PvP is srs bizness yo

One of my greatest pet peeves about PvP are the stupid PvP music videos people post on youtube.

Don't get me wrong, I like to watch PvP. I like to observe high ranking GvG and HoH, see what builds are in, what team compositions do best, etc. Sometimes I'll log on and watch matches while I wait for guildies to show up for missions and dungeons. I find it constructive, and I think a person can learn a lot by watching skilled players compete against each other.

What I don't like are videos that are put on youtube featuring a single person, edittied by that same person, depicting nothing but victory, to the tune of Scatman and Linkn Park. Anyone can be epic if they cherry pick footage that shows nothing but success.

Take for instance, this vid:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFPDjJ7JVzA

This is Counter Strike: 2D. It's fun, and free, and a nice way to waste time if you feel jaded by your normal routine. This video shows Circa, the clan leader of Killcrazed, kicking ass. However, notice how almost half, if not more, of the kills are against bots (names prefaced with [b]). Not real players, but bots. Secondly, they show him knifing an AFK CT in slow-mo. What. The. Hell. You stabbed someone who wasn't playing. Do you record yourself knifing the wall too?

Now, I play on their servers a lot, and they're good people, and good players. But I've gone 107 and 17 on their server, against their players. I've had them reset the server on me half a dozen times in a row to wipe my score, while they were filming. After every kill, Circa (or whomever they were recording) would ask "got?" to make sure they captured the kill. I ended up getting slapped by the admin a few times cause I started asking "got?" after each kill too.

Now, I might end up being a hypocrit, cause I'm fixing to download the program "gamecam", and start recording ABs. I figure rather than continuing to tell stories in this blog about cool moments, I'll just post them. Maybe I'll just make sure to finish each vid with me getting owned, to keep it fair.

Police Drone, Leading The Way Into A Brighter Tomorrow!

Back when I played City of Heroes, I was a member of the Paragon Police Department, on the Justice Server. The PPD, or PD, as we were known, has seen many iterations, on multiple servers. Virtue and Freedom have seen chapters form, and there was once a Paragon City Police Department, PCPD.

What attracted me to this super group was the theme. To be a member of the PPD, at the time, you had to roll up a Police Drone. NPC Police Drones guard zone entrances, and certain buildings, but those are little more than hovering tasers.

I loved the uniform from the first time I saw it. All Drones were the same height, wore the same outfit. Only variances reflected level and rank. Pictured above is my Drone, Police Drone TH. We all used the same Police Drone "xx" naming convention, until they increased the number of characters allowed in ones name, then we extended the rules to Police Drone "xx-xx". All my subsequent drones were named TH-01, 02, 03, etc.

We were technically a role playing SG, but we never took it that far. We only had rules above talking in public channels. After all, we were portraying mechanized law enforcement robots (one of our leaders drew up a nice background for the group). We all tried to speak in a dispassionate, flat tone. And it worked. People often thought we represented in game GMs, or developers, some people thought we actually had in-game authority. None of this was true, mind you, but it gave us this mild mystique. At our peak, we had over one hundred active members, all acting in strict accordance with our rules, and we were a top 50 SG. We actually had fans, and of course, enemies.

At one point, a SG named the "Anti-Drones" formed, and frequently and publicly challenged us. Quite often, when PvPing, we would find ourselves the target of every possible player in the zone. In fact, this led to a very dramatic 3 v 11 battle in a free-for-all zone, where we won (it gave us a reputation as avid PvPers, even when our membership dropped off).

However, these days, you'll be hard pressed to find a Drone an any server, much less Justice. When I stopped playing, there were only four other active members. It was disappointing, for me, as many of the members were close friends of mine. At one point, I had plans to leave the state and move in with a friend that lived in Florida. His name was Patrick, but when we played CoH together, he was Police Drone PT. I knew him before that, to be fair, but we spent a lot of time in Paragon City. Another gentleman, Police Drone R4, I knew simply as "Bob". Bob lived a hard life, and was handicapped by medical error (lack of action, really, due to mis-diagnosis). When he stopped playing, it was a hard blow to our SG. He was our leader, the foundation on which we carried our group. He went from playing 8 hours a day to not playing at all, with only the occasional post on our forum. Police Drone X9, on the other hand, never left, never stopped. He was actually one of the roots of the entire Justice community, and his staying did a lot to carry us through the time when we had single digit membership.

I miss that group, and that game. I met a lot of great people, who I like to think of as friends. I know lots of people who think that friends made playing a game online are inferior to ones made in real-life, but I disagree to a point. I had actually conversations with these people, thanks to voice-chat programs like Teamspeak and Ventrillo. I recognized their voices, could hear the emotion in them when they spoke. I may have only been able to see a virtual avatar that represented them, but I might as well have been sitting next to them.

People like Patrick, and his girlfriend Tiffany, good people, who I miss.

I just took a moment to visit the SG site, a very bittersweet feeling. Maybe I do get too invested in gaming.

Kids, protect your backline.

