[Official] Gears of War 2

[GameOverRob]

Gears Of War 2 - Title Update 4 detailed:

Gears of War 2 Title Update 4 Detailed Release Notes

Improvements

Title Update 4 makes these new improvements:

? Adds the ability to collect multiplayer experience by playing Horde mode. Players currently gain experience at this rate:

o 50 points per completed Casual wave.

o 75 points per completed Normal wave.

o 100 points per completed Hardcore wave.

o 125 points per completed Insane wave.

? Adds the ability to restart Public Horde from the current failed wave instead of having to start over from wave 1. Title Update 4 also allows the host to kick players from a Public Horde session.

? Increases the frequency of downloadable content (DLC) maps showing up in map voting if all players have shared map packs.

? Adds a message at the end of the match to explain to players that they should wait before quitting so that they avoid an experience penalty for quitting early.

? Adds support for the new campaign chapter, "Road to Ruin."

? Adds 13 new achievements worth 325 points. All of the new achievements require the Dark Corners Map Pack, a set of seven new maps and a deleted campaign chapter to be released July 28. The 13 new achievements are:

o "My Way or the Highway" (25 points): Without being detected, complete the "Road to Ruin" deleted scene after choosing the stealth option.

o "Highway to Hell" (25 points): Complete the "Road to Ruin" deleted scene after choosing the guns-blazing option.

o "Two for the Road" (25 points): Complete the "Road to Ruin" deleted scene in co-op as either Marcus or Dom.

o "Be Careful What You Wish For" (10 points): Reach level 5 in multiplayer and complete waves 1 through 10 on the War Machine map in Horde (any difficulty).

o "Ride It All Night Long" (10 points): Reach level 10 in multiplayer and complete waves 1 through 10 on the Highway map in Horde (any difficulty).

o "No, But His Face Rings a Bell" (15 points): Reach level 15 in multiplayer and complete waves 1 through 20 on the Sanctuary map in Horde (any difficulty).

o "Lost in Transition" (20 points): Reach level 20 in multiplayer and complete waves 1 through 20 on the Way Station map in Horde (any difficulty).

o "Like Father, Like Gun" (30 points): Reach level 30 in multiplayer and complete waves 1 through 30 on the Allfathers Garden map in Horde (any difficulty).

o "Am I Only Dreaming?" (40 points): Reach level 40 in multiplayer and complete waves 1 through 40 on the Memorial map in Horde (any difficulty).

o "Blood on the Sand" (50 points): Reach level 50 in multiplayer and complete waves 1 through 50 on the Nowhere map in Horde (any difficulty).

o "Afraid of the Dark" (20 points): Play a multiplayer match on each of the seven Dark Corners Map Pack maps (any mode).

o "Did Not Go Gentle" (30 points): Win a multiplayer match on each of the seven Dark Corners Map Pack maps (any mode)

o "Is it Hot or Is That Just You?" (25 points): Kill 25 Bloodmounts with a Scorcher Flamethrower while playing Horde on a Dark Corners Map Pack map (any difficulty).

Exploit Fixes

Title Update 4 fixes these possible exploits, where under certain circumstances:

? A player could copy game progression data from one profile to another.

? A team could use the 50-point revive bonus to artificially increase its score in Horde. Going down but not out (DBNO) in Horde now subtracts 50 points, so there is no advantage to using the revive-bonus technique.

? A player could get 2 points for each kill in Wingman.

? A player could continue to shoot the Flamethrower while performing special movements like evading and mantling.

? A player could cause heavy weapons to spawn continuously while playing Horde.

Title Update 4 also fixes a number of lesser-known exploits.

General Fixes

Title Update 4 fixes these other issues as well:

? An issue that could cause players to lose all achievement progression if they signed in during a loading screen.

? Issues related to the Smoke Grenade causing a player to cringe instead of knocking them down. If hit by a Smoke Grenade with cringing turned on, players will now:

o Drop the Boomshield, even if aiming while carrying it.

o Drop a heavy weapon, even if it is deployed.

o Cringe while roadie running.

o Cringe while in cover.

? An issue that prevented players from shooting around the lower left side of a planted shield.

? An issue that could cause a DBNO player to not appear as DBNO.

? An issue that prevented Gears players from inviting players of other games to join them in progress in a Private match using DLC.

? Issues that caused rich presence information to become inaccurate.

? An issue that caused the overall achievements progress bar to not reflect the latest achievements.

? An assortment of localization bug fixes.

? Additional miscellaneous bug fixes.

Balancing

Title Update 4 makes these balancing changes:

? Adds a 30-second delay in map-based weapon spawning at the beginning of a Wingman match.

? Adds more future server-side balancing options.

We continue to test internally and monitor online gameplay to determine what else may need adjusting.

