Really not Der Riese: Silent Mode

It was surprisingly peacefully

So last night during the last day of the Black Ops III BETA Graybush managed to convince SeanMCR and Blackwalt to leave Dying Light and play Ghosts: Extinction. After all, we had recently re-finished two maps (Exodus and Awakening) and had three more to go. Last night: Ghosts: Extinction Mayday.

Mayday went fairly well. Herd of Cats' communication? Not so much. Thanks Microsoft.

So, technically, Graybush and I organized Ghosts: Extinction while we were in a Live Party. I loaded Ghosts and went to invite Graybush through the Ghosts friends interface. But I had no friends online, no recent players online and no one in my Xbox Live Party. Strangely not unusual for my experiences with Ghosts. So I mentioned this to Graybush who did not respond. While you would obviously assume he was getting a beer the truth was I was no longer in an Xbox Live Party. Please note. I was just out of the party. No warning. No message. Just out.

It then took me ten minutes and four tries to set up an Xbox Live server through Ghosts. Unfortunately I have to host as Graybush and SeanMCR can only play with each other. No third or fourth unless someone else hosts.

Still no friends online according to Ghosts. Fine. Xbox One dashboard. Load friends. Nope. "Friends list not available at this time." Launch Party screen. "Would you like to start a party?" Yes. "Would you like to invite friends into your party?" Well, I would have liked to but this friends screen wouldn't load either.

I checked back in on Ghosts. Wait... Graybush is now in my server. What the... I still can't talk to him but he is there.

"Party invite from Graybush." Yes.

I was talking to Graybush again. For two minutes then I was dropped from the party. No message. Just out. But I had managed to tell him to invite SeanMCR to our server.

Then I started the game without waiting for him. Hello? Herd of Cats anyone?

I spent most of our first ten minutes of Ghosts Extinction Mayday in the Xbox One Dashboard. Eventually I realized I was in a Party but I couldn't invite anyone. Fine. Leave the Party.

Guess what I could not do? Correct. I could not leave the party. My party. I could cry if I wanted to but I could not leave.

Until, eventually, after a few minutes in Ghosts I was miraculously out of the party. Great let's try again.

"You can not create a party as you already have a party." Wait...

No I DON'T!!!!

It got worse. So I gave up on the Xbox Live Party and ignored any invites I received. Eventually my Xbox One released me from any and all parties and my speaker icon started flashing in Ghosts for the in game chat. Graybush noticed this, after a level or two, and dropped out of his party so I could talk to him in-game. SeanMCR did the same.

I don't want you to think I wanted to talk to either of them but it was nice to be able to coordinate and to be able to ask for ammo.

This worked great. Until...

During the Warehouse portion where you shoot down into the walled off portion of the hold I got a low batteries warning for my controller. I finished the round and then switched my batteries.

And I no longer got a flashing speaker on my screen when I spoke. I could see Graybush and SeanMCR's speaker icons. But not mine. Great.

So I unplugged my microphone cable from my controller and plugged it back in.

And it worked, I got my flashing speaker icon back in Ghosts! Woohoo. Now we are rocking! Except...

I never saw Graybush and SeanMCR's speaker icons again. Not once.

We played the last hour of the match without speaking to each other. Which would have been kind of peaceful if Graybush would have dropped ammo occasionally or, you know, AT ALL!

We worked out a kind of shorthand. If I bounced a crate of shields off of Graybush's head it meant I wanted ammo. I needed to chase him around occasionally but it generally worked.

So we finished Mayday without talking and it was essentially a good round of Ghosts.

Once we finished Mayday and backed out to the Ghosts server screen I discovered that SeanMCR and Graybush were muted. Seriously! That can't have been the problem.

It wasn't:

Two more maps left: Point of Contact and Nightfall. Hopefully they will go better with less interference from Microsoft.