World at War Beta Impressions

[ElephantGuts]

Seeing as the COD: World at War multiplayer beta has started, and I was in it, I thought I'd make a thread to discuss what people's reactions to it are. (Note: As far as I have been made aware I am allowed to discuss the contents of the beta, if this changes I will remove information as necessary. Which will probably be my entire post.)

I'll say that the level cap is 11 out of 65, which while being very quick does seem to give a good starting sample of the content.

Personally, I first of all notice how much of the content is copy and pasted from COD4. The perks and create-a-class system is exactly the same, with some different perks. The multiplayer menu is exactly the same with the barracks, leaderboards, challenges, everything. And the challenges are almost all exactly the same from COD4, same marksman/expert challenges for each gun. There were just a few new ones in the boot camp section.

The beta has 3 maps (like COD4's beta), 2 Japan/US ones and one USSR/German one. I wasn't particularly impressed with them, they seemed well balanced but not ingenious or innovative. Nothing in the gameplay is particularly shocking either, weapons seem well balanced but not as entertaining as in COD4, maybe because I'm just too familiar with WW2.

Besides regular grenades, they have flares that can blind enemies and light up night maps and poison gas grenades that dissorient you. And there are sticky grenades to help combat tanks. Yes there are vehicles, all we've seen yet is one Panzer and one T-34 in the one USSR/German map. I'll admit I haven't gotten much chance to use them, but they don't seem particularly amazing either.

The tactical aid (or whatever it's called) in the game is also very reminiscent of COD4. You get one for a 3 kill streak, then 5, then 7. The first one is a recon plane that acts exactly like the UAV, then there is an artillary strike that is again mostly the same, though it is a little longer than COD4's. The biggest change is the last one, where an attack helicopter is replaced with a swarm of attack dogs that will swarm across the map attacking your enemies. I'll admit this is quite entertaining, as you desperately try to locate where the dogs are coming from by their barks and then fight them off with whatever you can. Though I can't help but think that they again looked to COD4 for this idea.

So, conclusion? My friends seem to be impressed with it, and say I'm too critical of the game. Perhaps I am, but it doesn't seem to be as impressive as when I got into the COD4 beta. It seems to be just like COD3 was, nothing is particularly broken about the game and it is fun, but it just doesn't seem to be made of the stuff of great games. So hopefully I'll be proven wrong when the game is released, or maybe I just need to play and get into it more. But just giving you a heads up that from my perspective atleast, WAW is shaping up to be another underwhelming COD3.

 

[Mr Frogurt]

I loved COD4 but world of war does seem like the wrong direction. From what you've discuss it seems i was right for not being amazed, oh well my dad will probably still get it. Might as well give it ago

 

[ElArabDeMagnifico]

Besides regular grenades, they have flares that can blind enemies and light up night maps and poison gas grenades that dissorient you. And there are sticky grenades to help combat tanks. Yes there are vehicles, all we've seen yet is one Panzer and one T-34 in the one USSR/German map. I'll admit I haven't gotten much chance to use them, but they don't seem particularly amazing either.

This has me interested.

Though, I never really liked CoD4's multiplayer to begin with, I just fooled myself into liking it. I doubt vehicles will change that if the map scale is similar to CoD4.

 

[Flour]

It appears you're trying to trash the game as much as possible because it's not made by Infinity Ward.
Vehicles were fine in CoD1, and since in CoD4 nothing gameplay related changed from CoD1, I seriously doubt CoD5 will introduce a completely different control setup for vehicles.
The maps can't be worse than what even CoD1 had. Infinity Ward never showed a proper map balance, as shown by Carentan/Brecourt(CoD1, both give Axis a huge advantage) and Killhouse/Creek(CoD4, tiny map with walls you can shoot through and Spetsnaz gets a huge advantage).
Can't say anything about the kill rewards, but I'm sure you'd complain if it wasn't in the game.

