DPS or Survivability?

   A huge debate is going on right now in Diablo 3. The “end all” stat it seems right now is DPS. You will find people looking for someone with a certain DPS in order to run higher monster powers. Many people boast about how their DPS is over 100k, or even higher. Some Demon Hunters can get their DPS to over 250k if they are out of combat long enough, due to a passive.

            Now, this DPS number is often inflated, as in the case of Demon Hunters, as soon as they get into combat and hit their first enemy, their critical chance drops from 100% to their regular levels. They have a passive ability that every second that they don’t get a critical hit, their critical hit chance goes up. So, as long as they are standing around, it looks better than it actually is. But this is not the point of my post.

            This post is going to take a look into the formula behind survivability and DPS, and decide which is better. If you can deal 100k DPS, but die in 2 seconds, you’re not doing very well. Conversely, you may be able to withstand any kind of damage, but if you can’t kill elites or bosses before their enrage timers go off, you are useless.

            So, it’s kind of obvious to me (and hopefully to you, too) that a balance has to be maintained. But how do we determine which we need? Do we need more all resist, or critical hit chance? Do we need more armor, or critical damage?

            By taking the formula that is used to decide certain things, and then comparing the results, we can see what will be best in our current situations. First off, here are some formula used by the game:

Damage Reduction From Armor = Armor/(50*Enemy Level+Armor)
Damage Resist = Resist/(5*Enemy Level+Resist)

As you can see, the armor and resist scale parallel, with 1 resist being worth 10 armor.

 

As the chart to the left shows, armor (and resistances) has huge diminishing returns. The chart assumes a level 63 enemy.

 

The first 500 armor (50 resist) give 13.7% damage reduction. The second 500 (50) gives only 10.4% damage reduction. At 9500 armor (950 resist) the next 500 (50) only gives .95% damage reduction.

 

Now, don’t get me wrong, stacking armor is never a bad idea. But, stacking it to the exclusion of a stat that might help you out more is a bad idea.

 

 

   The point here is that there is a point where it is pretty much useless to stack more armor. Diablo 3 doesn’t have an armor cap, but with diminishing returns, it would take 25,000,000 armor to equal a 99.99% resistance. Technically speaking, you could never reach 100%, since as one value grows, you are dividing it by another value that grows in proportion. Eventually, you’d round up to 100%, but you’d never truly be there.

   Now, we have DPS. To determine overall DPS as shown on your character sheet, you use the acronym SCRAM. In this example, we’ll use my Barbarian’s numbers (unbuffed).

S = Your damage attribute * .01 + 1    In my case, S = 1996 * .01 + 1 = 20.96

C = Crit Chance * Crit Damage + 1     In my case, C = .2 (20% crit chance) * 1 (100% crit damage) + 1 = 1.2

R = Attacks per second, including any attack speed modifiers.  For me, R = 1.1

A = Average Damage. (Min DMG + Max DMG)/2    For me, A = (1021 + 1515) / 2 = 1268

M = Any damage multipliers from skills, plus 1. I have none, so I am just at 1.

Then, you multiply each value together. My Barbarian:

20.96 * 1.2 * 1.1 *1268 * 1 = 35082 DPS

   So now we know how to find resistances and DPS. But, how do we decide which is better for us? Well, this involves a comparison of current stats to possible future stats. I can’t sit here and say something like “1 armor is equal to 3 DPS” or anything like that, because for you, 1 armor might be worth 17 DPS, or vice versa. If you are stacked on armor, your armor has a lesser value than someone who isn’t.

   So, to figure out which is best for us, we need a common denominator; something to bring these equations together and give them a common ground to compare them, so that we can compare apples to apples instead of apples to oranges. In Diablo 3, and also in many RPG games, this number is the amount of damage that will be dealt to you by a monster throughout the course of a fight.

