can open a .cfg file with Wordpad and read through and edit it directly.
MOVEMENT
Under construction. Here I will give info on strafe jumping, rocket and grenade jumping, plasma jumping, circle jumping, frame jumps, and whatever else needs explaining.
FURTHER STUDY
Links to help you improve your game. Under construction.
The Official Quake Live Guide. Has a lot of basic, simple info, mostly stuff that I've already covered, but with nicer pictures.
The Official CVAR Help List. I recommend you read through this at least once if you've never played Quake 3 or aren't familiar with the CVARs. If you're already up on configing then it's worth a read anyway just to notice a few changes.
PLAYERS
page0rz -- I will be on most nights, I think, playing on the East Coast. As far as I can tell, my skill ranking is either highest or second highest, but it doesn't really matter. I'm willing to play with anyone and teach anyone interested in learning the game.
DEMOS AND FILES
If anyone's interested in posting them. I have a few decent ones so far, just let me know if you want to see them.
Competitive Gaming and Writing Blog Updated in October: "Song (and Story) of the Day"
Anyone want to beta read a paranormal mystery novella? Here's your chance.
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Anyone want to beta read a paranormal mystery novella? Here's your chance.
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Anyone who wants to play can friend me. I'm going by Faffel and have a pretty low skill level.
By the way, what is up with air control during bunnyhopping? It doesn't seem easy to steer like it was in promode..
And unlike during the closed beta, you don't have to be a god at Q3 to have a decent match.
Unfortunately, my old hands and lack of caring prevents me from putting up those [strike]exploit[/strike] elite movement anymore (e.g. strafe jumping). Ah well, still doesn't stop me from railing suckas in the face, damage nerf or no nerf.
Faffel, there's no air control in Quake Live, that was a CPMA feature borrowed mostly from Quake1/World. It's just regular strafe jumping, which is faster, but less manoeuvrable. It also means you can't air control after being hit by a rocket or grenade, making those very dangerous (and easier to aim).
Zxerol, strafe jumping isn't that hard. It's like riding a bike; you just need to learn once and you'll never lose it. This isn't CPMA, either, so you can do all the fancy movements with a lower mouse sensitivity, if that was a problem.
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I see. Turning corners is going to be a lot different - I lose speed them atm.
I should probably go into strafe jumping first, but there are already a lot of pretty good tutorials on it available, even the ones in Quake Live are good to start with, and it's pretty much impossible to communicate the concepts of strafe jumping through text. You need to see it in motion and practise it yourself. Still, if anyone's having trouble with it then ask what you want and I'll try to help.
Console commands are also pretty well covered by the forum topic I linked in the OP, although I intend to go deeper into configs and explain why you'd want to change certain cvars.
But for this post I think I'll go with something I just feel like covering: scripts.
SCRIPTS
Basically, there are times when you want to do a lot of things at the same time with one button. This is done through scripts (vstrs in the game). The most well known use for these are rocket jumping scripts that will give you a perfect rocket jump at the press of a button. Less well known uses are elaborate config pranks that will randomly rebind keys every time you press one. There are aesthetic uses for these as well: someone I knew would spend their free time making graphical scripts for things like his in-game volume.
What I'm going to show you today is a deceptively useful zoom script.
Some people are sceptical at first. After all, Quake 3 has a zoom button built in. But there are a few weaknesses to the Quake 3 zoom command: it actually zooms in, which can be disorienting and is certainly annoying, and more importantly, it can't be toggled, so you have to hold a button down while zoomed. Even those of you who already use the zoom with no problems should at least test this one out, if only for the experience of making a proper vstr.
Here's the basic script: "sensitivity ##; weapon 7; cg_fov ##; cg_crosshairsize ##; cg_drawgun 0; cg_drawcrosshair #"
Notice that each command is separated by a semicolon. This tells the game that the command isn't over. You don't need spaces between the semicolons, but I put them there to make it easier to read.