 

[CmdrGoob]

I loved the basics of CoD4 multiplayer, but the airstrike & chopper sucked. Sucks to be killed 1 second after spawing because someones laid an airstrike down. Sucks to be 2nd place in the server 1 kill behind the leader, but then he gets an airstrike before you, and then a chopper before you and then you can't use your chopper while his is still around and he's raked in the kills in the meantime and then it's not a close and exciting match anymore. And they're pretty easy to use so you don't feel much glory if you beat him because it happened the other way around.

So it's sad to see them back in CoD5.

 

[ElephantGuts]

It appears you're trying to trash the game as much as possible because it's not made by Infinity Ward.
Vehicles were fine in CoD1, and since in CoD4 nothing gameplay related changed from CoD1, I seriously doubt CoD5 will introduce a completely different control setup for vehicles.
The maps can't be worse than what even CoD1 had. Infinity Ward never showed a proper map balance, as shown by Carentan/Brecourt(CoD1, both give Axis a huge advantage) and Killhouse/Creek(CoD4, tiny map with walls you can shoot through and Spetsnaz gets a huge advantage).
Can't say anything about the kill rewards, but I'm sure you'd complain if it wasn't in the game.

I didn't want to sound like I was being overly negative, I did say that nothing is obviously broken, and I think the majority of my complaints were that things were the same as COD4, which is pretty hard to argue. But I figured that people were reading this to see what they were doing wrong more than what they're doing right, because since it's a COD game we know what it should be doing right, the question is if they are managing that or not.

Regarding the maps, I think the main issue I have with them is how simple they are, there isn't much room for strategy or placing. It's just going where you know the enemy will be and then killing them. And a lot of it is very close quarters to, I don't think they were thinking about snipers enough when they were designing the maps. But, since these are only 3, hopefully some others will be better.

And I would be very disappointed if you weren't in WAW.

 

[BardSeed]

Flour, you are wrong, he isn't an Infinity Ward fanboy. In my opinion, he wasn't critical enough of the game, the original poster obviously hasn't played around enough. I don't mean to offend you, ElephantGuts, but, judging from your post, you don't seem to have played the BETA as much as I.

Negative comments

- Cod4: World at war? The first thing to be noticed, as the OP noted, when playing this game is that it is incredibly similar to Call of Duty 4. I have taken to calling it Call of Duty 4: World at war. The menu is the same, the challenges, most of the perks and even the disconnection symbol. The scoring is, mostly, the same too.

- The bolt-action rifles. They are significantly under-powered. Rifle scopes must be unlocked and, for some reason, the rifle has half the power without a scope than it does with. The Arisaka takes two shots to the chest to kill, this is particularly annoying as the gun takes 2-3 seconds to cock between shots. With a scope, the Arisaka, usually, kills in one shot. I have been told that it is a problem with the bullet registry system(aiming at the chest but registering as a leg shot) rather than a damage problem but I am skeptical.

- Spawn points.They are twice as bad as Cod 4's. Spawning into enemy tabun gas(we'll get to this) or within sight of several enemies is a frequent occurrence.

- Squad system. World at war attempts to integrate a squad system but, in my opinion, fails horribly. When in game, you can choose to create or join a squad within your team. Bonuses of having a separate squad are that members of your squad become a different colour on your radar and that your leader can mark positions for you.
I know that position marking sounds great but it was not implemented well. The leader must push up on the dpad and use the right stick to move a cursor before selecting that area for the marker. This marker will appear blue on your radar. Hell's highway did a much better job of this, emphasizing team-work a lot more and it feel that this was just thrown into Cod:Waw. Hopefully a patch or edit will be made to make the squad commands more fluid or at least allow the squad leader to place markers before the game begins.

Molotov Cocktails. They are near useless. No damage is done unless you directly hit the enemy and he still won't die, unless he was already injured. It is nice to see the enemy burn but the joy is short-lived and the fire does not spread.

Positive points

- Tanks.Don't worry people, tanks are far less powerful than in Call of Duty 3. The vehicles have been balanced well, my only complaint regarding this is that the tanks have too much armour. Two bazookas/satchel charges and a sticky grenade are required to remove a tank, usually. A friend of mine told me that he hit a tank with 3 bazookas and two sticky grenades, it continued to roll.

