The Ten Commandments of Huttball

[DroidDreamer]

As a Jedi Guardian, its amazing how many enemies will position themselves perfectly for me to leap, push, leap and score. This is a good list, but always remember - WATCH FOR THE LEAPS!

 

I always try to position myself on the edge so leapers fall off but sometimes they land next to me on the platform. Any tips for preventing this? If I am in my endzone and the ball carrier is in the pit, I usually stay out of line of site to avoid leaps while jumping into LOS just long enough to drop insta-cast snares and DOTs.

[funkiestj]

One thing I can imagine at the moment without having tried it is that you could jump to the oposite side to which the guy fell, trying, this way, to block his line of sight. But, if he is fast enough to leap u back even before that, i would have to think more. I supose some CC could slow him down, but it is not a definitive solution on its own im my opinion and has all the advantages AND drawbacks a CC can have and is continuously discussed all around.

 

Thanks to the various folks who have replied. It would be interesting to hear from guarding/juggs comment on their success/failure at immediate leap back.

[vimm]

The five D's of dodgeball.

 

Dodge

Duck

Dip

Dive

Dodge

[Astarica]

Those who say Huttball is not deathmatch totally misses the point. This is because if there is a spot that's bad for you to deathmatch, by definition it is good spot for your enemy to deathmatch you, and if he recognizes this you're not getting away unless you're a class with superior disengagement ability. And if the guy who saw you is a Marauder or a Tanksin, you're not getting away period. Unless the spot you're at is so bad that you should just do /stuck immediately to disengage, you don't have a choice. You're better off killing someone while in a bad spot than just dying.

 

In reality it's more like:

 

1. You should always deathmatch someone in the middle because control of middle is supremely important.

2. You should always deathmatch someone deep in your territory because nothing good can happen if that guy doesn't die or at least leave.

3. You should never deathamtch someone while you're deep in their territory, but if they know about #2 (and most people do) then they'd never let you leave, so you still have to deathmatch them.

 

Honestly the guys who say deathmatch isn't important in Huttball are the guys who can't win a deathmatch. 2/3 of the field is strictly advantageous to deathmatch (middle to your end zone), and the other 1/3 of the field where you want to avoid deathmatch, almost no sane opponent will let you get away with disengaging.

[YanksfanJP]

Those who say Huttball is not deathmatch totally misses the point. This is because if there is a spot that's bad for you to deathmatch, by definition it is good spot for your enemy to deathmatch you, and if he recognizes this you're not getting away unless you're a class with superior disengagement ability. And if the guy who saw you is a Marauder or a Tanksin, you're not getting away period. Unless the spot you're at is so bad that you should just do /stuck immediately to disengage, you don't have a choice. You're better off killing someone while in a bad spot than just dying.

 

In reality it's more like:

 

1. You should always deathmatch someone in the middle because control of middle is supremely important.

2. You should always deathmatch someone deep in your territory because nothing good can happen if that guy doesn't die or at least leave.

3. You should never deathamtch someone while you're deep in their territory, but if they know about #2 (and most people do) then they'd never let you leave, so you still have to deathmatch them.

 

Honestly the guys who say deathmatch isn't important in Huttball are the guys who can't win a deathmatch. 2/3 of the field is strictly advantageous to deathmatch (middle to your end zone), and the other 1/3 of the field where you want to avoid deathmatch, almost no sane opponent will let you get away with disengaging.

 

 

I queued up for a deathmatch and a Huttball game broke out!

[Sowwy]

Those who say Huttball is not deathmatch totally misses the point. This is because if there is a spot that's bad for you to deathmatch, by definition it is good spot for your enemy to deathmatch you, and if he recognizes this you're not getting away unless you're a class with superior disengagement ability. And if the guy who saw you is a Marauder or a Tanksin, you're not getting away period. Unless the spot you're at is so bad that you should just do /stuck immediately to disengage, you don't have a choice. You're better off killing someone while in a bad spot than just dying.

 

In reality it's more like:

 

1. You should always deathmatch someone in the middle because control of middle is supremely important.

2. You should always deathmatch someone deep in your territory because nothing good can happen if that guy doesn't die or at least leave.

3. You should never deathamtch someone while you're deep in their territory, but if they know about #2 (and most people do) then they'd never let you leave, so you still have to deathmatch them.