    There is a long formula to find this number, but we will break it down. But I want to impress you with my formula, so I am going to write it in it’s entirety here:

Enemy DPS * (1 – (armor / (50 * enemy level + armor)) * (1 – (average resist / (5 * enemy level + average resist)) * (Enemy Health / ((Damage Attribute * .01 +1) * (Crit Chance * Crit Damage +1) * Attacks per Second * ((Minimum Damage + Maximum Damage)/2) * Damage Multipliers)) = Total damage done to you

    Basically, this formula is saying that we take the enemy’s DPS adjust it for your resistances, and then multiply it by the amount of time it will be alive. For myself, I have made a spreadsheet that I can put the raw values in, and it will give me a baseline total damage done to me. Then I can tweak the numbers, and change some resistances, and then compare the new results. Then I can tweak other numbers, and compare the results to the previous results, allowing me to decide if I need more resists or more DPS. Here is a screenshot of my current values, in which I used the information of a Dark Thrall from Inferno difficulty. I filled in the yellow areas, and the blue areas auto populated.

The “NET DMG to You:” number is the number we want to reduce. Pretty much, increasing any attribute will reduce this number. As you can see, I inserted the “NET DMG to You” number in the “Base NET DMG” box. Next, I decided to see what happened when I changed my armor to 5,000. And this is the result:

As you can see, the “NET DMG to You” went down to 4687.54. I inserted this number into the “Change with RES”, and the “% Gain” box populated to show a 6.63% increase in efficiency. So, for me, 534 armor would give me 6.63% more efficiency.

Now, I am going to put my armor back where it was, and compare it to a 5% increase in Critical Hit chance. And this is the result:

As you can see here, 5% more critical hit chance brings my “NET DMG to You” down to 4819.76. I plug that in to “Change with DPS”, and the “% Gain” auto populates to a 4% increase of efficiency. So, when you compare the two, you see that 534 armor is worth more to me in my current state than is 5% critical hit chance.

   One thing my spreadsheet is not programmed to do is to take into account the fact that strength also adds to armor. I also have not taken into account that Dexterity adds to dodge chance. So, if you change those numbers, you might have to account for the armor and dodge chances manually.

   So, as you can see, sometimes DPS is not the end all stat. Sometimes, in order to deal more damage, you have to be able to take more damage.

 I wasn't able to embed the spreadsheet in this post, but if someone wants it, just zip me an email at sapperwoody@live.com and I can email it to you.

            - Sapper Woody

Beating a Game

            “I beat the game!” This is an oft heard thing around gamers. “Have you played <insert latest game>?” “Yeah, I beat it three days ago.” Typically, “I beat the game” means “I completed the story.” But, what does it really mean to “beat the game”? Let’s take a look at a few of the meanings of “I beat the game.”

            First, as we said before, many people have come to the conclusion that completing the storyline in a game is beating the game. For these people, it’s more about getting the end rather than the journey itself. But that is how a majority of gamers play. For many, it’s no longer about how amazing the journey is. Rather, it’s how many notches they have on their gamer belt. If this is what you prefer, then by all means play that way. After all, it’s all about doing what you enjoy. However, can one really make the claim that they beat a game if they played it on casual/easy mode? Doesn’t there need to be a certain challenge in order to beat something? If I were to say, “I beat this bottle of water. I drank the whole thing over the course of a day”, people would look at me like I was stupid. If there’s no challenge, then there’s no victory.

            This brings us to another question. What about cheat codes? “I couldn’t beat this part, so I turned on invincibility so I could beat it.” Did you really beat it? In my opinion, using cheat codes is not beating the game. In fact, in my opinion, it is just the opposite; it is admitting defeat to the game. In essence, you are saying, “The game was too hard. I gave up and cheated.” So, if you used cheat codes at any time, you did not beat the game.

            Another meaning of “I beat the game” is “I played through the story on the hardest difficulty setting.” I am almost completely in this camp. For a long time, I was one of those players who played games on the default setting. After all, isn’t that what the game was tuned to? However, just recently, my roommate got me to try any and all games on the hardest difficulty. I am now addicted (I use this term loosely. See the last section) to playing all games on the hardest setting. When I complete a playthrough, I feel a sense of accomplishment again. It’s not just another notch in the gamer belt. It’s a victory. It is a moment to savor. It is a moment when you are standing on the proverbial mountaintop screaming (again, proverbially) “I did it! They threw everything they could at me and yet I accomplished the improbable task against impossible odds in the face of unlikely adversarial conditions!”

            For some, playing on anything harder than the default setting is too much work. Others see it as an addition to playing on the default difficulty to add more replay value. For me, it’s the meat and potatoes of the game. It especially makes me feel great when I beat a game on the hardest whose hardest setting is legen…wait for it…dary!

