Chopper

Chopper's Solo guide to SOE Rough video covering the first 8 rounds for @MixMasterNut Mix I'm sorry this is the best I could do! I've had to do it all over Teamviewer and it's not much fun editing a 30 minute video like that! Hope you enjoy the music, I was testing most of it for later videos. Hey guys, long time since I've had a chance to do this. I've been loving Shadow's of Evil. It's like a cross between Origins and MOTD, and working out Origins was one of my favourite things in the whole of zombies. Most of what you see in here might be common knowledge or parts can be found elsewhere, but I have a very particular way of starting this map after working out the best possible way to avoid too much tracking back and to have something repeatably consistent. Goals - round 20 (maybe 25) Completed and upgraded sword. Completed wonderweapon. Completed shield. Jugg, Quick Revive, Stamina, Mule Kick. Wonder Weapon, Ray Gun, Inferno + Blast Furnace. Setup for round 50 and above attempt. Repeatable strategy minimising backtracking and aimless wandering around. Everything you do has a clear goal and order. This might be anal, but on a map like this getting distracted can cost 15 minutes. That's all well and good when you are playing casually, but if you want to do a serious run there's a lot to do first and I find frustration leads to mistakes, which leads to game overs. Excluded Civil Protector. Activating Speed Cola and Double Tap perk. These things are easy to get later, getting the civil protector messes up a brilliant early round camping spot and the perks are completely useless for my strategy. Problems Everything on this map is a problem. No map prior to this has been as easy to go down on. Truly, I have never gone down as much as at the start of this one to single zombies. They are brutally fast once they start hitting you, and the stun affect you get from being hit seems to have been tweaked to really slow you down, and makes escaping sometimes almost impossible. I've gone down to Witches doing rituals, walking zombies whilst trying to kill Margwa; it's tough. Terms I don't know the correct names for most things, so I call them what makes sense to me. Witches - the keepers where you perform the rituals, and the guys that spawn after you pick something up. Margwa - pretty sure this is right. Balls - self explanatory. Flies - as above. Possibilities and limits You start with 3 beast modes, and get one additional per round. Unless I have missed something stupid, you can't hold more than 4. This is somewhat unfortunate as you can't stay in the spawn until round 3, taking advantage of the free double points and the drop that comes at the start of round 3. A lot of my time was spent messing around with this, and trying to decide what's best overall. There is a clear best location for Jugg, and for any serious attempt to get to 50 or above, it's incredibly important that it's in that spot. It makes a down on 50 a simple recover, compared to a shitfuck no jugg hoard up, in a damn tight area. 6 minimum beast modes required to get PAP open and the sword able to be started. Jugg would be included if it spawns at Waterworks. 7/8 beast modes required to guarantee Jugg in my location. Depends on skill level in beast, I need 8 but am working on the last one :) 9 beast modes required to access everything on the map. Locations It's hard to describe some of the areas on the map, and took me a while to get my head around. I class the map as having 10 distinct areas. 6 of those areas are the 3 districts split into 2. Each district has 2 loops within it, 1 loop per area. 1 area is spawn, 1 area is the rift and 1 area is PAP. The last is the junction. Spawn and ritual area 1. Junction - the area outside of spawn which leads to the 3 districts and down to the rift by stamina. Canals - Sewers. From Junction door, to doors leading to Hotel and train station. Canals - Hotel. Footlight - Drop off. Area from Junction to door leading to Parking Lot. Called Drop off as the perk machine has a brilliant drop off. Footlight - Garage. Area past the Drop off, cars everywhere. Waterfront - Red Room. I named this due to the red room which is behind the perk machine. This room also contains a statue. Waterfront - Gym. Once past the gate and heading down from the Beast mode on a table, I call it the gym. Rift - the rift. PAP - where PAP is. I'll cover these in more detail later. The gist is that the 3 districts are split by doors that can be opened and define the areas. Junction, spawn, The Rift and PAP are self explanatory. The guide This guide assumes some basic knowledge of the map, the beast locations and things to get done. You really need to maximise beast modes where possible. The downfall to not doing this is losing rounds and things becoming harder to do. The first 3 rounds are pretty much stab only. As they are all walking on these rounds it's not a problem. You also have perma Jugg. With the new knifing improvements you can avoid all drops by pulling back as you knife. You should do this ;) Round 1 The only way I start is by restarting until Jugg is in the Footlight district. As soon as the round starts I sprint to see if that location is Red after opening the spawn door. In an ideal world a max ammo would also be the hidden