- Gore. Lots of it. You'll find yourself hoping to get hit with a grenade. Shotguns tear your chest open and explosives will separate you and your limb(s).

- New secondary grenades. In my opinion, the new secondary grenades are far superior to Cod 4's. The stun is replaced with tabun gas, this does a much better job of disorientating your enemy but can be countered with a gas mask perk. The flash is being replaced with the flare and this is also great, it does not permanently blind your target but it lasts for a decent amount of time and can be used as a screen. Smoke grenade makes a return.

- Bayonets! Certain guns can have bayonet attachments, if unlocked. This extends the range of your knife slightly and looks cool.
- Second chance. This perk replaces last stand but has a twist; if using this perk you can be picked up by another team mate using this perk and vice versa.

- Assists. Ever been annoyed at doing all the hard work just to see somebody take your kill and have a "+2" appear? Depending on the amount of damage that you cause, you will now have either 2, 4 or 8 points for an assist.

- Hardcore everything! No longer will us HC fans be cheated out of playing Domination or one of our other favourite game-types.

Miscellaneous

These are things that I think you may like.

- War game-type. Those who have played Cod 3 will remember this. Each team starts with a few flags. There is a neutral flag at the center of the map. If this flag is captured by team A, both teams must fight for the next flag, it will be one of team B's. The winner is the team that controls all of the flags.

- Bipods. Heavy machine guns such as the BAR will be able to use the bipod attachments, if unlocked. This means that the gun can be set up on a low wall and use as MMGs(Mounted machine-guns).

- Ammo drums. Fans of the Thompson smg may be disappointed with the speed at which their clip is unloaded but that's where the drum attachment is very useful. This is a must-have on the Thompson but, in my opinion, should be left of the MP40 in favour of the silencer.

- Red dot sight! Well, not quite. There is a sight similar to the RDS, it is the aperture(sp?) sight.

- Acogs! Once again, not quite. This scope is similar to the acog but is known as a telescopic sight.

- Sticky grenades. These are the only grenades that you will need. A fun thing to do is stick them to your enemy and watch them as they try to run from the grenade indicator! If playing regular modes, you can try sticking them to a friend and having him charge in and take a few out, only to survive!



People like to be optimistic and say that all these problems will be fixed because "it's just a BETA" but the game is out in a month, this is more of a demo.
This is all I could think of right now, I tried to keep this as objective as possible but I probably came off as pessimistic, this is because I'm pretty bored of Cod 4 and this doesn't seem to offer much of a change.
I will try to keep this updated if you guys bump it. The level cap is meant to be bumped up to 20-something on Tuesday so I'll let you know about the new perks and weapons!

I am not aware of talk about the BETA being prohibited and, if necessary, I will remove this post.

 

[ElArabDeMagnifico]

Yeah the betas are now for server testing. It sounds fine, I just won't be rushing out to get it.

 

[ElephantGuts]

Flour, you are wrong, he isn't an Infinity Ward fanboy. In my opinion, he wasn't critical enough of the game, the original poster obviously hasn't played around enough. I don't mean to offend you, ElephantGuts, but, judging from your post, you don't seem to have played the BETA as much as I.

Negative comments

- Cod4: World at war? The first thing to be noticed, as the OP noted, when playing this game is that it is incredibly similar to Call of Duty 4. I have taken to calling it Call of Duty 4: World at war. The menu is the same, the challenges, most of the perks and even the disconnection symbol. The scoring is, mostly, the same too.

- The bolt-action rifles. They are significantly under-powered. Rifle scopes must be unlocked and, for some reason, the rifle has half the power without a scope than it does with. The Arisaka takes two shots to the chest to kill, this is particularly annoying as the gun takes 2-3 seconds to cock between shots. With a scope, the Arisaka, usually, kills in one shot. I have been told that it is a problem with the bullet registry system(aiming at the chest but registering as a leg shot) rather than a damage problem but I am skeptical.

- Spawn points.They are twice as bad as Cod 4's. Spawning into enemy tabun gas(we'll get to this) or within sight of several enemies is a frequent occurrence.

