Celestial Tournament LiveBlogging: EW vs SpNv

3:35GMT: Well, last round (Vibe/Meow) was a bust. Pretty much the most disappointing match I've seen all day. I had good hopes for that one because, you know, those teams aren't very far apart. But connectivity problems sunk game one. And game two was a steamroll. I don't really have good expectations for this match, either. Although, at least, maybe I can see some wacky Asian tech.

Oh well, let's get to it, shall we?

3:41GMT: I am getting tired here. Loaded the second game by mistake and spend five minutes watching it before I realized. Still, I will gladly suffer for the sake of the two or three people who regularly read my blog. Just remember, I'm doing this for you.

3:45GMT: Ingesting caffeine. Let's try that again, shall we?

Match One - Game One
#1 Esoteric Warriors vs #16 Supernova Jpn
Corrupted Isle

EW
W/A - YAA
R/Mo - BA (Yes, that's Burning not Broad Head)
D/A - Melandru's.
Me/E - Um, it's got Diversion and Gale? Probably a useless Expel Hexes sitting on that bar.
E/Mo - SF
Mo/E - Healer's Boon
Mo/E - Shield of Deflection
Mo/E - ZB split Monk


SpNv
W/D - D-Slash
W/E - Eviscerate Shock/Axe
P/Me - Shatterstorm with Glowing Signet, They're On Fire!
E/Me - Mind blast with Mark of Rodgort's and a ward
E/Me - SF with Hex Breaker
Mo/A - LoD
Mo/E - Shield of Deflection
Mo/E - ZB runner

From [EW] it's a good old fashioned 5/3 split. And from [SpNv], well, I wanted some wild Asian tech. I don't think I've seen Shatterstone run in a long, long time.

3:50GMT: I'm going to do something wacky here and actually finish looking at the builds before I actually start watching, you know, the match. It's innovative thinking like this that's gotten me where I am today.

3:53GMT: The Dervish is running the flag here. That's interesting because it's something we stumbled on in OoX and it seems to work well. With Melandru's up you're hard to snare and spike down. With a dedicated split you don't have to worry so much about defending the base so much as being able to survive running the flag in.

3:55GMT: Hmm, because of their split, [EW]'s doing a lot of running by committee. Interesting.

4:05GMT: Hey, it's been over 12 hours of GW watching for me. /wrists!

Anyhow, let's take it from the top one more time. From semi-paying attention the first time around, I know there are very few deaths in this match and it goes to VoD. So, the important parts to pay attention to are the splits.

4:10GMT: As you might expect with a 5/3 build, [EW] splits off 3. They're soon to the side gate. [SpNv] has their ZB runner back and it's soon joined by the Dragon Slasher. Using their NPCs, it's a pretty fair fight. But [EW]'s Ranger is pro and manages to degen those NPCs away under the Monk's nose. This is fight [SpNv]'s losing although you can't tell from the morale chart.

4:11GMT: Although I guess you could tell from that newfangled "Party Status" chart. Whatever.

4:12GMT: Splits stalled at the back gate, by the way.

4:14GMT: Meanwhile, even though they're fighting 6 on 5 at the flagstand, [SpNv] isn't making much progress there either.

4:16GMT: [EW]'s just sent their Dervish to help out on the split. [SpNv] is forced to retreat a bit and giving that ground lets [EW] get inside the base far enough to work the rest of the outer NPCs.

4:18GMT: The split's broken up and is runnig a big circle around the base, taking down NPCs as they go.

4:19GMT: [SpNv]'s sent back another Monk. Hasn't really hurt them at the flagstand but it was a late response and [EW]'s managed to work down a few more NPCs. At this poitn the Ranger is off doing his own thing, stalled by one Monk, while another Monk is frantically trying to outheal a Dervish and a sword Warrior.

4:22GMT: That's it, Supernova's base is clear of all the NPCs except the ones ringing the Lord. The Warrior's base, on the other hand, hasn't been touched.

4:23GMT: The flagstand team is pushing into [EW]'s front gate. But they've taken heavy losses at their own. The Dervish leaves the enemy's base through the front gate and meets up with the main team. They push back out but too late to prevent Supernova from boosting.

4:25GMT: Well, since I know this is headed to VoD, I know how this is going to go. You know who's died so far? Two people on [EW]. You know why that doesn't matter? Because they've got an overwhelming NPC advantage and if they can string this match out to VoD the match is theirs. You'd think [SpNv]'s AoE might be enough to put a dent in those NPCs but, really, they can't put a big enough dent in [EW]'s defenses. This might be a different story if they were rolling them up and getting kill after kill but with the morale this even, those NPCs just give [EW] too much of a tactical advantage to overcome. It's still six minutes to VoD and you know, if I were playing I wouldn't take it for granted (Especially as OoX has this knack for, well, blowing any and all advantages at VoD. It's uncanny, really.) but this game is over.


Match One - Game Two
#1 Esoteric Warriors vs #16 Supernova Jpn
Isle of Jade

EW
W/A - Backbreaker
D/A - Melandru's
P/Mo - Cruel Spear. Really heavy on the attacks because she's slinging Spear of Lightning, Blazing, and Harrier's. There's Aggressive but I've yet to notice a shout to keep it running.
Rt/Mo - Weapon of Fury Rit (awesome) with Splinter Weapon
Me/N - MoR Diversion spammer
Mo/E - Healer's Boon
Mo/E - Shield of Deflection
Mo/E - ZB runner

SpNv
W/N - D-Slash
W/A - Dev Hammer
D/W - Melandru's
Rt/Me - Weapon of Fury Rit
P/W - Crippling Anthem
Mo/A - LoD
Mo/E - Shield of Deflection
Me/A - Runner with MoR

Pretty similar builds here, generally speaking. Mirror matches like this where the secondaries are jumbled up is always fun to see.

4:33GMT: Okay, here's a question. Why do people use Warying Strike when Melandru's is down? I mean, this is not the occasional misclick or a last-ditch burst of damage to down a weakened target. This is something that happens all the time when I spy on Melly Dervs.

4:38GMT: Seeing two Weapon of Fury Ritualists makes me happy. I'm just saying is all.

4:45GMT: Okay, I've finished looking at the builds. I'm not even going to bother with watchign this match again because let me tell you how it went. [EW] loaded in, waited patiently for the gates to open, then proceeded to beat [SpNv] like they owed them money. This was just so completely crushing a beat down my ass is sore by association. I'm still stunned it wasn't a flawless but the morale chart shows a late death shortly before [SpNv] resigned about three minutes before VoD as [EW] was chopping down their Lord.

4:50GMT: Change of plans. I was hoping to get [EW]/[Vibe] done before calling it a night but, honestly, at this point the prospect of watching another series of matches is not what I want to be doing. I'll get to it tomorrow even though that means I'll be due for covering a lot of matches - I'd hoped to have a bit of rest and reflection on the first few rounds beforehand. But for now, I'm still getting over being sick and my sleep cycle is still all screwed up. I'm about to crash hard if I don't get some rest. So, see you tomorrow when we'll be in for some real thrilling games.

Celestial Tournament LiveBlogging: Vibe vs Meow

2:30GMT: Let's get rolling again here. Been checking in on the NCAA tournament and, yes, my brackets are being busted there too. It's really going to suck if OSU wins. And it's really goign to suck if Florida wins. So, I really have nothing left to live for at this point. Anyhow, I'm figuring that it's taking me an hour or more to do each of these matches. I have six left which means even if I just keep going non-stop it's still going to take me five or six hours to finish up here. And that's if I don't stop to have fun by, you know, actually playing the game. I might have to call it quits early and pick up early before tomorrow's matches begin. Just, you know, fair warning.

Next up we'll be following the #8/#9 matchup which leads to a match against EW. That means I'll leave the tournament's biggest upset - [iPod] for last. That's just how I roll.

Match Eight - Game One
#8 Battery Powered Best Friend vs #9 Bambis Dont Say
Burning Isle

Vibe
W/D - D-Slash
W/A - Dev Hammer
Rt/Mo - Offering of Spirit Smite with Judge's Insight, Splinter Weapon
E/Mo - Water with Icy Shackles
Me/E - Expel Hexes spirit hate with Spiritual Pain and U-Sig, GLE
Mo/E - LoD
Mo/E - Divert Hexes
E/Mo - Mind Shock runner runner with Heal Party

Meow
N/E - Reaper's and melee hate.
N/Me - Recurring Insecurity with degen hexes and Mantra of Persistence with Spirit Shackles
N/Mo - Necro Monk
N/Rt - Icy Veins spirit shitter
N/Rt - Icy Veins spirit shitter
R/W - Yet another spirit shitter. Energizing Winds, Quickening Zephyr, Primal Echoes, Fertile Season, the works, with Shields Up all powered by the Oath Shot
? - Didn't load (I'm going to go out on a limb here and say....oh, I don't know, Necro.)
N/Rt - Rit heals with Spirit Transfer, Weapon of Warding

[Meow] looked to be an SBRI build. Shame about the drop. But, still, it looked like [Vibe] had a pretty good counter build what with the spirit hating Mesmer and all.

Finally a pair of teams that aren't in love with Jade Isle. They both pick Burning, though, which isn't much better. You can at least credibly split there but it's not really best for it. I think it's kind of interesting, really, that these top tier teams who are, typically, really good with splits are setting their battlefields to minimize the risks of being split against.


2:45GMT: And I just erred out. Great. Time to restart.

2:48GMT: Back in game and, huh, what do you know, somebody on [Meow] had a similar problem. Looks like a no-load which puts them down a player. That's a rough way to lose and makes the actual match pretty pointless to follow. It's no different than if you made one team play solely with their feet. Sure, things happen but it's not a fair fight and there's no lessons to be drawn here. I'm going to stay a while and scope out the builds but, meh.

2:51GMT: Actually, no I won't because [Meow] resigns three minutes in. G fucking g. Again, I though there were supposed to be reconnects for this sort of thing but I guess they weren't allowed this tournament. Grr.