drop in the spawn room. For 100 I'd say that's essential too. Knife 5 zombies, leaving one. Beast mode 1 - Take the beast mode in the spawn and activate the following. Drop in spawn. Quick Revive. Ball in Spawn. Electricity meter straight ahead out of spawn for the pen. Grapple up above spawn, and sprint round to activate the first ritual door Pick up ball and pen, knife the keepers that appear. Pay attention to these! Perform ritual behind/above spawn. This gets you 500 points, which are important. You should have 1150 points now, open to first door to Footlight district. Beast mode 2 - Take the beast mode just as you enter the area and go round the first corner. Smash the crate holding the statue. Grapple above just past the crate. Run to the drop off and jump across to smash the little crate holding the ritual item. Jump back across and activate the Jugg machine. Activate the Jugg door. End the round standing by Jugg machine. Collect Ritual part. Collect Shield part. That's a lot to do in round 1. In the early rounds the more you can do, the better in beast modes. It can be very easy to end rounds by accident, and quickly you can waste beast modes and be getting on higher rounds than you are strictly comfortable on with the current setup. This leads to mistakes, which lead to GAME OVERS! I find a lot of this map is managing frustration, especially when you are learning it. Round 2/3 (sometimes round 4) At the start of round 2, you are going to have around 300 points or so, plus 2 beast modes. I am lumping these 2/3 rounds together because what you do is dependent on what drops you get, and how you feel. I lump it potentially to round 4 because you can play 2, 3 and 4 however you like and not waste any beast modes. Goals by end of round 4 Jugg and Vesper. Rift open from Footlight - Drop Off. 2 rituals completed and first Margwa defeated with Margwa Heart. 1 shield part. Stamina available (and possibly purchased) How I've been kinda doing it :) Round 2 Stab 7 zombies Open door to Footlight - Garage Beast mode 3 - Activate Beast Mode in middle of the cars. Grabble above Burlesque lounge Electric box to open lounge Jump off and sprint towards spawn Smash open Rift door in Footlight - Dropoff Shock and activate Stamina Tips Practise these 2 beast modes. They aren't too hard and make things much easier. There are 3 so far, and all can be attempted or trialed on round 2 (first 2) or round 3 (lounge and stamina) if necessary. To try the 3rd one you need to have completed the first ritual or used a *2 - you need to have gained 2750 points total to access the last one. If you stab all zombies on 1 and 2, plus board all windows you will have 2540 points. Some shooting in legs can take care of the extras but the starting pistol is damn powerful and easy to kill them with. If having trouble with stamina one, don't worry about it, same for the rift. Round 3/4 There are a few ways to chill in the Footlight district - I like by the perk machine and by the statue. Round 3 are all walkers, so stab away like crazy. Round 4 you will want either Jugg or the Vesper first. Are you more confident in your shooting or movement and 'zombie awareness'? I personally take Jugg first, as I'm comfortable shooting a few bullets in the head, and stabbing the runners on round 4. I prefer getting the Vesper 2nd too as the more ammo you have in it, the better. Before ending round 4 you need to have gained 3750 points over rounds 3 and 4 to have both of these. It shouldn't be too much of a problem, just make sure when you stab zombies to pull away from the drop. End round 4 Keep a zombie or 2, preferably undamaged entirely. It makes the next part easier. Go to the lounge and perform the ritual. Be prepared as a Margwa is going to rock up now. The reason I like buying the Vesper after Jugg, is then I will likely have more ammo in it which is nice for the next part. When you finish the ritual the zombies will respawn - it's great to get a crawler before Margwa arrives. Sometimes the zombies are slow enough that you can take out an eye before they appear. The idea is to have him sprinting around so you can gain distance from him, and he can get distance from zombies. With a crawler, this isn't such a problem but with a runner it's more difficult. What I tend to do is run around the lounge, using the stairs to create a basic loop. Eventually you will have a clear shot at him with the zombie behind you, get that first eye done when you can and then he is sprinting. Once he gets his jog on, basically run away from him towards spawn. Keep turning around with some distance to him and using patience he really is no problem. I like to take out the flies immediately on destroying an eye, as they are a nuisance. You will be on 3 beasts at the end of round 4 doing it this way. Extra for round 4 If after doing this you have 1000 points to spare, open the Waterfront. All the next steps are planned to be in the PAP area at the end of round 7. Depending on games they maybe done at slightly different times or rounds, but with careful consideration they can all be done by then. Round 5/6/7 One of these rounds will be a flying boss round. I don't like doing things with the flies, as they tend to die when you perform rituals. I also find them incredibly irritating, without being dangerous. If I do things on these rounds, it's generally going to be at the start of the round. Goals by end of round 7 PAP open Sword rituals made ready - Egg collected Entire map open excluding train station areas from perk locations I'll list an example of what I do on what rounds, but it maybe different depending on points, your preference and when the fly rounds is. Round 5 You need to use a beast mode to not waste one. Have opened Waterfront - red room - 1000. Beast mode 4 - Enter beast mode at entrance. Grapple above perk machine area. Zap perk machine. Sprint past perk machine and smash open crate in red room containing statue. 