NML: Is It a Separate Game-Mode Altogether?

[perfectlemonade]

Hello everybody! I was talking to a user that requested to stay anonymous tonight about No Man's Land. He told me, "Perfectlemonade, I just don't see what's the big deal about No Man's Land. All it basically is kiting and getting your pistols PaP'd quickly. In my opinion, playing the actual game shows way more skill than kiting in No Man's Land" (I paraphrased that).

Well, my anonymous conversational buddy, I disagree. I am in no way a good No Man's Land player. It is, undoubtedly, the weakest point of my game. I get pretty decent PackaPunch times, usually between 85-95 seconds, but it's the time between Jug and when I get my pistols that I usually go down. Crazy, right? But it's true.

Anyways, I feel that conventional Zombies methods just do not work in No Man's Land. You can't buy an M14 off the wall. You have to jump in the thick of things. Take risks you usually wouldn't take. It's you, Juggernog, and your gun. That's it. There's no Mystery Box. There's no 74u. You must know how to capitalize your points in an incredible amount of time.

That's why there's a solo leaderboard.

And that's why, in my humble opinion, NML is in a class of its own. You can rock at solo games, rock at co op, and be ass at NML. If you can get such varying results then, would it be safe to assume that NML is a completely different game mode, not unlike Dead Ops Arcade or dare I even say Nacht der Untoten? Moreover, where is the line drawn between conventional Zombies maps? When there's no doors to buy? When there's no perks? And where does No Man's Land stand? Discuss.

-perfect

[Doggy II]

Can you reveal the identity of this anonymous user?

[perfectlemonade]

**sigh**

You're the one that requested anonymity in the first place.

Okay everyone. It's Doggy. He's this blasphemous fiend that spat on NML. ;)

[piepwns]

I agree completely with you, my friend. I for one, suck so much nuts at NML, yet lots of people have seen me spawn in on a Der Riese game, get up enough points for PaP, then get enough points for jug, then keep on going, not buying another gun or perk for a long time, yet I just feel, claustrophobic in NML. Remind me that I owe youbrains, gotta go spread more reputation points.

[piepwns]

FYI, that was supposed to be the first reply to this thread.

[Doggy II]

**sigh**

You're the one that requested anonymity in the first place.

Okay everyone. It's Doggy. He's this blasphemous fiend that spat on NML.

Rawr, IMAA eat you all now, k?

[piepwns]

**cut to bad translated black and white Japanese horror movie, such as Mothra**

[Mr. Jay]

By trying this challenge my game has drastically improved.

Two zombie skills I always neglected, knifing and grenade, are essential in the beginning. In this challenge also learned how to effectively kite in a small given area. I have read and watched many expert guides but not fully implement the skills until this challenge. I am still a noob but with this I have gone a long way.

A noob's perspective only.

[MixMasterNut]

If all NML is only about is kiting zombies, and PAP quickly, then I'm very curious as to what your friends' high kill score is? He must be a beast if it's so easy to do. Probably pumping 300+ kill NML games on the regular, right?

Playing a long solo game is about patients, consistency, and playing it safe.

NML is pretty much balls-to-the-wall zombie slaying action, where you are constantly teetering on a tight-rope between life and death. You must pull out all the stops every moment to be successful. You don't get too many moments to relax.

[Doggy II]

If all NML is only about is kiting zombies, and PAP quickly, then I'm very curious as to what your friends' high kill score is? He must be a beast if it's so easy to do. Probably pumping 300+ kill NML games on the regular, right?

Playing a long solo game is about patients, consistency, and playing it safe.

NML is pretty much balls-to-the-wall zombie slaying action, where you are constantly teetering on a tight-rope between life and death. You must pull out all the stops every moment to be successful. You don't get too many moments to relax.

I know who he is, and he has 185 kills.

[MixMasterNut]

Tell him he needs at least 200 kills to earn my respect :lol:

[Doggy II]

Tell him he needs at least 200 kills to earn my respect

I already told him, and he thinks that you have everything you need to survive: Jugg, Packapunch, and MnS, so it's not that big of a supreme challenge for all good zombie players.