- Squad system. World at war attempts to integrate a squad system but, in my opinion, fails horribly. When in game, you can choose to create or join a squad within your team. Bonuses of having a separate squad are that members of your squad become a different colour on your radar and that your leader can mark positions for you.
I know that position marking sounds great but it was not implemented well. The leader must push up on the dpad and use the right stick to move a cursor before selecting that area for the marker. This marker will appear blue on your radar. Hell's highway did a much better job of this, emphasizing team-work a lot more and it feel that this was just thrown into Cod:Waw. Hopefully a patch or edit will be made to make the squad commands more fluid or at least allow the squad leader to place markers before the game begins.

Molotov Cocktails. They are near useless. No damage is done unless you directly hit the enemy and he still won't die, unless he was already injured. It is nice to see the enemy burn but the joy is short-lived and the fire does not spread.

Positive points

- Tanks.Don't worry people, tanks are far less powerful than in Call of Duty 3. The vehicles have been balanced well, my only complaint regarding this is that the tanks have too much armour. Two bazookas/satchel charges and a sticky grenade are required to remove a tank, usually. A friend of mine told me that he hit a tank with 3 bazookas and two sticky grenades, it continued to roll.

- Gore. Lots of it. You'll find yourself hoping to get hit with a grenade. Shotguns tear your chest open and explosives will separate you and your limb(s).

- New secondary grenades. In my opinion, the new secondary grenades are far superior to Cod 4's. The stun is replaced with tabun gas, this does a much better job of disorientating your enemy but can be countered with a gas mask perk. The flash is being replaced with the flare and this is also great, it does not permanently blind your target but it lasts for a decent amount of time and can be used as a screen. Smoke grenade makes a return.

- Bayonets! Certain guns can have bayonet attachments, if unlocked. This extends the range of your knife slightly and looks cool.
- Second chance. This perk replaces last stand but has a twist; if using this perk you can be picked up by another team mate using this perk and vice versa.

- Assists. Ever been annoyed at doing all the hard work just to see somebody take your kill and have a "+2" appear? Depending on the amount of damage that you cause, you will now have either 2, 4 or 8 points for an assist.

- Hardcore everything! No longer will us HC fans be cheated out of playing Domination or one of our other favourite game-types.

Miscellaneous

These are things that I think you may like.

- War game-type. Those who have played Cod 3 will remember this. Each team starts with a few flags. There is a neutral flag at the center of the map. If this flag is captured by team A, both teams must fight for the next flag, it will be one of team B's. The winner is the team that controls all of the flags.

- Bipods. Heavy machine guns such as the BAR will be able to use the bipod attachments, if unlocked. This means that the gun can be set up on a low wall and use as MMGs(Mounted machine-guns).

- Ammo drums. Fans of the Thompson smg may be disappointed with the speed at which their clip is unloaded but that's where the drum attachment is very useful. This is a must-have on the Thompson but, in my opinion, should be left of the MP40 in favour of the silencer.

- Red dot sight! Well, not quite. There is a sight similar to the RDS, it is the aperture(sp?) sight.

- Acogs! Once again, not quite. This scope is similar to the acog but is known as a telescopic sight.

- Sticky grenades. These are the only grenades that you will need. A fun thing to do is stick them to your enemy and watch them as they try to run from the grenade indicator! If playing regular modes, you can try sticking them to a friend and having him charge in and take a few out, only to survive!



People like to be optimistic and say that all these problems will be fixed because "it's just a BETA" but the game is out in a month, this is more of a demo.
This is all I could think of right now, I tried to keep this as objective as possible but I probably came off as pessimistic, this is because I'm pretty bored of Cod 4 and this doesn't seem to offer much of a change.
I will try to keep this updated if you guys bump it. The level cap is meant to be bumped up to 20-something on Tuesday so I'll let you know about the new perks and weapons!

I am not aware of talk about the BETA being prohibited and, if necessary, I will remove this post.

Thank you, for a much more detailed description of the beta than mine. I've noticed all these things, but I was trying to give an overall view of it, and it's true I didn't play it all that much, which is why I was being so quick so I could get back to it and play it some more. But you somehow managed to give a good overall view and a more detail about the game, so everyone's probably better off reading this post than mine.