2:52GMT: I'm going to have to restart this one a few times to get a look at the builds here. Don't mind me, talk amongst yourselves. Here's a topic: 19th century Imperialism was both a necessity and a hindrance to developing internationalism in the 20th century.

3:13GMT: Ugh, that took forever. On to the next game. Hopefully they actually played this one. Then again, if they didn't it'll probably go much quicker...


Match Eight - Game One
#8 Battery Powered Best Friend vs #9 Bambis Dont Say
Burning Isle

Vibe
W/A - Dev Hammer
W/D - D-Slash
Me/E - Expel Hexes with Diversion
Rt/Mo - Offering of Spirit Smite with Judge's Insight, Splinter Weapon
E/Mo - Water with Icy Shackles
E/Mo - B-Surge
Mo/E - LoD
Mo/E - Shield of Deflection



Meow
P/A - Incoming.
P/A - Another Incoming. With Expose Defenses.
P/W - Charge? Attack chain is Lightning to Vicious which is decent only if you're hitting Go For the Eyes with it, really (Go4 crits the next hit, regardless of whether it's in the air or an auto-attack or whatever so timing it can be a bit tricky.).
P/N - BiP?!? Anthem of Envy is nice to see, though.
N/E - Order of Apostasy with Ward of Stability
Mo/E - ZB
Mo/E - Prot stuff. I'm guessing it's Divert Hexes here since I don't see an elite.
Mo/E - LoD

Well, map's the same. [Vibe] seems the same. But, wait, what the hell is [Meow] running?

3:16GMT: Wow, that's just a ballsy move on [Meow]'s part. Also have to give them credit for the name of their Orders Necro - "Thanks for Error"

3:17GMT: [Vibe] seems to have rolled a pretty good counter build for it again, though. Go go Build Wars!

3:18GMT: Just some odd stuff on those Paragons. Dueling Incoming's is questionable enough but they also have a lot of defensive chants like Stand Your Ground. I'm of the mind that the defensive buffs for the Paragons are, by and large, forgettable. The real money is in the offensive buffs.. Something tells me this is a rabbit out of the hat build that hasn't seen a lot of optimization. As for Charge!, well, there's a Paragon skill called Fallback which is nearly as good and doesn't cost you an elite slot.

3:19GMT: A BiP Paragon. Man, I thought Expel Hexes was weird. People like to stick the odd utility elites in their spare Parapants, I guess.

3:19GMT: Yes, I am ashamed of that pun. No, I'm not deleting it.

3:20GMT: 6 minutes in and [Meow]'s circling their Lord. The Body guard's taking it on the chin and the Orders Necro can't seem to stay alive for long. Um, yeah, at least they didn't have a drop this time but you can't imagine they're happy with their showing in this tournament.

3:23GMT: Well, resign spike 8 minutes in. Yeah, I don't think [Meow] is happy. Well, it was short which is good for me and my all too human weakness of needing sleep. Gonna get the builds down a bit better and then it's on to [EW]'s round one match.

Celestial Tournament LiveBlogging: iQ vs ONE

00:23GMT: Oh, this is going to be a good one. The only second round match to go all three games. Before I start, though, here's something about map choice in the playoffs so far:

• Jade: 13
• Burning: 5
• Weeping: 3
• Corrupted: 2
• Druid's: 2
• Frozen: 1

In Round One:

• Jade: 8
• Burning: 4
• Corrupted: 2
• Druid's: 2
• Weeping: 1

Round Two:

• Jade: 5
• Burning: 1
• Frozen: 1
• Weeping: 1

Basically, you can split these maps into two types. The first, Burning and Jade, by far the most popular, are the anti-split maps. The second, everything else, are the split friendly maps. There's no messing around with seige maps or plays like Nomad's here. It's all about whether you want to play split or not. And, overwhelmingly, it seems the top teams prefer to fight 8v8.

00:33GMT: That took a while. Math is hard, yo. Anyway, on to the games.

Match Ten - Game One
Idiot Savants vs Time Is Running
Isle of Jade

iQ
R/Mo - Crip Shot
W/Mo - Dev Hammer
R/Mo - Standard Ranger with Apply and interrupts. Didn't catch the elite.
W/E - Eviscerate Shock/Axe
D/Me - Melandru's
P/Me - Expel Hexes
Mo/Me - RC with Hex Breaker
Mo/Me - LoD with Hex Breaker

OUT
N/Rt - Icy Veins defensive spirit shitter
N/Me - Recurring Insecurity hexer with Mantra of Concentration
N/Me - Recurring Insecurity hexer with Mantra of Concentration (but different than the first one)
N/Rt - Icy Veins offensive spirit shitter
N/Mo - Icy Veins Necro Monk
N/Mo - Necro Monk
N/Mo - Necro Monk
Rt/D - Runner. Spirit shitter with Pious Haste

Jade so, you know something lame is coming. [iQ] runs a weird balanced build that I've seen somewhere before but damned if I can place it at the moment. Notbly it features a really weird Paragon/Mesmer build - Expel I can understand but this have Mirror of Disenchantment, Leech Signet, and things like Blaxzing Spear. What it has going for it is a lot of hardened targets infront of the Monks. But [OUT], yeah, they bring the SBRI - [one] did something similar but it wasn't the real deal. This is seven Necros on Jade Isle, what the fuck do you do with that? Well, [iQ]'s answer is to load up on the hex removal. There's Purges, Expel, Hex Breaker and more here.

00:37GMT: First kill goes to [OUT]. Otherwise it's just a scrum around the flagstand as the teams trade flags.

00:44GMT: The fight's been pressed into [OUT]'s base while I've been looking at what people are running. And [iQ]'s just blown their flawless.

00:46GMT: Just saw an Icy Veins spike first hand, as it were, on one of [iQ]'s Rangers. Brutal. Just a screen full of small damage packets until the health bar popped.

00: 50GMT: [iQ] really has a handle on the hexes here. When [OUT] manages to spike it's nasty but they just can't do it often enough. Fighting's in [OUT]'s front door with [iQ] in permaboost land so the few deaths they're taking don't matter. Although [OUT]'s making a push now.

00:53GMT: Still can't get over that Paragon Chuck is running. Okay, I get the hex removal and all but with all those damage dealers already in the build, why not just run a straight primary Mesmer? Of course, the Go For The Eyes is probably nice and you can't underestimate the damage output of a Paragon but I'd at least have gone for Spear of Lightning over Blazing Spear if I could swing the energy - sure Blazing's adrenal and the Fire damage helps but, you know.

00:54GMT: Whoops, phone call meant I missed the end of the game. It went to VoD and I can see [OUT] just dropping like stones so I'm going to take a wild guess and say that a bunch of people raging in your face is better than a spike with a bunch of hexes at VoD. Shocking, I know.


Match Ten - Game Two
Idiot Savants vs Time Is Running
Isle of Jade

iQ
A/Me - Shadow Prison Webber
W/Mo - Dev Hammer
W/E - Eviscerate Axe with Grasping
A/Me - Shadow Prison Webber
Rt/Mo - Weapon of Remedy Rit
E/Mo - Mind Blast with Mark of Rodgort's
Mo/Me - RC
Mo/Me - LoD

OUT
W/E - Eviscerate Shock/Axe
W/A - Dev Hammer (Also, nice to see somebody using Power Attack in high-end tourney play? I guess...)
P/Mo - Cruel Spear with Aegis
P/Me - Crip Anthem
Rt/Mo - Weapon of Remedy Rit with Splinter Weapon
Mo/E - RC
Mo/E - Healer's Boon
D/N - Orders of Apostasy, Dark Fury Orders Derv with Imbue Health, Signet of Pious Light, Vital Boon, and both Watchful and Faithful Intervention. Also the runner.

Hey, finally a winning team switched up their build. Looks like [iQ] was hoping for, well, something other than Jade since they're in their Recall split setup. [OUT]'s gone for just a lot of physical attackers with an some offensive buffs. This is going to be interesting.

1:06GMT: About 3 minutes in (Amazing how that's always how long it takes me to settle in and start noticing things, isn't it?) and, for one thing, [iQ] just looooves the Orders Dervish. They've had a Sin just training on him non-stop.

1:07GMT: [iQ] just got pushed off the flagstand. They haven't killed a thing yet and they've been taking a lot of damage. Neither team has their gate NPCs but [OUT] is well up on morale.

1:08GMT: Timely push by [iQ] keeps [OUT] from getting a morale boost. [iQ] is below the 3/4s mark on the morale chart and [OUT] is still in flawless territory.

1:09GMT: Recall split made it throught the teleport and are now working over [OUT]'s base. Both the Rit and the Derv are back, though, so I don't like they're chances. Yep, the managed to take out an Archer but also got wiped. Morale boost for [OUT] just hit, too.

1:10GMT: [OUT] just lost a Paragon - trapped behind enemy lines, there's not going to be a rez here. So much for the flawless. And, oops, there goes the other. Of course, another morale boost just hit wiping out the DP, so, it didn't do much harm and only recovered a bit of DP for [iQ], they're still well behind here.

1:13GMT: Watching the Paragons now. One's using Blazing Spear followed by Spear of Lightning. The other Cruel with Lightning. I don't know, maybe I've been overlooking Blazing Spear. For me, the combo is Lightning to Harrier's which is expensive but a nice quick spike that punishes anyone trying to kite. They don't use Anthem of Flames to maintain their Aggressive, either, relying on the adrenal Go For the Eyes!. But, oh well, if you're running an Aegis chain off your Paragons I guess you need the energy...

1:16GMT: About 15 minutes in now. Story's still the same. [iQ] is about to dip under the half way mark on the morale chat and [OUT]'s boosted back up to the maximum. The fight's back in [iQ]'s base at this point.

1:21GMT: Still fighting around the [iQ] base. VoD is about to hit and the teams are disengaging. [iQ] is really Dped up and down several NPCs. [OUT] is still at max - they've only died twice all match - and have only lost a few NPCs.