Alliance Battle, at Grenz.

A minute or so in, my team went out the front door of the spawn, captured the resurrection orb shrine, crossed the bridge, and captured the central resurrection shrine. We cut left, towards the elite warrior shrine, as the team to my right heads for the elite elementalist shrine. A group of luxons head to my left, towards the mesmer shrine, and is met by the four of my teammates, who try to stall them.

They're losing.

Seeing that the warrior shrine is clear, other than NPCs, I break from my team, and rush the luxon flank. I soon find that what I initially took as the entire luxon team was actually only half of their team, plus a minion mancer and his army. Next to him is a monk, in front of them are two elementalists, and past that, their frontliners are pounding my teammates. My attacks are already fully charged, so I pick a target. I opt for the necro, who's already wounded from sacrificing health. I run down my skill bar, left to right. Backbreaker, Pulverising Smash, Protector's Strike, Mighty Blow. The necro dies faster than the monk can respond, and the minions go wild, attacking everyone. I alternate between Lion's Comfort and Enraging Charge, and charge my attacks back up, this time turning my attention to the depleted monk, whom I spike down in similar fashion. By this point, the elementalists have noticed me, and I start getting pounded by Liquid Flame and Rodgort's Invocation. Even still, caught between me and the minions, they don't live long enough to finish me off (I hit one for 120 with Protector's Strike, as she tried to retreat).

By this time, I've gotten backup, and, the four teammates who engaged initially have managed to finish off their frontliners. We take the shrine, double back to capture the rangers shrine, and pull off a 507-174 win. Granted, the map was in our favor, but it was decisive.

Pulling off a 4 person kill streak, without support, under pressure from multiple elementalists, is insane, and I should never have pulled it off. I could have been easily stopped, in multiple ways:

1. The necro could have stopped trying to summon, and moved up to the midline, while flagging his minions on to me. I would have been trapped, and picked apart, while I tried vainly to create and exit for myself. This very thing happened to me yesterday on my ranger, when I over-extended myself.

2. The elementalists could have paid more attention, and started attacking me before I killed their monk. Even with Sentinel's insignia on my armor, I only have 100 armor to elemental damage. Liquid Flame should have been hitting me for at least 105 a pop, after armor, and Rodgort's would have done around 60, but set me on fire (14 hp a second degen). Both of them could have killed me before I was able to build up enough adrenaline to kill the monk, and with monk, they would have survived an attack from me if I changed targets.

3. The frontliners could have paid attention to their support. Granted, I was only one target, but as soon as the necro went down, at least one of them should have broken off and come to attack me, if only to bodyblock me and try to keep me away from the monk.

4. They could have had more than one monk for that many players. Alliance Battles are one of the most casual PvP environments you'll find in any game, but not being prepared is still not being prepared. Furthermore, the monk they had should have had Guardian, or something similar like Disciplined Stance or Shield Bash, to relieve melee pressure. Even an offhand Blinding Surge could have shut me down.

Fought a lot of Alliance Battles today (dumped over 15k Kurz faction before work), but this moment stuck out in my memory. More so than the warrior that was using Lava Arrow and Flame Storm, at least. God bless him, he certainly fought his ass off with that build, as badly as he did.

I swear I don't watch Naruto!

Once in a while, I hear someone say to me, via whisper or local chat:

"Lol, narutard"

Firstly, I love that term. My wife (who at the time was my girlfriend) was the first person I ever heard use that word, years ago. I think is accurately describes the type of person who normally enjoys Naruto, and rolls up an assassin named "xX Naruto Xx". Secondly, I don't like Naruto, I haven't even seen a full episode.

Keeping that in mind, why would someone say "lol narutard" to me? Well, my main in Guild Wars is named (wait for it):

Sarutobi Sasuke

Yes, my level 20 Warrior is named Sarutobi Sasuke. I created her at launch, and I've had her since day one of Guild Wars (all you Narutards who wondered who got the name before you, suck it). Sarutobi is a female warrior, mind you, and when I named her, it was in no way a reference to anything Naruto, or anything from Shonen Jump, for that matter. Of course, this doesn't stop people from insisting that since I named my warrior Sarutobi Sasuke, I must read or watch Naruto (as one perceptive player pointed out, "OMFG, SASUKE IS A JAPANESE NAME!1!"). To be honest, I simply couldn't think of a name, and this was the first thing to come to mind. I always envisioned my warrior as being akin to a Valkryie, so often I wish I had picked a different name, and I find myself wanting to delete and remake her from time to time.

But, I'd lose all her gear then. Her sexy, sexy gear. Not that equipment plays as big a role in Guild Wars as it does in Diablo 2 and WoW, but it certainly helps flesh out a character. And with the amount of money and time invested in her, it would be an epic waste to delete her.

Now, having all the campaigns that A-Net has released, along with it's expansion, Eye of the North, I have the luxury of having character names reserved for me, once Guild Wars 2 comes out (all you Narutards who hoped that this name would be available in GW2, suck it again).