            Still, for others, “I beat the game” means that they got the highest award in every level. Take my recent post about Twisted Metal, for instance. A friend and I beat it on Hard difficulty. Not good enough for me. I had to beat it on Twisted difficulty. Once we were done with that, we realized that we had gotten Gold in every level except 3. So we felt compelled to get gold in every level. To some, this is beating the game. Achieving the highest standard in each level. Any part of me that is not in the last camp is in this camp. While I don’t feel compelled to beat every level at the highest standard, sometimes I do just for the extra sense of accomplishment.

            Others considered it beating the game if you complete all the achievements. After all, the developer made the game, and decided what achievements to include. So, if you get all the achievements, then you’ve done everything the developers want you to do, right? The neat thing about this thinking is that it includes all of the aforementioned ideas concerning beating the game. About half, if not more, of the achievements in video games are pretty much standard now. Beat a level? Get an achievement. Beat the same level on the hardest difficulty? Get another achievement. Beat the level at the highest standard? Get another achievement.

            Whether you think that getting all the achievements is necessary to truly beat a game or not, no one can argue with the fact that the person with all the achievement did beat the game. He accomplished everything in every camp, plus went back to do little odd jobs to get more. Too much for me, but kudos to the guy who does it.

            Another thing that comes to mind when someone says, “I beat the game” is, “Wow, you beat Triple H?” For those of you who are completely lost right now, that was funny. Triple H is a WWE wrestler, who at one point went by the handle “The Game”. So, when someone says, “I beat the game”…. Ok, hopefully you get it now.

            Lastly, I’ve heard someone say “I beat the game”, and mean that they got over their addiction to video gaming. (World of Warcraft specifically.) Video game addiction isn’t as common as some people would have you believe, but is more common than most people realize. If you are struggling with video game addiction, call somebody. I don’t know who to call, as I don’t think that there is a video game addiction hotline. (I just googled “Video Game Addiction Hotline”. The only things that came up were parodies of addiction hotlines. So, if you’re addicted, you’re out of luck. Cold Turkey, anyone?)

            So, whatever your definition of beating the game is, it really doesn’t matter what others think. As long as you are having fun, that’s what counts. So get out there and play games!

   - Woody

Gears of War 3 Horde Mode Boss Guide

    Seeing as some of the traffic to my website was being generated by people googling “Gears of War 3 Horde Mode” or variations of it, I figured I’d better post this sooner, rather than later.

   We will be discussing how to beat all the bosses in GoW3 Horde Mode, and handling each boss specifically. But first, a little overall advice: clear out the wave first if you can. The bosses all become very easy to kill if you can clear out all the “little” guys. The word “little” is in apostrophes, because more often than not, bosses are accompanied by the big hitters: boomers, maulers, grinders, and kantus. I will be posting another guide on all the “little” guys, but as a rule of thumb, kill them all first.

   You will need to learn how to kite, if you don’t already know. You can read about how to kite here. Also, this guide will be how to kill these bosses by yourself. If you have friends, this whole process becomes even easier.

   Now, on to the bosses!

   Berserkers: Berserkers can be tough. However, they are very dumb, and only utilize melee. The easiest strategy to beating a berserker is to use a scorcher (flame thrower) on him. He will cover his face and stumble around for a few seconds while on fire, and becomes more vulnerable to bullets while in this state. Once he goes back to normal, simply use the scorcher on him again. Rinse, repeat.

   Always keep an obstacle between you and the berserker if possible. This makes his charges easy to avoid, as he’ll charge right into the obstacle. If you can’t keep an obstacle between you, it’s still pretty simple to just roll out of the way when he charges.

   Lambent Berserkers: The lambent berserkers are easily the hardest enemy to beat. This is because they are only susceptible to weapons when they are about to charge or jump, or right after charging or jumping. They also only utilize melee, and so the kiting tactic works with them.

   They have a yellow/gold area on their chest that is their only weak spot. Unfortunately, this is covered by bone unless they are attacking, as I said above. The best way to beat them is to have quick reflexes. Let them get close enough to charge, and that spot will open up for a second. Do enough damage and it will stop their charge, making them stagger for a few seconds while still vulnerable in their chest.

   If you don’t do enough damage to stop their charge (or just want to play it safer), then roll out of the way while they charge, and then shoot the open area while they recover from the charge. This same tactic will work if they are jumping.