[Doggy II]

By trying this challenge my game has drastically improved.

Two zombie skills I always neglected, knifing and grenade, are essential in the beginning. In this challenge also learned how to effectively kite in a small given area. I have read and watched many expert guides but not fully implement the skills until this challenge. I am still a noob but with this I have gone a long way.

A noob's perspective only.

Don't call him a noob man, he has feelings too.

[piepwns]

Doggy, what's up with your rounds in your signatures? I ROFLcoptered when I saw it!

[Chopper]

I have spoken to both Mato and Vizual Venom directly about this, now I'd say they are two of the best players in the world, no?

They and I believe that NML has improved all of our games immeasurably.

The skill required is pretty phenomenal, when most maps out there it's just a simple circle somewhere. If you are able to stay in the STG room on Der Riese, past 30 then that's about all that is comparable to NML.

[way2g00d]

If all NML is only about is kiting zombies, and PAP quickly, then I'm very curious as to what your friends' high kill score is? He must be a beast if it's so easy to do. Probably pumping 300+ kill NML games on the regular, right?

Playing a long solo game is about patients, consistency, and playing it safe.

NML is pretty much balls-to-the-wall zombie slaying action, where you are constantly teetering on a tight-rope between life and death. You must pull out all the stops every moment to be successful. You don't get too many moments to relax.

+2

I love NML. I just get very impatient with slow spawns and speed colas. I am distracated very easily at home for personal reasons and this game mode requires utmost focus and concentration unlike any other map. I wish there is way to disable speed cola permanently.

[Doggy II]

I have spoken to both Mato and Vizual Venom directly about this, now I'd say they are two of the best players in the world, no?

They and I believe that NML has improved all of our games immeasurably.

The skill required is pretty phenomenal, when most maps out there it's just a simple circle somewhere. If you are able to stay in the STG room on Der Riese, past 30 then that's about all that is comparable to NML.

Actually, that's exactly what he did on his 50 game on Der Riese. Just using the STG the entire game and the ray gun only for the Dogs.

[Chopper]

And that's why, in my humble opinion, NML is in a class of its own. You can rock at solo games, rock at co op, and be ass at NML.

-perfect

If you can get 280+ in NML you can definitely get 50 both solo and co-op, on most maps.

If you can get 100 solo and 50 co-op on Kino, that doesn't mean you can get 280+ kills in NML.

That is the main difference :)

[piepwns]

I've seen people beast at NML who don't have the patience or concentration power to go for high rounds, but generally, that is a valid statement.

[Phantom]

I've seen people beast at NML who don't have the patience or concentration power to go for high rounds, but generally, that is a valid statement.

Either way they will definitely have the skill for it. I'm one who doesn't have the patience, but the times I've tried I get to something like 69 with no downs yet (my last run) but I'm too impatient, and I try to make things go way too fast and I got screwed over

[Mr. Jay]

By trying this challenge my game has drastically improved.

Two zombie skills I always neglected, knifing and grenade, are essential in the beginning. In this challenge also learned how to effectively kite in a small given area. I have read and watched many expert guides but not fully implement the skills until this challenge. I am still a noob but with this I have gone a long way.

A noob's perspective only.

Don't call him a noob man, he has feelings too.

I was referring to myself and my opinions.

[Superhands]

Let me put it this way. I'd been to round 100 solo a few times and round 50 co-op, I was already a skilled player, when No Man's Land came out. But I sucked at No Man's Land so badly for a bit, as we all did. Look at most of the current WR holders for solo and co-op high rounds, and all of your favourite YouTubers - a lot of them would have a tough time getting 200 kills on No Man's Land.

Sure, NML can be easy if you just, in the words of Tom, 'pimp around', taking it nice and slow, not much can go wrong. But to get 250+ takes a lot of practice and skill. 300+ takes a lot of practice and an immense amount of skill. You become a great NML player, you'll improve in ways you never thought you could.

