Questions Answered: Part 1 – Game Mechanics, Weapons & PEC System
Questions Answered: Part 2 – Multiplayer
Questions Answered: Part 3 – Story Mode / Terrorist Hunt



Multiplayer

Max # of players:
360 - 14, Dedicated Server 16
PS3 - 14 Dedicated Server 16
PC - 14, Dedicated Server 16


No map editor.
Ever hear someone tell you, “I’ll take your whole team on”? Multiplayer matches no longer have to be balanced. For example, you can now have a game of 7 vs 2 (Player Match only). No host migration. No split screen online. No multiple “squads” per team.

Join In Progress - You now have the option of allowing players to join in the middle of a multiplayer map and play right away instead of waiting until the end of the match. You can toggle this option if you want joiners to wait until the end. No party-invite.

Menu Interface – Vegas 1 fans will be happy to know that when in a full room, you can now swap teams without asking someone to leave and re-invite them back. As mentioned in Part 1, you now have 4 slots for custom preset equipment templates: Assault, Recon, Demolition & Sniper. Whatever weapons and gadgets you save on each template will always be there as you freely swap between them. From the multiplayer menu, you have the following:

Launch Game (host only)
Change Team
Outfitting
Match Settings (changeable by host)
Players
Options
A.C.E.S.
Statistics

Communication - While your team is talking, your HUD will display the person’s name on the top left, showing you who is talking.

Sprinting & Bullet Penetration – Sprinting and Bullet Penetration is available in all modes. Please refer to Part 1 for more information.

Host Control in Ranked Matches Improved - Ranked Matches are a competitive area where players go to affect their statistics. Therefore, we have certain “fixed” settings that cannot be modified by the host in order to create a fairer experience:

- Join In Progress: Disabled
- Game Invitations: Enabled
- Friendly-Fire: Host Control
- Host cannot kick players under any circumstances; In Lobby & In Game.
- Automatically kick a player after 3 Team-Kills
- Lock Teams: Host Control
- Host cannot force a player to change teams
- Auto-Swap Teams: Host Control
- Game cannot start until there is an even number of players on both teams. (ex: 3v3, 4v4)
- Require a minimum number of 4 players before starting the game.
- Modify respawn setting: Disabled; therefore this setting is disabled from the CREATE MATCH and MATCH SETTING screens altogether.

I am very pleased to announce that Vegas 2 has the option for you to invite your friends into ranked matches (while in the multiplayer lobby). The person who invites and the person who accepts will be on the same team. Think: ranked clan matches with you and your friends.

Radar (Overhead Map) – Can be toggled on or off and is auto-saved to your system. You can set this under multiplayer OPTIONS.

Kill Cam – When enabled, the camera will look to the location from which the killing shot came. Kill cam can be toggled on or off under multiplayer MATCH SETTINGS.

Loading Times - Much, Much Better!
We substantially reduced the waiting & loading times associated with playing multiplayer compared to Vegas 1.

* No loading of the multiplayer menu to play online; the PEC is now part of the main menu.
* PEC assets are streamed, so there is no need to load other players' PEC assets.
* Join in Progress eliminates having to wait in observer mode until the round ends.
* Coop Tango Hunt can be launched alone, so you aren't waiting in a lobby for more players to connect before you can play.
* Clients and host load maps simultaneously, as opposed to having the host first load the map and then all clients following afterwards.

We also optimized the replication of custom faces across the network. We've noticed in Vegas 1 that when there is a full multiplayer room of custom faces, it would sometimes take over 15 minutes to load them all (and would be pending with a default face until they loaded). In Vegas 2 we have optimized the custom faces so even with a full room each face would load in a minute or less (depending on the connection). With our tests they loaded in a matter of seconds.

Rankings – Vegas 2 will reward returning gamers with enough XP to make the first rank, as well as extra gear to help you on your mission. If you are a returning Elite (or completed story mode on realistic difficulty) you will be rewarded all the benefits that veteran gamers get + more.

XP Cap per match – There is none! Depending on how well you play (A.C.E.S., Team Kill, Suicide, # of Kills, etc) you can earn up to and over 1200 XP (which was the cap limit in Vegas 1). Mind you, it takes a lot of skill to earn over 1200 XP per match.

