Got my KTD ratio above 1! You have no idea what an accomplishment that actually is for me. So first, some background; this was never really my type of game. I mostly played COD during the PS2 era, and never have played a shooter game online. Ever. I would play Madden and MLB: The Show online every now and then, and perhaps some Mario. But never COD, Battlefield, nothing. I always liked Metroid Prime, but that did basically nothing in preparing me for COD online.
Oh, it was bad when I first started! It was like the elite 182nd Airborne vs. a platoon of one-legged Volkssturm soldiers. I remember one game I played so bad that I even had somebody message me and tell me that I was freakin garbage. Only he didn't say freakin. I think I was like 1-29 that game. My KTD ratio was .60.
But then things started changing. I unlocked some new weapons. One person was nice enough to let me in on a couple nice spots on Gustav Cannon. And it helped. I noticed that each game, I seemed to have two more deaths than I did kills, whether I was 7-9, or 18-20. The deficit was closing. And I was getting better.
The problem is, so was everybody else. Still, I kept at it. I started tinkering around with different weapons. I took a liking to the StG 44, and the MG15. And my strategy got better; with experience, I was able to better read situations. I could tell when I was beat, and where in the past, I'd go for the kill no matter what, now I was retreating to safety and either abandoning the kill altogether, or get to a place where I had the advantage.
Now I was finishing games 15-12 or 16-15. But still, I had around 300 less kills than I did deaths. I wanted to finish with a KTD ratio over 1 though. And then it happened in a supply drop: the Volkssturmgewehr! It was the "defiance" variant. Decided to give it a whirl since I seemed to be getting killed an awful lot by it.
And boy did this thing shred! Suddenly I was winning gunfights that I always seemed to lose before. As much as I liked the StG 44, I replaced it with this Volkssturmgewehr.
My KTD ratio climbed, although the gap didn't narrow much, holding steady at around 300. Simple math, 700/1,000 is .70, while 1,700/2,000 is .85. Even though the gap wasn't closing, the KTD ratio was improving. I had my good matches, but I was still getting absolutely shredded all too often.
Then I got fired from my job. Suddenly I had all the time in the world to play, and actually it's a good thing I got to over 1 when I did, because I just started my new job this morning. Anyway, I played a lot of COD to say the least, and naturally I got better quickly. The gap fell to 250, then 200, then next thing I knew I was under 100.
I learned the best times were between 11 am and 3 pm on weekdays. For some reason, that's when I seemed to do best. Maybe because all the real good players got out of high school at 3, and now they were free to beat me. I'd also learn to cut my losses and leave lobbies where 3 high-ranked players were in the same party in a coordinated effort to shred Herschie. Well, Herschie91, actually, that's me on PSN. Before I knew it, the gap was under 100. then under 50. Then back over 75 because I played drunk. Then back to 50. Then 20. Then, finally the gap was down to 4.
The magic game came in the Ardennes stage. I started out 5-1, and the gap was even before I got killed. But then I went on to do fantastic at first with the MG15, then the Volkssturmgewehr. I ended up leading the team at 22-8, and my goal of having a KTD ratio over 1 was accomplished!
Perseverance. Can be applied to any life lesson in anything you put your mind to. I'm still no good with a shotgun. I never got the hang of the submachine gun. And I'm even worse with the sniper rifle. Heck, I use S-mines because I'm terrible with grenades. But I found a way. I accomplished my goal. It was hard.
Maybe I'll apply these life lessons lessons at work.
