Left 4 Dead Series (New DLC planned!)

[Sensai]

They're still rather spread out, and they're needed, otherwise as soon as one guy dies, they'll just leave the game. Besides, usually after one goes down, the others go down fairly fast unless they're right by the closet.

I just hope they fix the **** cheat on the roof of No Mercy where you can just crawl underneth one of the metal ramps. Normal zombies can't get there, Boomer's usless, Hunters can't jump under there and the smoker is usless since people just gathre up so as soon as it starts, they break it. Tank can't get under there either.

No no, you're right. The closets are definitely spread out and it's always better to have the survivor's limp into the Safe Room then out and out quit.

But the survivor's aren't designed to win...and the closet's making it happen more often than not.

And I hadn't heard about that glitch yet. I'll be sure not to tell anyone about it either.

 

[Charizard92]

Wow, no comments on my guide. Hey, I got some good news! I just got the recent copy of game informer. Guess which game is game of the month? (If you didn't guess left 4 dead, you should hit yourself now). They review the 360 version, but the same thing should apply to it's PC counterpart. The score, 9.25 out of 10 (similar to Rock Band [in contrast, Brawl got a 9.5, Halo 3, super mario galaxy, and Orange box {made by valve} got a 9.75, and GTA4& MGS4 got a perfect 10 {if you're keeping score, so far, the only Wii game to get a perfect score so far is Twilight Princess}]) Their problems? Lack of content (they thought that 4 levels and only 5 special infected was too low). Oh, and in single player it is more of a witness to valve's great AI than anything else (it just doesn't feel the same). Everything else, from the ability to play as the infected to the (forced) co-op and even the Hunting rifle (yes, they praise the hunting rifle) is flawless. They pray for expansions, that will improve it, right?

 

[Black Waltz]

Wow, no comments on my guide. Hey, I got some good news! I just got the recent copy of game informer. Guess which game is game of the month? (If you didn't guess left 4 dead, you should hit yourself now). They review the 360 version, but the same thing should apply to it's PC counterpart. The score, 9.25 out of 10 (similar to Rock Band [in contrast, Brawl got a 9.5, Halo 3, super mario galaxy, and Orange box {made by valve} got a 9.75, and GTA4& MGS4 got a perfect 10 {if you're keeping score, so far, the only Wii game to get a perfect score so far is Twilight Princess}]) Their problems? Lack of content (they thought that 4 levels and only 5 special infected was too low). Oh, and in single player it is more of a witness to valve's great AI than anything else (it just doesn't feel the same). Everything else, from the ability to play as the infected to the (forced) co-op and even the Hunting rifle (yes, they praise the hunting rifle) is flawless. They pray for expansions, that will improve it, right?

Is your guide based only off of information that you heard? Or do you actually have the game?

 

[Charizard92]

Information that I heard... I already said IMO, and if you were talking about the review, I was paraphrasing game informer, so that's their Opinion.

 

[Omis]

just got this today and I'm loving it. The rifle is too good.

 

[Charizard92]

Which one, the assault rifle or the hunting rifle? In case you can't tell the difference, press fire, if a stream of bullets come out, Assault, if not, hunting.

 

[Omis]

Hunting Rifle.

 

[Charizard92]

I KNEW IT!

yeah, if you were to take a quick glance at the hunting rifle, it is real easy to underrate, especially since technically, these aren't zombies in the classical or original sense, but in the modern and realistic sense (aka infected, ex 28 days later), so they are more likely to gang up on you and they are the worst type of zombie, the FAST zombie. on the flipside, the hunting rifle nearly flatlines an entire health bar (If health is 100), deadly accurate (especially when crouching), and headshots are a breeze. Besides, it is the most powerful weapon that won't typically hurt a survivor on accident (unfortunately, an "accident" is a different story). The added range also gives it a 1 up on both shot guns, which requires you to be close to unleash all that damage (not so good when dealing with tanks)

 

[Sensai]

I still think that the auto-shotty (affectionately dubbed the 'noob cannon' by anyone who's ever played CS) is the best weapon. Sure, it's not great at picking people off from a distance...but that seldom comes in handy, especially not in Vs mode since you're never given the time to just sit still.

Assault rifle comes next, followed by that hunk of junk sniping rifle.

