Heh well either the Deagle does 100 damage from any range or they brought back either the one hit kill bug or the "only hear one shot" problem that has been "fixed" about twelve times now. Maybe crappy onboard audio plus bad sound design is just cutting out a lot of the audio cues. Also, is there a way to tell if a server is using a high ticrate? Preferably something you can filter for?
You can put your shotguns away, the bulldog replaces them in every way. Hell, so does the Deagle. I tried going shotgun in close quarters and it was nothing but pain. The fun is gone, even with the occasional "shotgun noob" whiners. All hail our new bulldog overlords, except...
Strangely enough I keep putting up abnormally high k/d Killing Machine matches with the MG4 of all things. I didn't do anything special with it when I used it originally a hundred hours /played ago. It was once the support king but was dumped by most for the AWS. But I really take advantage of the range or the 200 rounds on people who try to plink from cover - I can keep up the suppression while I gain the angle, whereas they have to wait to use their 20 round mag. Netcode is going to favor the mag dumper every time. With everyone using shit-range Bulldog with its tiny mag, I'm easily getting multikills like knocking down dominoes. Even joyous suicidal Rambo runs were netting me 3+ multikills. (my FPS instinct is STILL to go the way my teammates aren't going because "they'll just steal kills")
On open maps I have fun killing roof/overpass campers with mortars and listening to them whine about "omg mortar noob" (you died slowly to multiple mortar hits while perched on a roof - which one of us is the noob?) And on tighter maps, the 3 claymore perk actually works all the time now instead of bugging out after a round. With so many playing assault for the new assignments I rack up resupply points almost non stop. People chase me around just so they can keep supplied, so when I run off to flank I'm less often running off by myself. (goddamn sheep are always going right up the middle while I flank alone... sigh. Result is usually I kill 1-5 of the enemy before dying in a puddle of forever alone tears at a half-capped flag.)
Maybe I'm just on a good run but for whatever reason, I'm really ripping it up as support this past week. LMG mag size + range model is a bigger advantage than I ever realized. Or maybe I'm just such an obsessive reloader that having 200 rounds of glorious freedom nullifies my compulsive habit of topping off at bad times.
tl;dr: MG4 is suddenly my new favorite toy.
^ rambling wall of text brought to you by alt-tabbing at work, and 20 hours of BF4 this week after not playing it for months.