Wow! I cannot believe that there is still no mention of fixing the no-gun glitch

[Ayepecks]

I haven't had that glitch in a long time. I haven't played in a month or two, but I hadn't had it for a few months when I did play. I didn't know it was still there.

I'll start playing again when the new maps come out.

[GameOverRob]

It has been happening quite frequently of late.

[thefonz]

I'd just like to chime in that I got a new Xbox last week and have been playing GOW1 since then; just at the end of the Mining level on Act3 and I'm loving every single moment of it!

I got GOW2 with the bundle too so that will be loaded up next...have yet to try out MP.

[DR3AMxCATCHER]

I'd just like to chime in that I got a new Xbox last week and have been playing GOW1 since then; just at the end of the Mining level on Act3 and I'm loving every single moment of it!

I got GOW2 with the bundle too so that will be loaded up next...have yet to try out MP.

As a Gears veteran going strong since GoW1 launch...if you ever want to get good at GoW multiplayer play GoW1 first. As for campaign, GoW2 is great compared to the first one.

Overall, you'll enjoy both games but my time with them has ran out for now at least.

[g~man]

only ever played gears 2 and it was a blast, one of the best single player games out there

but for some reason i have never fired up online multiplayer... i just think it would be too sluggish and complicated for me... i prefer fps controls

[DR3AMxCATCHER]

only ever played gears 2 and it was a blast, one of the best single player games out there

but for some reason i have never fired up online multiplayer... i just think it would be too sluggish and complicated for me... i prefer fps controls

What's the difference in the controls compared to a game like Halo?

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

Quite a lot to be honest, the gaming mentality/strategy behind Gears is also nothing like that of an FPS.

[DR3AMxCATCHER]

Quite a lot to be honest, the gaming mentality/strategy behind Gears is also nothing like that of an FPS.

He was just saying controls though, meaning the controller in your hands? Or, am I missing something?

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

No he doesn't mean the physical controller, he just means the button layout / actions mapped to controls.

At least that's what I took from his quote.

[DR3AMxCATCHER]

Double XP and Title Update 4 this Friday.

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

Even though it wasn't in the release notes, I really hope they fix the no gun glitches and host advantage.

Fat chance to expect it 8 months late, but who knows.

[DR3AMxCATCHER]

You should know, Host Advantage isn't ever going away.

[GameOverRob]

Yeah, but they should never have made it worse by giving host to random people who shouldn't ever be host, at least on Gears 1 you could join a game and no what the connection would be like before you joined [within reason; 1 bar, 2 bars and 3 bars]

[Razorwing]

Finally they add exp for horde.. been waiting on that forever. Can't wait for July 28th!

[DR3AMxCATCHER]

Finally they add exp for horde.. been waiting on that forever. Can't wait for July 28th!

Update comes out tomorrow...morning. Maps and what not...28th?

[Razorwing]

Update comes out tomorrow...morning. Maps and what not...28th?

yeah waiting for Dark Corners dlc.

[DR3AMxCATCHER]

Update is out. Double XP starts today at 9 AM EST

[Razorwing]

Update is out. Double XP starts today at 9 AM EST

when does it end?

[Ji@nBing]

How is the Gears 2 multiplayer these days? I never even bothered trying it as I thought part 1's was garbage and I've heard lots of bad things about 2's when it first came out.

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

It's still broken the last time I played. Haven't played with the 4th update yet though.

[Razorwing]

they added alot of crappy annoyances this time around. When you run and get hit you cringe.. and you slow down.. -.-. Comeon! Gears are IMMUNE TO PAIN! >.< and then the knock down effect is now waay worse. I can't even chainsaw a Sire without trying to do barrel rolls around it. So god damn broken now. even worse than before. The only thing I did like was the experience points for Horde (afterall, I only play Horde anyway).

[Vykranth]

MP is still an awful experience, closer than torture than enjoyable game.

Matchmaking is slower than a snail and you are bound to lost if the host is not on your side which happens 9 times out of 10 for me.

Yesterday, I was in a game against with a connection so bad than the entire team was teleporting and we made chainsaw kills without

seeing players. 4 players in the opposing team left in the first two rounds.

The XP gains in Horde are just ridiculously low.

I guess I should leave the MP part of that game unless there is a fith title update, Gears of War 2 is bould to the shelves.

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

What a surprise :p

Said it before, will say it again one last time..the game has been broken since launch.

I think I'll finally give up on it and say screw it to the new map pack this month.

[what]

They've changed the waves on Horde. It's all tickers now, which makes things a lot easier, but you get bored. I just went up to level 35 on the first public Horde game I've played in a long time and I've never wanted a player to hurry up and die so much.

Ditto about the XP gains in Horde also. On this double XP weekend you get 150 points per wave, so from Monday it'll be 75 points and it'll take forever to get anywhere for no benefit whatsoever.

They royally screwed up this game. They need to focus on getting the next one right. It just isn't going to work.