 

[Charizard92]

Let me put things into perspective for the people who don't know what they're doing (or at least barely)

SMG:
assets:
high rate of fire
highest ammo count
accurate
deficits:
weak (least powerful gun in the game)
easy time wasting ammo

Shotgun:
assets:
strong
deficits:
low rate of fire
weakens over distance
lowest ammo count
manually reload of each shot (instead of clip)
friendly fire problems



Now lets look at the tier two guns:

Assault rifle:
assets:
accurate
high rate of fire
high ammo count
deficits:
weak (stronger than SMG, but slightly weaker than pistol)
easier time wasting ammo (lower ammo count)

Auto shotgun:
assets:
strongest gun in game
fast rate of fire (as fast as you can click/press the fire button)
deficits:
power weakens over distance
manual reload of each shot, slightly worse since the clip is bigger (although this makes this happen less frequently)
lowest ammo count
friendly fire problems still persist


And also...

Hunting rifle:
assets:
deadly accurate
scope allows long distance sniping
most powerful gun that doesn't scatter
fast rate of fire (as fast as you can press/click the fire button)
wall piercing rounds
infected piercing rounds (destroy hordes in hallways in essence)
deficits:
takes a big hunk of damage away from allies in case of "accidental" fire (only applies on expert)
accuracy drops with movement
big asset (scope) loses value if zombies are close (this is combated with the zombie piercing abilities)
horde triggers when you stay in one spot, so it loses some of it's ability

If you're kinda biased (as the guy above and I can clearly demonstrate), Auto shotty are best for those who lead or pick up the flank (or lone wolves, so they actually get a shot). Hunting rifle is for those who play a cautious game (due to the fact that it is less prone to friendly fire and it can take out zombies at a distance, so you don't have to deal with them later [or in your face]), and the assault rifle who doesn't care, especially when it comes to the damage it actually deals.

 

[Crimson King]

The hunting rifle is so limited in its uses. Take Death Toll, there is really only one, maybe two places where having that gun is an advantage. Everywhere else you have to stay back to get good shots/hope the hordes don't flank you. The game has a timer of sorts (at least on expert) that if you stay too long in one spot, it triggers a horde. Auto-Shotgun is great. I can drop a witch in no time.

 

[Charizard92]

hold on a sec, I'll edit that part on the rifle.

Unfortunately, you have to get up close and personal for all that damage from either shotgun to take effect. With most special infected, this isn't a problem (both shotguns are recommended to get the Cr0wned award, which involves headshotting [& killing] a witch). The tank, however, can kill you if you are close enough to get it to work. The advantage of the sniper rifle is that you can hit the tank from afar and deal some damage, while the shotguns require you to get up close and personal, which isn't the type of strategy when dealing with a behemoth that can punch you far, potentially immobilize you, or hit you off an edge, especially since the tank targets the person who shot it, so not being the closest person when you do shoot it (especially when your health is below 50) is somewhat of a good Idea.

Again, the Auto shotgun is for those who plan to go ahead or stay behind of the pack, where you can easily pick off any zombie out there. It is also the best gun for the lone wolf, because this game likes to kill those and any chance you can get when not getting killed while alone is a good one.

The hunting rifle is for the cautious person, for a number of reasons:
1: it can pick of zombies from afar. you don't need the scope some of the time to do this either, it is just a neat attachment for picking off zombies better, so you don't have to deal with them (especially specials)
2: unlike the auto shotgun, it doesn't have a cone effect, so it doesn't hit friends when you are aiming near them but not at them. this makes it the most powerful gun with a low chance of hitting your pal on accident (you can hit them if they walk in front of you and you're firing the gun at the same time, or you hit them by "accident")
3: it pierces zombies (and also kills them in one shot), so when they do come when you stand still, you can just fire at them and a number of them will fall, thus saving some of that ammo (works best in hallways, where they are funneled into a line). This is also somewhat helpful against hunters, even in co-op, because using zombies as a living meat shield doesn't exactly work when the saving grace bullet can go through them too. (same deal with smokers)

The assault rifle is for the person who just doesn't plain care about accuracy enough to pick up the hunting rifle, nor does he like the scatter effect and weird reload of the shotguns, nor does said person care about power. It is a decent combination of accuracy and rate of fire (with pistol strength rounds). So if you have trouble making a decision and hate both the other guns, pick this up.

