My Experiences With Shooters

[DeadOfKnight]

Well getting back to the OT I may not have the best reflexes or the required experience to be very skillful in any situation, but I think I have enough to be able to compete with any other newbie. But it's this experience gap that prevents any progression from being a fun and positive experience. I just don't know where to begin. I don't know a mature community to get involved with that has the patience for playing with someone like me on their team. I am speaking primarily about PC games. I have a good 3500 dpi Razer DeathAdder gaming mouse that I am using.

I have the same kind of problems when I play other games like DotA Allstars. People aren't very welcoming if they are losing because of me, so I just end up throwing in the towel. Maybe there are good tutorials out there that I am unaware of that can teach me what I'm doing wrong. I remember I tried playing Deus Ex, a single-player shooter, and I couldn't even get past the tutorial because I had no idea what I was doing when trying to control my character. But then I play a game like Oblivion and my preferred playstyle is that of an archer, I pretty much played the whole thing like it was a stealth shooter. I guess there's just different mechanics here that I haven't grasped yet to enjoy all but a select few.

Can anyone identify what kind of shooters I am good at so I can be better at choosing games that I'll actually enjoy?

[Airmantharp]

You should play through the FEAR series. Best played at night with the lights off, just remember to turn them on so you can go to sleep afterwards.

[tanker27]

DoK,I would have to suggest to stick with Team Fortress 2. Pick a class and learn it. Also pick a map, like 2 fort and just go at it.

[kamikaziechameleon]

DoK,I would have to suggest to stick with Team Fortress 2. Pick a class and learn it. Also pick a map, like 2 fort and just go at it.

Second that, TF2 and BC2 are the two best team class based shooters out there. If you find you are challenged in the shooting department pick a non shooting roll while warming up your skills. As engineer or medic you get to observe allot of techniques.

[tanker27]

I have been having a lot of fun in TF2 recently, learning classes that I never played before. I still suck at being a spy. One of the things that make you competitive is the scripting available. While some may see it as cheating its not. Everyone can use these scripts its up to you if you choose to.

Most script simplify actions. Take the rocket jump for instance. I combines two (or three, depending on the type of rocket jump) key presses into one. You still have to aim downward Another is the quick scope of the Sniper, yeah this is boarderline but hey everyone can use them!

[Meadows]

Totally disagree. (Though I can understand why some people prefer mouse accell.) Mouse accelleration is the worst thing possible for all of the above. What you want is super high sensitivity and zero mouse accell. Then your muscle memory knows exactly how far to throw and you only have to throw a very short distance to do a full turn. Aiming becomes a fine control art but you will learn it with time. The way to do this is to play for about 10 hrs at one sensitivity and then slowly increase your sensitivity in little chucks until your pratically off the chart.

That's the perfect way to lose. Quake Live strafe jumping requires fine movements for maximum speed, and if you increase the sensitivity, you essentially increase the angle that one count of mouse movement results in.
Increase it too far, and you can visibly see your camera glitch from one angle to the next, even if you only push the mouse by a single pixel - this is because you increased the multiplier (sensitivity) so far. And this is why professionals almost all use acceleration (I'm not daring to speak for everyone, but I personally haven't seen a pro without). If you remove acceleration and increase the sensitivity, you will never be able to move at the speed of the best players. Ever.

Here's a demonstration from one of the top players today: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgMAZvtd1ec
Skip to 3:50, because there's a lot of nonsense and talking in the first half of that video. Both players use acceleration, and you can clearly see it too: fine aim every time when it matters, and agile running/jumping maneuvers every time they're not fighting.
High sensitivity ruins your aim and also fatigues your hand muscles very fast if you try so much as just aim properly at something.

Muscle memory learns acceleration too - before long, you will know from your gut just how fast you have to flick to get a desired movement. Acceleration is not haphazard, it's just as predictable as anything else. And for everything else, like fine aiming, you can maintain a relaxed hold (no stress on your hand) and high precision if you use an accel setup.