The Isle of Solitude, or at least our Isle of Solitude anyway, is usually such a tranquil place, languid under a Elonan afternoon sun. Blue turquoise and gold trim, white stone and ornamental fans; one of the more soothing places to lounge about of a Tuesday, waiting for folks to show up before heading off in to any number of outland wildernesses, in search of Adventure, and we'll often stand about chatting there, catching up on the week, swapping stories from all the other MMOs our diverse band occupy the rest of the week with, and so on.
Not so this week however, as for perhaps the first time ever, we put the guild hall to proper use with a rousing evening of Scrimmaging, the internal guild hall PvP match system.
I'm not sure about anyone else, but one of the big disincentives of PvP for me, in general, is the sheer faceless casual brutality of it all. Being beaten to death, even virtually, by an anonymous complete stranger, whose only personal interaction during that fight might be a deft flick of the chat window, in some vague, illiterate, phonetic, and often quite spiteful putdown. Whether they've won or lost is largely irrelevant, more often than not, and these Friends of Humanity will have an abusive epigram ready for any eventuality. For some, I suppose, it isn't about ensuring that they win; its about ensuring that someone else loses. What with me being a Delicate Flower of a gamer, I find that in most cases, its simplest just to avoid the whole thing altogether, and of course when it comes to Guild Wars, a game renowned for its... special... community, well, perhaps doubly so.
The potluck of the Random Arenas and even the somewhat obstinate and unhelpful nature of Alliance Battle teams can sour an otherwise fundamental aspect of the whole Guild Wars experience, which is a bit of a shame. If only there was a way to play PvP team games, among friends only; people who you could be sure would take it in the same spirit you do, and who won't flare up with the Tourrettes, in victory, or defeat!
One new face this week, an Elementalist of some long standing, who curiously enough, showed up with no guild tag on at all. Many of the Tuesday Noob Club had come to us either as members of one-man guilds, (just for a cape, or to simply stop spam invites), or had come out of a long spell of suspended animation, to find themselves the sole remnant, and often officer or leader, of a once glorious large and active guild. I guess the game is getting on a bit now; perhaps not as new, cool and interesting as it once was, and attrition can take its toll. Some of the TNC are in fact still members of existing large and active guilds, which is fine with me. We do indeed, only meet on Tuesdays, and for the more active members, having someone to play with the rest of the week is important too. Our new Elementalist seem to fit right in and was soon flinging lightning about with gusto in the mayhem that followed.
We played three matches over the evening, and reminded of school games lesson horrors from my dim past, I went with the 'Two Captains, Picking Team Members In Turn' approach, and picking new folks to be captains for each match, ensuring that everyone got thoroughly mixed up throughout the evening. Perhaps not ideal for more serious and longer term PvP plans, where practice within a known and regular team might be the better way, but we're all quite new, and just the variety of it all was quite helpful. We had nine players, meaning that one team got a choice of Hero to balance the numbers, making matches of 5v5. I think the map is designed with 8v8 teams in mind, but it didn't seem to suffer for it.
When the teams were formed, we hit the button and off we went. Each team starts in one of the two forts on the island, and the objective is to kill the enemy Guild Lord, a beefy L20 NPC, who has a fair retinue of other NPC support. Locked doors bar the way, requiring cunning use of the Guild Thief NPC, and there's also a flag stand in the middle. Plonk your teams flag on that, and you start getting Morale Bonuses, which can sway the match quite a bit, if allowed to build up.
I must admit, I got so involved with the actual play, that I forgot to take any notes, so this is all a bit hazy!
Match One: I went with a Anti-Melee hex-based build, worrying about the Axe-Crazy Ranger, and a sudden substitution one of our Monks went with; bringing in a PVP-Only Warrior instead. We had the Hero Slot and went with Tahlkora, set up as a healer. Quite a drawn out struggle, as we all learnt the intricacies of the map, and the other members.
Lessons Learnt:
Spirit Spamming Ritualists are a nightmare to shift - more AoE!
My Hex Builds look better on paper than in practice.
Everyone hates being hexed and Mesmer is Primary pretty damned quickly afterward!
If possible, wait for the other team to place their flag first.
The team I wasn't on, won, but the match came down to Sudden Death; after 25mins, the two Guild Lords get bored with the flailing about going on in the middle, and all the remaining NPCs march to the middle and batter each other senseless. In this case, the team who has killed the most enemy NPCs usually wins, but the hectic brawl in the middle that results, could go either way.
Match Two: For some reason, we ended up with five players and no Monk. I volunteered to be Me/Mo, and hastily cobbled together the Worst Healing Build Evar. Definitely more research needed before I try a stunt like that again, and preferably, more than four Healing Prayers Skills! The enemy here made an interesting choice; Olias as Hero. Now I think about it, none of the TNC are Primary Necromancer Mains - we all rely on Livia to do the Minion Master thing usually.
Lessons Learnt:
Players are too clever for Just One Healer to work; two healers, or lots of self-heals all round. Ouch.
Necromancer Wells are very effective, psychologically, if nothing else. AAAH! Green glowey ick! Run Away!
Splitting the team only works if done on purpose!
Simply running away lots annoys Warriors no end, and can waste valuable enemy time.
We lost, and quite a bit faster than the first match too, despite a sterling rescue on their first go at the Guild Lord. My bad!
Match Three: Tired of being the squishie, I cracked and fell back to my IW Assassin build (detailed lots previously). This worked surprisingly well, mostly because it has two +9 regens, a Blind and several damage reduction skills. The enemy team went with Olias again, encouraged by his potency last time.
Lessons Learnt:
Shadow Step teleports really startle enemy casters!
When attempting an assault on the enemy fort, it is important that someone brings the Guild Thief!
When pressed, falling back to the fort and using ranged attacks from altitude can buy a lot of time.
Try to time Guild Lord assaults against the resurrection timer; if the whole enemy team suddenly appears at their base at once, things go south quite quickly.
I managed to break my losing streak here, and our team won, which was a bit of a relief! This match may have been another Sudden Death...it all got a bit complicated!
I'm not sure any of us are more ruthless killers as a result of the evenings hijinks, but just the relaxed, casual and friendly atmosphere of it all made for a far more palatable entry-level PvP experience than can be found out in the Battle Isles, and everyone seemed to be having fun, which is the main thing. I particularly like the format from a logistical perspective, as it can accommodate 16 players, meaning no shortage of seats on a busy week. Its definitely something we'll be doing again soon, and perhaps on future occasions, more regular team sheets will help with the teamwork and dynamics.
This week its back to PvE, with two different excursions being planned. There's the 'Legendary Survivor or Bust' trip, where my Survivor Obsessed Number Two is going to lead a band of brand new Nightfall Characters and work through Istan and beyond in a very tentative fashion, hoping not to die in the attempt. For those, like myself, who find that all a bit stressful, there will be the 'Legendary Skill Hunter or Bust' alternative, where I subject folks to my own brand of obsession, in a bid to collect all the skill icons in the game, and the various monsterhunting that that entails.
The Tuesday Noob Club[Tue] has won a battle in the Hall of Heroes.
Ah, I can dream...