Hey guys this is a great post that Immortal Stoic found online on a gaming forum. Read! Ill also add a page with the maps & callouts within the next few days. Its important we’re all on the same page as these can really boost our W/L ratio.
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First I wanna start off by saying, that the reason I’m making this thread is because I personally have seen to many teams who claim to be Pro, claim that they know how to Practice & Train, claim that they don’t need to Improve, claim that they’ve already maxed out their potential. The sad fact is, that most of you could not even begin to grasp what True Competitive Gaming really requires of you & your team. So were going to be looking into some of these issues in this thread about the State of Competitive Gaming, where It’s heading, & how were going to get their. We will also be talking about how to Train properly Individually and for Teams.
So well start off by going over how you get from being an Amateur to a Professional Gamer. The fact of the matter is that everyone never maxes out their potentail, it just doesn’t happen, you will always have something to learn & being open-minded about it and willing to take advice from people is the first step to going Pro. Never deny yourself the chance to gain Knowledge, because when you allow yourself to attain so much information, that’s just that much more you know over the next guy. The point of gaming is to always improve, so why is it that we see these people on XBL always saying, “Oh you don’t know what your talking about, your just a BK, go away you Random!”, some might say. But the fact of the matter is that what that person may have said to you even though the way he said it may not have been the best way to approach you, could honestly be some of the best advice you’ve heard so far. And this is why you should never close yourself off and become defensive or let your Pride take over because you think you can beat this person in a 1 on 1. Because that’s not what this is about & will solve nothing.
Now their are Proper ways to train both Individually and with a Team. To be honest, it’s really beyond me how 99.9% of you do not pick up on these logical ways of doing things. So let’s start. We’ll start with the Team aspect of this first.
The Team
When you first create your team, make sure that you find players that you know for a fact want to achieve something more than just being some Pub-AllStars, because if not, you will go nowhere.
The first thing that your team should do is understand that Competitive Gaming & especially wanting to go Pro is the Equivalent of a Full-Time Job. This is first thing that needs to be Comprehended & Understood by all.
1. When you team of 4 is finally set, the first job that you will have is to go Map out Spawn Points, now this is most easily done by having Map Layouts in front of you(Purchasing the Prima Strategy Guide would most likely be your best bet as it comes fully equipped with everything you will need). If you can acquire map layouts online for free then by all means take the Free route. Then take your team, go into Private Match, run through all the MLG Variant Maps while spawning and then switching sides constantly in order to find all of the Spawn Points for that map. Then move on to the next map. Keep in mind that in FFA gametypes, their will always be more Spawn Points than in any other gametype. So doing this in a Team Gametype would probably be easiest & most efficient. Make sure everyone has a copy of this.
2. You now need to go back over all the maps that you have just gone over and create your own unique Call-Outs for each of these maps together as a team. Now their are already pre-callouts on the Map Layouts in the PSG which are good to start out using and then just fill in any extra spots with your own that need them. Make sure everyone has a copy of this.
3. The next thing is Set-Ups, how are you going to set-up on each Map and each Gametype per that Map. Set-ups need to be done for both sides. Starting your off it should look something like this. Using your Spawn Points that you’ve already done will help the most when it comes down to coming up with Set-Ups, try and anticipate where the enemy is going to run and which routes they will take so you can counter accordingly.
CTF
You need at least 2 Set-Ups & Transitions. This means that you need to have 2 Set-Ups for when you get into these positions, you can then Transition accordingly to cap a flag. The Set-Up is just Part 1 of your Strat, Part 2 is the Transition for Caping the Flag, & Part 3 is for CherryPicking their Flag to where you have them in a Spawn Trap or something close to it where you can continually cap flag after flag, also refferred to as Cherry Picking.
Search & Destroy
You will need at least 3 Strats for Offense & 2 for Defense. Any team who tells you that they are efficient at running the same Strat over and over again to mold it, is wrong. This will never work against Truly Skilled teams who are able to quickly adapt to the first Strat they see your team using. They will anticipate the same thing being done the 2nd time around or test the waters and half-adapt to check if this is how that teams plays. Common Sense & Logical Thinking are the two biggest Mental characteristics that are really cherished and rare to find in players ODB(Off Da Bat), but these are characteristics that you all must have.
