ohai!

I was bored and thought about the past and got all sentimental. So, I thought I share this with you. I'm starting out with some friends in Call of Duty 4 Promod right now and sometimes I don't feel like I progress in the game because I see so many good players that seem to be way better than me. Because of that I thought of my first steps in GTA IV and how I started to become one of the best in this game.

Maybe the following helps newbies or even pretty old players in GTA IV to get better or at least think about their actions a bit more or maybe you will just have a good read.

Of course everything started when I got my copy of GTA IV in December 2008. NOT. It started about 4 Months later in March 2009 when I finally had a PC that could handle the game requirements. I wasn't an online gamer at all at that time. I tried playing some games online but never stuck to one for a long time. This changed when I tried the GTA IV Multiplayer. Quickly Team Deathmatch became my favourite mode and although I was completely new to online gaming I was already better than most other newbies. But why?

In the early days of my "GTA career" I met strong players that had already some months of experience, for example M2S Marko aka ISI Raven. But unlike most other beginners I didn't think "wtf he must be cheating". In that moment I didn't think of online cheating at all and I just thought that he is a really good player. I was amazed that I am still far away from his skill, although I was pretty decent compared to many other players. So, I kept on playing and eagerly followed those "pros" and learned a lot from them. The first time I realized that cheating is a big topic in online gaming was when I was called cheater myself. It became even clearer for me when I met ressox. He was 2 steps ahead of my skill level and even the "pros" weren't sure if he was cheating or not. (One French dude made the whole Russian community cry, wcyd  :P)

I was lucky that ressox wanted to be in a clan with me and we quickly attracted other players like xxxryball, rmno and worstnews. With those boys I practised all day long and I was especially happy when I heard a "wtf" from ressox who sometimes couldn't handle my Metro Sexual Circles in lots of private 1on1 sessions (If you don't know about my MSCs, just don't bother). In these days we pushed each other a lot and became well-known and respected players. But more importantly we had a lot of friends and we never lost the fun to play the game.

Also a big trend of this time was to play undercover which means making a new account and stir up the "pro" scene. The "pros" were so busy thinking about your identity that it was easy to beat them. On this way I met Marko who was playing undercover and after we found out who he was, we decided to make a new start together: H2K (which were only worstnews and myself at this time) and our best and strongest friends, qjimmyq, KeeperOfDarknes and Marko formed ISI, The Skullz Clan.

Our goal was to beat all the big clans and show those "pros" real skill instead of the shitty True Skill ranking system which just uses a mathematical formula to judge your skill and if you know how it works it can easily be tricked to reach many TS points. We proved that by reaching the top ranks of the True Skill scoreboard within some weeks. But unlike some other clans that reached their top ranks by leaving all their lost matches, we actually showed real skill and never left any matches. After this period we were also the first "pros" to realize that ranked matches are mere bullshit. As soon as we entered a lobby everyone talked about the True Skill rankings and leavers. Nobody cared about your score in the end of the match, it was all about the rankings on the TS scoreboards.

So, we decided to stop playing ranked matches for once and for all and as you can see at the amount of ranked matches played in GTA IV right now....we had a lot of followers. We were also the first ones that started arranging private matches, bringing competitive matches to the next level. I guess the peak of this was reached by our Clan Cup which was a lot of fun for me when I look back to it and I somehow miss these kind of serious matches.

What the rest of the "pros" these days have to realize is that playing a public playermatch and a private match is a big difference. But in my opinion there is even a bigger difference between a private match and a clan war. Features of a clan war that are missing in a private match are: Excitement, Concentration and Teamwork.

You can't just attack someone from behind in a clan war if your opponent is really skilled. You can't just run at your enemy alone and frag them because the enemy team won't just run at you one by one. It's just a different experience and it's sad that so many clans fear to fight each other in private, balanced matches because they fear to lose. It's even sadder for me to see when a clan that lost one clan war stops playing or starts with a new clan name over and over again. Losing is not a disgrace. You can't always win.

I learned most of this by playing Call of Duty 4 Promod and following the pro scene. There are real pros in CoD 4 who earn their money by playing the game competitively. There are no pros in GTA, which is why I wrote "pros" all the time. Would be amazing to see a real pro GTA scene in the future but I highly doubt it. IV:MP can increase the competitive aspect of the game though and The Skullz would definitively be a part of the "pro" scene in these days. Till then I hope to see some new talents in GTA IV who show skill without playing undercover. Players who don't think about cheaters or call their opponents laggers when they see that their enemies are better than them. Players who have the mental strenght to accept defeats. Players who never give up. Those are the players that in the end are part of the "pro" scene.

fine
agree

Indeed! However, GTA IV comunity it's something special! No matter whether "Pro" or nab... 

Ye gta Is really different. I see you have the same situation as me in COD. In Cod BO there are also people who are way better, but I will keep learning from the pro's till I can finally beat them. 

Yo, it's quite moving.  :'(

Fucking H2K Trit0n, I learnt about who he was only after a long time.  >:(  :D
I don't remember why he left H2K anyway... And is he really gone? Or is he playing with a new acc?
And the worst thing about H2K was suriboy... leaving to join IWI. LOL.

My story is very similar to Ael's one. But I started playing multiplayer on day 3 or 4... and never stopped! That's why I completed the single player more than a year later. It was my first multiplayer experience and HEY! I FOUND MYSELF BEING VERY GOOD!!!