[Tom852]

The style you play is totally different. First of all, the NoJug part in the beginning. You never run such crazy circles and take so much risk in a regular map. In a regular map, once the zombies start to run, you'll already have your Jug and a nice gun.

In case you get down later on, you just throw a monkey bomb and you are save till you have your Jug.

Later on in NML, you'll run a risky circle with Jug. Also something, you normally don't do up on Moon or elsewhere. You will choose a safer circle.

Therefore, it's explained why a good regular player sucks at NML - it's a total different style.

The question is, is a good NML player also a good regular player? And the answer is maybe closer to yes than to no. If you can handle such a risky circle for 10 consecutive minutes, you'll have an easy time with medium-difficulty circles in regular maps. You'll be a beast with the knife in the first few rounds etc.

There are for sure lots of things you can learn from NML, but their relevance is imho questionable. Beautiful, if you can go to Round 100 in COTD without Jug, but why should you?

[way2g00d]

The style you play is totally different. First of all, the NoJug part in the beginning. You never run such crazy circles and take so much risk in a regular map. In a regular map, once the zombies start to run, you'll already have your Jug and a nice gun.

In case you get down later on, you just throw a monkey bomb and you are save till you have your Jug.

Later on in NML, you'll run a risky circle with Jug. Also something, you normally don't do up on Moon or elsewhere. You will choose a safer circle.

Therefore, it's explained why a good regular player sucks at NML - it's a total different style.

The question is, is a good NML player also a good regular player? And the answer is maybe closer to yes than to no. If you can handle such a risky circle for 10 consecutive minutes, you'll have an easy time with medium-difficulty circles in regular maps. You'll be a beast with the knife in the first few rounds etc.

There are for sure lots of things you can learn from NML, but their relevance is imho questionable. Beautiful, if you can go to Round 100 in COTD without Jug, but why should you?

well said Tom. I always tell myself and other people the same. NML is a different mode, It may or may not help you do better in regular maps. You won't be running around in a map like a headless chicken without jugs but it will teach you few things to learn eg: 1.How to recover from after being revived in solo. 2. How to play safe without using PHD flopper. 3. Extreme Kiting skills that may be useless in co-op because zombies in co-op are shared except when someone is clutching the game. I see NML as nothing but a fun challenge.

[Chopper]

I like a lot of Tom and Ways points.

The funny thing is in each post you both hit on what you actually gain from NML which translates to zombies.

The ability to recover and adapt.

To be a good zombie player is actually fairly simple on most maps, especially co-op. There are so many strategies to make zombies easy, just look at the strategy guides here. By far and away the best anywhere on the grand interweb.

However, even with the simplest strategies things go wrong. Now that may be restricted to not being able to revive a teammate and clutching but I do not like that idea. I do not like to let anyone die, especially a friend. I've said it many times but often I will sacrifice my life to get someone if I know they will get me back up.

NML has given me some pretty insane reflexes and makes me think that I can get out of pretty much any situation that presents itself. Some downs on solo especially can be particularly brutal. COTD is one of the worse maps to go down on solo as it can be a real shit fuck to get back from.

The confidence to kite without Juggs is a wonderful thing. If you are past round 50 it's easy to get into a slightly difficult situation and be a bit too lazy with your kiting. The speed that you get hit at + the stun effect can lead to some really quick downs. They come out of nowhere often.

If you are used to these situations occurring regularly and being able to deal with them without Juggs from NML I can't see how you can't be a better player from it.

I respect all the opinions on this thread; mine is not changing. I am a much, much better player following NML. Sure a lot of it only relates to specific, insanely stupid challenges but it also flows through a lot of my game.

I think a lot of it relates to risk vs reward. I know the mantra is 'high rounds, play safe' but it's just not my thing.

NML has definitely given me the confidence to attempt something which may seem very risky but I'm comfortable with it.

When you get 2 people playing the same way in a co-op game (you know who I'm looking at ) it's immensely fun.

I'm not saying it's the right way to play, or necessary but it's how I enjoy playing :D