1:22GMT: The teams collide at VoD and the bodies start dropping on both sides. [iQ]'s taking the worse beating though and just their healers are left as they break off the flagstand and head back to their Lord. They're going to try and push out again but I'm afraid this is gg folks. Let's move on to the third and final game here.


Match Ten - Game Three
Idiot Savants vs Time Is Running
Isle of Jade

iQ
R/Mo - Crip Shot with NR
W/Mo - Dev hammer
R/Mo - BHA also with NR
W/E - Eviscerate Axe
D/Me - Melandru's with Leech Sig
P/Me - It's that weird Expel Hexes Paragon again
Mo/Me - RC
Mo/Me - LoD

OUT
W/E - Steady Stance/Fear Me hammer
W/P - Steady Stance/Fear Me hammer
Me/E - Panic with Price of Pride of all things
N/E - Wither with degen hexes and melee hate
N/Mo - Reaper's Mark with melee hate
Mo/E - RC
Mo/E - Healer's Boon
Mo/E - ZB

Hey, it's Jade Isle again. That's a real shocker. Anyhow, [iQ] is running NR with a Dervish instead of a second Paragon. And [OUT] is running Reaper's/Migraine hex pressure. This should be a hoot.

1:31GMT: First kill goes to [iQ]. Also, Ensign likes to attack through Price of Failure. That's pro strat right there. Makes me wonder how he handles Empathy.

1:32GMT: [iQ]'s pushing [OUT] off the flagstand. That puts them out of range of Nature's Renewal, though. And they've gotten another kill. And a third. So they're already doing better than last game.

1:34GMT: And this time it's [iQ] boosting while [OUT] flails away in futility.

1:35GMT: 4 second cast hexes make my inner Necro go all flaccid.

1:40GMT: The battle's still going [iQ]'s way but [OUT] has managed to push out. LoD is owning their hexes.

1:42GMT: Mirror of Disenchantment. Pretty nice counter for that whole Aegis thing.

1:45GMT: Battle's still rather deadlocked here. Interesting thing about [iQ], they tend to run by committee. Whoever's not really needed at the moment will head back, grab a flag, and run it in. It' something that doesn't really happen a lot today but used to be standard practice before the development of dedicated runners. I wouldn't want to do it unless I was as experienced as [iQ], though. [OUT] on the other hand, has a dedicated runner. It started out as Monk #8, which isn't unusual. But after they kept getting pounded, they switched it up to one of the Necros - the Nemo, I believe. Anyway, it goes to show that the job of running a flag can be a lot more flexible than most teams usually make it out to be.

1:46GMT: Why do I say these things? [OUT] just pushed out, got a morale boost, and then nearly wiped while I was dithering around about running. Costly but it did get back their sigs in time for VoD.

1:48GMT: VoD time. The NPC picture is fairly even. The morale? Not so much. Any benefit from the boost has been erased by the wipe.

1:50GMT: Oooh, one of [OUT]'s Warriors made the mistake of running over the coral with a Derv on its back. At VoD those pointy things hurt and he went down in a hurry. And, yeah, there goes the body guard. Flagstand fight is over and [iQ]'s taken it cleanly. One of [OUT]'s Warriors resigns and he's got the right idea, this one's over for all intents and purposes.

1:52GMT: Slow trickle of resigns but [iQ] drops the Lord before it matters. Huh, overall, a nice series of games but not as exciting as I'd been led to believe. Really, just Build Wars in action. That display of yomi is, of course, what tournament play is all about but while the match went to tthree games, it was pretty much a blowout in each and I'd have liked to see something with some more dramatic comebacks.

Ah well, half the matches in my personal book. And half to go. Time for a quick break and then I'll try and decide which series to scope out next.

Celestial Tournament LiveBlogging: iQ vs LaG

23:59GMT: And we're back. That break was a little longer than I thought but there was a guild meeting I forgot about that I figured I should attend. Not much interesting, really, but you know being part of the wider community and all.

Anyway, it took me about five hours to get a third of the way through the twelve matches played today. At this rate, it'll take me until 5GMT to get through these, another break, and I'll just be finishing up by the time the next rounds are being played. That sound you hear is me huddling in the corner crying to myself.

A few things before I get back to it.

Interesting fact here. Although only six European guilds made the Sweet Sixteen compared with eight American teams, three Euros have moved on to the Final Four and only one US team advances. That team is [iQ] but, still. Historically, the Euros have dominated ladder play but haven't done so well in tournaments. Maybe that's turning around.

And, I'm feeling much better about my disastrous picks now. Take a look at the selections made by the official ANet writing crew. Lots of [MH] love which, you know, since they likely had to get past both [iQ] and [eF] doesn't make a lot of sense. Lots of respect for [tag] too and nobody went for [iPod] at all.

00:02GMT: Hmm, I want to check out the first round of the [iQ]/[LaG] match but it seems to have disappeared from obs mode. In fact, there's only six round one, game one matches up now. Uh oh, maybe I'd better hurry up here.


Anyhow, no game one (which is a shame because I hear iQ pulled some lame SBRI thing on Jade Isle) so we'll start with game two.

Match Two - Game Two
Idiot Savants vs Zero Files Remaining
Druid's Isle

iQ
A/Me - Shadow Prison Webber
W/Mo - Dev Hammer
W/E - Eviscerate Axe with Grasping Earth
A/Me - Shadow Prison Webber
Rt/Mo - Weapon of Remedy Rit with Renewing Memories
E/Mo - Mind Blast with Mark of Rodgorts and Freezing Gust
Mo/Me - RC
Mo/Me - LoD

LaG
W/E - Shock/Axe
W/E - Earth Shaker with Shock
E/Mo - Fire Runner. Mind Blast
Mo/E - Healer's Boon
Mo/E - RC
A/Me - Shadow Prison Webber
A/Me - Shadow Prison Webber
Rt/A - Weapon of Remedy Rit

[LaG]'s set up in a recall split to take advantage of Druid's, no doubt. [iQ] is running with a recall split with two Sins and a weapon Rit (albeit a bit of an odd one).

00:05GMT: A little over five minutes in and the rout is on. [LaG] has just nearly wiped and the few remaining members are retreating to their base. Meanwhile, [iQ]'s recall split has just finished decimating said base a few minutes earlier and it's their collapsing back on the main group that lead to the wipe.

00:09GMT: This is a painful beatdown.

00:12GMT: Just after 10 minutes, [LaG]'s whole team wiped and it's game over. Um, yeah, not a lot to say about that other than [iQ] is really, really good.

00:13GMT: Still missing two Round One, Game Ones - looks like [MH]/[one] and [iQ]/[LaG], the first two to go up and, likely, whatever glitch fix was put in earlier in the day extended their time span for a few hours but not as long as the others. Oh well, I saw the Mostly Harmless one but I did want to see the Necro wackiness. Moving on...

Celestial Tournament LiveBlogging: MH vs one

16:15GMT: And the first match is up on obs mode. It's iQ vs LaG, game one. Followed closely by MH vs [one]. I'm guessing it's a blowout since it's up so fast but I can't stand to wait any longer, let's get going here. Let's check out MH since I hear iQ's running SBRI.

16:15GMT: Loading screens suck. This is another edition of Blindingly Obvious Observations.

16:16GMT: Loaded 45 seconds into the match (My kingdom for a rewind button!). Doesn't look like much has happened yet.

Match #3 - Game One
Mostly Harmless vs [one]
Jade Isle

MH
Me/E - Expel Hexes with Shatter Enchantment, Diversion
D/A - Melandru
D/A - Melandru
Me/Mo - Migraine with Mantra of Persistence, HumSig
Me/E - Migraine with degen hexes. Haven't seen it but I'm guessing GLe and possibly Gale.
E/Mo - Water runner.
Mo/E - Healer's Boon
Mo/E - Divert Hexes

one
A/W - Shadow Prison BoA
A/W - Shadow Prison BoA
N/Mo - Reaper's Mark Necro
Mo/A - Shield of Regen
R/W - RaO Thumper
R/W - RaO Thumper
Mo/E - Healer's Boon
Mo/A - ZB prot

[one] looks to be set up as a split build. Sucks for them they loaded onto Jade Isle. MH is some kind of degen hex pressure with Shatter Hex/Enchantment spikes. So, looks like the higher seed does get first map choice.

16:19GMT: Teams are trading deaths. Interestingly neither team's capped yet. Neither even has the flag up at the scrum even.

16:20GMT: I take that back, [one] just ran a flag in.

16:22GMT: [one] takes a slight lead in morale, and, more importantly, they're pushing the fight past the flagstand and onto the ramp to [MH]'s base. And, yep, they just boosted.

16:24GMT: Push proved costly as [one] just took three deaths in a row - their morale boost is nearly wiped out now (although having their sigs back can't hurt) although MH hasn't managed to push heir flag out yet. NPC count: MH is down an archer and that's it.

16:25GMT: [one] just broke. Near party wipe, they're down to three players - only one a Monk - and MH is pushing them into their base. THIS IS KRYTA BITCHES!!! Rez, in :20, MH is pulling back but they just took the morale lead back and will likely boost here.

16:27GMT: [one] just got rolled at the flagstand again. [MH] has another boost here and things aren't looking good for the Koreans - Monk #8 just got killed after the auto-rez and there's the whole MH team between him and someone getting him back up.

16:30GMT: They're really on the ropes now. :5 to rez and they only have three players up, only one a Monk. Almost all the outer NPCs are gone and [one]'s turtled around the the Lord.

16:31GMT: I wish people would stop dying so fast, it makes it hard for me to check out their build...

16:33GMT: [one]'s snuck their Sins into [MH]'s base. Unfortunately they seem to have been pwned by the Archers.

16:35GMT: Mostly Harmless seems to have noticed their base is under attack and they're streaming back. Narc gets there first at base (Base rez? I didn't notice) and he wrecks some havoc.

16:37GMT: VoD time. The split Sins have done their damage and the NPC picture is nearly even. [MH] is way up on morale though. [one] just lost their Bodyguard and wiped seven players - Looks like the Necro and the Monk in the 8th spot are DPed out. GG.

