A PvP a Day...

[TheGhostOfSlade]

I had a very up-and-down day of PvP yesterday.

 

First I got the Tatooine Arena for a rampaging victory inside of one minute per round where I killed the healer both times. Then Voidstar where I successfully defused a bomb and came second-highest on the table. At this point the same guys are popping Imp side each time so I go for a third round to see if I get them again. I get Queshball, a losing match with none of them in it, and then get kicked from the match with no warning and no apparent reason before I exit the spawn zone.

 

This was followed by a Novarre Coast match that was terrible, nobody going for objectives or calling incoming. Then insta-pop as backfill to Hutball - The Pit and I arrived as the game ended 6-0 to the other side. Me and one other player had spawned in as backfill for two people who had obviously ragequit right before the end. I don't understand why people do that.

 

Then Novarre Coast again with a combination of the noobs from my last Novarre and the guys who were popping in my early games. We tried to talk them through it and the upshot was we didn't lose as badly.

 

Then Hutball - The Pit with the noobs. Absolutely embarrassing defeat but they were clearly trying to play the game as it's meant to be played, they were just abysmal at it. So I kept my head down, tanked like a boss, and praised people in chat for doing good.

 

Then a terrible Voidstar. Humiliating.

 

Then Novarre Coast again, and we actually won despite a problems with people not calling incoming. I spent the match using Force Run to speed between the three nodes desperately fighting fires. Died 12 times, but got 24 killing blows and 2 solo kills so that's a win on balance.

 

Then Civil War, with a combination of the guys from my early wins and other guys I've come across a lot leveling up my Sin. It was an absolute blast of a match, we won by a mile but more to the point no matter what I was doing I was having fun. At one point I was solo guarding Snow with a Merc down by the entrance to the tunnel under mid, two guarding grass and the rest trying to take Mid. As Mid fell, the Ops Leader (an old familiar face) asked in chat how Snow was. "Clear". I replied. Two seconds later the Merc CAPSLOCKs "FIVE S. FIVE S!!!!" in chat as five enemies, all DPS or tanks, burst up out of the tunnel and mow him down. I held them off for like two minutes solo and got five medals, died, respawned, and arrived back at Snow as Ops Leader put "Oh my word..." in chat. As I hit Snow in Stealth I realised why. The five of them were still there, one just starting to cap and then rest wandering around aimlessly while our other two turrets decimated their ship. Then someone from their side said "Go Mid!" in open chat and they all ran off to try to take a node that was now guarded by my 7 teammates, while I capped Snow unopposed...

 

In the midst of all this, I answered a recruitment ad for a fun guild that purported to want to cut out the nonsense, messing around and ridiculous conversations in gchat in favour of fun group PvE and PvP for all levels and classes. I joined, and the chat was fantastic. Like being on this thread. People discussing class balance and their preferred builds and tactics. Then I got asked to sign up on their website. Perfectly fair, except...

 

Their website is hella intimidating. They've been running for 13 years across like 20 games ranging from SWTOR to Counterstrike by way of Destiny, Hearthstone, and basically every MMO with a competitive aspect ever. There's an application form. I need to signal my availability for mandatory twice-weekly meetings. Oh, and there's a checkbox that just says "Yes, I have served in the military". Nowhere else on the site is there any mention of their members being ex-soldiers. And like seriously, I live in Ireland, a neutral country with no conscription and a tiny military. If I was still living in England I'd qualify for automatic exemption from the draft because of working in a reserved occupation literally twice over. I have asthma, which decreases my chances of being drafted and prevents me from volunteering for anything other than civil defence. Oh, and I'm a chick, so that lowers my chances (unfairly) as well.

 

So I guess I'm gonna get kicked out?

Edited January 19, 2017 by TheGhostOfSlade

[Banderal]

Then insta-pop as backfill to Hutball - The Pit and I arrived as the game ended 6-0 to the other side. Me and one other player had spawned in as backfill for two people who had obviously ragequit right before the end. I don't understand why people do that.

 

Because they are ******es. I don't have anything against people who quit. But the people who quit when there is roughly 20 seconds left in the game, or like that. There is a special place in hell for those people. That's just pure abuse of the next person waiting in the queue who gets your mess of a game, and gets it just in time to see the ending score board. Then they get to requeue at the end of the line again.

 

People talk about all kinds of penalties for quitters. I don't want them to put in any actual penalty (I'm in favor of a "mark of shame" kind of thing, where you get a big red "LOSER" hovering over you if you quit and your ex-team ends up winning ). But if they actually put something in, I think it should be that no queue pops for you at all until anyone who is involved in your backfill has finished the game for you AND gotten another one after that. And if they don't queue again after having experienced the mess you left for them, well then you get to sit in the queue forever, wondering why it never pops.

