I know, I know, I know. The very idea that 80% health restoration AND an incap reset to zero is better than +50 temporary health sounds almost ludicrous at first. But hear me out! Perhaps this will help your next game, be it campaign or versus.
I’m not here to bash medkits, far from it. What I do want is for people to use each type of healing item at the appropriate times. Both are to be treated as individuals, and not as interchangeable health items, and I’m not pleased with how they’re used most of the time, particularly when there’s an option between the two. So here’s the gist.
Why Pain Pills > Medkits:
1. Medkits take several seconds. Pain pills are instantaneous.
So imagine this situation. You’ve just fought off a horde and taken some pills. Suddenly, a Tank appears! And bashes you into the red health zone. He’s pretty far away now, but you’ll never be able to run away fast enough, or heal with your kit and run away fast enough.
See? If you’d just saved it and hadn’t been stingy with the health kit, you could heal 50% health and run away easily. Pain pills are an “on the fly” thing, while you normally can’t (or rather, shouldn’t) use medkits until the coast is clear.
2. 50 health ALWAYS, as opposed to 80% in relation to lost health.
Whilst it IS temporary, you’re always guaranteed 50 health. No worrying about saving it till you’re a little more hurt, which usually results in an incap or death at worst. Or worrying about “I’ll save it for later once I get the black and white screen of death.”
3. Far more common than health kits.
Seriously, I don’t think this one needs explaining. But in relation to my first point, MAKE SURE YOU KNOW what you’re doing with them. Got excess pills that can’t be carried by the team further on? Use that to heal up. Not excess, but you’re in red health with no incaps yet? Heal. Likely you won’t get an opening for a while.
Now, even though I’ve said pain pills > medkits, my point is not to use them whenever possible, or to always hog them instead of using the medkit. What’s appropriate for the situation is what should determine which one you use. Take the situation in reason #1 that I gave.
Medkits are more for calmer situations when you’re low on health. When you can get your teammates to cover you while you’re healing. To help the poor sob who got incapped twice already and can’t last without it. Pain pills, on the other hand, are for quick battle situations. Incoming horde? Just got boomed? About to trigger a climax event but no kit? No time to heal? Pop those pills, baby. Tank already here but you got no health? You know what to do now!
This takes a little bit more planning, because you need to anticipate. But don’t be stingy with the health kit. I’ve seen more players pop pills at one incap, only to have nothing come at us for a couple of minutes. I’ve seen players hog health packs more often than necessary, which isn’t even really necessary on anything other than Expert, or occasionally, Advanced (your experience may be different). This, I might add, usually results in incaps and sometimes death, which is unnecessary. Try to anticipate; think about any upcoming events, listen (or watch the captions) for any special infected or horde, listen to the music. If you’ve got an opening, don’t be afraid to use the health pack instead of the pills. You may need a quicker boost later. If you’re fighting, use the pills. You’re more likely to find another set of them than a health kit.
I think I’ve rambled on long enough*. Disagree? Most likely you will, since this was a short write-up and only a quick revision or two. So feel free to comment, but be warned that criticism without logical points will see it’s owner being thrown into a pit with a ticked-off Tank and a Big Daddy for good measure.
That concludes this short rant. Hope you’ve enjoyed it and have taken away a lesson. As an extra note, sorry, but no GMod pictures here this time. I’ve yet to insert the Left 4 Dead maps and models into my folder. Also, anyone else notice that the survivors pop a whole bottle of them at once? Must be some amazing metabolism, which is possible considering they survived the infection.
*That link up above actually has nothing to do with Left 4 Dead, but I think it’s a fantastic piece.
