Guild Wars: Rollerbeetle Races

Had a brief spin in the Rollerbeetle Races before I was called away to GvG (Long story short, a pretty brutal nigh but good experience. I had more fun racing, though.) and racked up about 70 gamer points including a couple of first place finishes. At this point, though, getting the rest of the points I need to get to my next Gamer rank seems a distant hope. Since I hate the Jundu worm deals in Nightfall with a passion, I thought it would be lame but it's pretty fun. Although I still prefer the Snowball Fights it's fast and exciting.

Here's how it works:

• When loading into the Arena you'll be under the effects of the Rollerbeetle disguise (leading to the Beetle circle around the spawn point which can be disconcerting.)
• The Beetle will have a colored shell which is randomly selected each time you zone. In the race itself, your color will denote your starting position.
• You can apply special designs to your beetle (My favorite is the Eyeball.) by talking to the Rollerbeetle Designer. But it's a gold sink as each design costs 100g and is purely cosmetic.
• Your skill bar will be changed to the Rollerbeetle sills on loading. Keep in mind that while you can't change these skills you can reorganize them on your bar (Even during the middle of the race now.) to better suit how you want to use them.
• You'll have 100 health and 10 energy with four pips. This doesn't matter as nothing costs energy or causes any damage. Your beetle will also hold your selected equipment in their grabber claws but there's no benefit to any equipment (You can kill yourself with vamp, though.) that I've found. Stonefist insignia don't, by the way, increase knockdown time. Likewise, your attributes are active (Soul Reaping will trigger when someone dies, for example.) but they have no effect on the game.
• Hit the enter button and you'll load into the starting gates for the race. Each gate is separated from the others (So you can't bodyblock to start) although they are close enough that if someone's careless you can get a Ram off. I depends on the race but each one lasts maybe 2:30. Once someone crosses the finish line you have 30 seconds to do so yourself.
• Win the race and you'll get 100 faction. 50 for winning and another 50 for the flawless (Since you can't die, well, go figure.). As well as 7 Tokens and an equal amount of gamer points. 2nd place gets 5. 3rd get 3. 4th gets 2. And anyone who can cross the finish line gets 1.
• There's a convoluted (And typically Guild Wars obscure) scoring system which will measure your time but basically, you start at 600k and lose 1k for each second it takes you to get to the finish. At score of around 450~430 is usually enough to win.
• The race is fast and if you go the wrong way or stop moving for more than the normal KD inspired seconds, you're not likely to finish. Hit the gas and don't look back.
  
• During the race you'll have a speed measured in "RRPM" this builds up with speedboosts or by going down an incline. You lose speed when you climb or you go through water.
• Only your first 3 skills are active by default. Everything is one use only but those 3 will be recharged when you cross each of the 7 checkpoints.
• Along the way there are crates which you can run into to activate your other skills. Crates spawn very fast. Fast enough that if you're a few lengths behind someone you'll run through it as well. But if you're extremely close to another racer you'll miss out. (Think Mario Kart.)
• The powerup you activate seems to be random. However, I find that you tend to get better powerups the further behind you are. (Again, think Mario Kart.) Super Beetle is the rarest while Rollerbeetle Echo seems to be the most common.

The Skills:

