So for a guy who has just bought this on PS4 and it's my first CoD game ever... how should I ease myself into Multiplayer?
Some concerns I have
- People will kick me due to having a low K/D ratio
- I don't know what Prestiging is but I think it's something like New Game +. I'm not sure what I gain from it and when I need to do it.
- Ditto for prestiging Weapons.
- Should I play campaign first, and zombies?
- just in general is there any hints, tips, or even a decent "ten things CoD players should know before jumping online!" article or youtube
I don't have the game yet, but here's some tips from the beta and just CoD in general:
1) People can't kick you. If someone is talking shit over mics or sends you a message because you got a poor K/D, don't worry about it. There's plenty of people who go negative but still manage to support the team in objective modes. I'll get to this more later in the post. You probably get more shit for doing well than doing poorly in CoD anyway.
2) Prestige is really just there to help keep things fresh for people who put a lot of time into the game and/or for bragging rights. Don't feel like you have to do it if you don't care about the rewards (calling cards/emblems/extra class slots). It is in no way a measure of skill, just time. You could tape your controller to a cat's back and eventually it would roll around enough to level up.
3) In the past games Weapon Prestige just allowed you to put you clan tag/emblem on your gun and unlock camouflage/calling cards. You don't need to do it if you don't want to, but I believe it also reset some challenges in BO2 which are a good source for more XP if you want to level up your character faster. Not sure what it offers in BO3.
4) In general Campaign might help you get used to the controls, but I don't find the skills you develop there help much in MP since the AI never reacts the way people do. If you don't care about location spoilers there's rarely a reason to play it first. Zombies is IMO probably the hardest part of the game and has the steepest learning curve, so I would not start there either.
General Tips:
I'd suggest starting out with Domination in MP instead of Team Deathmatch or Free-For-All. You'll have a clear objective to work towards so even if you're not doing so great in the kills, you can support your team by taking the objectives and your deaths won't hurt the team as much as they would in TDM. It's also easier to predict where enemies will be since the spawns are more strict and (hopefully) the other team is heading towards the objectives as well.
I find the main thing in all of the games (aside from Advanced Warfare) is learning the maps and where to expect people to be. It's especially important in the BO series with it's preference for 3-lane maps. It may seem like you're getting killed from all angles at first, but stick with it and learn which routes are most popular, which windows people like to camp in. For example, ALWAYS expect someone to be in the 2nd floor hallway in Combine, either looking down the stairs or out the door to the other side. Whenever you walk by, toss a grenade in and enjoy the free kill. One you know where people tend to be you'll learn where you need to watch your back and you'll quickly find you're getting shot from behind considerably less.
Map knowledge/control is what I believe to be the most important thing, so learn it fast.
Use cover. This may sound like a no brainer, but so many people just run up the middle of a lane like crazy. They put all those boxes and garbage cans around for a reason. When advancing to where you know an enemy team is going to be coming from, move from piece of cover to piece of cover. Stick close to walls and never stay with your back to a hallway or a door.
If a corner camper gets you, don't go back for revenge. They'll most likely just switch to the corner on the next side and wait for you to come back. If you can, come in from another angle all together, such as a window, or just leave them be and continue on.
For Killstreaks/Scorestreaks/Pointstreaks, they may seem hard to earn at first, but the trick is to use lower level ones to help get you points to work for your next streak in the chain. So start with something like the UAV and then Counter UAV for your first 2. As long as you have either one in the air, you'll get assist points whenever a teammate kills someone that'll add towards the next streak. You can finish off with something like the Hellstorm missle or a Care Package. So if you can stay alive while those are up getting you points and a extra kill here or there it'll be a lot easier. Often times a player running a set of 3 low level killstreaks can be considerably more annoying that a player earning a high level gunship once in the match. It's hard to win when you have a constant stream of Hellstrom missiles dropping on your head.
Overall, expect to die. A lot. Everyone does at first and at least in the beta it felt even more frequent/random due to the Specialist skills. Once you learn where you don't want to be on a map (like right outside of a popular window) it becomes a lot easier. Try not to get frustrated with dying a lot at the start but if you keep your cool and remember how/where you died you'll soon learn what to avoid and you'll be racking up scorestreaks in no time.