 

[Lore]

The hunting rifle is so limited in its uses. Take Death Toll, there is really only one, maybe two places where having that gun is an advantage. Everywhere else you have to stay back to get good shots/hope the hordes don't flank you. The game has a timer of sorts (at least on expert) that if you stay too long in one spot, it triggers a horde. Auto-Shotgun is great. I can drop a witch in no time.

Yeah, it has a timer on Normal (or whatever that difficulty is, can't really think of it right now... >_<) that does the same thing.

I use either Auto shotgun, pistols, or assault rifle.

 

[Charizard92]

Yeah, it has a timer on Normal (or whatever that difficulty is, can't really think of it right now... >_<) that does the same thing.

I use either Auto shotgun, pistols, or assault rifle.

I think how much is on the timer is dependent on difficulty, so you can stay put longer on easy than on expert, for example (this has to be common sense, the higher the difficulty, the more brutal things become).

At expert difficulty, the flesh piecing rounds of the sniper becomes it's biggest asset. The auto shotgun's biggest asset is the spread, taking out multiple commons at once, and the assault's rapid fire is now more helpful. Friendly fire is also a problem a these high difficulties, so the auto shotgun's main disadvantage is that much more painful. you also don't have a lot of time to snipe out every zombie ahead, so the hunting rifle's scope is a total luxury here, while the flesh piercing is very helpful. The assault rifle's weak rounds mean that a single stray shot into a pal will rarely incapacitate (in contrast to the auto shotgun, which is real powerful [even when scattered a bit], or the hunting rifle, which can nearly flatline a health bar)

 

[Black Waltz]

Just got the game and I think it's kickass. I just need to wait for my friends to get online and we'll **** some zombie ****z.

 

[Velox]

***** woops, didn't see your post on the last page, so NVM on some of this stuff.. *****


Hey Charizard, I've been wondering this for a while (I'm a hunting rifle person because I'm stone cold..), but I've been thinking about using the auto-shotty, thus, here is my question:

If you are fighting, say a tank, and you unload an entire clip of auto-shotty, is that more damage than an entire clip of hunting rifle? I'm talking all the shots from full load to the point at which you have to reload. And I guess I'm assuming all the bullets from the shotty connect, but just be reasonable about it and image as you will how many you think are likely to hit at, let's say you are just out of range of the tank being able to hit you.

The machine gun is kinda bad though right? I usually recommend it to my noob friends though because they can play any style of play with it and the likelyhood they will shot me with it is low (lower than shotty anyway..)

Do you personally use auto-shotty?

Also I find the auto-shottys only weakness to be Smokers and the extremely long full reload. This being considered I almost want to start using the machine gun as my go to gun.


I use that mini-machine gun before I get 2nd tier weapons (is that a recommend?)


Also, do pipe bombs signal a horde at higher difficulty? It seems like they do, but I'm not sure if it's just zombies coming out of the woodwork of if they appeared by some sort of quantum wave abnormality..

 

[Darkslash]

I usually use a AR into a tank. My AR motto is this.

If i can see it i can kill it.

I can already start doing damage to the tank when he's out of Shot gun range. Useful so that people with shot guns can finish him off.

 

[Charizard92]

Hey Charizard, I've been wondering this for a while (I'm a hunting rifle person because I'm stone cold..), but I've been thinking about using the auto-shotty, thus, here is my question:

If you are fighting, say a tank, and you unload an entire clip of auto-shotty, is that more damage than an entire clip of hunting rifle? I'm talking all the shots from full load to the point at which you have to reload. And I guess I'm assuming all the bullets from the shotty connect, but just be reasonable about it and image as you will how many you think are likely to hit at, let's say you are just out of range of the tank being able to hit you.

The machine gun is kinda bad though right? I usually recommend it to my noob friends though because they can play any style of play with it and the likelyhood they will shot me with it is low (lower than shotty anyway..)

Do you personally use auto-shotty?

Also I find the auto-shottys only weakness to be Smokers and the extremely long full reload. This being considered I almost want to start using the machine gun as my go to gun.


I use that mini-machine gun before I get 2nd tier weapons (is that a recommend?)