Demolition
Now Defense for SnD may apply for Defense in Demo. But for Offense & Defense if may also be wise to explore other alternatives such as playing it out like a Domination game where you control Half Map and force them to kill you instead of directly going for Objective. Demolition is probably the hardest Gametype out of the 3 just due to the fact that you have have to cover the whole map while the Offensive team may plant at either bomb site. In this gametype, whomever has the more efficient Map/Spawn Lock will be the team who will be able to run down the clock the fastest which in turn will get you your win.
4. Positioning & Angling are probably another strong important point for playing any shooter game for that matter. Let’s start with Positioning first, some of you may be wandering, “well this isn’t Halo, so this is pointless”, some of you may be thinking. But the fact of the matter is that this is probably the next biggerst thing that any player can do besides making a Call-Out. Where you place your body is so important in order to block off your Flank or Blind Spot when your pushing up or in your Set-Up. For example: Positioning your body where a wall, box, crate, pole, any object that can be used as a shield pretty much is directly to your left. This allows you not to worry about getting shot from your left or naded, which will now allow you to focus on your target-area. Never get caught standing in No-Mans Land, which is pretty much anywhere not close to the Perimeter of the map. Always know where you going, what you will be watching, & when you’ll be moving. Communicating during all 3 of these tasks is essentially for up-to-date info while in game so your teammates know what’s going on at all times.
Now for Angling. Angling is the next important thing, the first rule of angling is never show more than neccessary, which in turn means that if your in a building looking out a window. You never want to be hugging the window, you always shoot from cover standing up or crouching depending on which window it may be but refrain from crouching looking out windowns if you can. Standing up and shooting from inside the building will always be better because it will be harder for you opponent to recognize you from the darkness inside the building, which gives you the advantage always. The golden rule is to never show more than is needed. Best example is take Highrise on Elevator Side. Now in this situation when you get to the Fence corner, you want to edge out only far enought to see barely in front of their elevator side and always stand a little ways back from the corner, never hug corners. Because by hugging corners even the most perceptive eye can see your gun sticking out of the fence and start pre-firing at you and maybe get lucky. You always shoot from cover. Because now you have the advantage, because he has to come to you or out at least where he may be running with his gun not out right away which will give you the advantage(and of course always be weary of stun & nade checks).
5. Now to talk about Spawn Traps. If you are able to pull off an efficient and sucessful Spawn Trap you most likely will take the lead or be in a position to take the lead somehow. But ST’s are tricky because there is a certain distance between the Spawn Point and you that you have to be farther than in order to not accidentaly cancel out that Spawn Point. Meaing that if you go within 20m of a Spawn Point for example you will cancel out that Spawn Point and force spawn will take effect, where your opponents will most likely spawn in the middle perimeter of the map. This is something that your team must test out.
6. We will now go into Specific Gametype Class Loadouts. This is definitely another important part of the game. Having assigned roles to each player or possibly assinged Loadouts to Objective PLayers & Slayer Players. These are things that you all are going to have to talk about with your team if your going to want Flag Runners or Bomb Planters. Another alternative is that for CTF and Demo, you can just implement a Half Map Lock and then just slowly push up from their after they have 2 down or what not, gradually make their area to work with smaller. Then go in for the grab on the Transition. There are multiple variations and alternatives. Of course some may think it depends on the map, trust me it doesn’t. You can run any strat you want, it’s just going to come down to whether or not that strat is effiecient or not.
7. Understanding The Mini-Map. Being able to comprehend all the great intel that your mini-map gives you is something that 99.9% of players just honestly don’t know how to do. Most of you may think that the mini-map is just for spotting enemies on the UAV and then occasionally opening up your big map to spot the far away enemies. Now where as this may be an important feature of the mini-map, it is not the only one. The next type of important intel that you can get from your mini-map is Positions. Now what I mean by that is that you know exactly where your teammates are posistioning on the map because you can see their green arrows on your mini-map. Not only can you see where they are positioned, but you can also see where they are watching by which way the arrow is pointing. I mean does it get any easier to Set-Up knowing this. The answer is “No” by the way.