   Savage Corpsers: Savage corpsers take a while to beat, but are pretty easy. Their legs are impervious to weapons, but their head and abdomen are soft spots. They will walk straight towards you, and you can shoot them in the head. When you do this, they will cover their face with their legs, and can’t be hurt in their head (they can still be hurt by shooting their abdomen during this time.

   If you do enough damage by repeating this cycle, they will eventually rear up and scream in pain. You can take this time to unload on them. For this reason, reload anytime they cover their heads, so you’ll have a full magazine to unload into their soft belly.

   If they get too close, simply roll out of the way, and run. They can’t keep up with your sprinting.

   Eventually, they will burrow under the ground. An arm will come up and chop at you, but is easily avoided through rolling and running. After that attack, they will burrow towards you, and rise up suddenly. Dodge this, and the cycle starts over.

   Brumak: This guy’s difficulty depends on the map you are playing. There are some doorways that he can’t get through on some maps, so the strategy is obvious: hide in there.

   For other maps, you’ll have to make sure that you are behind cover. He has two attacks: machine guns mounted on both of his arms, and a rocket launcher mounted on his back that fires multiple rockets in a barrage.

   You will want to pop out of cover in between bursts of machine gun fire and shoot at the guns on his wrists. Eventually they will be destroyed, and he won’t be able to shoot them anymore, and will only have his rocket launcher.

   When he fires a rocket barrage, sometimes simply ducking for cover will work. But about 1/3 of the time, a stray rocket will miss the cover, and hit behind you. This will down you, and possibly kill you outright. The best idea is to have cover in which you can roll left or right, and dodge the rockets altogether.

   Once his machine guns are down, you can pretty much shoot him wherever. Some guides say to shoot his rocket launcher next. But in my experience, once you down the launcher, he is dead anyway. So just kill him.

   Reavers: When my friends as I see reavers, we get excited, as this is arguably the easiest boss in the game. They have two attacks: machine gun fire and a single rocket attack. The easiest way to beat them is simply to hide behind cover and shoot them. They are basically a mix between grinders and boomers. Their height does give them some advantage, as they can shoot over some lower obstacles, so beware of that.

   Also, the designers knew these guys were easy to kill. This means that if they show up as a boss, you can expect to fight 2-3 of them at a time, and about 5-6 total on that wave.

   They are also an exception to the rule about killings adds first. They are so easy, that you can include them in your killing plan.

   Gunkers: Gunkers can shoot at you from across the map. While not the toughest enemies, they can be the hardest, depending on the map and your base setup. When in close, they can also shoot out an arm that will down or possible outright kill you.

   If you are in an open area, you’ll have to do a lot of rolling around to avoid their ranges attack, which does splash damage. If you are in an area that that has an enclosed structure, sometimes you can get them stuck on an obstacle where they can’t get close enough to you to melee, and they ranged attack hits the ceiling before getting to you.

   If you can’t do this however, you’ll need to shoot and dodge, like stated above. This enemy is annoying, but not necessarily hard. It gets really tedious if you have two of them on the map at the same time. Hopefully you can get them to fire simultaneously, and so avoid both shots at once. The good news is, their shots have a high arc, so you can see it coming from pretty far away, and have time to dodge.

   Well, get out there and beat some bosses!

   - Woody

The Art of Kiting

   To people who play World of Warcraft, especially hunters, the term “kiting” is no stranger. However, I have found in many games (especially RPGs) that kiting can be used to great effect. I have recently used it in Lord of the Rings: War in the North; Dragons Age: Origins; Skyrim; and even in Gears of War 3 (horde mode).

   While the concept of kiting is simple, it can take a bit of practice to master. Also, different classes in different games make it easier or harder to kite. For instance, a pure melee character will find it extremely difficult to kite. Possibly even impossible. However, a class focused on ranged will kite with ease.

   Kiting, at its core concept, is simply hitting an enemy while staying out of range of its attacks. Simple, right? Well, like I said, it’s a simple concept. But in my experience, people think it’s too simple and don’t execute very well. Obviously, we are assuming that the enemy is either pure melee, or its strongest attacks come from melee, and is weaker at range. Kiting doesn’t work very well against ranged. That’s when you get into LOS (Line of Sight) pulling. But that’s another strategy.