Also, do pipe bombs signal a horde at higher difficulty? It seems like they do, but I'm not sure if it's just zombies coming out of the woodwork of if they appeared by some sort of quantum wave abnormality..

OK, first thing first, I don't actually have the game as of yet (under 17 for 4 more months [weird, the number 4 happens to pop up]) so I may not be the BEST person to tell you this, but I am a person.

On the auto shotty vs tank, it is kind of a mixed blessing. Yes, each shot from the auto deals more damage than anything else, and yes, clipwise, it deals the most as well, but you also have to consider that in order for it to be as effective as possible, you have to get up close to hit it. Also remember that both shotguns force you to reload each shot one by one, in contrast to other guns which just require a clip. Also, on normal difficulty, a tank has 4000 health, which translate to around 1.5 clips, so you will need to reload, even on normal (try doing that on expert). The hunting rifle, being the inverse, obviously does less damage, but allows you to be farther away (and thus, more time to run).

The SMG (aka, the machine gun) is the weakest weapon, but it doesn't lower in effectiveness with range, so it can work at a farther distance. It also has more ammo than anything else, but it is rather easy to waste it. It's your preference though.

Both shot guns have a problem with their spread outside the obvious fact that this diminishes their power, they are real prone to friendly fire. On low difficulties (ex, easy and normal, where friendly fire doesn't damage/does only 1 point of damage), this isn't a problem (unless seeking the safety first award, which states that you have to go through an entire campaign without anyone getting hit by friendly fire [do this on single player, as cpu are really good at not hitting each other]), but it is more of a curse on advanced (half damage to survivors) and expert (full damage). This makes both shotguns more of a boon unless you know how to handle them (and considering that you said you were biased for the hunting rifle, you don't). the other guns don't have this cone effect, so accidental friendly fire is less likely (careful though, if any survivor crosses your cross hairs when you're wielding the hunting rifle, it will flatten most of their healthbar. This also doesn't help when you do so on purpose [aka on "accident"])

The bomb just gets every zombie around to follow it. Any stragglers will likely attack you, so that might be why you thought it causes a horde (that or you stood in one spot for long, which causes hordes).

 

[Velox]

I don't have a 360 either (cause I live out in the middle of nowhere, thus no high-speed), but I'm almost a general in Halo. Heh, woah, that's a lot of stuff *reads*

hmmm... we usually play the advanced difficulty (it's the not called that, it's the second-to-hardest one), so I think I'll just start sporting the AR, seeing someone else is usually using the auto-shotty. Sniper is good, but hitting enemies far away is an unnecessary luxury, and u usually can't hit a smoker when they latch onto you anyway. As for hordes coming straight at u, I think just head shotting everyone with the AR should work out pretty well, and it seems versatile for anti-tank/witch too.

 

[Charizard92]

You have to remember that the hunting rifle has the ability to pierce several zombies in a row, which gives it some point in a horde situation.

Once again, a quick load down on who should get what:

If any person on your team wants to lead, pick up the rear, or are lone wolfish, they should pick up the auto shotty. The first two have a simple reason, it takes out nearly any zombie in front or behind you. The last one is because this game hates lone wolves and loves to destroy them. Any way to keep yourself alive when alone if you are a lone wolf is a must here.

the hunting rifle is for people who prefer being safe than sorry. Obviously, the long range isn't of much help in this game, and the scope is an unnecessary luxury (unless you have a plan on how to use it well). It can also pierce walls & flesh, not to mention taking out normal infected in 1 hit, so three rounds can level a horde if there is a way to focus them. it also has the least likely chance of accidentally hitting someone, as there is no cone of fire to hit someone with nor is it automatic, which can catch someone under the hail of bullets

If you don't like the problems with either of the guns above, nor do you care about either of their positive, then pick up the assault rifle, it is an all around weapon for anything really.

for tier 1, If you plan to pick up an auto later, go with the normal shotgun. Assault, SMG. Hunting, you can either pick up an SMG or just leave with just your pistol in hand.

 

[Weimdog]

They're still rather spread out, and they're needed, otherwise as soon as one guy dies, they'll just leave the game. Besides, usually after one goes down, the others go down fairly fast unless they're right by the closet.