16:39GMT: [one] is gone with a minute to rez. This one ends with them resigning.

16:40GMT: Checking back with #gwp, iQ seems to have won 2-0. Split in the second game. Also, both iPod and Meow are having connection problems - both had non-loads in their matches. Bad pings is the word, too, looks like the Euros are having server issues.

16:41GMT: Lots of matches to pick from on obs mode - all the first games are up now. I'm going to watch MH/one Game 1 again in hopes of catching their builds while I wait for Game 2 to go live.

16:43GMT: About the nonloading thing. Isn't that cause for a restart? I'm pretty sure the game's rule state that you can restart the match as long as the doors don't open if there's lag issued involved. Are we not doing that or something?

16:52GMT: Been whispering with some folks now that the matches are in the books. One thing that's come up is what's going to happen with the upcoming Automated Tourneys. The common wisdom is there's going to be a lot of shuffling now that the CTs are over. At the same time, there's that stupid 30 day waiting period to play in the ATs hanging over everyone's head. As the always depressing Ensign said "I trust Anet to do 10% of what they should do, two months too late." But as I said, I don't see why players can't move freely between guild inbetween seasons, as it were. A 30 period to prevent excessive movement between guilds makes sense but only once the season has actually started.

16:57GMT: Gah, rezzed into Great Temple of Balthazar with local chat on. My eyes will never be clean.

16:58GMT: #gwp update. [EW] over [SpNv], [tag] over [acid] (Sigh...so much for my gut feeling), and [eF] over [SiN]. 2-0 all.

16:59GMT: [MH]/[one] game 2's up. Heading in now.

Match #3 - Game Two
Mostly Harmless vs [one]
Jade Isle

MH (Same build as first match as far as I can tell.)
Me/E - Expel Hexes with Shatter Enchantment, Diversion
D/A - Melandru
D/A - Melandru
Me/Mo - Migraine with Mantra of Persistence, HumSig
Me/E - Migraine with degen hexes. Haven't seen it but I'm guessing GLe and possibly Gale.
E/Mo - Water runner.
Mo/E - Healer's Boon
Mo/E - Divert Hexes

one
A/W - Shadow Prison BoA
N/Mo - Reaper's Mark
N/Me - Spoil Victor with Life Siphon. Went slash Me for Arcane Echo apparently
N/Mo - Spiteful Spirit with Convert Hexes, hardrez
N/Mo - Minionator with Scourge Healing, Convert Hexes, another hardrez
N/Mo - Healer's Boon Necro Monk
N/Rt - Weapon of Remedy spirit shitter
R/Mo - Oath Shot trapper with some rituals - caught Fertile Season and Quickening Zephyr

Jade again. Still pretty sure it's [one] who issued the first challenge but not quite as certain - maybe if I knew which side was the visitor's on Jade I'd have a better chance here. Anyhow, [MH] stick with what worked. [one], on the other hand, have gone completely nuts with a wacky halls-esque soul reaping/spirit build.

17:05GMT: Looking like a replay of the first match. It's fairly evenly matched at the 3 minute mark but [MH]'s hex pressure is getting to [one]. [MH] is degening like crazy but they're not getting killed off like [one] is. I'd give them a few minute before they break.

17:09GMT: Well, I was wrong I guess, as they'r still hanging in there. Two people down now so this might be the point where they collapse. And, yep, they're retrating back to their base and taking heavy loses.

17:14GMT: Yeah, the rout is on at this point and the word on #gwp is [MH] takes this match. I've gotten a good enough look at the builds so it's time to find something else to watch.

Celestial Tournament LiveBlogging: MH vs eF

19:23GMT: Game updates from the #gwp again. [EW] 1, [Vibe] 0, [tag] 0, [iPod] 1.

19:33GMT: Further update. [EW]/[Vibe]: 1 - 0 EW, [tag]/[iPod]: 1-0 iPod, [iQ]/[OUT]: - 1-0 iQ, [MH]/[eF]: 1 - 0 eF. The second round of matches should be rolling in soon.

19:35GMT: Still waiting on the Mostly Harmless vs Team Everfrost Match to go live.

19:39GMT: Pal Clamatius is on now. He's apparently keeping an eye on the iQ matches for me.

19:54GMT: And we're back. Looks like [MH] went down to a crushing defeat against [eF]. Clothes are being rent and shields being broken as we speak. And [Vibe]'s out too. [iPod] pulled the upset against [tag] - looks like I picked the wrong sleeper. The only results not in yet are [iQ]/[OUT]. Given what Clamatius is saying about the first match, ie "Looks like iQ saw OUT coming" I think it's pretty clear what's going to happen.

19:58GMT: One of my guildies is thrilled because he's got his picks entirely right so far. Mine? Well, I had [acid] making it to the Final Four, how do you think I'm doing?

20:00GMT: [eF]/[MH] Game Two is now up, time to start watching.

20:05GMT: Okay, so I'm being lazy here. But I just had to follow the IRC conversation for a bit. Turns out I've somehow transmitted my disease to the Mostly Harmless crew. They came down with a mysterious sickness before today's games. Transcribed IRC convo of the day:

<[MH]Phelann> half of us are sick
<[MH]Phelann> its crazy
only reasons we lost
ONLY REASON
nah seriously half of mh is sick
its nuts
<[MH]Morgant>half
<[MH]Morgant>no more
STOP MAKING OUT WITH EACH OTHER IMO

20:10GMT: Woo, spoke too soon again. It seems to be the theme of the day. iQ and OUT are tied heading into a third and decisive match.

20:14GMT: Seriously, I'm heading in match now. If people would stop talking to me about hte matches that just finished, I could do this a whole lot quicker.

Match Twelve - Game One
#3 Mostly Harmless vs #6 Team Everfrost
Isle of Weeping Stone

MH
A/W - Shadow Prison but no BoA? Looks like Siphon Speed nd Recall instead, so it's basically a pure Sin.
W/E - Earth Shaker knocklocker with Shock
A/W - Shadow Prison but no BoA?
E/Mo - SF spammer
E/Mo - SF spammer
Mo/E - Shield of Regeneration
Mo/E - Healer's Boon
Mo/E - Shield of Deflection

eF
W/A - YAA Sword Warrior
W/Mo - Eviscerate Axe Warrior
N/E - Reaper's Mark with melee hate
Me/Mo - Migraine with degen hexes
E/Rt - Water Runner. Water Trident with Weapon of Warding
R/Mo - BHA
Mo/E - Didn't see the elite so I'm guessing it's Divert or something.
Mo/A - LoD

Finally, a halfway decent/interesting map! Always liked that one. [MH] goes with a nasty Recall split build with a 3 Monk backline and dueling SF spammers. [eF] runs with something pretty balanced but heavy on the degen and hexes. This could be a good one.

20:16GMT: Even headed into the 3rd minute. No deaths but MH is getting hammered by degen.

20:23GMT: Still pretty even but this match has turned around thanks to [eF] gaining position. They've boosted twice now. And [MH] just can't get a kill to push them off the flagstand.

20:24GMT: [MH] has tried to split off their Sin #1 and the Shield of Regen Monk but they're being checked by [eF]'s ele/rit.

20:25GMT: The split just met up with [eF]'s 3 man split - Warrior, Ranger and aforementioned Ele. Looks like [MH] has brought the onther Sin in for an attempt at a Recall split. But they're not making any progress. Not dying thanks to Recall but they just can't get far past their gate.

20:26GMT: Meanwhile, the rest of the team is penned up in their base. The split's pulled back to the main group and now it's a scrum in the area in front of the Lord.

20:29GMT: [MH] is making a push. They've gotten a couple kills but they're stalling out around the front gate. That's actually not bad as the narrow confines makes the SF extremely deadly.

20:33GMT: Nothing doing on that push. It's VoD now and [eF] is just now pulling out of the base. They still have a lot of NPCs and with their AoE they can make up the difference in a hurry.

20:35GMT: Oh, nice place on [eF]'s part. They've set up just in front of their NPC horde so that [MH]'s midline can't quite get in range to lay down the SF heat on the Archers without making themselves vulnerable. [MH]'s NPCs are gone and they've pulled back to base.

20:36GMT: The gank attempt is on but [eF] was watching and they're about to collapse on [MH]'s recall split.

20:39GMT: A lone Sin's still trying to slip by the side path but it's not gonna happen. The Lords are walking and it's only a matter of time now before [MH] folds. Time to bail. Lots of good action and movement in this game, which is what I really like to see, but in the end [MH] just couldn't stand up to the degen pressure.

20:40GMT: Still no word on the 3rd iQ/OUT game. It's live on obs mode but apparently no one's watched it to the conclusion yet.

20:45GMT: I'm getting hungry so let's get this show on the road. Starting game two now.

Match Twelve - Game Two
#3 Mostly Harmless vs #6 Team Everfrost
Jade Isle

MH
R/Mo - ?
W/A - Crippling Slash? Really?
W/E - Shock/Axe
W/Mo - Dev Hammer
R/Mo - ?
E/Mo - Water Runner with Icy Shackles
Mo/A - LoD
Mo/A - ZB

eF
W/A - YAA Sword Warrior
D/W - Melandru's
N/E - Reaper's Mark with melee hate
Me/Mo - Migraine with degen hexes
E/Rt - Water Runner. Water Trident with Weapon of Warding
R/Mo - BHA
Mo/E - Yep, Divert
Mo/A - LoD

Guess what? Jade Isle! Strangely enough, [MH] seems to be running something balanced here (With, of course, a lot of Warriors) which is just really freaking weird. Their Rangers idn't look too unusual, I'm guessing they were dual Broad Head Arrows or something but I never saw them use it. Word is they were going for the "Nobody expects the Spannish Inquisition!" split here but got blown up early and often. [eF] sticks with their previously successful build with a Melly Derv in place of the YAA war. Just looking at the builds, seems like [MH] is going to get eaten up by hexes here.