"I'm not cheating... a fly died in the center of my screen"
In multiplayer modes, players do not have a crosshair when covering against a wall. If you've played Vegas 1 multiplayer, you most likely came across a gamer who put a black dot in the middle of their screen with a marker, or a put a small rip of paper in the center held by a piece of tape. Whatever the case may be, there was no way to stop them from aiming from behind cover with their self-made crosshair and killing you in a blink of an eye. Enter Vegas 2, where pop-n-shoot has a movement penalty applied to the accuracy. Players are encouraged to peek around corners when waiting instead of covering to pop-n-shoot.

Multiplayer Modes

Team Leader (NEW): Eliminate the enemy team’s leader and their team while protecting your own leader. As long as the Team Leader is still alive, all other team members can respawn to aid the team. Once the Team Leader is killed, there will not be anymore respawns for the team. However, if the Team Leader kills someone on the opposing team, they will no longer respawn whether or not their team leader is alive or dead.

Total Conquest (NEW): A revised version of Conquest mode, Total Conquest is an intense back-and-forth game where the tide can turn at anytime. Capture all three satellite transmitters and hold them for the duration of the countdown. If a satellite is interrupted the countdown resets.

Deathmatch: Free-for-all combat with no mercy. The player with the most kills wins the match. Respawns optional. Renamed from Survival & Sharpshooter.

Team Deathmatch: Two teams compete by hunting each other to see which team will rack up the most kills. Respawns optional. Renamed from Team Survival & Team Sharpshooter.

Attack & Defend (There are three game types depending on the map)

A&D - Item Extraction: The Attackers must reach and pick up a briefcase, then bring it to an extraction zone. The Defenders they must prevent this from happening. The match can also be won by eliminating the opposing team. C4 cannot be attached to the briefcase. The Defenders cannot pick up the briefcase.

A&D - Hostage Rescue: Two hostages are placed in different areas of the map. To win, the Attackers must successfully locate and escort the hostages to the extraction point. The Defenders must prevent the attackers from escorting the hostages to the extraction area.

A&D – Demolition (NEW): One team must pick up the bomb and successfully detonate it inside one of the target sites. The other team must prevent this from happening by finding the bomb and defusing it. In other words, there is a role-reversal where the attackers become the defenders (arm bomb then protect it during the countdown), and defenders become the attackers (defend target sites then defuse it when armed).

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Ubi.LevelUp,

quote:

UbiLevelUp:
No map editor.

{sniffle} {sniffle}

However, I do like the COMMUNICATION. That's going to be sweet.. No more relying on TeamSpeak...


What about SADS???

thanks for the info, but i take it there is no way of playing the game with a "hardcore" setting, not even server options to allow it:

toggle options
max health: miniscule
health regen: off
HUD: off

quote:

Originally posted by Ubi.LevelUp:
Radar (Overhead Map) – Can be toggled on or off and is auto-saved to your system. You can set this under multiplayer OPTIONS.

Just to clarify, that's a host option that disables radar for everybody in the room, right?

quote:

Originally posted by Ubi.LevelUp:
A&D - Item Extraction: ...The Defenders cannot pick up the briefcase.

Has anything been done to give the defenders a chance if the attackers decide that instead of trying to win the round, they just capture and camp out next to the briefcase racking up kills? i.e. does the package reset to the starting point if the attackers drop it for a certain amount of time?

Is Retrieval completely gone?

I noticed in the Diary #2 video that you can see if respawns are turned on for each game in the server list, but you need to highlight each match to find out. Since Survival and Sharpshooter are now both named "Deathmatch" there's no way to tell them apart without scrolling through each game in the list. Is there going to be a way to filter the list to only respawn/no-respawn games?

Thanks for the info

It all sounds good but I'm kind of upset that clan support hasn't been brought back

Awsome stuff, i am really looking forward to the game even more now. but i still have some questions or things to be clarified.

1. will players show up on oposing radar if they are not crouched like in vegas 1? how did it work anyway i heard if you wore little to no armor this isnt the case but it was never clear to me.

2.has the hosting been upgraded to diminish lag that overwhlemed vegas 1 and rid the unfairness that the host has?

3. will there be a party system, or is it still invite only?

4. will there still be the same easy dedicated server glitching of the ranks like there was in vegas 1 which many people exploited to get to elite in no time? i assume players can only get xp in ranked matches?

