Guild Wars: These Skills Are Still Pro
About 30 wins tonight. Maybe a 2:1 ratio of wins to loses which I consider acceptable considering I was getting my feet under me the first several rounds and all. Couple good long 10+ runs, too. Talking "we've only lost because someone had to leave" runs here. But I'm running out of steam so once I hit 3.8k I decided to call it a night. Only 200 more points to go to hit r4 and if tomorrow's anything like tonight then I should get it easy. If you see a Pumpkin Sauce in the Arena over the weekend, that's me. Still sorting my thoughts about it but, hopefully, I'll have something more cogent to post later on.
This is my first time playing in a format like this since the reporting feature went in. From what I can see, there's virtually no botting or leeching going on. Most people are live and move around and contribute to the match - to what extent, of course, is hard to determine but at least they're trying, right? Leavers and non-loaders are a bit of a problem, though. It's no fun to be playing 3 on 5 or something and now, it seems, the game actively punishes you for trying to get out of that situation and onto a winning team.
I've had my most success as a Ranger. Pin Down is brutal. There's nothing more pathetic than a Warrior trying to struggle towards you while you DOT chip him to death. And there are a lot of Warriors at the ball. Natural Stride, I'd like if it was only a run buff, but it's also one of the only block chances in the environment so it's great as well. And teams with two or three Rangers? It's just, you really have a counter for everything out there as well as decent enough damage while being practically untouchable.
Otherwise, Rits are good. Monks are surprisingly annoying - they can't do squat but they make it hard to kill stuff. Necros are great if you don't mind being a sitting duck. Mesmer's nice but I really can't run it well. Elementalist is a lot of fun but way too fragile for my tastes. Warriors are fun, too, but sitting ducks against anyone who knows what they're doing. Paragon is, well, it's not very good. Sins alright but you'll get your combo blown a lot until you learn to Yomi (I love hitting an Ox or Twisting with a D-Shot when they port in, then they just kind of sit there and stare at you like, "What do I do now?" The answer is usually die, of course. But better players are catching on to that and we're getting into the whole, super-fun psych out phase of play to see who blinks first.). And Dervs are great, Melandru's makes them immune to a lot of the stuff that really hurts here but I'm just not familiar enough with them to play it well.
I'm loving the idea but the format is a little grating. It suffers the same problem as ABs or HvH in that you spend most of your time rushing around the map in a big circle and standing there to cap something instead of actually fighting. As I said earlier, these are small maps, with the shrines placed closely together so you're bound to run into the enemy sooner or later and there's plenty of fighting. It's just there's plenty of not fighting, too, and that's really not why I come to the party. I don't like it when the smart play is not to engage the enemy - when you're at equal strength, anyway. But, overall, fun little mini-game, a bit more deep and closer to actual formats than the Snowball and Dragon Arenas, but not frustratingly so. If you haven't yet, give it a try.
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5 comments:
When I initially looked at the build list, my thought was "so why wouldn't anyone any good at all play a Ranger?". The other builds are subpar but the Ranger is only 1 skill away from a GvG skirmish build.
The mesmer lacks physical hate and so gets torn up by all the assassins. Also, no run buff is clearly weak in a capping format.
The only things you're really worried about as a Ranger is an in-form Dervish and a hex from a Necro dropping your Stride, in that order.
Blarg, angel of death on my shoulder making me make typos (Which begs the question of why they happen the rest of the time), let's try that again.
Clammy! Blog more. Also, I guess you have your fan woes fixed and have gotten a few rounds in by now. We should sync up if we're on at the same time because, yes, one Ranger is fun but two Rangers are even better. I think my dream team features two Rangers, two Monks, and either a nuking Ele or a devastating Derv for that offensive oomph.
The mesmer lacks physical hate and so gets torn up by all the assassins. Also, no run buff is clearly weak in a capping format.
But, but, Mesmers have Empathy! That's total melee hate which means that Sin is going to be dead if they keep up with the Ginsu act! About ten hits after you are, of course, and if they don't use Refuge or anything.
But, no, the way Mes can - and I stress possibly can - survive against Sins is by denial and delay. You have to have balls of steel, nerves of pure copper, and I wouldn't want to get swarmed (I wouldn't want multiple Sins on me on any character, though) but I've seen it done. The general idea is to strip their Auras, and Leech Sig or Complicate part of their chain. Then blast their energy away with Surge/Burn/Feast so they can't do anything (With those running on recharge you deny roughly six pips of energy. Or 21 in about 3 seconds to start the fight. Which actually hurts you since it makes your heal less effective.). What really chews them up are Warriors and Dervs. And, you know, Rangers. It's the lack of a run buff that hurts the most.
Same thing drags down the Necro. I'm ruing calling that build the MvP while sniffing at the BA build but when I wrote those I had no idea what the format was going to be like and had my fingers crossed it wasn't a point capturing nightmare. Like it is. But, as it is, the format revolves around disruption and mobility. With the former at a premium I don't want to write off the Mesmer so quickly.
But, yeah, that was pretty much my conclusion, too. I said as much in the revised impression of the classes that I wrote but haven't bothered to post yet. This is what I say in my outline, though, about Mesmers, "If you know how to run a Mesmer, this is a perfectly good choice. The thing is you lack a run buff and you lack defenses so you're a sitting duck." I should really get around to that but in my defense I'm still really, really sick.
When I initially looked at the build list, my thought was "so why wouldn't anyone any good at all play a Ranger?"