   There are a few considerations to kiting. First, is obstacles. The easiest way to kite an enemy is to play “ring around the rosy” with an obstacle. If the enemy is on the other side of the obstacle, he can’t hit you. So, if there’s an obstacle between you, simply hit him with ranged and keep running around the obstacle. This method is not used very much surprisingly, but is the easiest to implement. Even a melee focused character can usually pull out a ranged weapon and use it here. It just takes longer to beat the enemy that way.

   The second thing to consider is the movement speed of the enemy. In WoW, the hunter has traps he can place to freeze or slow the enemy. He also has a pet that can take agro off of him. In other games, you might have abilities that slow the enemy. In an area without obstacles, slowing effects are the way to go. Sometimes you can literally run circles around the enemy while pelting him with ranged abilities. I had to do this on the first ogre in the beacon tower of Dragons Age: Origins. My party had all died, and my mage was all that was left. So I simply ran around the outer perimeter of the circle and hit him with the DoT (Damage over Time) that I had any time it was off cooldown.

   Along with the movement speed of the enemy, is your ability to dodge the enemy. In wave 30 in Gears of War 3 (Horde mode) on hardcore difficulty, I found myself to be the only person left against the final creature, a savage corpser. It was pretty easy to shoot at him, roll out of the way, and run. (I will be posting strategies for beating all the Gears of War 3 (Horde Mode) bosses later on, so see the full strategy there.)

  Last thing to consider while kiting is adds (any little enemies running around). If you can successfully kite them, too, then go ahead. However, there are two strategies to beating them depending on which type of adds they are.

   The three types of adds are infinite, wave, and finite. On finite adds, the easiest thing to do is to get the adds out of the way before focusing on the boss. On infinite adds, focus on the boss, only killing enough adds to stay alive. On waves, if you have time between each wave, kill the adds then focus on the boss between waves. If you don’t have enough time, it’s a race against the clock to beat the boss before the adds overwhelm you.

   Hopefully these little tips will help you in your kiting efforts. If you have a specific boss in a game that you’d like help with, you can shoot me a comment below, and I’ll see what I can do. Of course, with all the tips and tricks out there, it’d be quicker to just google it. But, give me a chance. Who else offers personalized strategies?

   - Woody

Proper Flanking Maneuver

I was struggling on whether or not to post this strategy for two reasons. First, the advantages to flanking should be obvious. Second, I wasn’t sure exactly what in my military training was made available to the public. So, I went online and did some Googling, and found out what the general public had access to, and am keeping my explanations within that boundary so as to not accidentally reveal any information not available already.

This post will be more applicable to cover based shooters, like Gears of War where you can shoot from behind cover, but will also apply to other shooters like Call of Duty where someone can duck behind cover quickly.

First of all, everyone flanks in FPS whether they know it or not. The enemy is behind cover? Oh, move to the side and shoot him there. This is flanking at its simplest. At the core of every FPS player, he knows this. If you can’t shoot him from where you are, move and shoot him there. This post will talk more about flanking as a team maneuver rather than a single player maneuver. We will treat a team as 6 players.

Proper Movement: When moving as a team (6 players) it is important to stick together. It is especially important in games where you can revive a fallen teammate. Gears of War has done this well. In games where you can’t revive (Call of Duty) it is also important so that you can overwhelm any opposing forces with superior firepower.

   The drawback to this is twofold. A lucky player might be able to spray his way into killing the entire moving team if they are together. This can be negated by proper cover, however.

   The second drawback is that if you are too close to your teammates, a single grenade can kill several of you. This is where communication comes in handy, as well as good situational awareness. When a grenade is tossed into the group, the first person to notice it needs to inform the others. Everyone then gets behind cover, or dives/rolls away as the game allows.

   To properly move in order to conduct flanking, a 6 player team will be divided into 2 3-man teams. One 3 man team will move forward of the other.

This will allow the second team to flank the enemy, instead of getting caught up in the enemy’s fire.

Actions on Contact: The team that takes fire (whether it be the front team or the back team) will “get on line” parallel to the incoming fire, and behind cover. For a simple illustration, we will say that the front team takes fire from the front. The enemy is behind cover. (See illustration, left.)

The team taking fire will immediately move to cover positions, and continue to fire at the enemy. In a best case scenario, the enemy dies there. If not, then the flanking maneuver begins.