Now look at each command in turn. Sensitivity will change your mouse sensitivity, obviously, so you'll want to make it lower than what you've already got. You change the fov as well, so you'll want to lower it down to at least 70 (default fov is 90, many people play with 110). Same with the crosshair, which you can change to whatever you want. Most people seem to prefer a little laser sight dot. You can then change the size of this dot, which may be needed depending on which default crosshair you're using. Then cg_drawgun 0, another of the strengths of this over the normal zoom command. If you're using drawgun 1 or 2 for you default, drawgun 0 will free up more screen space when you zoom in. Finally, the weapon: this zoomscript will automatically select the railgun, which is probably what you want to zoom with anyway, isn't it? If you don't have the rail gun then it will still zoom, but won't change weapons.
All this happens instantly, with one button press. I leave the values to your own personal preferences, so experiment to find what you like.
To actually enter the script into the game you need to have a name for it. So we'll name this on "zoomin." You also need to tell it that you're entering a script with the "seta" command. So, to actually enter this script you'd type this:
seta zoomin "sensitivity 2.6;weapon 7;cg_fov 65;cg_crosshairsize 60;cg_drawgun 0;cg_drawcrosshair 5"
If entered correctly none of this should actually happen. Instead, you should now have the vstr "zoomin" as a bindable command. Type /zoomin and it will show you your script, ready to run. Now you can bind it to whatever, probably mouse 3.
bind mouse3 vstr zoomin
And that's that. You hit mouse 3 and it'll change your weapon, your fov, your sensitivity, your crosshair, etc., instantly.
But, you may have noticed, now everything is stuck like that. Unlike the +zoom command normally used, which must be held down while in use, this zoom is a toggle. This is where the real work comes in (don't worry, it's still not much).
Since this one bind now changes all that stuff, and you don't want to have a super low sensitivity and fov 65 when using your rocket launcher, you need to change everything back. You could set up a more complicated command that would let you rebind your zoom button to reset everything if you press it again, or you could just make a "zoomout" script and bind that to all your weapon buttons. Which is what I do, and what I'll be showing you how to do here.
So, now you need to make another script that resets everything to the way it was before you zoomed in.
seta zoomout "cg_fov ##; cg_crosshairsize ##; sensitivity ##; cg_drawgun 1; cg_drawcrosshair #"
Fill in the blanks with whatever you prefer and you'll get something like this:
seta zoomout "cg_fov 110;cg_crosshairsize 24;sensitivity 5;cg_drawgun 1;cg_drawcrosshair 2"
Now you have "zoomout" as a bindable command. The next step is to rebind all your weapon keys to include it. So:
bind q "weapon 3;vstr zoomout"
bind r "weapon 8;vstr zoomout"
I'll note here that you don't actually need the close quote, just the open one. Not important, but whatever. Anyway, just rebind all your other weapons to include the "zoomout" vstr and you're golden.
You may want to leave weapon 2 (MG) and weapon 7 (RG) alone, though, which will allow you to zoom in with your MG and also switch to your RG again. You can zoom with any other weapon as long as you don't have a rail gun (so it'll execute the rest of the script but won't switch weapons). And that's that! You can now zoom properly, with a toggle button instead of having to hold everything down.
Next time I think I'll get into movement and include info on circle jumps, but I'll leave you with an old RJ script that no longer works in Quake Live (but you can port it to Quake 3), just because I can:
seta rjump "centerview;cl_pitchspeed 9999000;+lookdown; +attack;+moveup;wait 2;-lookdown;-attack;-moveup;wait 4;centerview;cl_pitchspeed 200"
Any questions?
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Anywho, its great to be playing quake again. I haven't played it since middleschool, and I'm amazed to find I'm still pretty decent at it. Better, it feels. I'm sniping people out of the air with the railgun, and coming in 2nd and 3rd in matches where the top 5 is dominated by people with 500+ wins or 10 000+ kills under their belt, while I've been at quake live for all of two days.
Anyone else here still play it? Its still in the beta but sure doesn't feel like a beta, I've only come across some minor bugs (amusingly similar ones to original quake 3 bugs). Great game, and great system behind it.
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But! I have run across quite a few hackers in the little time I've spent tearing it up. Be aware.