Because they want to play a Monk? Running into a few Monks is the surest way you know you're up against a sync team.
The only things you're really worried about as a Ranger is an in-form Dervish and a hex from a Necro dropping your Stride, in that order.
I don't think you're really worried about the hexes, since Stride only lasts six seconds anyway. It's a pressure release valve and a get out of dodge card, you're not relying on it in a firefight where you can't focus on taking out the hexes. And if you are, it's just to make sure you don't eat a D-Shot when you're Trolling or something in which case it's a gamble, anyway.
In form Dervs are a pain but you also have 100AL against their damage and you can still kite them. And no interrupts means you can stand there and Troll in their face if you have to. You just can't kill them quickly. But they're going to have a hard time killing you, too, so it's a draw. About the only one you have in the format.
Sure, if you're on Mes you can shatter the Aura and the assassin goes away for a bit. Then the other one kills you (there's a lot of assassins).
I do think the mes is a decent choice but it's far from optimal - the lack of run buff in a capping format is a major strike against it. That and pretty much sucking against all the physicals, of which there are an awful lot. The mes is actually better against the assassins than it is against the other physicals simply because one assassin has trouble killing you if you're paying attention (ok, Empathy doesn't do warriors a whole lot of good either).
I'm not so sure about wanting monks. The bar is pretty bad. I think the Rit build is better than the monk build.
But in summary, I think a close-to-ideal set up is something like 2x Ranger, 3x Ele 'cos SF stacks something fierce. Sure, your healing sucks monkeys, but you can just spike people out with just SF, Gaze, Flame if you have 3 eles. Rangers provide the disruption you need to keep the eles alive against the frigging assassins.
Sure, if you're on Mes you can shatter the Aura and the assassin goes away for a bit. Then the other one kills you (there's a lot of assassins).
Anyone has problems with multiple Sins on them, though. Well, except a Stride buffed Ranger - but they can spike faster than you can keep that up, you really have to pick off part of their chain or you're screwed.
The thing is if you're off trying to solo as a Mesmer either you're doing a bad job of it or your teammates really, really suck. Because like a lot of the other casters, the Mesmer really shines when it has support, a screen, to stand in front of it and bail it out when it gets in trouble.
If you have two Sins, say, against a Mesmer and a Ranger then the Mes can strip one while the Ranger hits the other's Horns of the Ox with D-Shot (Or, really, what I'd do is race ahead of the Mes and try to lure the Sins into attacking me because I have Stride. When the Mes catches up as I kite back he can send one back to start without passing Go and collecting $200 and then we can work them.). Or an Ele can hit the remaining Sin with Steam. Warrior gets them with Crip Slash or Bull's. You get the picture. In this format, the Mes is a stand character and you have to have at least one other teammate with you at all times or you're going to die sad and alone.
There aren't many characters that can work alone, out in space, reliably - I'd put the short list at Ranger, Ele, and Dervs. Sins, maybe, but it's a scrub build for a scrub class and several of the other classes, played well, can check it.
I do think the mes is a decent choice but it's far from optimal
Nothing is really optimal at the Ball, though. Even the vaunted Ranger disguise has it's problems. Forget Mending Touch, that's just not going to happen with the design constraints, but it runs at 12 Expertise (And 12 Marks and 11 Wilderness) which means while you've hit the 5en breakpoint for 10 en skills you're paying 3 for the 5 energy skills and 8 for the 15. Another point in Expertise would get you to the next breakpoint for both of those and, trust me, you can really feel the drain on your energy pool and will often run dry because your Expertise has been set at such a dumb level. Wilderness, for example, could give up a point to be at 10 and only cost you a second of Poison duration (But +poison weapons work so that doesn't really matter) while keeping your Troll and Stride exactly where they are. Marksmanship, too, could be lower and still give you the 4 seconds of Burning from BA. So you could make it better, if you could tweak it just that little bit.
But, even so, the Ranger is the closest to being perfect and it's way up here. The Paragon is fundamentally flawed and it's way down there. Everything else rests in a comfrotable middle of "it's alright, but...".
I'm not so sure about wanting monks. The bar is pretty bad. I think the Rit build is better than the monk build.
I'm pretty sure. The Rit bar is alright except for the stupid spirit stuff. The Monk bar, on the other hand, looks atrocious but, in the right hands, actually plays damned tough. Again, caught by itself it goes down quickly but when you have it standing behind some front or midliners then it can shine. The real difference is SoJ and BaneSig which allow you to disrupt the enemy. The Rit can't do anything like that and in a format where snares and disruption are at a premium it really does make the difference. At the same time, the Monk has slightly better healing and hex removal, which the Rit lacks entirely. Basically, the Rit has better condition removal and support skills. While the Monk has not only better healing but hex removal and better offensive skills. It's a close run thing but all the hardcore pros I've talked to like the Monk better and I'd have to agree. It's just you'd take the Rit into RA, maybe, but not the Monk.
And my dream team (Which is 2x Ranger, 2x Monk and a killer. At the moment, I lean towards the Dervish.) has Monks in it because it's run as a dedicated split. You go 3/2 or 2/1/2 and stick a Monk in each group (While someone freelances, maybe) and that lets you at least stalemate even with larger groups. The Monk build is very good at helping the self-reliant characters, like the Ranger, stay up just that little bit longer so if you can play the run around the shrine game while your better half is mopping up on the other side of the map, it's a net win for you. In a group that's going to stick together, I agree, you mass up the Eles and you pair them with enough support to keep people off them, and the best at that in this format is the Ranger.
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