20:49GMT: Grr, rezzed in midway through the action. [MH] is already on their heals and have taken a few deaths. Fight's happening in front of their base now.

20:54GMT: Resign spike at before the 8 minute mark. Ouch.

20:54GMT: Word from the #gwp is that [iQ] pulled it out in the third game. Well, cats are no longer sleeping with dogs and all is right with the world so that's as good a time as any to take a break. I'll be back.

Celestial Tournament LiveBlogging: eF vs SiN

18:36GMT: What the hell. I have to say, I'm really starting to flag here. It's probably the lingering illness - I just can't sustain activity for more than a few hours without becoming really, really tired and sore. I'm sure sitting and starring at my computer for the past several hours hasn't helped either. Anyway, I'm going to be checking out the [eF] match because [MH]/[eF] looks epic.

18:37GMT: First, the upcoming matches.

9. #1 Esoteric Warriors vs #8 Battery Powered Best Friend
10. #2 Idiot Savants vs #10 Time is Running
11. #3 Mostly Harmless vs #6 Team Everfrost
12. #5 Ominous Latin Name vs #13 Listen To

So, looks like there were some upsets by the two loss teams. But, you know, not the ones I was expecting. Called the weakness of Rus Corp right but, yeah, that [acid] prediction isn't looking too hot right about now is it? Still, a good slate of games.

Match Six - Game One
Team Everfrost vs Serious Sin
Corrupted Isle

eF
W/A - YAA
R/Mo - BHA
Rt/E - Weapon of Remedy Rit
D/A - Melandru's
W/A - Eviscerate Axe War
E/Mo - Runner. Shatterstone Water guy.
Mo/E - Shield of Deflection
Mo/A - LoD/Infuse

SiN
W/D - Runner? Hammer Warrior with Pious Haste
A/W - Moebius BoA Sin
Me/Mo - MoR
Mo/E - Shield of Deflection
Mo/E - LoD/Infuse
A/W - Shadow Prison BoA
N/Mo - OoB and melee hate with Life Siphon
E/Rt - Shatterstone with Weapon of Warding

Mapped in just before the game started, so that's nice. And, oooh, Corrupted. Still, it's just another really tilted map like the Burnings and Jades, just in a different direction. Team eF is running with old school 5/3 split on this map. Broad Head Arrow, You're All Alone, and a weapon Rit. Their flagstand team is pretty hearty with two frontliners and a snarer. [SiN]'s got a 5/3 split too although it seems to be one of their Sins, a Necro, and an Ele/Rit.

18:45GMT: Dammit, got caught up talking to an old friend (someone who's been gone from the game even longer than I have and whom I wanted to give some tips to. I know what it's like to leave the game and come back with a lot of rust.) and checking out builds and missed the initial split. I'm going to have to restart this one.

19GMT: Blargh, I'm failing at live blogging. [SiN] resigns about 18 minutes in. Here's how the match went. [eF] rolled them from the start and took only two deaths the entire match. Lots of splitting, lots of running around in circles, and the morale chart looks like the Nile Delta by the end.

19:01GMT: Okay, restarting and actually watching the match this time. [SiN] does, I think, the smart thing and overloads on the back path sending only three to the flagstand to start. [eF] was trying to do the opposite and it winds up getitn ghteir Ranger killed. They send their SoD Monk back to help out and that leads to a bunch of Keystone Cops time as various splits roam around the map. But it works as [eF] starts earning kills and stranding [SiN] players where they can't be rezzed. [SiN]'s split works okay but their flagstand team just can't stand up to [eF]'s.

19:05GMT: Starting match two now.

Match Six - Game Two
Team Everfrost vs Serious Sin
Jade Isle

eF (same build, pretty much)
W/A - YAA
R/Mo - BA
Rt/E - Weapon of Remedy Rit
D/A - Melandru's
W/A - Eviscerate Axe War
E/Mo - Runner. Shatterstone Water guy.
Mo/E - Divert Hexes
Mo/A - LoD/Infuse

SiN
A/W - Shadow Prison BoA
R/Mo - BHA with Toxicity
Me/E - Panic with shutdown
Me/Mo - Migraine with degen hexes
N/Rt - Wither with melee hate
N/E - Tainted with minions
Mo/E - Divert Hexes
Mo/E - LoD

Boo-urns to Jade again. Not many changes from eF except for swapping in a Divert Hex. Game one winners don't like to switch their builds, I guess. Although in this case, can you blame them? The Sinners, on the other hand, switch things up although I'm going to go ahead and say a Toxicity build was a really, really bad idea.

19:07GMT: Not one minute in and there isn't a [SiN] player over half health. Massive degen and [eF]'s Ranger is using Toxicity to good effect. They are just getting rocked here. I'm amazed no one's died yet.

19:08GMT: And I really have to stop saying things like that. First kill of the match is Mesmer #3. Mes #4 follows.

19:10GMT: Boost time. This isn't looking good for [SiN]. Time to start build hunting.

19:15GMT: Yawn. This game's over. Time for a bit of a break. Here's the plan, I'm going to wait until the MH/eF matches are up and blog about those and then I'll take a break for eating and the whatnot. Then it'll be back to focus on another set of matches. With any luck, I'll be done before tomorrow's matches start!

Celestial Tournament LiveBlogging: RUS vs OUT

17:19GMT: In case it's not obvious, I'm going to be dividing things up based on the various matches. Stumbled onto a little glitch here, though. Apparently whoever's in charge of the obs mode stuff forgot to set the toggle that sets the tournament matches to remain for several hours. They're disappearing in the normal 20 or so minutes rather than sticking around so far. Makes it a bit hard for me to follow all the matches and all but, if memory serves, this sort of thing always happens and they fix it before too long. I've PMed one of my admin friends and they assure me it's being handled.

17:19GMT: I wanted to check out eF vs SiN next but since RUS vs OUT is the only Game One left, well, the choice has been made for me.

Match #7
Rus Corp vs Time Is Running
Burning Isle

RUS
W/A - Shove? SHOVE?!? There's something you don't see every day. Anywy, it's a Hammer war with Way of the Fox, Death's Charge, BoA, and I think my brain just exploded.
A/W - Speaking of things you don't see very much, it's a BoA Sin with Shadow Prison!
M/E - Surge with Cry of Frustration, Diversion, GLE
M/Mo - Surge with Diversion, Guilt, hardrez
E/Mo - Glyph of Energy obs flamer/warder w/ glyphsac hardrez
Me/A - Runner with Shadow Shroud
Mo/A - LoD/Infuse
Mo/E - RC prot

OUT
D/A - Melandru's
D/A - Melandru's
Me/E - Power Block with Diversion, Gale, GLE
Me/E - If this guy has an elite I don't know what it is because I watched him for four minutes and he literally didn't use it - let's just say it's MoR and not something that he didn't have caus to use. Anyhow, it's E-Burn, Spiritual Pain, Diversion, that kind of fun stuff
M/Mo - Expel Hexes with HumSig, Diversion and, I'm guessing, the hardrez
Mo/E - RC prot
Mo/E - Healer's Boon
Mo/E - ZB Runner

Burning Isle it is. Not quite as groan worthy as Jade but I guess people just don't like to split. Anyhow, getting past the weird eurotech, [RUS] seems to be running some version of the latest jump spike. [OUT] is fairly similar with the three Mesmers backing their frontliners - the choice of Dervs and a three Monk backline is an interesting wrinkle to me, though. Nice Aegis chain, though.

17:20GMT: Standings update straight from #gwp. [eF], [tag], [iQ], [MH], [Vibe] (Sigh again...) and [EW] have all won 2-0. The RUS/OUT and wR/iPod have both gone 1-1 so far.

17:25GMT: Might have to take back that update since there seems to be some confusion over the results of the RUS/OUT games. Seems the word is that, as I expected, OUT took the matches easily.

17:30GMT: I haven't said much because this is, really, a very boring game (That plus I've learned from the last time around to hunt out builds nice and early. You'd think I would have remembered but I always have to relearn that lesson when I obs stuff for any lengthy period.). It reminds me of nothing so much as GWWC era matches where two relatively balanced builds would just meet at the flagstand and beat on each other until one side broke.

17:32GMT: No sooner do I finish making that point than [RUS] collapses. They looked headed for it as they were taking deaths while only earning one early kill. At this point, they've been pushed back to their Guild Lord area and lost most of their NPCs. [OUT] is in permaboost land and still landing the occasional kill.

17:33GMT: [RUS]'s Sin is working his way back to base after trying to infliltrate [OUT]'s base. I'm not quite sure why he stopped as it's going to take a sustained gank push to pull this game out for [RUS] at this point.

17:34GMT: Ah, I see now. OUT has one of their Monks, #7, back protecting their base.

17:35GMT: No, wait, that was a base rez as [RUS] is trying out. This is really bugging me.

17:38GMT: Two minutes to VoD and [RUS] has...their Bodyguard while [OUT]'s horde is unscathed.

17:40GMT: Yeah, VoD is not going well for [RUS]. [OUT] just sent a 3 person gank squad and almost got their Lord before they responded but even then they have no NPCs and a lot of DP worked up.

17:43GMT [RUS] sent their #6 Mesmer and their Sinoff on a split, They ran into [OUT]'s 3 person split of a Derv, a Mes, and a Monk. Bad things happen.

17:45GMT: Lords walking. This isn't going to end well for [RUS].

17:46GMT: And resign spike. That has to be the most unexceptional game I've seen in a while.

17:48GMT: You realize that at the rate I'm going, it's going to take me 12 hours to get through all of today's matches? That calls for a drink. Break time!

17:50GMT: And looks like the matches are properly up on obs mode at this point. Told ya. Oh, and also the tournament coordinator Mr. Gills has logged on under an assumed name.

18:05GMT: Back with a fresh cup of giner tea. Mmm. Word from the [MH] camp is they were, in fact, chanting "This is Kryta" in loud, manly voices in their matches against [one].