• Rollerbeetle Dash: For 5 seconds you move extremely fast. (Your bread and butter speed boost. Use it to maintain a good speed and stay out of the way of other racers (Being adjacent = bad.) or to power up a hill or across water. Using it as often as you can isn't as good as saving it for crucial areas. The trick is to maintain a high RRPM with this.)
• Harden Shell: For 4 seconds, you cannot be knocked down. (You'll come to love this. It can really save you. When you're in the lead try to have it up as often as you can. It's also not a bad thing to throw up when someone's getting close.)
• Ram: All adjacent enemy rollerbeetles are knocked down. (This can be devastating. There seems to be a brief period after using this when anyone you get close to will be stalled. Also, you get a brief speed boost - enough to crank up your RRPM when you're stalled yourself, for example - when you pop this off so consider using it even when no one's around.)
• Distracting Lunge: All of target Rollerbeetle's Skills are disabled for 5 seconds. (Interesting, annoying, but ultimately not very useful. You'll want to hit someone with this after they cross a checkpoint so they can't make use of their renewed skills. Also, crossing a checkpoint will recharge your skills and end the disabled effect so don't use it on them right before crossing a checkpoint.)
• Spit Rocks: You spit rocks at target rollerbeetle. If they hit, that target is knocked down. (You send out three rocks like a Stone Dagger. They all hit for 0 and each of them will cause a knockdown. They're quick and have a fairly flat arc so if you're on open ground, go for it. If you're not, then they'll probably be obstructed. One nice trick - if you're following behind someone hit them with the Rocks, and then Ram when you're rolling by. Two knockdowns for the price of one and you'll shoot right past them.)
• Rollerbeetle Echo: For 20 seconds, this Skill is replaced with the next Skill you use. (Awesome skill. Try and save it for something good. The best choices, I find, are Rollerbeetle Dash to double up the speed boosts, Harden Shell - especially when I'm in the lead - for longer protection, and, of course, Super Beetle.)
• Rollerbeetle Blast: Target rollerbeetle is knocked down. (The range on this is awesome. So watch out if you're in the lead because you're going to see a lot of lightning - the animation looks like Lightning Strike. Otherwise, this stops your opponent and gives you time to catch up, what's not to like?)
• Super Rollerbeetle: For 10 seconds, you move extremely fast and cannot be knocked down. (This is basically god mode. Won't win the race on its own but you're invincible while it's up and you'll eat up a lot of ground.)
  Some tips:

All of these are "skills", have zero activation time, and no recharge.

Some tips:

• Winning is pretty random as are the power-ups, but if you're good you should get in the top 3~4 pretty consistently.
• Keeping your speed up is the most important thing. Knockdowns hurt because they stop you but also because they sap your speed away. Remember, you slow down going up things and speed up going down - you're a marble and gravity is what's going to help you burn past the competition. Lateral movement (ie from straffing) doesn't seem to affect your speed at all so use it to your advantage and "slide", if you will, into powerups or up inclines that will speed you up rolling down them.
• Don't use your powerups right away - they'll last as long as you need. Save them for when they'll have the most impact.
• Coming out of the starting gate, throw up Harden Shell. There'll be at least one person who'll use Ram so otherwise you might get caught in the KD effect. But save Ram until everyone's shells start to wear off. Same with your Dash. You want to hold them until the first turn at least.
• A good way to get up to speed. Hit Ram and follow it with Dash. Ram sets your RRPM to 100% (Or, well, a full bar. Because there's really no way to tell how fast you're going except relatively. I swear, the developers would take away the numbers on the health and energy bars if they could.) for an instant and following it with Dash will keep that momentum.
  
• The racing track has a few branches that funnel into the checkpoints. There are two that will help you out. After the first check point head right and up the hill, there's a powerup behind a rock so try and grab that if you can. Speed boost up and the roll down will give you a lot of RRPM. Next, after the 4th checkpoint (Not right after the cowpen but wait until you actually cross the checkpoint), take a sharp left and head down and across the water - speed boost across and you'll negate the penalty. The left power-up's easier to get. There are others but those are the two I've found that give the best shortcuts and/or powerups.
  
• Getting the powerups means going out of your way for the most part. Many are sitting on water or will cause you to lose your racer's line to get them. So it's a judgement call whether you want the power or you want the extra speed and distance. If the pack is tight or I'm behind, I go for the boost, but if I'm out in front by a mile, I tend to just take the corners sharp and try to put as much real estate between me and the next person.
• The trickiest part of the map, for me anyway, is the sharp curving section with bridges around checkpoint five. Be careful you hit the bridge and not the little area on the side where you'll be stuck and lose time.The game loses track of who's in what place at this section because of how twisty it is and not only are the turns hard to negotiate they play havoc with my camera because of how tight they are.
• The target closest enemy button is your friend. Use it to harass your closest competitor whether you're in the lead or they are. Make sure you check if they're using Harden before you try for a knockdown, for example.
• Keep an eye on your radar to see if someone's getting close. Likewise, there's a control to reverse the camera (That's not bound by default) and you can use that as a rearview mirror.

Have fun and see you at the races!