Guild Wars: Syncopation

So, the other night I headed in game for my nightly PvP practice – I don't have a lot of time to play these days but I want to keep going so my skills don't atrophy so every day I try and get at least an hour's playtime in. Lately, I've been practicing as a Monk for pretty much the same reason I picked up Monking in the first place: Teams need healers and most people don't like to play them so it's easier to find a group if you're even halfway decent at keeping people alive. So I figure if I can run the whole ZB/Infuse or RC/prot thing that I'll be able to pick up some rounds in Tombs or TA or wherever if and when I ever have the time. I've been sticking with the same Mo/W build I've been using for a while (Which is unusual for me) because I think it's working pretty well. And by keeping the skills the same I can concentrate on other things I need to work on – like kiting and pre-kiting and weapon swapping and all the other things you need to do to Monk these days. Things that, you know, were almost instinctual at one point but I'm struggling with at this point because I just haven't played enough.

No Emotion But Fear

Divine Favor – 10+2
Healing Prayers – 8+1
Protection Prayers – 9+1
Tactics – 9
Dead Points - 1

1. Zealous Benediction {E}
2. Gift of Health
3. Shield of Absorbtion
4. Dismiss Conditions
5. Holy Veil
6. Reversal of Fortune
7. Shield Bash
8. Balanced Stance

• Armor – 3+hp (Heads, Hands, and Feet +15hp total), 2+en (Chest and Legs +5en total). Runes of Superior Vigor, Minor Divine Favor, Healing, Protection, and a Vitae.

• Equipment Slot #1 – Axe of Fortitude with -5 energy, Shield of Fortitude with +10AL vs slashing
  
• Equipment Slot #1 – 15/-1 Wand with Shield of Fortitude with+10AL vs slashing
  
• Equipment Slot #1 – 15/-1 Wand with 15/-1 Focus of Fortitude
  
• Equipment Slot #1 – Axe of Enchanting with +5 energy, Shield of Fortitude with +10 vs slashing

Nothing too fancy, as you can see. I debated having a few different shields to swap between but decided that being able to shift my energy pool up or down was more valuable – what I'm really worried about is being spiked out by Axe Warriors and Assassins, as you might be able to tell so I went with the slashing shield. Not every weapon those types swing does that type of damage but the basic PvP stuff does so it's good enough.

Basic idea is to spam the RoF as the main go-to heal and follow it with Shield of Absorption if someone's getting pressured. Gift of Health is like a mini-infuse which helpfully doesn't cost me half my health (Although there's a nice trick with that with ZB I don't like such a move in RA). Dismiss Conditions for removal but it can also serve as a nice backup heal if it follows on the heals of a RoF or Shield of Absorption. Holy Veil is my only hex removal which means I can get burried under a stack but short of taking Divert Hexes there's nothing I can do about that. I try and cast it at the beginning of a match and keep it up – means Dismiss Condition is always a self heal for myself – but if energy's becoming an issue or there aren't any hexes on the other team it gets dropped (Having to double click it is a bit of an annoyance but I've set up my interface so it's never far from where I tend to rest my mouse. I guess I should also explain, at this point that I've remapped the skill buttons to circle the WASD keys. #1~4 remain the same but #6~8 are mapped to the R,F, and V keys respectively while #5 goes on the Caps Lock. I then slot my skills based on how easy they are for me to reach from those keys as well as how likely I am to use them. The 5^th slot I tend to reserve for my rez skill because it's a bit of a stretch yet I want it close by in the event that I need it. My most commonly used skills go in the 2,3,6, or 7 slots with those on the right side of the bar tending to be the defensive skills whose buttons I want to rage on in the event I have a crisis. This gets flipped a bit when I play a Monk but since I also have all the commands to select party members mapped to the numerical keypad, I change how I input a bit as well – I play almost entirely by keyboard while normally I keep one hand on the WASD and the other on my mouse. It's convoluted and I'm not sure I'd recommend it but it works for me – I've very apt to change it if I can think of something better, though.). Balanced Stance I try to keep up and running as often as I can – not only does it keep me from getting knocklocked it also prevents anyone from landing a massive crit which helps. Shield Bash is there to throw up when I'm getting spiked down – more than one Assassin or Warrior's gotten in my face only to find they're suddenly sucking dirt. I need to get better about targeting them and timing it just right but, generally, they'll swing away even if I just toss it up haphazardly.

ZB, though, is the real star of the build. I don't tend to use it all that often – relying most only RoF and Gift of Health and such – but when someone's really in trouble I bust it out. Not only do they get a massive heal (About 170 with my attributes) if I time it right I get to do it without spending any energy. It's amazing what having effective energy management like that within the Monk lines does (And before anyone starts in, Peace and Harmony and previous Monk e-management options were and are a joke.). I pretty much wouldn't be going with a Warrior secondary if I didn't have that skill to help me pump out the healing in the middle of a lot of pressure. Or, you know, I'd be dropping the energy eating Holy Veil and losing any and all protection against hexes. I mean, I knew it was a good skill but having used it I can see why people like it so much – it's just that awesome.