180 turn, sprint back past the perk machine and go straight ahead and zap gate opening the perk machine. End the round if it's flies, try to perform some of the round 6 stuff if it's not. Pick up shield part. Round 6 Open Waterfront - Gym - 1250. Beast mode 5 - use beast mode on table above that gate you just opened. Grapple straight opposite Beast mode. Grapple again opposite where you land. Knock the crate off containing the belt. Jump from this location back to the table where you got beast mode. Sprint past this table, and down towards the gym Turn left at the bottom and smash the door to the gym open. Perform gym ritual. You now need to consider where you are at. If round 6 was the flies, consider leaving the Gym ritual until round 7. Doing the ritual with flies can end rounds, which is really bad :) Next steps - some during 6 if possible, otherwise during 7 Take train from Waterfront to Footlight (have left 1 zombie!) Look out of the right hand window, you will collect the first 2 red symbols. I've been pausing and writing them down. Arrive at Footlight, the majority of the time there will be a zombie spawning behind a window. Keep him there to wait for the train to recharge. Take the train towards canal when ready. Look out of the right hand window and towards the end of the journey you will get a 3rd symbol. Arrive at canals, in an enclosed area. If you have the money, open the 1250 door too. Beast mode 6 - go into beast mode by the big crate containing the statue. Smash the crate Run around to the front of the Hotel (the pink room area, think it's a hotel?) Grabble above the hotel, drop down, turn left, down the stairs, zap the gate open. If you are a hero, and have opened the 1250 gate it's possible to open the next perk location and activate the machine. I always get the machine, almost never get the door open. You only need it for the shield playing my way, and you can buy your way to it from the train station anyway. Open the 1250 door from Canals - Hotel to Canals - Sewer. Beast mode 7 - Take beast mode right next to the entrance to the Sewers from Spawn. Run towards the hotel and when you go through the arch drop down to the left. Smash open grate/crate for the ritual key. Smash open rift area Continue forward and head to the right on the fork. Past the stairs, there is the electric box to open the grate to access the ritual key. Collect key from sewer and go to the hotel to perform ritual. Defeat Margwa in the same way you did earlier. Enter the rift from the sewers. Beast mode 8 - take beast mode in the rift right next to the wall with the sword symbols. Smash crate. Enter symbols. Zap Widow's Wine. Zap Mule Kick. Zap open door above Mule Kick leading to Stamina. Open PAP door. Place all 4 worms. Start PAP ritual. Kill Margwa. Good to disco! So we could in theory have a very good game from here. PAP is available as is the rift for training. What I now tend to do is just chill in the rift for 4 or 5 rounds, building some points, waiting for the pods to bloom and preparing for what's next. To complete the swords it's ideal to have the wonder weapon with you. Training the rift It's tough to describe what to do in here tbh. When you have lots of zombie experience, it's a fairly straightforward area with 2 ways to run. My preferred method is to just circle infront of the eggs. I'm comfortable doing this but there is definitely some more advanced hoarding required. There are some blindish turns required, and a lot of direction changes. The idea is to get an entire hoard and then take them out with the trusty Vesper. Once this gun is PAPed, it becomes ridiculous. The alternate method which is used when the Margwa is around is to run a clockwise circle around the entire rift area, excluding PAP. Again, this does require a bit of dodging and has some tight spots through some of the tubes but with a little practise it's manageable. For right now I'm going to leave this guide as it is. I have been working on later gameplay and am still tweaking parts of it. I will include a video of me playing to round 12 or so for anyone interested in wasting 25 minutes or so of your life. I wish I was better at formatting so this looked a little nicer. I believe all the information is pretty concise, and lays out a map and path to be able to get to PAP without too much hassle. I'm 99% certain that that is the majority of people's issues, how to actually get going on the map! When it takes a good 20 minutes to get going, it's incredibly frustrating to either waste time or keep going down trying to do things at the wrong time. I hope this helps. Cheers, Chopper