The rear team will move off to whatever side has more cover (in this case, the right side), and (keeping behind cover) will then shoot at the enemy’s unprotected flank. (See Illustrations)

   

1. Team Taking Fire gets behind cover

2. Rear team head up behind cover to begin flanking

3. Rear team sets up behind cover to fire at enemy's unprotected flank.

1. Front team on line behind cover
2. Rear team flanking the enemy, remaining behind cover
3. Rear team firing at enemy’s unprotected flank

As you can see, the process is simple, but not used to great effect very well in FPS. If you were to try and use this exactly, it would probably fail in video games. But, use this as a guide to keep in mind during firefights, and you’ll find that even though doing this “by the book” won’t work very well, using these principles will.

   - Woody

Setting up a Working Capture the Flag Team

First of all, there are three positions on a CTF team. There are the runners, midfield, and defenders. This works on any FPS, but is geared towards the COD franchise. Here is a description of the three positions:

Runner: The runner (R) is the person who tries to capture the flag. He is as light as possible. He uses submachine guns to run quickly, and uses perks which allow him to run faster and farther.

Midfield: The midfield (MF) is used as a front-line defense against the enemy. They work the center in order to keep the enemy at bay. They also work as a line that the enemy runners must get through to capture the friendly flag. He is equipped with either assault weapons, or outfitted like the runner in order to catch an enemy flag runner.

Defender: The defender (D) is just that. He has heavy weapons in order to spray any incoming enemies. He needs to be patient, as under perfect circumstances, he never sees the enemy. He is a lot like the goalie in ice hockey.

Setup: In a 6 person team, you will have 2 flag runners, 2 or 3 midfieldsmen, and 1 or 2 defenders. If you are finding that you are on offense most of the time, have only 1 defender with 3 midfieldsmen. However, if you constantly have to divert your midfieldsmen to defense, then have 2 defenders and 2 midfieldsmen.

Strategy: There are 4 possible scenarios, or stages, of the strategy.

    Both Flags at Bases: This is the “reset” scenario, and will be the state of things most of the time. In this stage, the 2R head up the most unused routes to the enemy’s flag. Their job is simple: grab the flag, and get back. The MF set up watching likely travel routes, attempting to stop the enemy Rs from advancing. The D just wait at the flag, as a last line of defense.

    Enemy Flag Taken: As the Rs take the enemy flag, they obviously start running back. The MFs stay in place to slow down any enemy following the R that has the flag. If the R makes it through the MF line, then the MF fall back to cover him and pick up the flag if necessary.

    Friendly Flag Taken: In the case of the friendly flag taken, the Rs continue to try and get the enemy flag in hopes of creating a standoff. The MFs also assault the enemy flag, serving to help create a standoff and also collapsing in on the most likely route for the enemy flag carrier. The defender really can’t catch the enemy flag carrier, but he can move to midfield in order to just make havoc for any enemy.

    Both Flags Taken: In the event that both flags are taken, it basically becomes the same as the first scenario. The R needs to leave the flag with the D. If there isn’t already, there needs to be 2D. The Rs and the MF need to assault the enemy flag as a group, to overcome the enemy D. Upon taking the flag back, the D holding the flag caps it.

Tips:

1.      No one can be selfish with this strategy. The R must be willing to give up the cap in order to go after the enemy flag carrier if he must. The MF must realize that they aren’t going to be getting many caps, if any. And the D needs to realize that the better team he is in, the less he will be doing.

2.      A proper loadout is important. The R needs to be as fast as possible, and be able to run as long as possible. The D needs to be able to pump out a lot of rounds, to either kill or suppress the enemy until the MF can come help. The MF need to read the situation, and know whether they need a lighter loadout or more firepower.

3.      When the R is running for the flag, make sure that you can sprint when you get into the open going for the flag, and back. Don’t sprint just before going into the opening, or you will risk running out of sprint in the opening, making you be out in the open much longer.

4.      Communication is key. If the D needs help, he has to let the MF know to collapse back. If the R has the flag, he needs to let the MF know which route he is taking back, so they can converge on that route and stop the enemy that is following the R.

5.      Get to know the maps before a match. Know the routes to take, the places to set up, and where the enemy is likely to set up and what routes they will take.

   - Woody

Camping, or Ambushing?

Currently, I am still deployed to Afghanistan, so I haven't been able to play the new Modern Warfare 3 online yet. But some fellow gamers and myself were able to set up a network, and connect several XBOX 360s together to play over LAN.