18:06GMT: Looks like all the match results are in - I can tell because the conversation has shifted to post game drama and tomfoolery on the #gwp. Everyone won 2-0 except for [wR]/[iPod] which went 2-1 in favor of Listen To. Match 3 isn't up yet but that'll be next on my list if it is.

18:06GMT: Loading into game two of the [RUS]/[OUT] match now. You are, no doubt, thrilled.


Match #7
Rus Corp vs Time Is Running
Jade Isle

RUS
W/A - D-Slash
D/A - Melandrus
E/Mo - SF with Ward Against Melee
E/Mo - Invoke Lighting spiker
Me/Mo - Surge/Burn with Diverison, Power Leak and Power Drain
Mo/Me - ? with Inspired Hex, Hex Breaker. Um, he had Prot Spirit?
Mo/E - RC prot with Aegis
Mo/E - Runner. ZB with Aegis

OUT (same build from last match)
D/A - Melandru's
D/A - Melandru's
Me/E - Power Block with Diversion, Gale, GLE
Me/E - Again, no clue on the elite. Still the same fun Mesmer stuff
M/Mo - Expel Hexes with HumSig, Diversion and, I'm guessing, the hardrez
Mo/E - RC prot
Mo/E - Healer's Boon
Mo/E - ZB Runner

Jade Isle again. Blargh. Insert fix this broken crap comments here. Anyhow, [OUT] sticks with what worked. While [RUS] switches things up considerably. They put in an Aegis chain and a 3 Monk backline while running with two Eles and a single Mesmer while dropping the jumpiking frontline. I really just don't get European teams I guess.

18:10GMT: Looks like the same thing as last match. One thing I've noticed which has been brought up before is that neither team is very eager to cap the flagstand at first. This is something that a lot of the better teams do while lower ranked teams are very eager to just get that cap in and start trading flags. There's a message there and I'm sure it's play on highly ranked teams.

18:15GMT: Excuse me while I stiffle this yawn. Same thing as last go-round. Big scrum ast the flagstand, [RUS] taking deaths, [OUT] not.

18:16GMT: Nearly at the 7 minute mark. [RUS] just ceded a bunch of territory to [OUT]. I'm guessing their Monks were running on fumes and they needed to retreat. As you'd expect, [OUT] rushed in the flag and they're pushing [RUS] into their base.

18:20GMT: Her's how the battle is going. [RUS] is penned in their base delaying the inevitable. [OUT] is swarming around killing stuff and working down NPCs. I'm falling asleep here.

18:25GMT: Yep, still going. No split attempt, no attempt to push out, [RUS] is just turtling and taking losses while [OUT] permaboosts. If I wasn't still curious what Mesmer #4 on [OUT] is running I'd be out of here.

18:30GMT: 2 minutes to VoD and [OUT]'s pulled back tot he flagstand. [RUS] is milling around their base. They've only got their Guild Lord NPCs left - two Archers and the Body guard - not doing much of anything. Yeah, I'm out of here.

18:31GMT: This just in from a guildie: "Rex, I understand why you like Shatterstone so much. Sometimes it's just like BOOM HEADSHOT!" Truer words...

18:32GMT: Something of a dilemma here. There's only a half an hour (Really 45 minutes with the observer mode lag time) bfore the next round starts. Should I start a new series of matches or should I just wait and jump ahead to the second round. Ah, how tricky the flow of time gets in the virtual world...

Celestial Tournament LiveBlogging: It Begins!

Blues Brothers time. It's nearing 16GMT, I've got two monitors set up, idling in #gwp, the obs mode window is front and center in my client, I'm waiting for the first match to go live, I've got half a cup of tea, a bowl of chicken broth, it's light outside, I'm wearing corrective lenses, and I have no pants on...

Hit it.


15:55GMT: Not quite sure how I'm going to break this up just yet because, you know, there are going to be a lot of matches to get through this first round. I'm thinking that one post is going to go far too long if I try to do them all justice. And, I'll likely take a break between the first and second round but I'm not sure if I should subdivide further into individual matches or not.

15:56GMT: Crugin's begun his 300 shtick on #gwp.

THE DRUMS OF WAR HAVE BEGAN THEIR BEAT

Oh yeah, this is going to be awesome.

15:58GMT: Hitting up obs mode while I'm waiting. eF seems to be warming up with a build with three W/A, a B/A, a Weapon of Fury Rit (which is awesome, by the way), and an Ele/Rit runner with a two Monk backline. They're actually not doing so well in the early going against ladder#20 World Warz (They've got some kind of jump spike with a three Monk backline.) - three deaths to none by the 6 minute mark and a flag return. Interesting. Don't think this is what they're going to be running with, though, it would be really stupid to broadcast their tourney build minutes before their match but you never know.

15:59GMT: Found one of my dev friends on line as "Admin Whatever". Word is, like previous tournaments, there's going to be an invisible guest in each match to observe the goings on. Make that two devs online as referees. Looks like things are gearing up to start.


16:04GMT: Let's review the fight card here while I'm waiting.

Round One (16GMT):

1. #1 Esoteric Warriors vs #16 Supernova Jpn
2. #2 Idiot Savants vs #15 Zero Files Remaining
3. #3 Mostly Harmless vs #14 [one]
4. #4 Winners Remorse vs #13 Listen To
5. #5 Ominous Latin Name vs #12 Temporal Flux Reality
6. #6 Team Everfrost vs #11 Serious Sin
7. #7 Rus Corp vs #10 Time Is Running
8. #8 Battery Powered Best Friend vs #9 Bambis Dont Say

Round Two (19GMT):

• 9. Winner of Match 1 vs Winner of Match 8
• 10. Winner of Match 2 vs Winner of Match 7
• 11. Winner of Match 3 vs Winner of Match 6
  
• 12. Winner of Match 4 vs Winner of Match 5

Given my predictions, I'm most interested in seeing if my faith in [acid] is misplaced over not. And the 8/9 match-up should be pretty interesting. Then again, an early look at the favorites at the top of the bracket would be nice. Oh, okay, I want to see all of them. If they were on TV, I'd be flipping back and forth across the channels. Fortunately, they're on obs mode and I can watch and rewatch them at my leisure.

16:05GMT: Just had a thought - which team is challenging first here? The rules say it's the team listed first who issues the first challenge, as in the Swiss rounds, but if I'm reading that correctly it means the higher seeded team is going to be the initial challenger. I've made the point before but the team that challenges first has a strong advantage here, logically, shouldn't the higher seed be the one that's rewarded with the greater potential for "home" games?

16:11GMT: Obs mode shows World Warz are up to #19 now, so looks like they won their match against [eF]. Bad omen or just working the rust off?

16:14GMT: Word from #gwp is that [Vibe] just won their first game. Err 7 at the start which lead to a resign wipe.

Guild Wars: Sealed Play

PAX is coming up soon and as some of my guildmates are in the Seattle area they're planning to attend. And they're especially interested in playing the latest installment of Sealed Play. Which, incidentally, is I think how I first heard about pal Clamatius so, you konw, there's that. Anyway, it's something I've long been interested in but I'm probably never going to have the opportunity to play since I avoid conventions like the plague, even if there were such an event in my immediate area which featured some Guild Wars support (which, to the best of my knowledge, there isn't), and Sealed Play is a con only event. It doesn't have to be but there's no real in-game system for pulling it off.

In talking with my guildies about it, though, I finally heard a good reason for why such a system has never been put in place: it would suck unless they spent a lot of time and effort on it. You'd need a lot of programmer hours to iron out the kinks, polish the interface beyond something hideous, to say nothing of how you deal with people who try to game the system. It's just not high priority enough to warrant the investment. So, unless, like disconnects, somebody puts in the effort off the clock, so to speak, it's just not going to happen. It's times like this where I decry the lack of an active mod community. It just never sprang up around Guild Wars, for obvious reasons, I think but if it had it wouldn't be too hard for some bright hobbyists to hack together a program that would automate the process. It could be ugly as sin but as long as it lead to some fun gameplay, I'd use it, and if it was given the unofficially official ANet stamp of approval (Didn't have keyloggers, malicious coding, didn't affect competitive gameplay, etc.) then others would too. So, basically, unless some ambitious developer or fan steps up, which isn't likely to happen, I'm never going to get to try Sealed Play.

Which is a shame because while I don't think Sealed Play could replace traditional GvG, say, and the joy of picking from the full toolbox if there's one thing the game is lacking it's casual formats. There's the Arenas but once you get past that there's very little where you don't have to spend a lot of time just to set things up. Sealed Play where you have a limited amount of time to pick from limited options could be a nice diversion. There's an expansion upcoming and, if I were in charge of the game, I'd work at adding something like that which helps new and old players alike.

My old idea of user created tournaments - which could support Sealed Play (By allowing whomever's setting up the tournament to restrict skill options, maybe even randomizing them) among other things like league play - is no doubt right out because it would take correspondingly more effort to create.

However, I think one of the most interesting things from the now infamous Team Quitter iQ thread was how the Idiots managed to breathe some life into the game by coming up with their own way of playing it. It's not surprising that with all the old M:TG players involved they came up with something a lot like Sealed Play - my experiences with that card game were very brief, when it first came out, basically, so I have no idea what a "picker pack" means but I imagine the concept isn't that much different. Basically, if I understand it right, they're assigned random elites and have only so long to build a bar around that skill (Their way of dividing the game's roles into frontline, midline, and healer is also interesting and, if applied to the Guild Wars Sealed Play format could solve a lot of the problems of random distribution which leaves a team without damage or healing. You might not get the good stuff but, if there was an attempt made to balance the rarity by each skill's role rather than by it's power level, I think you'd at least always be able to put something together.).