And the thing with the rifles is really pissing me off, rifles are way underpowered and it took me so long to get the 25 kills I needed with the Arisaka to get the scope, and it still sucks with that. And spawn points are ridiculously horrible.

 

[bluerahjah]

I'm actually looking forward to it, if only to see once the span of a month or so has passed, how many people have gone from World at War back to COD 4.

 

[Death Magnetic]

How do you unlock the beta and is it available (the beta) for the UK?

-Ricky

 

[BardSeed]

I wasn't trying to hijack your thread, Elephant Guts! The spawns and weapon balancing is the major downfall of this game. I believe that they have taken notice of the complaints already and they will be fixed or patched in the final game.

How do you unlock the beta and is it available (the beta) for the UK?

-Ricky

I am fairly sure that all codes are gone. I got mine from being a former member of Charlie Oscar Delta forums, they were also available to long-time members of www.callofduty.com, people who pre-ordered from GAME or Gamestop and various competitions on certain sites.

 

[ElephantGuts]

Also, is it just me or are the announcer guy's voices horrible and annoying? He has little to no accent, but apparently thought that if he screams it really really loud no one would notice. Also, I find what accents there are and the things the people say somewhat stereotypical and demeaning to the country, even the US voices to an extent, but maybe I'm just getting carried away. And is there supposed to be some kind of patriotic music playing during Russian victories and some speech or something during German victories? Because they sound horrible, once you realize that's what that annoying sound was.

 

[Amnestic]

One question: Does the game suffer from "skill grenading" on a regular basis, similar to CoD4? Is there a "Fragx3" perk? It'd really put me off playing multiplayer if they didn't help combat the random grenading that is all too common in some CoD4 maps.

Still, sounds quite interesting. Like the idea of replacing the heli with attack dogs. Sounds really cool.

- Hardcore everything! No longer will us HC fans be cheated out of playing Domination or one of our other favourite game-types.

That's pretty cool considering I only play HC maps on CoD4. I approve of this!

 

[BardSeed]

One question: Does the game suffer from "skill grenading" on a regular basis, similar to CoD4? Is there a "Fragx3" perk? It'd really put me off playing multiplayer if they didn't help combat the random grenading that is all too common in some CoD4 maps.

Still, sounds quite interesting. Like the idea of replacing the heli with attack dogs. Sounds really cool.

- Hardcore everything! No longer will us HC fans be cheated out of playing Domination or one of our other favourite game-types.

That's pretty cool considering I only play HC maps on CoD4. I approve of this!

I've been killed by a random grenade once or twice. There is only a frag x2 perk, as far as I know. Martyrdom will be making a return but is not included in the BETA.

 

[Amnestic]

One question: Does the game suffer from "skill grenading" on a regular basis, similar to CoD4? Is there a "Fragx3" perk? It'd really put me off playing multiplayer if they didn't help combat the random grenading that is all too common in some CoD4 maps.

Still, sounds quite interesting. Like the idea of replacing the heli with attack dogs. Sounds really cool.

- Hardcore everything! No longer will us HC fans be cheated out of playing Domination or one of our other favourite game-types.

That's pretty cool considering I only play HC maps on CoD4. I approve of this!

I've been killed by a random grenade once or twice. There is only a frag x2 perk, as far as I know. Martyrdom will be making a return but is not included in the BETA.

Frag x 2 is better than Frag x 3. I'm not so fussed about Matyrdom to be honest. I always assume people have it these days so I always take a few steps back from anyone I've killed.

 

[neoman10]

Questions:

will there be high power scopes or just the one?

What kinds of shottys? (my favorite weapon)

 

[ElephantGuts]

Questions:

will there be high power scopes or just the one?

What kinds of shottys? (my favorite weapon)

Trying to give the most accurate answer since I haven't played in a while: There's the basic trenchgun you unlock fairly early in the game, then a double-barrel shotgun you unlock later. I forget how it's better, but I think it has increased something in exchange for decreased something or other.