Of course, when I politely inform people that Saru (as I am called by guild and allaince members) isn't a homage to Naruto, the next question is, what is it a reference too? I've kept that one a secret so far, but if someone guesses it, I'll probably give them a prize.

Alright everyone, let's go counter-clockwise, ok?

I like to PvP.



It's fun, it's dynamic, it's an ever evolving facet of most games.

In Diablo 2: LoD, I ran a pair of assassins, level 18, and level 42. Each was a powerhouse made to fight characters much higher in level, and win. The level 18 assassin, Solaki, was pretty vanilla; tons of +max damage gems, Twitchthroe unique studded leather armor, Luna Pelta unique buckler, and a few other unique set items. Go hostile, cast Burst of Speed, spam Tiger Strike till I have 3 charges, then unleash over 1700 dmg on my targets candy ass (average HP of a normal level 18 character is around 200). My level 42 assassin, Slice_O_Rama, was more original, and much nastier. Using the Martial Arts skills Dragon's Talon and Dragon's Flight, I tweaked her build to deliver 3500 dmg a hit, with 4.5 swings per second (almost 16k a second). Furthermore, I gave her ranks in Venom, giving her a 2500 dmg poison DoT, over 0.6 seconds, re-applied every time she hit. In order to catch those pesky Sorcerers who like to teleport around, I used Dragon's Flight to teleport attack foes, stunning them for a precious split second, giving me the window to tear into them. I was particularly proud of Slice_O_Rama, to my knowledge, she was unique.

In City of Heroes, I loved using unorthodoxed, seemingly underpowered characters, to relentlessly pursue and engage other players with. In the Invention Origin Era of CoH, I ran an AR/Dev Blaster that was stealth capped, perception capped, with massive inherent acc and rech buffs, with the ability to gut a targets defense and resistance. I'd, literally, fly around the zone, snaring Villains and revealing Stalkers, being a pest to everyone. People like to poke fun at me for using Assault Rifle in PvP, but I found it very useful. Unable to deliver a spike like Ice or Fire, and without that hard hitting 3rd single target blast, AR lags behind other sets. However, most of its attacks are instantaneous (no striking animation, once the bullet is fired, the target is hit immediately). That meant that any time I sniped someone, or blasted someone with a few rounds, they had no idea where I was. I could follow foes for a few minutes, confounding them, till they had the sense to simply look up, and see me hovering above, chambering another round. That, or I'd run my Invul/SS Tanker. Not nearly as many bells and whistles as my Blaster, but he was relentless and hit hard. Given that I mainly PvPed in Siren's Call, my Tanker hit harder in melee than almost anything else other than a /EM Blaster.

I didn't get to PvP much in WoW, but I did enjoy Warsong Gulch. I enjoyed the team based, objective emphasized combat, and I liked the feeling of storming into the enemies base. I enjoyed, more so, the knowledge that at any given point, I could encounter other players while questing, and be forced to fight them. In particular, I was questing, alone, in the mountains northwest of Ogrimar (can't remember their name, been too long), when I came upon an Elven Rouge, 2 levels higher than me, in the same area. I ambushed an defeated her, only to have her track me down and try to return the favor (final score, Horde 2, Alliance 0).

Then there is Guild Wars, in which I love to PvP with my Warrior. I prefer Hammers to Swords or Axes, I prefer the elite Backbreaker especially. I think that 1/4 knocking someone is one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen, and requires very good timing. I like the Arenas, I enjoy Alliance Battles, and I hope to storm Heroes Ascent soon.

However, I've found Alliance Battles troublesome lately. I can't tell you how much I hate to hear, at the beginning of a match, "don't fight, just cap." I understand how important it is to capture and hold shrines, I probably capture more than anyone on my team. However, you HAVE to fight. You can't just ignore the enemy and hope they don't kick your ass, while you're trying to take their shrine from them. You need to be aggressive, and balance killing with capping. You need to know when it's a good idea to stop for a second to beat someones face in, and you need to know when fighting is a waste of time. The idea that fighting is always a waste a time is ignorant at best. I mean, you get points for killing enemies. What do you get from shrines? Point. Know what makes it easier to cap shrines? Killing enemies. It may just be me, but I see an odd synergy there.

Besides, you know it's epic lulz when I kill the Minion Mancer, and his minions turn on his team. You know it's awesome when I spike a monk and kill it while his Dervish ally tries desperately to stop me. You know that every time you kill them, it breaks them a little. You know how many times I've seen the other side leave the match after getting smashed during the first 45 seconds of an AB? Or how often I have players simply avoid me and run away at all costs, after I beat them in a 3v1?

Or course, it works both ways. Can't even begin to tell you how many times I've been Michael Jackson'ed to death by R/Ns, or worked over by Elementalists that actually know how to play.

Anyway, I digress. Point is, it's call Alliance Battles, not Alliance Real Estate. Fighting and Capping should be balance, and the team that does so wins.