Page-: Your absolutely right about strafe jumping, if you haven't learned to double jump, strafe jump, circle jump. Your at a serious disadvantage, especially in games where covering ground is important ( CTF mostly? )
XBL - Clarke Ch40s
I came from fairly tight-knit Quake communities (3W/CPMA), where everyone knew everyone, so even without punkbuster, anyone caught using bots or wallhacks would get their demo posted and be banned from every legitimate server going. It was a lot easier to deal with things back then.
Fortunately, there's just as easy a counter now: I'm sure you can report them, and if you want to you can spec them for a while and record a demo, then post it on the furom or email it to whomever. Even if you can't do that, you can still just leave the server, there are always other games waiting.
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Page-: Have you checked out warsow? www.warsow.net
XBL - Clarke Ch40s
Waiting on 0.50, though, and hoping some things change.
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no mac or linux versions yet, but apparently should be coming soon.
Anyway, I still play this a bit, mainly CA though. Feel free to send me an invite if you wanna play (name is same as forum name). I'm tier 3 CA if it matters for others.
Also Page- you might want to edit in that id not too long ago added two "training" maps, one for strafe jumping, one for rocket jumping
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ahh I see it now, I just did a quick search for "training".
grumble grumble!
that's what was said like 6 months ago when I first started beta :_(
I thought this whole world-wide-web thingamajig was supposed to be platform (and browser) agnostic.
oh well, I guess I'd much rather receive a version that works well right out of the door than one that isn't properly tested or whatever.
I'm going to see if I can acquire or modify a working rj script, because I'm really lazy and I don't like moving my hands.
Anyone want to beta read a paranormal mystery novella? Here's your chance.
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Also, I had a buddy who used a DJ script, for those who can't properly press jump quickly.
Quick tip: In quake, I always bind mouse2 (right click) to jump.
Since theres no secondary fire, and really no use for zoom (unless maybe on a big open CTF map?) the right click is perfect for jumping.
XBL - Clarke Ch40s
I still use mouse2, but I'm an lg whore, so I don't really need to aim.
In fact, I'm pretty dumb for not having a walk button, either; I've been using space as +movedown forever, and I just don't feel like changing it. After years of CTF and CTFS, if I wasn't going to use a walk button then there's really no reason for it now. O_o
There's no double jumping in Quake 3 or Quake Live, though. Only Quake 1 and Quake 2, CPMA, and Warsow. Quake 2 had a very distinct movement style, a lot more straightforward than Quake 1, a lot more vertical than Quake 3; most of the maps were built like that, too, and with more hazards. The architecture and models are also a lot smaller, which was weird to go back to after playing Quake 3 for a long time.
Zoom is an incredibly useful feature. And I'm not talking about fov 25 zoomwhores, either -- the type of guy who just zooms in so close he can't miss -- even with the slightly nerfed RG, rail fights are quite common, and the Quake 3 maps feature a fair number of open space and long corridors. My zoom fov is only 70 anyway, so it's just a little bit of a boost for someone who's not really into railing anyway. I used to play without zoom, and still do when I can't be bothered to bind it or don't have the right mouse, but for anyone who is using it, I maintain that a zoom script is infinitely better than the +zoom command.
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Also, if u guys ever play Warsow, let me know...I'll kick ur butt for you =]
XBL - Clarke Ch40s
I'm going to be playing some tomorrow (Sunday), since I'm pretty busy today. I'll add you guys and we'll see what happens.
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I played with ch40s shortly after he made that post, he is east coast USA and I am west coast USA.
Anyone want to beta read a paranormal mystery novella? Here's your chance.
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Anyone want to beta read a paranormal mystery novella? Here's your chance.
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And I almost broke even that second last game. By like 8 frags. :x
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Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
Has anyone noticed that people playing Quake Live appear to be the same collective body of people that played in the past? I've rarely experienced a game where a player's playing style is one that's new to Quake (or any shooter for that matter), where they refuse to jump to avoid rocket splash damage. QL does seem to appeal new blood.
Playing these newer games (Call of Duty/Killzone 2/etc) is causing nostalgia for older fast paced shooters.