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Post Rating:
Update Feb 19.09
Overall Left 4 Dead has been one of the most enjoyable first person shooters I have played. The game dynamic with the zombies and teammates is truly unique and versus mode is very entertaining, but there are major multi-player related issues/bugs that are very annoying that it makes you not want to play the game (at least a multi-player game).
Bugs
1. Sometimes when you create a lobby, no one can join your game without inviting them. Its a not a firewall issue either, it happens randomly where sometimes people can see your game and sometimes they cannot. It has happened to many players I have played with. We will be sitting in a lobby waiting for up to 5-10 minutes without anyone joining, then we create another public lobby game and people join instantly.
2. The same thing happens when you are in-game. L4D is notorious for having people leaving after they have gotten owned as either a zombie or survivor. Although this is looked down upon from a gaming stand point, it sucks even more because sometimes no one else can join your game. It is almost as if your game is hidden to the public. This usually results in the versus match coming to an early end due to the fact that one team is missing players and no one else can join the game. Again if you invite friends to the game they can join, but for some reason it can't be found by users looking for a game in progress. And yes people, this is a public game.
Interface Issues
If you have played any other Steam games like CS:S, DOD:S, CS, DOD, TF2, etc... You will notice they have a pretty nice server list feature where it populates all servers it can find and you can sort them by ping, map, etc... I know the game mechanics work differently in L4D since its gameplay is different from the games mentioned above, but I don't see how they couldn't have a server list split into 2 categories: Campaign,Versus or even make them sortable options. From there display all dedicated servers with games either in progress or lobbies pending. Again, the game mechanics are different especially with the lobby system they have, but I figure they could do something a bit better then it is now. The current interface of "searching for dedicated server..." is not very ideal from a user stand point or a server owner stand point. The game gives you no real incentive to purchase an L4D server because your server name does not show up in a server list, you cannot favorite a server, and everyone closes the MOTD right away anyways. So as a server owner, there is no real benefit in terms of community,clan, or website exposure.
This issue is probably a huge reason why people aren't renting servers and more clans/tourneys don't exist for the game. The game is still quite early so its understandable to have issues, but since there are so many other games under the Valve name that have great multi-player interfaces, it is suprising that L4D is lacking in that aspect.
Don't get me wrong, I still love the game and will probably play today for a few hours, but probably not without going through 2-3 lobbies to get a decent game.
Left 4 Dead (L4D) - Poor multi-player support
Post Rating:
Update Feb 19.09
We have found that if you initially start a game as a Friend's Lobby, then reverting back to a Public Lobby sometimes does not work; hence why people can't see the game. So making it initially public will make it open to everyone for sure, just make sure your buddies are ready to jump in fast.
Most of the dedicated servers out there are probably under a lot of load, which is why there are many instances of laggy connections. Everyone blames the servers saying they suck, I honestly don't think they suck, I just think there is such a small amount of servers out there that they are taking on more of a load then they are made for. Our solution to this was to have Brian host the games locally. He has a quadcore monster computer with DDR3 ram in that beast, so he can host locally with no problem.
Gripes about Left 4 Dead:Overall Left 4 Dead has been one of the most enjoyable first person shooters I have played. The game dynamic with the zombies and teammates is truly unique and versus mode is very entertaining, but there are major multi-player related issues/bugs that are very annoying that it makes you not want to play the game (at least a multi-player game).
Bugs
1. Sometimes when you create a lobby, no one can join your game without inviting them. Its a not a firewall issue either, it happens randomly where sometimes people can see your game and sometimes they cannot. It has happened to many players I have played with. We will be sitting in a lobby waiting for up to 5-10 minutes without anyone joining, then we create another public lobby game and people join instantly.
2. The same thing happens when you are in-game. L4D is notorious for having people leaving after they have gotten owned as either a zombie or survivor. Although this is looked down upon from a gaming stand point, it sucks even more because sometimes no one else can join your game. It is almost as if your game is hidden to the public. This usually results in the versus match coming to an early end due to the fact that one team is missing players and no one else can join the game. Again if you invite friends to the game they can join, but for some reason it can't be found by users looking for a game in progress. And yes people, this is a public game.
Interface Issues
If you have played any other Steam games like CS:S, DOD:S, CS, DOD, TF2, etc... You will notice they have a pretty nice server list feature where it populates all servers it can find and you can sort them by ping, map, etc... I know the game mechanics work differently in L4D since its gameplay is different from the games mentioned above, but I don't see how they couldn't have a server list split into 2 categories: Campaign,Versus or even make them sortable options. From there display all dedicated servers with games either in progress or lobbies pending. Again, the game mechanics are different especially with the lobby system they have, but I figure they could do something a bit better then it is now. The current interface of "searching for dedicated server..." is not very ideal from a user stand point or a server owner stand point. The game gives you no real incentive to purchase an L4D server because your server name does not show up in a server list, you cannot favorite a server, and everyone closes the MOTD right away anyways. So as a server owner, there is no real benefit in terms of community,clan, or website exposure.
This issue is probably a huge reason why people aren't renting servers and more clans/tourneys don't exist for the game. The game is still quite early so its understandable to have issues, but since there are so many other games under the Valve name that have great multi-player interfaces, it is suprising that L4D is lacking in that aspect.
Don't get me wrong, I still love the game and will probably play today for a few hours, but probably not without going through 2-3 lobbies to get a decent game.
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