Now, a system like that wouldn't be too hard to put into place would it? The mechanisms for slotting in a new skill when you gain it or for changing around your skill bar are already in place. Imagine if you could zone into some Arena and speak with an NPC to be randomly assigned an elite based on your profession (probably the primary one just to keep things simple). You get a little box that pops up and you can replace whatever elite is on your bar with the new one and then you can open up your skills tab and tweak your attributes and the rest of your bar to your liking. But you wouldn't be able to enter matches until you accepted whatever random elite it was you'd been handed. Could be a random Arena, could be arranged teams in 4v4 GvG, could even have some new maps. But, to create such a format, what you'd need to do is come up with some flavor text and ways of dealing with people who are going to try and abuse the system to get the "playable" elites (A format like this or, say, Dodgeball works only because everyone involved follows the implicit rules. Which, in this case, is that no matter what you're given you're going to make a good faith effort to play around with it. Once you put something like this into the game where any player can use it then there are, inevitably, going to be people who try to game the system to their advantage. So, a few steps at the beginning and you can head off stuff like the leavers and laggers that pester other formats. Here, I think the biggest problem would be getting someone to use the lame elite they got and not just head to a different zone or quit out to roll the dice again. If it were me, I'd put each elite on a timer. No matter how many times you zoned or relogged, until that timer ran out you'd be offered the same elite. For, say, fifteen minutes. If you wanted to just get going then you have to suck it up and take Defy Pain or Unyielding Aura or whatever it is. But if you want to wait it out to try to get something better, you can. Maybe make the timer increase each time you refuse an elite to encourage people to accept the format's premise.). The basics of everything else are already there.

Something like that, I think, would be a much better addition to the game than, say, Hero Battles.

The Nurse

Lately, I'd been thinking about pursuing a career in nursing. Largely because of things like this. However, thanks to recent events, I'm having second thoughts.

At the vets, while we were making the agonizing decisions about what to do with our cat, there was this one nurse who stayed with us the whole time. She held Patches, stroked her hair, and made sure the respirator stayed over her mouth. It was, obviously, not a good time to remember look at a clock but it took a while before things were over. And this woman stayed with us and our cat, trying to comfort and reassure us the whole while. I hope she doesn't have to go through things like that every day but I'm sure that wasn't her first time helping someone to let go.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but this was only a cat. I imagine the process must be orders of magnitude worse when there's a human being involved. Someone who can talk and respond, make decisions or demands, clamped, perhaps, to all sorts of machinery that keep them going, but still slipping away. That kind of thing must go on in hospitals every day. To say nothing of the unexpected deaths, the accidents, he people who seem fine one moment but die the next.

Becoming a nurse is something I've considered because, for whatever reason, people tell me I'm kind, and helpful. And I'd like to think that were I in such a profession, I'd be able to do the same thing that nurse did - offer what little help I could when it was needed most. But I can't help but feel that, over time, I'd become numbed by the experience. There would be just no way that I could be torn apart, emotionally, each and every time. So, I'd retreat. Distance myself. Just a little bit from each tragedy, each crying mother or daughter, each distraught spouse, or stunned friend. Until, in the end, I wouldn't be moved at all. I can't see any other way to survive in such an environment.

I'm not sure I want to get to that point. I'm not even sure that I could. Not without breaking down somewhere along the way. I think, of all things, I'd care too much.

Guild Wars: Why the Paragon Hate?

In researching my Paragon article (Which, you know, should tell you just how long I've been meaning to get around to writing it.) I came across a curious attitude on behalf of the community: Paragons are teh suck.

Not just Paragons but, basically, any class and mechanic introduced since the original release. The idea, I guess, is that the game was much purer and balanced way back when without all the new stuff cluttering it up. To which I have to respond, were these people actually playing the same game as I was? Spirit spam, for example, originally applied to a Ranger with Oath Shot and a half dozen annoying spirits. Gale Warriors were fun but in no way balanced. Ranger spike, Bloodspike, Obs spike, hell, IWAY, there was just as much lame stuff back then, if not more, than there is now.

I don't get the attitude that new must equal wrong, I guess. Although there certainly have been some design missteps and unnecessary mechanics added. Shadow Stepping, for one, is about the worst thing to ever be introduced into the game. It destroys the idea of positioning and pre-kiting in favor of running your fingers down the keyboard. And the Dervish forms are almost broken by definition. So, they have something of a point but I think, here, it's too knee jerk of a reaction.

As I said, the proper comparison to a Paragon is a Ranger. And as the [QQ] boys say, how can you tell a bad Ranger? Because they die.

It's something of an exaggeration but Rangers have a lot of armor - up to 100 against elemental damage. And stances that make them annoying to target - as anyone who's been left in a "Got Snare" situation at the end of an Arena match with that one idiot Ranger with Escape who's determined to run in circles for as long as they can will tell you. With their range and ability to blind, cripple, daze and more from over the horizon as it were, they can cheerfully pick almost anyone apart from a distance. Their ability to interrupt and blow up your plans is second only to a Mesmer thanks to things like the ubiquitous D-Shot. Give them things like Natural Stride and you basically make them permanently untouchable.

Oh, and let's not forget that, with Expertise, this is a character that runs on an effective seven or eight pips or regeneration. It's that strong primary attribute that allows things like R/W thumpers or R/A or even R/P to thrive while there's virtually no one else who can afford to do the same thing with bow attacks. You don't see W/R notching an arrow, for example (Outside the Guild Lord and Ghostly, that is), even though it's technically possible. The Expertise tax makes it inefficient for anyone but a primary Ranger to, well, be a Ranger.

But I don't think anyone would argue that the Ranger is broken and should be removed from the game. Anymore than any reasonable person would argue that Warriors deal too much DPS or Healing is overpowered compared with damage. They're just good at what they do. And there's nothing wrong with that.

The Paragon only has one expansion worth of skills to play around with but, like a Ranger, they're a multi-faceted class that has a lot to recommend it. Sure, they get a lot out of using their shouts and chants thanks to Leadership but, you know, Mesmers use their skills better thanks to Fast Casting. It's just a given that there are some benefits to playing a primary. The grossest abuses of that energy engine, like Watch Yourself! (Which is one of those things that you seriously have to wonder how it slipped through the testing phase. I mean, no one caught that a moderately useful shout with a low adrenaline cost that you can spam for tons of energy unlinked could be a problem? It was the first thing I thought of when I heard about Paragons and I'm sure I wasn't the only one - but, of course, I have some experience abusing WY! thanks to old school smite spam.) seem to have been curtailed.

And, sure, their shouts and chants are useful and hard to deal with once they go up but, for the most part, they're very conditional. Things like Anthem of Flame only last for one attack while things like Anthem of Envy has so many caveats and exceptions that it's hard to get them to work right. Like anything conditional, when you can jump through those hoops you can really get something. But if you can't, you're pretty ineffectual.

As for how hard they are to counter, well, the skills that a Paragon uses that you really care about are generally chants, not shouts. There's nothing you can do about a shout but chants have a one second casting time, at least, so there's at least a chance you can interrupt them. And there are counters out there to the various shouts they just don't, for whatever reason (Probably because they're very narrow and not really necessary as shouts aren't really all that important to hate out compared with other things), get played. But things like Roaring Winds and Vocal Minority are out there waiting to be a safety valve if things ever get out of hand. They might need some tweaking to become, you know, good but just because they're not used doesn't mean they stink - Rust is a perfectly good counter to signets, it's just not going to see much use unless signets are a problem.

The only thing I'd really give to all the haters is Aggressive Refrain. It's just too damned good despite its enormous cost and the 25% boost instead of the normal 33%. Most IASes have significant drawbacks. Aggressive, on the other hand, has none provided you can sync the expiration of various shouts and chants. That never-ending faster attack rate boosts not only your DPS but also the adrenal gain and makes you that much more deadly. Especially since it's something that only a primary Paragon can use it's just not a very well-thought out skill. Still wouldn't catch me using a Paragon without it but it could definitely use some looking at.

Maybe it's just me and the fact that I've skipped in and out of the game so much, but I don't see how adding more complexity and depth to the system is automatically a bad thing. New skills and professions are something to welcome as they freshen the game and enliven it with new potential and possibilities. They need to be carefully monitored and balanced so they don't throw things out of whack and, you know, that could be done better, faster. But I'd rather explore those possibilities rather than complain that the game's changed.

Celestial Tournament: What I Expect to See

Game time's drawing near (If I've managed the time zone conversion correctly anyways). And it's been a while, the GWFC to be exact, since I've even seen a tournament like this. I missed out on the Wintergreen tournament but, then, so did a lot of other top guilds. So, beyond my predictions, what am I expecting to see?

Well, for one thing some really good teams. The skill level of the entire playerbase has only risen over the years and these are the teams who've played, more or less, at the top of their games the past two months.

For another, I expect to see some Rock/Paper/Scissors building going on. And the sort of extreme map choices that enable it - I wouldn't be surprised if Jade Isle made an appearance and I wouldn't be surprised if there's a collective groan from the community about it.

A tournament, after all, is a really different creature than ladder play. There the best thing to do, if you can't work out the latest rank farming gimmick, is to just have a balanced build and be able to outplay everyone with it. Flexibility is your design goal since you don't know where or who you'll be playing and you'll need to deal with the various extremes of the day. Those extremes have only gotten more niche thanks to the continuing creep of skill lists and power levels - you can have really powerful hex builds, I'd argue, because strong counters like Divert Hexes exist. And players have gotten much better about creating builds to exploit certain advantages.

In a tournament, however, you're rewarded for exploiting those advantages yourself. The more you can tailor your build to your map, which you know you'll be playing on, the better your chances of winning. While you can run something perfectly balanced and hope to outplay the other team, you can also run something slanted to one degree or the other and hope they can't hate you out.

Adding to this, teams these days run and develop multiple builds. There are a few one-trick ponies on the ladder, but I'm guessing they've been bounced from the tournament already - run one thing and one thing only and you're just asking someone to come up with a hard counter. Teams have options and, in so many words, strategic flexibility which enhances the guessing "Build Wars" game.

So, I'm doubting we're going to see something like in the GWWC where Te threw a curveball by running with a completely different build - FC Air Spike, if I recall - in the third and decisive game which knocked them out of the championship against LuM.

