Ravens - CoD4, DotA, FIFA, TMN

As far as I’m concerned, the scene has faced brighter days than those we are upon now. Just before a long waited new game to the series were about to be released, already after the scene got bailed by IW with the Treyarch failure of CoD:WaW, we got the news about the new game being a failure too: No dedicated servers, no modding, etc, etc, you know the story.

So where were we left? CoD4 being about two years old, most people started getting tired of it, also considering the disappointment of two games failing before our eyes. Yet still having in mind that some of the greatest competitive games are the games that have lasted longest (Mainly thinking of CS 1.6, SC and WC3). The problem is that we’ve been playing those same five maps for two years now. The gameplay doesn’t leave enough challenge for us to find it challenging and exciting to be practicing the game still: Everyone can aim in this game, really (considering that one bullet to a guy’s head isn’t enough to kill him, no matter if it’s on a distance of two meters; he needs two – while two shots in his leg would do him as well).

So what do we need? What should we do? Should we sit on our bums, waiting for some possible patches to come for MW2, possibly not ready before spring, even if IW actually do hear our complaining? Or should we modify Promod for CoD4 in a way that makes it a new challenge? For instance, giving us less bullets instead of the overpowered bandolier as it is now, perhaps increasing the damage to the head, while decreasing the damage to the legs? But is it just me or have we already been through this discussion and people seem happy with Promod as it is by now? Surely, we can bring it up again and if the scene agrees, (how can thousands of people “agree”?) we can also consider this in our goal of letting competitive CoD survive. But this is not my point, as you might have guessed. For now, I think what we really need are some new maps: Some new maps, giving us some new challenges, tactically.

So what should the goal be, what should be the objective?

In my opinion, the Call of Duty 4 scene need about five competitive custom maps. That leaves us ten competitive maps, having a 50/50 of originals and customs: Five maps to challenge us with new tactical thinking and five maps to build on and to rely on.

So what do we have right now and what do we need?

I know that Invine is almost done with mp_smalltown, which is just excellent! I haven’t tried the map myself yet, but the screenshots tells me that this is really accomplished and could very well be the first of our five new maps! Are there any others at the moment? What about a map such as mp_inferno?

But what else is there? Who else is there? Should it just be up to Invine and make four more maps? Does he have the time for that? Does he have the will for that? Or are there anyone else out there both having the will and the skills to make a custom map that we can actually use, competitively? And is it worth waiting for, since really good mapmaking takes time?

These are my few cents.

Please consider that I haven’t been much active on the scene since the release of MW2, mostly waiting for the scene to fix itself. If I’ve missed something completely, please enlighten me.

This blog was made to create some positive and constructive debate to help the scene, so please post your ideas and thoughts below as you please.

/Guana (Ravens)

(This blog does only represent my and only my opinions and should not be associated with my team or my team’s organization in any way.)