In the early days nobody was thinking about cheating. I found myself playing and competing with a lot of top players like M2S clan (Marko, Doc and Diissiident), Dendiego, R33Nismo (who later joined M2S), Killa (not yet in ExS), css172 (later known as ucantrunaway), DaKeD, CyaL8erLoOser, maniek69pl... But one bad thing happened: css172 put maniek under close observation and found out that he was range-hacking. So, one of my "friends" and "top player" in the game was actually a cheater, the 1st big cheater in GTA.
Shortly after, the "CHEATER!" and "LAGGER!" accusations were like saying "hello" to someone. But we still continued to play and have fun (a lot of fun!), and a lot of clans were born.

I remember a particular match in airport, lots of ppl in that game, and i managed to make a couple of lucky kills to ressox and he was like WTF?! After that match he asked me if I was interested in joining H2K.

When "The Skullz" was born, I remember discussing with Marko about the clan name... I came out with "Raven's Claw" as a suggestion, which was actually named after a Star Wars' spaceship... Shortly after, "THE SKULLZ" was the choice but we didn't throw away the "Raven's Claw" idea so we became Raven and Claws.

The choice of player models: hahaha! So funny.
Nothing would have been better that a skull bandana, right? And Raven was like:
"WOW I HAVE CHOSEN MY MODEL, THE WHITE SUIT WITH A HAT".
Hey man, wait a moment. worstnews' model IS the white suit WITH THE SKULL BANDANA since the early days... you can't have it. It's mine.
"OH NO CMON LET ME USE IT".
No man, do whatever you like but I will stick with my old model, no matter what. Or kick me from the clan.
"OWWWWWW FU FU FU FU FU!"
:D
That was my big victory over Raven.

The rest is history, just like Imperial wrote.

Hehe , this brings memories .

Well then my history . Brother bought GTA 4 , the deal was I'll pass single player while he play MP .
Fastly i passed story mode , so i was bored and he said to me that MP is next step of gaming . I never before played games on net (just like imperial) .
So this was new to me . But in very first matches i had KILL/DEATH rate 1/1 , not bad for rookie and I found MP very entertaining .
So I continue further as other Keeperofdarkness which really never was my account (but bro turned himself to cod so it became mine)  .
Soon i meet some strong players i was like wauuuu ...they are awesome , so i stick around.
Thoose guy are M2S Markoo , Worstnews (with fuckin assault god skill , but i surpassed you in that one later ) , Ucantrunaway(css) and my so called dad Killa .
Playing alongside them made me better , and more known to most of players .

Because of my name i was often called cheater , but i didn't care cos true skilled players (read again theirs names ) knew i was clean . So in this 2008/2009new year holidays i made my name well known .
After holidays I was known as weekend warrior due the my other life activities . But even lacking matches i didn't give up , i was better and better .
Even now i regret about lack of time , cos I'm sure i could be twice as good as I was in my best days .

I remember two matches .
1. was when i encounter Markoo and Dendiego in TDM in my very beggining in 2008. They were on opposite sides and killing everyone in 10 mins they got about 5500 points ,third person in  scorea was me with 22kills . And i remember that match cos our team won in last seconds , and i was major part of it, because i killed Dendiego twice in row .

2. match was in bohan , summer of 2009.(haha sounds like chronicles) 15 vs 15 and 15 mins . More then half of players very skilled ,mostly from Russia and France and worstnews ad nation himself .
It was pure madness and fun . Probably the best match i ever played . With best score of course   .

I miss those days because second match was ranked . Nobody really cared about TS .

Rest about me you all know as Aureus , but Aureus is bastard to others as you know , cos people annoyed me more when i was in clan .
And i HATE that . From day i become Aureus seems all people are my friends or want to be .
And i HATE that . Cos if you say you don't know them , they are pissed and you look very arrogant and egoistic .

I'm very sad because i can't play no more GTA with my friends . I hope that V will soon come out .

Shortly after xxxryball joined H2K he moved to a different house irl and he said he probably won't have internet in the first few weeks. Then he didn't show up anymore. Suriboy pretty much founded H2K with me and left me alone 2 days later 

Ye it's true Aureus, we had sick matches in ranked for a long time, even when I came some months after December 08, we still could have 20min matches and it was fun till the end. But the match duration became shorter and shorter because more and more people left before the game finished and all you heard in lobbies was the chit chat about True Skill...

I talked with Thuga about it yesterday, you just have to check some old player's xfire like Killa's and you will see the evolution of GTA IV in the screens.

Soooo u decided to be a poetry clan now?
xxxryball went on CoD4 after GTA, and after leaving H2K he was still playing, i had couple matches with him and C l C friends. After that we played together on CoD 4 for some time.
And i feel there was a thread like this in here...ah, it was a "best pl player" where we all shared emotions and shit about GTA4.
It's just a game, and it is totally dead, get over it people
But...on the other hand...i could still pwn u all 1on1

I wrote this to get my thoughts sorted out because I felt low in CoD4 for some days. And i might help some GTA IV newbies who have the same kind of feelings. When they read this they maybe stop thinking that all good players cheat and keep their head clear to see what's really going on.

"Fucking H2K tritOn" I like that Hello to all H2K members. Do you guys still play GTA?