But even though I've been sticking with the RA, I'm not adverse to playing with other people. It's just hard to commit to a set time because I'm stealing an hour here and an hour there whenever I can and I have no idea in advance and I have no idea when that will be. And when I do log in, I want to spend my time playing not fiddling around waiting for people to log in and get their characters set up and form a group and everything before we start playing – templates have speeded up that process but it's still there and still annoying to me. So, when pal Clamatius whispered me up and asked if I was interested in some TA I was down. Even though it meant leaving my RA group which had gotten on a bit of a roll which I've always held to be bad luck (Hello! My name is foreshadowing!), I'd much rather play with people I know and can talk with rather than dick around with random strangers. Clamatius has been working on his Rangering just as I've been working on my Monking so we hooked up in the TA and started looking for people to play with.

Unfortunately, we didn't have much luck. My buddy list was full of people who were rudely not interested in playing at that moment or were already involved in GvG matches. Clamatius told a similar tale. We decided that we just weren't going to find anyone quickly even though he's in [XoO] which is one of the larger guilds that I know of (And probably a real driving force behind getting alliances implemented. I know they were thrilled with it at the time, anyway.) with plenty of members to call upon. We didn't, though, for the same reason we didn't start spamming the local channel and trying to find someone standing around in the TA to play with – you just don't know what you're getting. XoO has a lot of divisions, after all, some of them are very competitive and PvP oriented, others are...well, not because they're more casual or they focus on PvE. At the time Clamatius and I were trying to find two other warm bodies, part of XoO was trying to win the Hall (Which they did, by the way) and I gather another part was setting up for GvG and so on. It's a mixed bad, in other words, and the organization is large enough that you don't really get to meet everyone and get to know them as well as you do in a smaller guild. Still, I think I'm in the market for a larger guild rather than the smaller more tightly knit ones I tend towards – with more people there's more chance I'll find a team to play with and I won't feel as bad about not being able to take part one night or another becaues there'll be someone else to fill my spot. Anyway, there were people around but they weren't people Clamatius had played with and we figured by the time we figured out what kind of build they wanted to run and everything it would be too much of a hassle.

So, we did what any resourceful players looking for their PvP fix would do in such a situation – we headed to the RA and went for the sync.

For those who are unfamiliar with the practice, it's easy to pull off. Works in any area that has random grouping, too. You and whoever you want to play with pull a joinspike. Get on vent or whatever, count down 3...2...1 like any other spike, and try to hit the “Enter Mission” button at the same time. The way random grouping works is once you press that button you're placed on a waiting list – new players are added in the order the press the button – and whenever there's a team looking for another team to face or there's a slot that opens up in a team, then the top of the list gets warped into the Arena. By pressing the button at the same time as your friend you're hopefully placing yourselves right next to each other on the list. That greatly increases the odds that you'll be on the same team when the next match starts – doesn't guarantee it, of course, but it's a lot more certain than just pressing the button and hoping for the best (As a way of comparison, Clamatius and I tried to sync four times and we succeeded three times and failed once. That's about as well as it normally works – really depends on just how active the RA is at the moment but I'd say an 80~90% success rate is my normal average.).

Some people don't like syncing because it means some teams aren't quite random. I guess they figure there's TA for that but, personally, if people want to play together and can't find enough for a full team I don't have a problem with it. Complaining about team balance in the RA is really wasted effort – sooner or later you're going to get rolled so just hit the enter mission button again when you bomb out. What bothers me is the people who'll miss a sync and quit out leaving their team short a person – that, I think, is a legitimate grip but there's not much you can do about it without hammering people who have to leave for legitimate reasons (Me, I try to wait until the round's over but I can see why someone might need to get up and go right that minute.). Now, the bots and AFKers, on the other hand, that infest places like Aspenwood, those need fixing and I don't care what's done at this point. Just that something be done about them.

There is one little trick I'll pass along that doesn't show up in any guides or resources – use the International Districts. They're generally a lot less populated so it's easier to sync up with someone. Clamatius and I weren't the only ones doing so last night – ID One is basically the district for two-person Team Arena.

Even if you're on your own, the IDs are the place to be. There are a lot of semi-teams trying to sync up. Chances are you'll luck your way into a team with them. They're much more likely to be a good team than three random strangers. And, as far as I can tell the grouping system prefers to place you with players from whatever district you start off in. That means if you start off from your home district you'll play with others from there. But if you start off from the international district you'll play with others who've also found their way there. And getting to the IDs takes a conscious decision – you have to put your mouse on the district bar and make the choice. That means you're standing in a place with others who have made that choice, too, and therefore put at least a little more thought into things than the average player who just loads in and hits the enter mission button. They're much more likely to think that way about their builds and their tactics and everything else. In short, they're probably better players. If only because they think a little more about things.

You tend to wait a bit longer for rounds in the International Districts and have more chance of that dreaded dayglo orange “no opponent found” message spoiling your day. But the people you play with tend to be better. I like that tradeoff and I make a point of using the IDs unless I'm being really impatient.

The night didn't go so well, though, as Clamatius already beat me to talking about. We went winless before he was called away to GvG. Part of it is on our shoulders, I think, but a large part of it had to do with the menagerie of creatures from the Random Reserve that we were lumped with – one of our teammates was a Mending/Retribution Monk for crying out loud! Could have been worse, could have been a 55, I guess, but still.

Deciding I wasn't going to end my night on a sour note I headed back in for some truly random grouping – wound up getting on a streak. Ended at nine wins, unfortunately because I still have problems fighting off hex stacks. So still no Gladiator points but I finished the night up another few thousand faction.