So, the game made it to Steam. Now seems like a good time to post useful information here to help out anyone who is coming to the game. This is kind of a work in progress, so please feel free to suggest content. And if anyone has any questions, please ask. I've been a part of the Quake community since Q1's release (1996), so my brain totally glosses over stuff that I've known for almost 2/3rds of my life.

Quake Live is an Arena-style First Person Shooter. There are many game modes, and some have a higher skill ceiling than others. The most commonly played modes are Duel (1 vs 1) and Clan Arena (CA). Team Deathmatch (TDM) and Capture The Flag (CTF) are also quite popular. In most modes, there are items on the ground that respawn a set time after being picked up. Control of these items is critical to winning games.

The three most-used weapons are Rocket Launcher (RL), Lightning Gun (LG), and Rail Gun (RG).


RL is effective because it allows you to control where your opponent goes - even if you miss the shot. If you hit near the feet of your opponent you may send them flying through the air. LG is a hitscan weapon, but there is a max range where it no longer hits people. RG is hitscan with infinite range, and can pierce multiple opponents. Rail is an excellent option at range, but it is greatly out damaged by other weapons in close range.

Some other notable weapons include the newly introduced Heavy Machine Gun (HMG), which is functionality similar to LG with slightly lower damage per second, infinite range, and a fair amount of spread. The Shotgun (SG) fires once per second, does 100 damage, and is very effective in close to medium range. The Plasma Gun (PG) is the highest damage weapon at 20 damage per shot, 10 times per second (max 200 DPS), but it is notoriously difficult to aim - especially when online.

I highly recommend finding keys near your movement keys to bind to these weapons. You do not want to be scrambling around to find your lightning gun bind when your opponent proves too difficult to hit with rockets.

Resist the urge to jump in combat. Jumpers are profoundly easy to predict, and you will be punished. Instead, learn to switch between rapidly alternating strafes and long sweeping strafes. Take note of what your enemies are bad at hitting, and abuse their weaknesses. Positioning can make a serious difference. For example, fighting while you are on stairs can be very effective if your opponent is near the top trying to use RL. Peaking around distant corners for shooting with the RG can leave your opponent with no way to return fire. Know what weapons your opponent has access to, and take advantage of him.

When you hurt a player, he makes a specific sound depending on how much health he remaining. 76+ makes one sound, 51-75 makes a second, 26-50 makes a third, and 1-25 makes the fourth one. The sounds depend on what model your opponent is (you can use settings to force them to all be the same, which is a good idea), so be sure to learn those sounds to determine when you should chase.

Low mouse sensitivity is very effective in helping you track with weapons like the LG and HMG. Some people still use CRT monitors because LCDs have a non insignificant delay. That said, 120hz to 144Hz LCD monitors are a huge step up from a 60Hz LCD. Mouse acceleration is known as a horrible thing in most FPS communities, but the QuakeLive console provides for some commands allowing very precise control of your mouse sensitivity at any given movement speed, even providing a sensitivity cap. Most pro level players use the game's mouse acceleration commands to some extent, but many of them have what feels to be a low mouse sensitivity. The ones who don't use mouse acceleration use low mouse sensitivities (between 12" to 25" of mousepad to a full 360).

Movement is best described in-game, or at least by videos. Here are two good movement tutorials:

• 2GD's
  
• Zoot's

Be sure to use the in-game practice/training maps for strafe jumping too.

While a new feature has been added that allows you to hold down jump to keep bunny hopping, you actually gain speed in the air faster by only pressing jump when you are just about to hit the ground. Try to learn to let go of jump and press it again just before landing.

In Duels, there is a 10 minute time limit to end the game with more frags than your opponent. Popular maps include Aerowalk, Almost Lost, Battleforged, Blood Run, Campgrounds, Cure, Furious Heights, House of Decay, Lost World, Sinister, Toxicity, and Vertical Vengeance (by no means exhaustive, and in fact some of those are outdated regarding tournaments at least). Knowing the map layout and location of all important items is crucial. Being aware of the timings of the armors and mega health allow you to maintain control or regain control. This mode is among the most difficult, and has the most highly recognized players. Take a look at this video to see what goes through top level player minds while they are playing.

For more information on dueling, see:

• Duel Guide[www.quakelive.com]
  
• Duel commentaries[www.esreality.com]

Despite the name, Clan Arena does not require a Clan to play - it's just two teams against each other. The mode eliminates items from the map, and instead all players spawn with all weapons, sufficient ammo, and plenty of health/armor. After a short countdown, the battle begins, and players who are killed stay dead until the beginning of the next round. Public servers are configured to end once one team reaches 7 wins, but prior to a recent patch it was 10 (some custom servers made by Pro players still use 10 since it is what they are used to). This mode is very useful to learn combat skills and get ready to move on to other modes.

The most important thing in CA is to meet up with your teammates on first spawn, and support them in combat any time you hear something. Even if your combat skills pale in comparison, just being at the same location greatly increases your team's chance of winning. The most popular maps have a bit of a tradition of having one common meetup place for all players, so you will be expected to be there every round.

Also note that uneven teams is immensely annoying to players (to the point where you may be vote kicked), and the game forces players to first join the team that is losing. If you are new and the teams are currently even, don't click "join" until someone joins the losing team.

For some more in-depth Clan Arena tips, see this post.

Powerups like Quad Damage spawn every 2 minutes. Health respawns 35 seconds after being picked up. Armors respawn 25 seconds after picked up, and they absorb 2/3rds of the damage you take. Armor shards give 5 armor, the green armor gives 25, yellow 50, and red 100. The max health and armor are 200 each (equivalent of being able to take 400 damage). When you have over 100 health or armor, it counts down at 1 per second until you are at 100.

• Yakumo's Guide
  
• Duel Guide[www.quakelive.com]
  
• Duel commentaries[www.esreality.com]