Black Ops Designer Regrets "Second Chance" Perk

Andy Chalk

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Black Ops Designer Regrets "Second Chance" Perk


Treyarch's David Vonderhaar says he "f*cked up" by including the Second Chance perk in Call of Duty: Black Ops.

For those of you who, like me, have no idea what Black Ops' "Second Chance" perk is, here's the lowdown from StickTwiddlers [http://sticktwiddlers.com/2011/11/14/news-call-of-duty-game-designer-admits-i-fcked-up/]: it's "a tier 3 multiplayer perk that allows players to survive lethal damage and use a pistol for ten seconds while downed before dying." You only have one hit point after you go down, so literally anything that does damage can finish you off; a pro version of the perk boosts the survival time to 30 seconds and allows teammates to revive you.

The opportunity for a great Kiefer Sutherland moment must've seemed like a good idea to somebody at some point, but Vonderhaar, the online design director on Black Ops, says that in hindsight, it was a mistake. "See that gun to my head in my pic?" he tweeted [https://twitter.com/#!/DavidVonderhaar/status/135991199545823232], referring to his Twitter avatar. "That's how I feel about 2nd Chance. We meant well. I fucked up."

And that's not the only thing he feels bad about. "By the way, I'm really sorry about that challenge to cap flags for Pro perks. That was another bad idea. Long story. Filled with regret," he wrote in a separate tweet [https://twitter.com/#!/DavidVonderhaar/status/135989245574787072], adding later, "I wanted them to be a Challenge. I didn't want them to force people to play something they dislike and encourage boosting."

Vonderhaar's outburst of regret appears to have been triggered by a Black Ops fan who threatened to murder him [quite literally - "I'm going to murder you" were his exact words] if he made players "capture 15 flags in CTF to get marathon pro" in the next game. "We already buried that dead horse," he replied [https://twitter.com/#!/DavidVonderhaar/status/135988436304793600]. "It's a long story and one I regret."



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Lost In The Void

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Aug 27, 2008
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Your title says "Second Change"

As for the story, having not played BlOps myself I can't comment on how annoying it was, but I can imagine it would get annoying as hell based on the description and by Miracle's Rage about it.
 

bjj hero

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Feb 4, 2009
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Its true. I cannot believe no one at treyarch thought making me play a game mode I hate to get all the stuff was a good idea.

I never play treyarch games for more than a month or so. WaW: shit. Black ops: shit.
 
Feb 9, 2011
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The unlocking of 'Pro" in BlackOps was a nightmare for some of the perks. I'm glad they buried it in the ground. It should never see the light of day.
 

ToastiestZombie

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GiglameshSoulEater said:
Well, if its not in MW3, the basically its fixed.
It is still in, but as a deathstreak. But due to the more fast pace you will actually see those quite a lot. The worst thing is instead of just their pistol they pull out their whole friggin primary weapon.
 

MiracleOfSound

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Jan 3, 2009
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Vonderhaar actually made a Tweet about my Second Chance Song (in which Thunder screams 'VONDERHAAAAR!'), he challenged people to break-dance to it and everything :D


We (COD players) nagged him about it a lot. Poor fella :D
 

Forgetitnow344

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How can a maker apologize for making a game too hard? That's retarded. "Hardcore" gamers should be delighted at the opportunity to break their thumbs for meaningless accomplishments. The Second Chance perk sounds like a bastard to fight against, but nothing worth APOLOGIZING over. That developer needs a spine.
 

Sassafrass

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Lost In The Void said:
Your title says "Second Chance"

As for the story, having not played BlOps myself I can't comment on how annoying it was, but I can imagine it would get annoying as hell based on the description and by Miracle's Rage about it.
Trust me, it was a fucking annoying perk. When I shoot someone in an FPS, I expect them to die when I put enough bullets in them, not karate kick the air, pull out a pistol and fire 4 shots at me. Not unless I'm playing something like Stranglehold. :p

Still, nice to know he regretted the choice (Guess this is why they put the Express playlist in which takes out the perk, as well as Ghost.) but this news comes about a year too late. :p
 

GiglameshSoulEater

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ToastiestZombie said:
GiglameshSoulEater said:
Well, if its not in MW3, the basically its fixed.
It is still in, but as a deathstreak. But due to the more fast pace you will actually see those quite a lot. The worst thing is instead of just their pistol they pull out their whole friggin primary weapon.
Then no, it is not fixed.
Not at all.
 