 

Honestly the guys who say deathmatch isn't important in Huttball are the guys who can't win a deathmatch. 2/3 of the field is strictly advantageous to deathmatch (middle to your end zone), and the other 1/3 of the field where you want to avoid deathmatch, almost no sane opponent will let you get away with disengaging.

 

We have 1 or 2 keeping the mid clean (if we get a pug for it), the rest of us are CCing and passing along the way to a win.

 

Deathmatching just means there's a steady stream of players at the respawn, which is exactly where you don't want them to be. So how does one avoid this? Kill only as necessary.

 

Hutball is the furthest thing from deathmatching pvp has to offer.

Edited June 4, 2012 by Sowwy

[Astarica]

We have 1 or 2 keeping the mid clean (if we get a pug for it), the rest of us are CCing and passing along the way to a win.

 

Deathmatching just means there's a steady stream of players at the respawn, which is exactly where you don't want them to be. So how does one avoid this? Kill only as necessary.

 

Hutball is the furthest thing from deathmatching pvp has to offer.

 

Why would you expect your 1 guy to defeat their 1 guy?

 

CC greatly favors defense, because the go-to move for defense, 'pull them into fire', rarely works for offense due to positioning.

 

Killing people is not optimal in Huttball but it is still better than getting killed, which is what happens when you don't kill someone competent who is trying to kill you.

 

I'm tired of people giving advice for Huttball that basically boils down to 'if you can own them, own them.' You can never pull any of these things you say against an equally strong team. Sure I can run past 3 PUGs as if they're not there and catch a pass for the easy goal. That's because those 3 guys are weak. If they're even remotely in the same class of skill/gear, I'm just going to die horribly when I try to run past those 3 guys.

 

The passing oriented team gets shredded by equal opposition unless you actually run specific routes, though an equally strong teams will most likely know what those routes are too, so your receiver has to basically kill whoever is covering him to get open. And no if you're covered by a Marauder, Pyrotech, or Tankasin you're not avoiding that guy no matter what.

[Nuriel]

Always mark as many people on your team as possible, but at least potential ball carriers. It's a ton easier to see whom to guard/heal/pull whatever instantaneously with the mark on him/her.

[Ashivauto]

This is not specific to huttball butt to all wz's:

*buff your team mates

I hate that players still dont do this.... The different class buffs gives your team more of a chance... I always pop transcendence at the start for group movement buff, gets us to the ball quicker

[Astarica]

This is not specific to huttball butt to all wz's:

*buff your team mates

I hate that players still dont do this.... The different class buffs gives your team more of a chance... I always pop transcendence at the start for group movement buff, gets us to the ball quicker

 

There are relatively few activated abilities that buff your entire group at the same time outside of the archtype specific buffs. In that case it's better to have one character of each archtype finish chapter 2 so you can do all 4 buffs on one character.

Edited June 5, 2012 by Astarica

[ProfessorWalsh]

8 - Don´t kill the attackers that just scored.

• They will die and have full health and a quick ride to their defense lines where your team might be trying to take the ball. Let them run back with low health. This may thin down their defense lines.
  
• As so wisely pointed below one of our forum friends, this is a dangerous one. You have to be sure the guys wont stay there to receive a further pass. Judgement is needed here, but id say its safe to say that if the guy jumps into the pit, u dont have to kill him.
  

 

I would change this to:

 

8 - Don't kill the attackers that just scored unless their team controls center, at which point doing this actually becomes a priority only while they remain in the endzone.

[perih]

I would change this to:

 

8 - Don't kill the attackers that just scored unless their team controls center, at which point doing this actually becomes a priority only while they remain in the endzone.

 

I put ur sugestion up there as second option for now. Im actually thinking about changing mine for yours which I think explains everything in a more simple and concise way.

[VigDiath]

I told my team we needed to control the mid more and someone LOL'd And then we lost 0 to 6. Not one score. I made it into the end zone once or twice. Had a pass that made it in to end zone but no one was in the middle when they scored and thats how we lost.

[Sowwy]

Why would you expect your 1 guy to defeat their 1 guy?

 

CC greatly favors defense, because the go-to move for defense, 'pull them into fire', rarely works for offense due to positioning.

 

Killing people is not optimal in Huttball but it is still better than getting killed, which is what happens when you don't kill someone competent who is trying to kill you.

 

I'm tired of people giving advice for Huttball that basically boils down to 'if you can own them, own them.' You can never pull any of these things you say against an equally strong team. Sure I can run past 3 PUGs as if they're not there and catch a pass for the easy goal. That's because those 3 guys are weak. If they're even remotely in the same class of skill/gear, I'm just going to die horribly when I try to run past those 3 guys.