By having this information in real-time, you can now accordingly Fill-In wherever a teammate isn’t. The object is to Fill-In to the farthest away positions so that the spanwers and fill-in to the shorter distance posistions, which now creates efficiency in how you save time setting-up. Most of you probably have never thought of using your mini-map as a way to set-up before until you’ve read this meaning that most of you were most likely not using your mini-map to it’s full potential. So I hope this part helps those who were unaware until now.
8. We will not talk a little about Pre-Nades. Now PN’s can be effective if either thrown all together around a certain area where the chance of inflicting damage if not killing an enemy ODB is high. Of course you can always go with the other alternative where you just all 4 throw your own PN and spread out the areas of impact. The only way to effectively find these out if you so desire to is by timing how long it takes to run each route ODB form the spawn in order to calculate at what time to throw it, how to angle it, & how long to cook it(if Symtex, then this doesn’t apply).
9. I would like to now talk about Stun Checks(Flashes just take to long to throw, which renders them inneffective for this tactic). Now using Stun Checking is to overall become fortunate in reveiling where an enemy is hiding. Or to slow them down while reveiling them as well. Now even most of you see SC as purely on offensive manuever, there are defensive tactics for this as well. For example if your about to push or you’ve just killed an enemy, turning to throw a SC at your Flank or Blind Spot which most likely is either behind you or 90 degrees to either side of you. So simply put we can assume that after you killed an enemy, your position has be compromised, so SC your BS is used as a defensive tactic. So you would throw it and then immediately go back to watching your area. Stun gernades are honestly one of the most useful items you are allowed in this game. Cherish them.
10. Now we’ll talk about Quick Shots or ODB Shots. The benefit to this is that if you can find a great angle to use for this tactic you may get lucky in killing 1 person ODB and tilt the advantage in your favor. The best example is the QS on Invasion between Courtyard and Parking Lot Spwn. You can shoot all the way down Mid St. and possibly pick off 1 or 2 ppl ODB using this angle. Works for both sides, but is more in favor of Base Spawn. If you take the time to find these, they may become your trump card.
11. Now we’ll go into Route Times. RT’s are fairly simple to figure out on your own. All you need is a stopwatch or even better, just use the clock in the game when the match starts. Then just run routes that you think your opponents would run and one’s that you would run, then write down times on how long it takes to get to a certain place or point on that map. This information will then allow you to make Pre-Nade selections and coordinate other tactics as well.
12. The Mental Game. The mental game is so important, it’s just ridiculous. Because the fact is that 99.9% of you get emotional and let your emotions show during games and after them. This is not they way to go about handling yourself. I’m not saying don’t feel down that you lost or maybe a little dissapointed, but don’t show it, because no one honestly wants to hear it. If you’ve ever watched any type of MLG Live Streams from Events, you will notice that the Pro’s don’t get emotional. When they die, they keep a straight face and just worry about what their going to do when they spawn. They don’t sit here like a lot of you may do but just won’t admit that you do, where you may say things in-game like, “WOW!!”, “OMG No FU**ING WAY!”, “HOW DID THAT BK KILL ME!”, & my personal favorite “GET SO LUCKY KID! YOUR SO BAD AT THIS GAME!”. These are all so pointless and honestly get you nowhere but put your team in a negative atmosphere and mind-state.
This is not and never will be the appropriate way to act. You have to understand that in order for Competitive to ascend and be considered to be on the same level as other Professional Sports, the attitude of the individual and players has to change for the better. Just in order for our sport of Gaming to be taken seriously.
You must train yourself to remain Calm & Collected. Be positive in every situation, but don’t milk it. Make a list of what to do and what not to do, and just read it every night before you go to sleep to improve your Mental Game. Trust me, you will see changes, & not only on the game but in your life as well, & they will be for the better. Being Mentally Strong is what every athlete wants to achieve at some point in their career & you should want to as well.
Putting all this information into a Binder would be my recommendation & using dividers to organize.
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