Terminate421

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I've hated that perk since its creation. All it does is slow down the game and piss me off. Especially if they kill me.
 

Monty McDougal

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I don't blame him for creating it, but I would blame him for taking credit since the exact same perk was in Modern Warfare 2.
 

Rednog

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Pro perks still really suck to unlock with some things, extreme conditioning I mean holy hell that took forever and even then the pro is nothing special, seriously where is infinite running?! I took extreme conditioning expecting it to be like marathon in the previous games, but no you get like a 5 second sprint instead of 3, seriously the soldiers in MW3 run like they're terminal stage leukemia patients.
Then you have nonsense like recon, ok you tag enemies with explosive damage, yet you only get like what 3-4 chances per life and you need how many for pro? And even then with marking someone on the map you better pray you have quickdraw pro or by the time you actually get your weapon back up the target is already off your radar and probably coming right at you.

Seriously what the hell is up with the perks in MW3, everyone is using slight of hand, quickdraw/assasin, and stalker for a really good reason. They are leagues above the rest of the perks. I want an apology for that, at least in BOps the perks in general were good and the pro perks were icing on the cake.

Also I'm surprised no one mentioning how much of a pain it was to get "First Blood" on maps, especially with no wait time between map changes people would load into the game and it would start instantly, so if you weren't able to load fast enough you would never have a chance to get first blood.
 

Spencer Petersen

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ilovemyLunchbox said:
How can a maker apologize for making a game too hard? That's retarded. "Hardcore" gamers should be delighted at the opportunity to break their thumbs for meaningless accomplishments. The Second Chance perk sounds like a bastard to fight against, but nothing worth APOLOGIZING over. That developer needs a spine.
He didn't make it harder, he made it more tedious. CTF is such a poorly balanced game mode that having to play it was agonizing to unlock perks.

Also, the second chance perk had severe bugs that made it absurdly overpowered in hardcore mode, as the animation that transitions you from standing to on the ground let you be invincible while it played. Considering every weapon is a 1 or 2 hit kill in hardcore, a player could one shot you with the second chance pistol while still invincible from the animation before you can even react.
 

Dogstile

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I really don't see anything wrong with the perk. The only thing that should have been fixed is if you were downed you shouldn't be invincible for about a second like you were. That guy shouldn't regret anything.
 

Rednog

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dogstile said:
I really don't see anything wrong with the perk. The only thing that should have been fixed is if you were downed you shouldn't be invincible for about a second like you were. That guy shouldn't regret anything.
The only problem with no having invincibility for that split second while you're going down is that most people firing at you aren't going to necessarily fire the exact amount of bullets to drop you they are going to over fire so if you weren't invincible the extra bullets coming from the guy that put you in last stand would pretty much kill you instantly before you even got a chance to be in last stand, pretty much making it a completely pointless perk.
 

Lunar Templar

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i like the sound of it personally, and yes, i've dealt with annoying perks :p Final Vengeance is ***** if your not expecting it
 

Dogstile

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Rednog said:
dogstile said:
I really don't see anything wrong with the perk. The only thing that should have been fixed is if you were downed you shouldn't be invincible for about a second like you were. That guy shouldn't regret anything.
The only problem with no having invincibility for that split second while you're going down is that most people firing at you aren't going to necessarily fire the exact amount of bullets to drop you they are going to over fire so if you weren't invincible the extra bullets coming from the guy that put you in last stand would pretty much kill you instantly before you even got a chance to be in last stand, pretty much making it a completely pointless perk.
It'd piss off a hell of a lot of snipers or pump action shotgunner's though ;)