COD4 at Rank 52

I’ve reached rank 52 in Call of Duty 4 (four stars!). Somehow I’ve managed to do this without getting anywhere near the top of the scoreboard in any game. (I came in second once, which I was so proud of that I took a screenshot.) The point is that anyone can climb the ranks if you just put in the time, just like an MMO. (In fact, if you play Headquarters, while defending your HQ you get +5 XP every few seconds even if you just stand in a corner. So keep that in mind next time you see some rank 55 dork bragging about how good he is because he has five stars.)

(This just in: I just saw a way you can get to rank 55 “in under an hour” by haxing your COD4 executable… talk about impatience.)

Anyway, after 52 ranks I have a much better understanding of the maps, which as you might imagine is a tremendous help in playing the game. I can now do a better job of predicting where people will be, and I can correlate the red dots on the UAV with physical locations much better. (That’s not a terribly useful skill, though, since I believe most competitive tournaments disable the UAV.) I found that it was much easier to learn map layouts when playing team games (as opposed to free-for-all).

A lot of times I can get kills by throwing some random shots at choke points or through walls (the Deep Impact perk helps). I’m sure it looks like I’m using an aim bot on the Kill Cam, but I promise it’s just an educated guess based on past experience. To be extra safe, if I kill someone through a wall, I wave my gun around a little and fire some more shots after the guy’s dead just to make sure it doesn’t look like I’m using an aim bot. An experienced player should be able to tell the difference.

Speaking of kills, I still get killed pretty easily. I have no idea how all these people in 25 person pub server games get like 75:25 kill:death ratios (assuming they’re not all cheating). Mine are usually something like 15:20. If I try really hard to stay alive, it’s more like 5:10. I can get more kills if I run into the middle of everything, but then my deaths skyrocket. (Probably because my computer can’t keep up with all the action.) I can only assume that calling in airstrikes and helicopters is a tremendous boost to your kills, and probably helps exponentially. Admittedly I’ve never been very aggressive about getting kills, but still, I’ve always been able to place pretty well in pub games at least. I don’t get it. I know my aim isn’t as good as it used to be, but it can’t be that bad.

I unlocked the final assault rifle (MP44) last night, thinking it would be the most awesome gun in the game, because, you know, it’s the last one you get. Um, no - it’s crap. It recoils like a bastard, and there’s no grenade launcher. What a disappointment. I suffered through all these pub server games and the last unlockable gun is crap. Nice job, folks. Oh well. Honestly there is a rather compelling argument to be made that the M16 - the first rifle available when you start at rank 1 — is the best assault rifle in the game. Great damage, great accuracy, low recoil. Add a grenade launcher and it’s hard to beat it. I also like the M4, which is fully automatic. Statistically the AK-47 should be good but I find the sound and recoil annoying.

In the other categories, the best submachinegun is the P90, hands down. Don’t even bother with anything else. Add the Double Tap perk for faster rate of fire and it’s pretty much an insta-kill as good as the shotgun. (People will whine and call you “unskilled” though if you use it since it’s pretty powerful. Also I don’t think they allow it in tournaments.)

I like the RPD light machinegun but I don’t use it much anymore. The M60E4 is actually more powerful but I don’t like it because the sight blocks most of the screen and I can’t see the target when I zoom in. In some ways I think the light machineguns are the most powerful weapons because you can keep firing forever without reloading… if I were on defense that’s probably what I’d pick.

The best shotgun is the M1014, no question. It’s a one-shot insta-kill if you hit anywhere on your target. Only holds four shells at a time though, which is a bummer, and it’s pretty short range. Also I have trouble using it if there’s any lag.

I don’t use sniper rifles too much because I can’t hit anything and I just don’t like sniping. Right now I’m using one of the big ones (.50 cal I think) but I only pull it out on those certain maps that are basically lame sniper campfests. (You know the ones I mean — Bloc, Crossfire, and sometimes Wet Work.) Despite that, I have yet to complete any challenges for the sniper rifles heh.

All the handguns are crap, but the big shiny Desert Eagle is the least crappy. If you don’t mind using up a Perk, use Overkill and pick a shotgun or something as your secondary weapon.

I said before that Domination was a refreshing twist on Capture-the-Flag. But here’s one thing I don’t like about it: Why is it always three flags with one right in the middle of the map?? As you might imagine, everyone just runs to the middle and spams grenades at each other. Usually the team that reaches and captures the middle flag first wins the game… the rest is just waiting out the clock.

I propose that Domination should have been four flags in the four corners of the map.

Related

• COD4 Grinding and Suspicions
• CoD4 Compromised
• CoD4 Multiplayer