While we were playing, I was accused of the unpardonable sin. Someone called me a "camper".

I had been sitting in a building, and made 5 kills without dying. All in that same building. Because of this, they said that I was camping.

Scenario: Someone was in the building. I went upstairs and killed him. I saw a firefight outside and knew that they would be coming upstairs. I killed two people coming upstairs, then knew that they'd be coming for me. So I placed a bouncing betty, moved into a corner, and killed them again when they came up. I then moved on to play regularly.

Basically, the purpose of this post is to explain the difference between bad camping, good camping, and ambushing. To start, I'll explain the term "camping".  When someone calls someone else a "camper", it is used generically to describe someone who doesn't run and gun. It is used negatively of anyone who doesn't play the game like others think it should be played.

There is a time to camp, and a time not too. It's actually a very good strategy in Free for All deathmatch types. Hide, and kill people passing by. The misuse of camping is actually damaging in team deathmatch modes, though. A single person camping somewhere where no one passes by hurts the team in overall kills. In objective based games, camping can be used to great effect.

So, bad camping: this is when someone sets up somewhere in hopes that some random person will pass by so that they can get some easy kills. They don't want to be found. They just wait until someone randomly passes by to get the kill. Snipers are often accused of this, and in fact many people who claim to be snipers are simply campers.

Good camping is setting up where you can do one of two things. Either setting up where you can see the objective clearly, and are keeping the enemy from the objective. Or, setting up in a high traffic area where you know the enemy will be passing by. Both of these help your team in the long run. Snipers who really know how to be snipers are utilizing this type of camping.

Ambushing is closely related to good camping, but instead of setting up where you know people will be passing by, you are actually waiting for a specific person. Maybe someone is following you, and you step around a corner and hide, waiting for him to pass by. Or, you know that someone is using "Sit-Rep", so they can see where enemy equipment is. So you set out a bouncing betty or claymore, and wait for him to show up to destroy it.

Ambushing and good camping are actually very valid strategies in FPSs. Even though the term "camping" has a negative connotation to it, due to all the bad campers. But, just let the numbers show for themselves. If you are winning, keep playing like you want. Let the others call you what they will.

My next planned FPS strategy post will be on how to set up a well-rounded Capture the Flag team.

   - Woody

Skyrim: My Rogue Class

The interesting thing about the rogue class is its versatility. I found out that the armor cap in the game is 567, and this can be reached with light armor in the endgame. This means that (in my opinion at least) light armor has a huge advantage over heavy armor. While light armor can do everything that heavy armor can, heavy armor can't sneak as well. This means that a light armored character can join any faction and do well, but a heavily armored character will struggle more with the thieve's guild and assassin's guild.

   This spec takes level 60 to get, so you'll have a few extra points to spend at endgame.
   Below is the spec I chose, and the reasoning behind them:

Light Armor: We have to get these light armor perks in order to reach the armor cap
   Agile Defender: Take all five of these to get a 100% boost to armor rating
   Custom Fit: Another 25% bonus to armor rating
   Matching Set: Yet another 25% bonus to armor rating
   Deft Movement: 10% less damage in melee is effectively 10% more health

Pickpocket: You'll be doing some of this for the thieves' guild, and it has the huge benefits of adding 100 to your carrying limit
   Light Fingers: The spec says to take all five ranks for a pickpocket bonus of 100%. However, it is possible to reach the pickpocket cap of a 90% chance to pickpocket well before taking all five ranks. This ability is more of a "starter" to help you level up your pickpocketing. If you are patient, only take one or two ranks, then spend the extra points later.
   Nightthief: Just a perk that helps somewhat, but is really used to get the higher perks.
   Cutpurse: Again, used as a bonus to get gold, but not exactly necessary if you're patient.
   Extra Pockets: This is the bread and butter of the tree right here. 100 more carrying capacity means much fewer trips to unload your inventory.

Sneak: The reason for taking perks in this tree should be obvious. As a rogue, you'll need to be unseen for many of your assassin/theft missions.
   Stealth: Take all five ranks for a 40% bonus to sneaking.
   Backstab: 6x sneak attack damage with one-handed weapons will greatly increase your ability to accomplish assassinations.
   Deadly Aim: 3x sneak attack damage with bows. A great thing, and allows us to get:
   Assassin's Blade: 15x sneak attack damage with daggers. Combine this with the assassin's guild gloves for a 30x sneak attack with daggers. Instant kills most of the time.
   ---If you find yourself still getting caught while sneaking, put a point into Muffled Movement. This generally isn't necessary though.