 

The passing oriented team gets shredded by equal opposition unless you actually run specific routes, though an equally strong teams will most likely know what those routes are too, so your receiver has to basically kill whoever is covering him to get open. And no if you're covered by a Marauder, Pyrotech, or Tankasin you're not avoiding that guy no matter what.

 

I would love the chance to pit my team against yours. Unfortunately, we're stuck throwing conjecture around. Suffice to say, transcendenc, a shadow tank, guardian hybrid and some rescues can maintain control of a ball with minimal killing. I didn't say NO player removal, I said tactical removal. Does this require greater explanation?

[Narflar]

I suggest:

 

Hutt-BALL is a BALL game about a BALL.

[funkiestj]

I would love the chance to pit my team against yours. Unfortunately, we're stuck throwing conjecture around. Suffice to say, transcendenc, a shadow tank, guardian hybrid and some rescues can maintain control of a ball with minimal killing. I didn't say NO player removal, I said tactical removal. Does this require greater explanation?

 

D.E. has said that cross-server queuing and challenge matches are in SWTOR's PvP future. Ideally we could combine these two (cross server challenge, with choice of server venue -- if folks are concerned about network performance bias). At that point in time you will be able to throw down the gauntlet.

[Bazzoong]

Can you please put "PASS *********** THE BALL" in caps and color it, just for clarity.

[JeffrenBrek]

Huttball isn't even PvP anymore.

 

All you have is a bunch of Sentinels giving speed buffs to Shadows who run through. Most people don't even PvP in Huttball anymore.

[DarthBloodloss]

As soon as the other team grabs the ball, chain stun and fill the ball carrier's resolve. It allows your team to catch up from all the back alleys they were fighting in. If the opponents grab the ball and run away without being slowed down, it can be an easy score. You need to delay them in the center.

 

The reason to fill their resolve bar via 2 stuns asap is because the stun immunity will wear off by the time they get anywhere towards your goal, such as a fire hazard. Also, when the ball is initially picked up, there is a decent chance it will be passed to a new person with an empty resolve bar so no point on holding back on the initial guy.

[Daiyukie]

If the ball carrier is being held up in front of a fire pit and isn't crossing for whatever reason, continuing to crowd around him and fighting people there is counter-productive. CROSS THOSE FIRE PITS

[kuey]

How about this one?

 

Do not needlessly fill the ball carrier's resolve bar.

 

I can't stress this enough. People constantly fill a ball carrier's resolve bar whilst he's on the walkways meaning no one can knock him off or pull him off which are the 2 most effective way's to deal with ball carrier's (Aside from killing them). On my Vanguard if I see a ball carrier on the walkway I often jump off the walkway and pull him after me into the pit only to find that some scrub on my team decided to stun him again filling his resolve so he can just waltz right over the line whilst popping his defensive CDs and getting heals/guards. It's the same on my chars with knockbacks, people needlessly fill resolve bars making it impossible to defend. The only time I feel it's ok to go all out with stuns is when they're in the endzone.

[Blasphemerr]

I specifically enjoy when [team] is about to score and has multiple friendly's in the enemy end zone and instead of passing for the instant score the player will try to run it in the last few feet. Annnd grappled into the fire.

[Blasphemerr]

How about this one?

 

Do not needlessly fill the ball carrier's resolve bar.

 

 

...Even in the 50 bracket I still see players using their mezzes on the ballcarrier. Luckily roots aren't resolve, or ballcarrier would be immune to all cc ~2seconds after picking it up.

[Sideshot]

If the other team is making a beeline for your goal with the ball, and you find yourself and most of your team lagging behind, step into a fire pit and allow yourself to die. This will respawn you with full health back at your goal line, so that you can more easily intercept the ball carrier.

[Boufsa]

Brilliant guide!

 

One regret however, those rules are more for attacking players, mostly force users and tanks vanguards/specialists. As for defending players like gunslingers and commandos dps, their primarily job is not to pass or receive the ball (they might still have to do it depending on the situation), but to clean their platforms and lines from any prepositioned enemies like sages and imperial agent, and scan for stealth players, bump all those pests in the pit, and jump themselves in the pits rather than serving of jumping target for any incoming jumper.

Edited June 6, 2012 by Boufsa