I'll add everyone on PC tomorrow and see if we can get some games in. Really want to try some old school camping on The Giant as Double Tap plus the Paps could make it insane!

Ironic for a developer that started on PC. You are right though, I mean Project Rekt completely knocked it out of the park didn't they.

@Hells Warrrior@Lenne and @DeathBringerZenhave calmed me down somewhat. I might have to accept that console is going to be a better option for most AAA games. I do want to enjoy this game, I want to enjoy playing this with all the friends I've made since discovering zombies. It's a shame, but it's true. I'll wait until we get some insane mods in the next couple of years then drift back towards PC.

I don't actually know what to do right now. The gist of it - Playing on an i5 you will get frames drops (actually they are advising to lock to 2 cores!!!!) RAM leak is eating 16Gb within a few hours. 12GB of VRAM is being maxed out. The total ludicrousness of the above is truly unbelievable in 2015. I am more than likely going to get a refund on the PC version and have a hard think this weekend about what to do. I really do not want to buy a PS4 just for zombies. I have serious issues with the entire 'month early' access able to be purchased by Sony (and Microsoft before). I have personal issues supporting shoddy development (whilst I respect everyone's opinion on this there is no way anyone is going to change my mind on the fact that the game should be released perfect, especially when they are happy to take pre-orders for it). Without being a PCMR douche playing on a console seems kinda pointless when I have a kick arse PC. Watching people play Der Riese again with snow, a few new perks and moved machines is depressing as hell. They couldn't even have made a new map for release. The Giant should have been a free addition in the first DLC. Sorry for the rant, right about now I'm in the mood to say fuck Treyarch and zombies, give up my staff position and never frequent these parts again. ttps://www.reddit.com/r/pcgaming/comments/3rr5y4/call_of_duty_black_ops_iii_pc_performance_problems/https://www.reddit.com/r/pcgaming/comments/3rr5y4/call_of_duty_black_ops_iii_pc_performance_problems/

Unfortunately this is now the norm in gaming. Shoddy day one releases, massive patches within the first week, having to pay for more and more content. It's just become a very sad situation.

It convinced me to not bother buying a console that's for sure. I will not be playing BO3 like I played the previous games. I don't have the same time or desire to play so hardcore. I'll miss playing with my bulldog mates but I'll get over it. In 2 years time they will all get it on PC anyway once there are no more DLCs and there are some great new modded maps out there. If I want to speak to them in the meantime, that's what teamspeak is for.

I'm about 95% certain I'll only be getting BO3 for PC. There is a chance I will give in and get a PS4 before release, but I reckon I'll only do that if I really want the DLCs first. With that in mind, anyone else on CODZ only getting this game on PC? Anyone who is fancy some day one action?

Is there anyone else out there who is only getting BO3 for zombies? I for one am as I have zero interest in MP and will complete the campaign just once. Is it just me or are there others out there the same?

Beast mode is when Chopper is playing. For real.

@the_clay_bird - Sloan swoon. @Matuzz how do you do it mate? @PINNAZ once I'm home from work I'll take care of all that stuff mate if no-one else gets a chance. This thread is a goldmine guys, you are all really showing just how many great minds are on here.

I don't care nor do the majority of people about why they are using snapchat, or why they shouldn't be. @LiamFTWinter explained how and why it might be used, that's the end of it. Please keep all posts relevant to the information being released, not how it is. No responses to this please.

It's a nice strategy actually mate, it's not that different to how you would start for a no power attempt, which the record is round 35. The only difference with no power is you would stay in the Thompson room until round 8 or so, and then go and hit the box. You need Waffe and monkeys really before the box moves.

MK Ultra seems right to me www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_MKUltra Edit - not sure who mentioned this first but I saw it from @MixMasterNut

'Let your thoughts drift, let the bad memories fade, let peace be upon you' What the teaser says, what do we think?

I gotta agree with what @the_clay_bird said. I bought Ghosts early entirely for Extinction. I would have more than likely done the same for AW if this mode had been their from the start. TBH, I'm so happy they did it like this as it saved me money. But they would have gotten my money if they had done it differently. I'm in a tiny minority for sure, but I totally agree that it was a Rookie move on their part they way they went about the whole thing.

I'm sure there is something there in this, it's a mighty coincidence if not. Be interested to see if we can link the next drops to this at all.