TheVille

Does it feel like it's always your brain being eaten? Does it seem like you never have enough health kits? Do you wish you could show those darn undead who's boss?

Worry no more! Several members of The Wrecking Crew (TM), namely TTHREAZ, Mortis, and myself, are putting together an L4D2 training event. Inspired by Buzzy's awesome TF2 teamwork classes, knowing there are quite a few new L4D2 players, and having seen and heard several folks mention that that they'd like some assistance. Here's the plan!
When: Saturday, February 16th. 7:00pm Ville Time (Central)


What: Being able to play well in a campaign is the most important thing in L4D2. The basic skills learned in campaigns will translate effectively to versus, survival, scavenge, and pretty much anything else. This first event will be focused on cooperative campaign play. If it proves popular and people are interested, we will do additional sessions covering versus mode, including specific tactics for various SI, as well as advanced techniques for survivors. Topics to be covered in this first session include:

• Items: It's necessary to be familiar with the function of every item in the game. Nobody will be an expert in all of them right away, but knowing when and how to use them is an important first step. We will cover the benefits and drawbacks of all the weapons, which healing items to use under what conditions, and the dos and don'ts of thowables and special ammo.
  
  Group Dynamics: Moving quickly is good, but hurts if it splits the team. Assault rifles are powerful, but if nobody has a shotgun, a witch in a chokepoint can be bad news. You may be hurt, but does your teammate need that last bottle of pills more than you? This will be teamwork 101, in an L4D2 context.
  
  Communication: Keeping each other apprised of what's going on is vital in any team-based game - especially when things get confusing and special infected are popping out of every corner. We'll cover the basics of what needs communication, what doesn't, and when things need to be said.
  
  Staying Alive: The goal of the game is to get all party members to the end of the map in one piece. All the weapon selection, communication, and teamwork in the world amounts to nothing if you go and get yourself killed for no reason. We'll cover some important principles of keeping yourself and your party members in fighting shape.

Who: Who are we, and what do we offer? Between us we have more than 2000 hours of L4D2 gameplay, across more than 1200 games, with nearly three quarters of a million zombie kills under our belts. We've all beaten every campaign on expert, and have died enough times along the way to have figured out reasonably well how to avoid that fate whenever possible. The game is more fun when everybody is on the same page and you feel like you're really giving the zombies what for, so hopefully the other part of this "who" can be you!

Sign Up: Sign up by posting below! Let us know if you're interested, and if there are specific questions or challenges you'd like addressed, let us know! We'll try to include it.

I need to check my schedule, but I certainly want to be there! I found our last walk-thru (and the subsequent speed-thru) to be extremely helpful.

I'm in! I could use some training.

Aww, I'm going to be visiting my daughter that weekend. I'd love to join this training
event, there's always more to learn.
Will you be having more?

Thanks for putting this event together.

Is it possible that this L4D2 training event can be recorded in game? I can't make that day, due to work, but would like to watch the campaign training.

I also still have two copies of L4D2 to give away if anyone knows someone interested in starting to play l4d2 and attending this event.

I was planning on recording the session and posting it up to youtube so you'll be covered there.

If enough people can't make this date we'll hold another session or reschedule this one so more people can make it. It will just depend on how many people sign up. We want to get anyone interested involved and participating so we'll do our best to accommodate everyone we can.

I would train... but you would only learn how to get incapped as soon as possible.

I'm the man at that!

I'll try to be there.

I hope I can make it, I definitely could use some training!

Wanna get that jockey off your back or stop that hunter and all his terribly inappropriate touching? Then give a shout out and put your name on the list! There's a week left to sign up.

If we don't get many more(or very few) signups we'll put up a poll of dates so we can get all involved!

I'd be up for it!

Sure, I can use some training.

Hey all!

With 8 folks expressing interest, we have only 3 that can make it for sure, 3 others that are "maybe," and a couple that want to be there but can't.

We'd definitely like to run this so that as many people as possible can show up. Didn't even occur (to me at least) that we were scheduling on a holiday weekend originally.

From the folks that expressed interest (and anybody else who wants to join in), would you be free next Saturday, the 23rd, instead? Another time? Is the 16th (original date) the only one that works for you? Give us a shout to let us know.

I am free next week, you can still count me in.

There's a 50/50 chance I'm in San Francisco next Saturday.