I just hope they fix the **** cheat on the roof of No Mercy where you can just crawl underneth one of the metal ramps. Normal zombies can't get there, Boomer's usless, Hunters can't jump under there and the smoker is usless since people just gathre up so as soon as it starts, they break it. Tank can't get under there either.

Mic, I think you misunderstood. When I mentioned "Closeting", I was referring to that exact scenario. 4 survivors bunch into a tiny space, such as a closet, or under that ramp (even sillier because they can shoot above and behind them too), and basically blast away infront of them, elminating all threat of even getting hit. It works. It takes no teamwork, and it works 100% of the time. You can't "outplay" them, or counter it in anyway as infected, you just have to wait for them to leave.

Obviously this is only useful for the "calling the horde" events... but that's generally (or was, until closeting was discovered) the best chance for infected to get kills/win.

I can imagine a bunch of special infected that could serve as anti-closeting. Removing all of the closets is a great step; I just really hope that abusing the semi-collision among humans doesn't continue as the best strategy available.

 

[Charizard92]

Mic, I think you misunderstood. When I mentioned "Closeting", I was referring to that exact scenario. 4 survivors bunch into a tiny space, such as a closet, or under that ramp (even sillier because they can shoot above and behind them too), and basically blast away infront of them, elminating all threat of even getting hit. It works. It takes no teamwork, and it works 100% of the time. You can't "outplay" them, or counter it in anyway as infected, you just have to wait for them to leave.

Obviously this is only useful for the "calling the horde" events... but that's generally (or was, until closeting was discovered) the best chance for infected to get kills/win.

I can imagine a bunch of special infected that could serve as anti-closeting. Removing all of the closets is a great step; I just really hope that abusing the semi-collision among humans doesn't continue as the best strategy available.

So you essentially want to eliminate the one hope any survivor has on expert difficulty? Ordinarily, survivors are at a natural disadvantage (no rescue closets, and the zombies are smart enough to plan a way to kill you). This is extremely problematic on expert, and during the finale. Any shot at survival, no matter how cheap it is, should be taken.

 

[Red Exodus]

So you essentially want to eliminate the one hope any survivor has on expert difficulty? Ordinarily, survivors are at a natural disadvantage (no rescue closets, and the zombies are smart enough to plan a way to kill you). This is extremely problematic on expert, and during the finale. Any shot at survival, no matter how cheap it is, should be taken.

Campaign can be different from Versus, the versus finale on No Mercy is missing one space where there's only one entrance and there's room enough for each survivor to do their thing and the section that covers the stairs leading up to the minigun from the radio room.

The closet defense tactic is unbeatable by any boss infected [save the Tank, and even then, there's not much you can do by yourself on normal difficulty], even if they all work together, it's literally game breaking because there's nothing you can do except wait until they leave the space.

 

[Charizard92]

So it makes being an infected less fun and being a survivor somewhat easier. OK. Back on the gun thing for one more thing, I just want to say one last word before I'm done (unless one of you guys want to pick up on this):

Pistol: This is simple: it is a rather decent weapon, with unlimited ammo, high accuracy, and the ability to dual wield. Can I stop talking about this, practically everyone knows how to wield this thing.

SMG: The gun with the highest ammo count, it also has rapid fire. It is also as weak as **** and is easy to waste said ammo. If you plan to get an Assault rifle, it is OK to pick this up. This doesn't work as well for those planning on getting the auto shotty, and for those planning on using the rifle, you can either pick it up or leave with just your pistol. your choice.

Shotgun: We all know how this works as well. Strong as heck, and as accurate as a piece of ****. It also has a scattering effect, a plus of this is that you get to hit multiple infected at once. The downside is that you can hit a friend with it by accident (or on purpose, but why the **** would you want to do that?!). Oh, and you have to manually reload each shell instead of a single clip.

Auto Shotgun: The Auto shotgun improves on the regular shotgun on clipsize, rate of fire, and power. Key flaws still ****ing remain. It is still inaccurate, and forces you to get up close. It still forces you to reload each shell one by one (and you have to **** [wait, that wasn't used as a profanity, why was it bleeped?] it). And it's biggest flaw still remains, it still can hit a friend by accident. The good news is that with such massive power, the one thing you should really fear is the tank, as they can take that single shot (If you try to argue this with me on witches, did and how did you get that Cr0wned award?).