If I can get all nostalgic for a minute, a similar thing happened with my old guild, iQ, where their build had been countered but instead of changing it for the final game, they ran with it again and onto a crushing defeat. I remember being pilloried at the time because I asked the obvious question, "Why the hell did you do that?" (Knowing me, it took five paragraphs, a few uncomfortably strained metaphors, and a flowchart to get there, but that was the gist.) Only to be told, in so many terms, that iQ hadn't managed to play a lot of matches (Not so much of an issue now, is it?) and were really only comfortable with that one build.

It was an answer I knew perfectly well, but I was simply asking the unanswered question for the benefit of everyone - because the answer says a lot about the differences between what you had to do to prepare for the ladder and what you had to do to prepare for that, our first championship tournament. Of course, I was in the middle of making myself look like a complete idiot by making stupid comments like that all the time back then so I probably shouldn't have bothered. But, really, the different ways Te and iQ answered the question were illuminating to me. Te knew their build had been figured out and running it again would prove disastrous so they rolled the dice on being able to surprise the other team with something to which they were unaccustomed. iQ, thought the same thing, but felt their chances were better sticking with what they knew best and trying to outplay the other team.

It was, in short, contrasting lesson in being underprepared and what you do with it but there was, of course, a third way there. And that would have been to have practiced a second build or three in order to have on hand for just such an eventuality. Time has, I think, validated this as the correct move in that situation. And, now, teams are a lot more used to tournament play and they'll be much more prepared with a Plan B when things aren't working. The good ones, anyway.

Beyond that, I think we're going to see some upsets. Some amazing games. And some blowouts and not so amazing ones. I expect to hear some grumbling about lag and/or technical issues. And, above all, I expect that I can't wait to see it all.

Guild Wars: How Did I Not Notice This?

When the hell did this happen[1]?

Moebius Strike. 2 second recharge.

Death Blossom. 2 second recharge.

That is how you say, ah yes, the sexy[2].

[1] - Before you say it, yes, I know, during the last big skill update. I just didn't notice it until I got my butt handed to me by the new model Moebius Sins going around.

[2] - This, by the way, is one of those "Protector Strike" Moments. Death Blossom could say "Turn counterclockwise and emit a parp on a regular interval. I am the Walrus." The skill description is meaningless. It's all about that sweet, sweet recharge time meaning you can string dual attack after dual attack.

Celestial Tournament: Ack!

Lemming isn't the only one who thinks my picks are the result of consuming too much cough medicine and/or peyote. And, you know, I'm having second thoughts. The Xunlai House is open to reshuffling my choices until, I think, two hours before the matches are scheduled to start so I could change things around but I promised myself that I'd make my picks and lock them in. So, you know, I wouldn't be having existential crises about them and scramble at the last minute only to find I'd missed the deadline and all. Not at all like I'm doing now, mind.

That doesn't mean I can't consider a few other scenarios, though. As I said in my predictions, the biggest stretch is imagining [acid] is going to take down not one, but two one-loss teams. I think the short time frame of the first few rounds makes this possible but, you know, that doesn't make me right. So, here's another way things could tumble out:

Round One:

• #1 [EW] over #16 [SpNv]
• #2 [iQ] over #15 [LaG]
• #3 [MH] over #14 [one]
• #4 [wR] over #13 [iPod]
• #5 [tag] over #12 [acid]
• #6 [eF] over #11 [SiN]
• #10 [OUT] over #7 [RUS]
• #8 [Vibe] over #9 [Meow]

I call this very boring as only one higher seed loses.

Round Two:

• #1 [EW] over #8 [Vibe]
• #2 [iQ] over #10 [OUT]
• #3 [MH] over #6 [eF]
• #5 [tag] over #4 [wR]

Again, yawn. But, wait. Um, those are some good teams left to fight it out.

Round Three:

• #1 [EW] over #5 [tag]
• #2 [iQ] over #3 [MH]

Could it be? The #1 and #2 seeds battling it out for the title? Inconceivable!

Finals

• #2 [iQ] over #1 [EW] (2-0)
  

Down goes [EW]! [iQ] takes it! [iQ] takes it! Oh, the fans are pouring onto the field. It's sheer pandemonium here in the Great Temple. (Insert joke about iQ unmasking to reveal they were actually ten of the sixteen teams in the elimination rounds here.)

And before I go, I should issue my soon-to-be standard disclaimer. I am a scrub and I have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about.

Guild Wars: The Paragon

Lately my guild has been running a variation on the NR/Tranq. Which, of course, is just a further development of the whole "bring two each of Warrior, Paragon, Ranger, and Monk" idea although I keep pushing for changing it up a bit from that template. The main weakness of the build is that it doesn't split well (And I'm not exactly sold on having a BA Ranger back as the runner.) and we play on a split friendly map so it leads to problems, but I think with a more flexible character in there in place it could be more easily compartmentalized without losing too much, but what do I know?

Anyhow, it's a good build for us to run, I think, because it's a very aggressive one (2xWPRM is, apparently, "romp" squared phonetically.). Most poor teams focus on building defensively. It's a lot easier to bulk up the defense than it is the other crucial "Ds" - damage and disruption - and by muddying the waters and dragging the game down into the muck, even a mediocre team can stand a chance against a better one. On the other hand, executing an offense takes comparatively greater co-ordination and player skill. It's the same reason why hockey teams will employ a neutral zone trap - scoring goals is hard because everything has to go right to get the puck in the net, but keeping it out means you only have to make the other team do one thing wrong. So weak teams look for builds that have a lot of redundant defenses and skimp on the offense. Good teams, on the other hand, will skimp on the defenses in favor of killing faster - best defense is a good offense and all that.

The NR/Tranq build is anything but defensive. Basically, you either roll the other team or you get crushed. If you're turtling in your base at the 10 minute mark, you've lost, even if you can string it out to VoD. And I think it's good for us to play something where we're forced to go for the throat. We've found it works best, for us, as a distributed pressure build since that way we're spreading around our damage and conditions, rather than a spike build so it's not that hard to pull off, really. And since it's an uptempo build we seem to get in a lot more matches playing it than something like a prototypical balanced build which, for us, seems destined to go to VoD. More matches means we get more exposure to different teams and scenarios and it's just, in general, a good thing, if you ask me.

But, I mention this because it means I've gotten some playing time on a Paragon lately. Warrior, Ranger, and Monk players are all pretty well established but I don't think there are many master Paragons out there. So, I got slotted in there not just because I've been wanting to play one but also because no one else really wanted it. Since I've managed to study up on the class a bit, I've somehow become the guild's Paragon expert - to the point of being largely in charge of tweaking the builds to get a bit more out of them and the like. Which is fun and scary all at the same time.

If you'll remember way back when, I used a trial account to test out the Paragon in PvE. But when it came time to roll up a new character on my actual account, I went with the Dervish. It was, for me, the right choice for me because I wasn't really having a lot of fun with the Paragon.

My initial impression of the profession (And I'm probably betraying my PnP roots here) was that it was something like a Cleric. Decent armor, decent damage, lots of buffs. But, ultimately, a support character and, thus, a lot more boring than something all about running up to people and hitting them in the face. Playing one, I was drawn to comparing them to Warriors thanks to the low energy regeneration and adrenal skills.

A more accurate comparison, though, is, I think, to the Ranger. In fact, it's like a Ranger with training wheels since you don't have to bother with timing interrupts (Because, let's face it, the best bow attacks are Savage Shot and D-Shot) or with the various ranges and RoF of different bows - get your head around line of sight and you're good to go. Both are ranged characters that rest somewhere between the front and midlines who have enough armor that they're not very good targets to beat on. Both are capable of putting out some scary damage but not in the same weight class as the melee types (They make up for this, though, by not having to work so hard to get in range.). And both feature plenty of buffs and conditions to improve their team - Rangers have preps and stances and rituals while Paragons have shouts and chants and echoes. The Paragon has plenty of party-wide defensive support which the Ranger, by and large, lacks in favor of being a better skirmish character. But while a lot of stuff in, say, the Motivation line was ridiculously overpowered at release, I managed to miss out on all that brokenness. At the moment, Paragons are best at being offensive support - spreading things like Burning Flame and Anthem of Flame rather than, say, They're on Fire!.

And that armor is juicy. Since they can carry a shield, Paragons have the second highest armor potential in the game, actually ahead of a Hammer Warrior in most cases. What with Aggressive Refrain and all, you can easily afford to run with the Centurion's insignias rather than Survivor. In general, more armor is better than more health, if you ask me, as that reduction in damage is generally going to give you more over a protracted battle than a larger buffer between you and the zero point. The only case when this isn't the way to go is when there's a lot of armor ignoring damage in the meta like Bloodspike stuff. That's not the case now so you can grab the +10AL when under the effects of a shout and get a base 90AL. Add a shield and you're up to 106AL. Throw in the bonus armor inscriptions (Which long hours of Monking in the Arenas have taught me to switch between readily) and you're talking about a character with 116AL who can deal a significant amount of damage just with an auto-attack. The only characters with more armor (Ignoring any armor boosting skills) are Axe/Sword Warriors against some type of physical damage (Yes, there's Sentinel's but that's some kind of sick joke if you ask me.).

With all the interesting chants and shouts to throw around, the Paragon is really nice to play. I think what I overlooked before is the same thing that makes them hard to practice - the Leadership bonus. A Paragon is really only at their best when they have half a dozen teammates around to gain the benefits of their shouts. Their energy management gets better, the return on the investment gets better with each character affected, and on and on. Since I never got far enough with my Paragon to have eight person teams, I was stuck, like a low level Ranger lacking Expertise, in gimp mode. Same thing happens when you go to the Arenas or even the Isle of the Nameless (unless you bring just a load of henchies and set them to stand around twiddling their thumbs) - you're just not as efficient as you are in other formats. And, so, you end up becoming a spear attacking, condition spammer which isn't indicative of where the class's true strength lay. But, in a NR/Tranq build where you're hitting four or five other attackers with your offensive buffs, then you can really see the potential.