5. has the crash to xmb screen for ps3 been fixed?

6. im a little confused with the whole pec ranking, you can only get xp during online matches, the single player unlocks and xp are sperate?

so far it looks awsome, a great number of improvments have been added, cant wait!

Thanks LevelUp

Good stuff, thanks for hte info.. will a map editor be something for a future expack or DL?
Also, any SADS for the PC crowd?

quote:

Originally posted by MeanMF:

quote:

Originally posted by Ubi.LevelUp:
Radar (Overhead Map) – Can be toggled on or off and is auto-saved to your system. You can set this under multiplayer OPTIONS.

Just to clarify, that's a host option that disables radar for everybody in the room, right?

Multiplayer options is on the game menu. So it would be an individual players preference as to whether or not they want the radar on or off.

quote:

Originally posted by cypher235:

quote:

Originally posted by MeanMF:

quote:

Originally posted by Ubi.LevelUp:
Radar (Overhead Map) – Can be toggled on or off and is auto-saved to your system. You can set this under multiplayer OPTIONS.

Just to clarify, that's a host option that disables radar for everybody in the room, right?

Multiplayer options is on the game menu. So it would be an individual players preference as to whether or not they want the radar on or off.

why would someone turn the radar off, thats just giving them a disadvantage over everyone with it on.

In the videos, it appears that your team has matching uniforms in multiplayer.

Will there be an option in multiplayer to force a team to have matching uniforms but still be able to customize from the neck up or is it like Vegas 1 where everyone looks different?

Thanks!

quote:

Multiplayer options is on the game menu. So it would be an individual players preference as to whether or not they want the radar on or off.

if this is the case, how does that make ANY SENSE?

i cant remember anywhere anyone EVER asked for radar toggle to be an individual one (why the hell would you purposely give other players an advantage over you).

we SPECIFICALLY asked for server side radar toggle that affects all players.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Ubi.LevelUp:

Multiplayer

Max # of players:
360 - 14, Dedicated Server 16
PS3 - 14
PC - 14, Dedicated Server 16

QUOTE]
why is there no dedicated sever option for the ps3?

quote:

Originally posted by AntiPersonnel:
i cant remember anywhere anyone EVER asked for radar toggle to be an individual one (why the hell would you purposely give other players an advantage over you).

Yeah I can't imagine that they would have done it that way, because it would be completely pointless. I don't see how anybody could get the idea that people wanted to be able to turn off their own radar but not other peoples'. But from the way LevelUp worded it, it sounds like that might be what's in the game. Hopefully he'll clarify it for us.

In part 1 something was mentioned about realistic mode. Can you tell us what this entails?

I think he meant Realistic for Campaign and T-Hunt.

And it sounds to me that the Radar is a host option.

quote:

Originally posted by AntiPersonnel:
why the hell would you purposely give other players an advantage over you

I totally agree with you. Knowing my friends, most people are going to keep it on. However, there are veterans who asked for an option to toggle it off because they felt it took too much of the screen, so at least we gave them an option. This is not a host option.

quote:

Originally posted by Ubi.LevelUp:
there are veterans who asked for an option to toggle it off because they felt it took too much of the screen...This is not a host option.

Wow...I don't know where to begin. If I post an actual reply to this right now I'll probably get banned, so I'll just leave it at that.

quote:

Originally posted by AntiPersonnel:

wouldnt it make MORE sense to include OPTIONS to toggle on/off that would allow us older gamers to enjoy the vegas experience as much as new fans do?

At the risk of getting my wee-wee rap'ed I think I can answer that.

It's because they need to have options that are addressable/applicable/available in all platforms. So, for something that would be perfectly logical and rational for a PC, if it's not doable on a PS3 or an XBOX 360, then it won't be included..

Judging from all the posts and info to date, that's my assessment..

quote:

Originally posted by SODsniper:
It's because they need to have options that are addressable/applicable/available in all platforms. So, for something that would be perfectly logical and rational for a PC, if it's not doable on a PS3 or an XBOX 360, then it won't be included..

All hail the great PC!

COD4 has the same server options on PC and console including radar toggle, regen health, HUD, sprinting, etc. Yeah.. Even Halo has a radar toggle.