Why can't people bother to step on a med pack?

(Ao1SYS) #1

As a medic I have learned 2 things:

  1. Some people are concerned with the health bar.
  2. Some people clearly are not.

I can’t count the times I have ran through enemy fire to get over to a group of friendlies who are low on health, I drop a cluster of packs amongst them and lo and behold, they all see that a med is with them and bolt off into the fray without even picking up ONE of the packs (it’s not about the XP points, I just want to keep those guys alive so they can inflict some more damage for our team).

Note: Only medics are likely to understand this frustration…

Ive been observing this behavior time and time again. Its REALLY frustrating. You don’t see people running past ammo packs! Over time, I have lost interest in the medic class and begun to play engineer where my efforts are not such in vain. Sad, because I am a damn fine medic, (if I do say so myself), and only average as eng.

But my question remains. How can anyone with 20% health run right past 3 med packs and not even bother to step sideways one step for a health boost? I see this EVERY time I play!

Some may say that I need to give health directly to the player, but when faced with 6 friendlies who all need health and I only have 3 packs to give, I’m gonna drop the packs in the middle and those who are concerned with health will reap the benefits. (I assume those are the better players). The exception is for snipers, mobile mg, etc. I always drop those packs on the player…(the rest…I drop it, you go get it = we are never standing in the same spot together as a PF target).

But lets hear it. Am I alone in this feeling? Have other medics experienced the same? Why is there such a blatant disregard for health packs…is it easier to respawn with full health than to take 3 steps to the side on your way past the medic into battle?

Sorry for the rant, I just had to get this off my chest before I go NUTZ…

(The W00dsm4n) #2

what I really hate is people spamming “I NEED A MEDIC” over and over WHILE RUNNING INTO BATTLE. You can’t get health if you’re running away from me!
what I try to do is spam “I’m a medic” when people die or call for a medic…to tell them that I’m on my way to heal them. we need an “on my way” vsay…I think it was in the beta. Why’d they take it out?

(Ao1SYS) #3

I believe the On My Way V-Say was left out by accident and will possibly be addressed in a patch.

(SCDS_reyalP) #4

I hear ya. I can’t count how many times I’ve run after someone, dropping packs and yelling “I’m a medic!” “I’m a medic!” only to see them run off and get killed.

Sometimes shooting near them gets their attention… If they are really low on health, you can just gun them down, but that is a whole nother can of worms.

I think it just comes down to people being new. When I first started playing RTCW, I know had lot of trouble paying attention to what was going on.

(Ranstaton) #5

Yeah, whenever I play as a medic I notice a lot of this too.

At one point I had to shoot the bastard to get his attention, and then shoot at the medpacks to get him to realize that stuff was already out and that he can shut the fuck up about needing a medic.

(senator) #6

same here, and it’s not just the medi-packs, ppl seem to ignore my ammo-packs aswell. Right after I’ve spawned I sprint forward at max speed to get infront of my teammates to drop the ammo packs so that all they have to do is run over them and even than some simply bypass them :banghead:

(Coolhand) #7

Oh, yes, trying to help the wounded can be challenging :smiley:

Like, someone stops in a narrow passage and says “I need a medic”. I’m right next to him and I say “I’m a medic”. I drop one medpack on his head >plop!< and then leave a trail of them over to one side where he can be healed without us both blocking the path for the rest of the team. But many times the patient doesn’t take the hint. I can only think that in such cases the other guy is simply looking the other way and can’t see them. Presumably he’s also turned his ears off so he can’t hear the “drop plops”.

I think the answer to your question will be “FOV” - Field Of View, the patient simply doesn’t see them (even if running almost straight over them could they be looking too far up?). My favourite trick when I get frustrated by this is to jump up and down on the health packs, hopefully attracting their attention (and also, of course, the attention of the enemy snipers across the map but hey, I have to let off steam somehow).

Here’s a hint for the not-quite-so-new medics who are starting to realise that dropping medpack dumps at strategic places can be useful: try and find drop spots that your team will see, but that any enemy coming through are less likely to see. The enemy can use health packs too, and if they’re all over the floor at a critical bottleneck you’re asking for trouble next time a crack suicide squad comes hurtling through… :wink:

[edit] something else that might explain this selective blindness would be someone navigating by using the main map (i.e. holding the ‘G’ key down as they move).

(Coolhand) #8

Sometimes I’ll ignore ammo left by Field Ops for others to pick up - especially if I’m having a particularly “all thumbs” day and can’t seem to shoot to ummm… save my life :wink:

(SCDS_reyalP) #9

I often bypass ammo packs once I have one of the ammo upgrades. I’m so used to playing a medic in RTCW, that two clips and the ability to pick up enemy SMGs seems like unlimited ammo. For the most part I’d rather field ops concentrate on support fire.

(Englander) #10

I also notice alot of players ignoring health packs,I just put it down to them being inexperienced.

(Esf_Dr.X) #11

some ones yellin " medic ,medic" and runs off…well sorry m8 no med for u i think,keep an eye on him , see if he dies , inject him and pop up one or two med packs.
a tip for medics is…if u see a team mate wounded ,watch his moves and throw the medpacks in his path.
and really low on health teammates i just kill/revive

(django) #12

but one thing bothers me about medics i was playing the beach assault map on axis as an cov op sniping the allies as they come and this medic keeps throwing med packs to me well thats ok till i was healed but he goes on and all this packs fell on my position and i cant see a thing anymore except for those damn med packs well i changed position and guess what the enemy sees me and i’m dead this happened 8 times in a row very frustrating

(Jack) #13

I think its all about the FOV. Did you ever watch some of the people while waiting to spawn? Man, I am screaming sometimes " Hes right in front of you!!" People don’t see the enemy when they are far from the crosshair I guess, same is true for the med bags.

Some people just notice things. I have speced people and am just amazed sometimes how they know the enemy is there, and other people I think just need bigger monitors…

(DerKammisar) #14

It’s an inexperiance or “n00b” issue. One of the later things you learn once you start playing a FPS for a bit is the art of “timing” the battle. Watch people. Note how many times they turn around to check who’s with them, or stop and size up the situation before charging. Sometimes falling back for a bit instead of charging ahead blindly can win the battle.