One Handed: As you will be using daggers to kill, you want some bonuses to one-handed. This will help you in "toe-to-toe" combat as well.
   Armsman: Take all 5 for a 100% bonus to damage with one handers
   Bladesman: Take all three for the maximum critical chance with swords

Archery: Why sneak up to a target's back when you can kill him and still remain hidden from his friends? I've used archery to take out groups of people. Kill one, hide, then kill the others.
   Overdraw: Take all 5 for a 100% bonus to bow damage.
   Critical Shot: Take all 3 for the maximum critical chance with bows.
   ----optional (included in the total for level above)
   Eagle Eye: Zoom in while firing a bow to improve accuracy.
   Steady Hand: Slow down time while zooming for even greater accuracy.
   Hunter's Discipline: Retrieve more arrows from dead bodies means not losing your valuable ones.

Enchanting: Enchanting is such an important tree that I include it in all my class builds.
   Enchanter: Take all 5 to make your enchantments 100% stronger
   Soul Squeezer: A pretty good perk until you get:
   Soul Siphon: This will make it so you don't have to ever recharge your weapons. You'll be fighting enough creatures in the game to keep them recharged automatically.
   Frost/Fire/Storm Enchnter: These  perks make your resistance enchantments more resistant.
   Extra Effect: Why only put one enchantment on an item, when you can put two?

Alchemy: Stonger potions and poisons will help you out greatly, as well as make you some more coin.
   Alchemist: Take all 5 ranks to make your potions 100% stronger.
   --- Optional (not included in level total)
   Take any that you think you will use.

Smithing: In order to reach the level cap, you need to be able to improve your armor's rating. Also, you can make armors to make money with extra materials you have.
    Basically, take all the perks from the left side (including Dragon) plus Arcane Blacksmith. This will allow you to create all the light armors. If you want, with extra points, put perks in the right side, to make armor from extra materials and make money.

At endgame, you are going to feel overpowered. Enjoy your rogue!

   - Sapper Woody

Skyrim: My Death Knight

In an earlier post, I mentioned my Death Knight build on Skyrim. I figured I would take a few posts and let you see how I was maximizing my builds for different classes. So, I will tell you what I built, and why.

Death Knight

This class takes a level 60 character to build.

Smithing:
   I took all the heavy armor smithing perks, all the way up to dragon armor. For this character, you really only need up to Ebony, but you're going to have a lot of extra dragon bones/scales that you can make armor with and sell, so I took them.

Heavy Armor:
   I took all five Juggernaut perks, to get my armor up.
   Well Fitted to get my armor even higher.
   Tower of Strength just to get to the next tier of perks.
   Matching set for another armor bonus.
   Reflect blows, because 10% less damage done to you and inflicted on the enemy is a nice little trade.

Block:
   I took just one Shield Wall, just to get to the next tiers.
   Deflect Arrows, to stop arrows, obviously.
   Elemental Protection, as 50% elemental resist plus your gear resistances can make you invincible while blocking some dragons.

One Handed:
   All five Armsman and all three Bladesman, to maximize your damage potential.

Speech:
   All five haggling, simply because you have the points, and better prices gets you more money to buy the things you need.

Restoration:
   The goal here is simply to unlock Avoid Death, so to get it, I needed to take Novice Restoration and Recovery. With points left over, I am going to get the second Recovery. Extra Magicka regen is always nice for tight situations.

Conjuration:
   Work your way up to Twin souls through the Necromancy tree. You can then have two zombies and they will be more powerful. (Tip: Get the "Dead Thrall" spell at the college of magic for permanent zombies.You have to have at least 90 in Conjuration to do the questline.)

Alteration:
   Apprentice, Adept, and Expert, to unlock what we really want.
   All three Magic Resistance, for obvious reasons.
   Atronach, to absorb Magicka, and assist with casting costs.

With the extra points, I am going to get some destruction magic (Frost, like the Lich King), and some more speech and then some Alchemy, as strong potions are always nice.

Have fun!

   - Sapper Woody