Assault rifle: An improvement on the SMG, and a big one at that too. It has an increase in accuracy, and power, and it's automatic. Careful, you have less ammo to waste, so each bullet has to count. Really balanced between close and long range capabilities. If you liked balanced (or don't like the other two guns on the table), try this out.

Hunting rifle: this is really easy to underrate. It works extremely well in long ranges, and has a scope, but with a game like Left 4 Dead, none of these strike as necessity. To many people, they'd find themselves saying "what the **** am a supposed to do with this!" Well, despite the fact that it was designed for longer ranges (and not a horde), the real problem you're seeing is that you're confusing the hunting rifle for a sniper rifle, when it can do so much more. The real reason to pick this thing up is for the one thing this has over the other guns, penetration power. This thing can pierce walls, zombies, and a lot of other ****. When a horde comes at you, a few rounds can make a hole where several infected once were. That range and penetration has one added blessing that no other guns have, the ability to save friends from smokers and hunters when you are too far away. Hunter on the opposite side of a wall pinning your pal, no problem, fire and it should be down in a few hits. Smoker on a roof constricting a survivor too far away to hit, pull up that scope, and you finally found a purpose for that accursed thing.

 

[Sensai]

OK, quick question that I'm pretty sure of the answer already: does the tank only hit ONE survivor with his fist?

If I'm a tank and there are four survivors all in a closet, since that's what we're talking about, and I swing my massive fist, I'm pretty sure it only hits one of them....which is a bit silly.

[Edit:]

Edited for clarity.

 

[Mic_128]

Mic, I think you misunderstood. When I mentioned "Closeting", I was referring to that exact scenario. 4 survivors bunch into a tiny space, such as a closet, or under that ramp (even sillier because they can shoot above and behind them too), and basically blast away infront of them, elminating all threat of even getting hit. It works. It takes no teamwork, and it works 100% of the time. You can't "outplay" them, or counter it in anyway as infected, you just have to wait for them to leave.

Obviously this is only useful for the "calling the horde" events... but that's generally (or was, until closeting was discovered) the best chance for infected to get kills/win.

I can imagine a bunch of special infected that could serve as anti-closeting. Removing all of the closets is a great step; I just really hope that abusing the semi-collision among humans doesn't continue as the best strategy available.

If they remove closets, where are Sepcial Infected going to jump out from?

Closets like that aren't that bad, mainly because they don't appear at any crucial moments, unlike that stinking ramp, where the whole objective for them then is just to survive for about 5 minutes, through two tanks and get to chopper, where they just stay there immune to everything. It's not bad elsewhere because they always have to keep moving, but on that level where the point is to stay, it's broken.

EDIT: Pretty sure I've hit multiple survivors with one swing as a tank.

 

[Red Exodus]

I think it only hits one person per swing, I've gotten survivors into a small space and only managed to hit one while the others offload into me at close range. It's a double-edged sword really.

The best way to do damage as a Tank by far has to be punching cars/dumpsters/forklifts anything big that can be punched. I've taken out an entire team with a well aimed flying car.

I practically never use the rock throw however, it's only good for slowing down survivors but there's almost always one guy that's hurt or being slowed down by zombies so I use that to my advantage.

 

[Charizard92]

Ok, here's a statistics on the rewards you can achieve in left 4 dead:
http://www.steampowered.com/status/l4d/

So what do you think about this?
Also, do you have any recommendation on how to do any of the harder ones (ex. safety first, go on easy in single, ditch the shotguns, use melee primarily, and have the cpus do most of the dirty work).

 

[Sensai]

Hm...I'll keep an eye out for that tank thing, but I'm pretty sure that you only hit one person. Could be wrong, but I don't think I am.

And I really need help understanding why people intentionally go for achievements. It does nothing for you, in game or out, so why would you ruin the experience by doing it the easiest way possible (as Charizard said, doing Safety First on easy, etc)? I just don't get it. Some I understand why you would intentionally go after them, like Akimbo Assassin....you'd never do that unintentionally.

And speaking of Akimbo Assassin, I've done it at least 3 times with my friends and have YET to get the achievement. Same with completing at least 2 campaigns in expert. I've heard other people complaining about it, but I was wondering if this type of thing had happened to any of you guys too.

