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

[=R6= Raile]

I completely agree with you

I don't understand why people think the second round would still be balanced. It matters very slightly if the infected know when they are getting the tank. The survivors however, it matters hugely for. Making sure they are full health, making sure they have molotovs, and making sure they hit it at the right time with other infected dead. It's totally unbalanced IMO. I think part of the problem is that currently there are way more people who don't know how to play this game as a team yet, then there are who do, and therefore most people don't see this as a problem. Most are usually not going to be coordinated enough on the survivor side of things to realize how powerful it is, whereas people like us are already playing with a lot of teamwork.

I wouldn't have such a huge problem with this if the infected had more control over the situation. I don't know about letting the infected choose where to spawn, as I'm not sure how it would work.. since how does the whole team choose? One person would have to be designated to choose or something. At what time would they choose aswell? I'm not sure about it, but the idea of giving them more control I think is the right one. Even if you just made the Tank's aggression bar go down more slowly, or, once hit says "you are becoming the tank", you actually got to choose where you spawned, just like other infected (although with a certain time limit so as to not give COMPLETE control to the tank as to where and when it spawns), I think this would become much more balanced. It would become more on the side of the infected being good playerrs, and knowing where to use the tank, as opposed to a team getting luck, or unlucky, as to where their tank spawns.