L4D UPDATE! Options

[MonkeyFiend]

Valve have just updated Left 4 Dead, the changelog is:

January 14, 2009 - Left 4 Dead Update Released


Left 4 Dead has been updated with a host of fixes, tweaks and new features, including enhancements to Versus mode for improved competitive play. The full change list is below. For PC users the update will be applied automatically via Steam. Meanwhile, the update will be made available to Xbox 360 players in the coming weeks.

General

• Fixed Survivors being able to climb surfaces marked for versus infected only
• Fixed a class of SurvivorBot bugs dealing with rescuing downed players
• Players can no longer grab ladders while flying through the air after a Tank punch
• Shooting near a car with an alarm that has already fired the alarm will no longer make chirping noises
• Improved loading time
• Fixed mini-gun physics exploit
• Fixed propane tanks (and other physics objects) causing players to fall through elevators
• Fixed rare achievement bug issues
• Fixed several map exploits
• Fixed various match making issues
• Fixed NAT traversal issues

Versus Changes

• Added HUD elements to show status of other infected players
• Changed color of infected player name in chat to red
• Fixed exploit where players could spawn infected bots
• Fixed instance where a Survivor changing to the infected team would be attacked by infected bots
• Normalized special infected melee damage
• Made the following client commands cheat protected: "Kill" and "explode"
• Fixed exploit where infected players could run away and teleport back to gain health
• Players can only change teams once per map
• Players can't change teams while other players are still loading
• Tank spawns at the same % through the map for both teams in versus mode
• Made the Tank and Witch spawn directly on the escape route
• Increased chance of getting the Tank or Witch
• Fixed team swap issue

Hunter

• Easier to pounce a Survivor who is meleeing
• Increased Minimum damage a Hunter pounce does

Smoker

• Fixed Smoker tongue tolerance
• Smoker now has to be killed or the tongue destroyed for the tongue to break
• Survivor's cannot bash someone off the tongue until the Survivor being pulled is paralyzed or hanging
• Tongue attacks that fail to paralyze or hang a Survivor will use the shorter ability delay timer
• Fixed cases where the ability timer was not using the correct time
• Fixed case where you could point at a Survivor but not register a tongue hit
• Fixed Smoker tongue not targeting and landing properly through PZ ghosts
• Smoker tongue does damage every second while dragging paralyzed Survivors

Tank

• Bashable objects now appear with a red glow
• Tanks hitting a car with an alarm disables the alarm permanently
• Tank frustration timer is only reset by hitting Survivors with rocks or fists
• Reduced autoshotgun damage against Tanks

Witch

• Witch spawns at the same % through the map for both teams
• Avoids spawning within a certain % of the tank
• Fixed an exploit where the Witch could be woken up and tricked into attacking Survivors

[MonkeyFiend]

I've seen comments along these lines on various forums citing a balance: 1st round - neither team prepared, 2nd round - both teams prepare a set peice, ergo balance.

However this is flawed as:

1. This assumes that prepared infected = prepared survivors. I suspect even the most co-ordinated infected still can't match co-ordinated survivors, therefore the team playing survivors in the 2nd round have an advantage

2. On the 2nd round the event is triggered by the suvivors. This means they camp just before the tank point and wait for the infected to spawn, kill them, then trigger the tank. They basically control when the tank appears.. also allows them to be cocks and not trigger the tank until they clear the other infected or spent a little more time before the tank event scavenging for explosives.


I'd prefer it both teams got the same amount of tanks and the nominated tank, at the beginning of the round, was able to pick a position to spawn in at a later point in the game when the survivors got near to that point.

This would allow tanks to spawn in a strong location and for survivors aware of this to prepare while also allowing some randomness e.g. a tank may choose a weaker spawn point, in order to catch survivors off-guard