 

[Charizard92]

did you get a primary weapon or get a grenade? apparently, that cancels out the reward.

Well, certain achievements you should be seeking out on purpose for the sake of doing well (safety first and do not disturb, for example, because you don't want someone to get hurt by your or someone else's mistake, nor do you want to startle a witch). others are some that are recommended (ex hunter punter and clean kill, the earlier because it's safer, and the latter because it gets boomers out of your face). Some are just something you achieve by accident (all the campaign achievements), and there is this last group, that if it wasn't for these things, you wouldn't even try it (akimbo assassin, burn the witch, and please continue here)

 

[Mic_128]

did you get a primary weapon or get a grenade? apparently, that cancels out the reward.

I've gotten the primary weapons and passed it, pretty sure using a grenade breaks it so I never used one.

 

[Charizard92]

Yeah, the rule states that you have to use purely your pistol. getting a pipe bomb, Molotov, or using the primary weapon in any way, shape or form eliminates any chances of getting this.

Say, has anyone actually got the safety first award here?

edit: I was checking the L4D wiki (again), and when I checked the weapons, I found that the calculations on how much damage the stuff does is... similar to my own calculations. The overall number was higher (they added the extra clip that you get when you pick up the gun, I didn't). weird huh?

 

[Red Exodus]

Hm...I'll keep an eye out for that tank thing, but I'm pretty sure that you only hit one person. Could be wrong, but I don't think I am.

And I really need help understanding why people intentionally go for achievements. It does nothing for you, in game or out, so why would you ruin the experience by doing it the easiest way possible (as Charizard said, doing Safety First on easy, etc)? I just don't get it. Some I understand why you would intentionally go after them, like Akimbo Assassin....you'd never do that unintentionally.

And speaking of Akimbo Assassin, I've done it at least 3 times with my friends and have YET to get the achievement. Same with completing at least 2 campaigns in expert. I've heard other people complaining about it, but I was wondering if this type of thing had happened to any of you guys too.

I've tried to get Safety First many times and even in the credits it says big and bold 0 friendly fire incidents for everyone but I have yet to get it. I even tried getting it on easy and normal just to make sure and it hasn't worked. I've given up on it now.

I have Akimbo Assassin though, I didn't pick up any weapons [including pipe bombs and molotovs] or use the minigun. If you haven't yet you should try that.

 

[Charizard92]

Ouch, many times you tried to get safety first and still you don't have it. I was going to recommend that you check your achievements over again, but I'm assuming you did that already.

Oh, and a final tip on the gun thing, Auto shotty should lead, Hunting rifle should pick up the end, and the remaining two should grab the assault rifle.

Because you're leading, the person with the auto shotty can pick off infected without hurting someone, so that's a big plus.

The hunting rifle can just jump up (metaphorically speaking) and snipe away any zombies a from afar, or defend the rear, or make sure that nobody gets pulled from the pack by smokers (and the others can keep hunters at bay).

The two assault people can do either or. They can back up the leader, or help defend the sniper. They are your "extra" group.

Oh, and by the way, it seems that the AI survivors have a favorite gun, and it is in the same ratio as mentioned (Francis likes the shot gun, Zoey prefers the hunting rifle, and Louis and Bill pick up the assault rifles), so (in theory, in solo play), picking your character might be influenced by picking your gun.

 

[Red Exodus]

I think I should have gotten it around 5 times for the number of times I've gone through the campaign without dealing or taking any FF. I've given up for now.

 

[Charizard92]

Ok, now I'm going to recommend it: did you check your rewards?

Oh, and apparently, any damage taken from molotov, pipe bomb, fire, or explosion counts. If any of that happened, try with just the pipe bombs, it has the lowest chance of hitting somebody.

 

[Sensai]

Safety First, if I recall correctly, is no one in the entire party takes friendly fire damage from anyone in the party...meaning either everyone in the party will get it or no one. But, I could be wrong about this.

And I think maybe the first time I went through Akimbo I picked up a molotov, but, seeing as I didn't get it, put it on my list of 'things not to do next time I try for this **** achievement.' Clearly, it didn't work.

No, I didn't pick up the primary weapons ever. I didn't die. I didn't pick up grenades of any sort.

 

[Red Exodus]

Ok, now I'm going to recommend it: did you check your rewards?

Oh, and apparently, any damage taken from molotov, pipe bomb, fire, or explosion counts. If any of that happened, try with just the pipe bombs, it has the lowest chance of hitting somebody.

I checked it several times. I didn't use any of those things on my Safety First runs, as a matter of fact sometimes I just let the AI deal with Tanks and Witches instead of risking the shot.

 

[Charizard92]

Safety First, if I recall correctly, is no one in the entire party takes friendly fire damage from anyone in the party...meaning either everyone in the party will get it or no one. But, I could be wrong about this.

And I think maybe the first time I went through Akimbo I picked up a molotov, but, seeing as I didn't get it, put it on my list of 'things not to do next time I try for this **** achievement.' Clearly, it didn't work.

No, I didn't pick up the primary weapons ever. I didn't die. I didn't pick up grenades of any sort.

Well, AI are good at not hitting each other, so when playing on solo play, it's mostly your responsibility to not hit anyone (in theory).

Again, Safety first is something to strive for, while akimbo assassin is just bragging rights (really want bragging rights, get Lamb 2 Slaughter [as an infected, incap a survivor who entered and left the safe room])

Oh, and with my classification of achievements, here's a list:

Those you should try to achieve:
Tankbusters
witch hunters
No one left behind
helping hand
pharmassist
field medic
do not disturb
safety first

Here's a list of **** that everybody recommends that you do:
Drag & drop
tongue twister
hunter punter
hero closet
towering inferno
dead stop
clean kill
back 2 help

Here's a list of achievements that you are more likely to achieve on accident that on purpose:
brain salad
blind luck
my bodyguard
pyrotechnician
no smoking section
101 cremations
outbreak
ground cover
spinal tap
jump shot
mercy killer
toll collector
dead baron
dead giveaway
grim reaper
back 2 help
stand tall
zombicidal maniac
red mist
untouchables
what are you trying to prove
zombie genocidest

and here's a list of **** that if it wasn't for them, you wouldn't try to achieve it (and why):
Burn the witch (you really want to startle this thing?!)
jump shot (something real hard to get, and something that you would normally never strive for)
Akimbo assassin (you really want to ditch that pipe bomb?)
Cr0wned (forget how easy it is to do it, if you're playing a do not disturb run, there would be little point in this)
Man vs tank (aka glorified way of saying lamb 2 slaughter, survivor edition)
stomach upset (nobody gets puked on, fun times!)
nothing special (the odds aren't just against you, they hate you!)

Note, I skipped infected awards, you can formulate your own opinions, this was at the top of my head)

 

[Weimdog]

Excuse the delay, I'm replying slowly because I have few opportunities to use a computer right now.

So you essentially want to eliminate the one hope any survivor has on expert difficulty?

Charizard, I don't mean to sound like a smartass, but how did you get this from my post?
If you're implying that closeting is the "one hope" for survivors on expert, I can't really debate that, but I stronly disagree.

Anyway, I meant to discuss closeting in context of versus mode. Closeting is abusing the weak collision among survivors, and I hope it gets fixed soon. The devs have done well at fixing exploits so far, so I feel optimistic that this will be dealt with soon.

If they remove closets, where are Sepcial Infected going to jump out from?

I don't think we're on the same page here. I'm talking about removing closets (confusing lingo---- I don't want to remove the respawn closets), not all rooms in general.

Closets like that aren't that bad, mainly because they don't appear at any crucial moments, unlike that stinking ramp,

I have a couple examples in my head aside from the ramp that are just that bad. Listing them feels like listing exploits, so I'll try share them only if it's necessary.

where the whole objective for them then is just to survive for about 5 minutes, through two tanks and get to chopper, where they just stay there immune to everything. It's not bad elsewhere because they always have to keep moving, but on that level where the point is to stay, it's broken.

Notice that when the survivors are "closeting" under that ramp that in order for them to NOT shoot eachother in the back, they have to squeeze "into" eachother. The space under the ramp would not be nearly as useful without abusing the weak collision. I doubt the designers had this in mind as a way of dealing with difficult scenarios, and in my opinion it ruins the flow of an otherwise amazingly exiting game.

EDIT: Pretty sure I've hit multiple survivors with one swing as a tank.

I didn't think it could be done (without a car, dumpster, or rock)!