 

Then Novarre Coast again with a combination of the noobs from my last Novarre and the guys who were popping in my early games. We tried to talk them through it and the upshot was we didn't lose as badly.

 

Then Hutball - The Pit with the noobs. Absolutely embarrassing defeat but they were clearly trying to play the game as it's meant to be played, they were just abysmal at it. So I kept my head down, tanked like a boss, and praised people in chat for doing good.

 

Grats on helping new people, and staying positive in the face of having an inexperienced team! I find that almost as gratifying as winning. Passing on my meager knowledge to the new folks who want to learn how it all works. And I'd rather lose with a team that takes it in stride with a bit of humor, actually, than win while someone is still ************ in chat about how everyone else is doing it wrong.

 

Although, I guess I kind of did that in my last match. It was a NC, and we were doing well, having taken and held 2 turrets for the whole game so far. The guy guarding east had gotten attacked a couple times, and we went to help and fight them off. Then, in the middle of nothing happening east, I notice that he's making a bee-line for south. I was like "why did you leave east" as I ran there, right past 'em. I arrive just as an enemy shows up who would have otherwise had a free cap. Luckily another team mate had noticed also, and was coming up behind me (because I can't kill a thing, being a not-very-good healer).

 

In the end we defended successfully, and I typed "I know it's boring, but if you are going to leave east at least say something in chat. :)" See, I even put a smiley in to show I was not trying to rage. But the guy replied back "chill, we won." I don't know if he understood that the NC map is not like, say, CW, and that you really do need both turrets to finish them off. But oh well. We did win.

[TheGhostOfSlade]

Grats on helping new people, and staying positive in the face of having an inexperienced team! I find that almost as gratifying as winning. Passing on my meager knowledge to the new folks who want to learn how it all works. And I'd rather lose with a team that takes it in stride with a bit of humor, actually, than win while someone is still ************ in chat about how everyone else is doing it wrong.

 

Well, people did it for me when I was still rubbish, so I feel it's only fair

 

Today's PvP was brief: first that arena with the roadblocks aka Makeb, where we lost the first round narrowly but won the next two really fast. Then a narrow loss at Voidstar where I defused a bomb, planted a bomb and Force Wave-d an attacker off one of the bridges in the second room. Then a very narrow loss at Odessan where I did a decent job on guarding objectives.

 

Then an exciting round of AHG where at one point we retook a pylon from the enemy with 6 seconds til discharge. We won narrowly.

 

Then I went and solo'd Boarding Party for XP. The results of the dark side choice at the end made me question my roleplaying life choices.

 

I joined a new, less crazy-intense, guild.

 

Oh, and I'm starting to think that Sin/Shadow is deliberately designed so you can build it to be the most annoying player in PvP. You get a combination of abilities that other subclasses only have in ones or twos, like an AOE that replenishes your health from your enemies (Sorc/Sage), the ability to escape combat by going straight to stealth (Op/Scoundrel), a finisher that's a one-hit kill but can only be used if your target is under 30% health aka the steal-your-teammates'-kills button (Sniper/Slinger), and a powerful backstab ability that's begging to be used to break your stealth (Op/Scoundrel). Add in a stun that can be used without breaking stealth or triggering combat, high burst, Force Run, and the ability to build your discipline specs so all your AOEs either stun or steal health, multiple stuns that deal damage... and basically I understand why before the whole Merc FOTM in the latest patch Sins were so damn annoying.

Edited January 19, 2017 by TheGhostOfSlade

[Alex_York]

Okay, I decided to commit to doing one War Zone a day. I hate PvP, so I figure my only chance to do it is to go public with my fears. Let's see how long I shall last. So, who thinks I will manage to not unclick the WarZone before it pops today?

 

Oh, and of course, anyone else with PvP phobia wants to try to overcome it?

Don't queue for Ranked and you gonna be fine. Non-ranked pvp is a piece of cake

[Lhancelot]

Don't queue for Ranked and you gonna be fine. Non-ranked pvp is a piece of cake

 

Domi progressed from the first post where she first started pvping to a point where she even started to try ranked.

 

Sadly, Domi left swtor taking with her all her optimism too.

 

Domi never became a master pvper, but she became competent and worked hard to improve herself with keybinds, knowledge of the classes, etc.

 

I miss Domi, and though I probably disagreed with her on more than a few things I recognized our differences and understood it made her no less a great sport and fun person to group with in the game.

 

My main difference from Domi was I never cared what people wrote or said in PVP while this negativity had a stronger impact on Domi.

 

I believe the state of the game, and the poor attitudes presented by many of the pvpers pushed Domi away over time.

 

In rememberance of Domi, creator of the "A PvP a Day..." thread, and ambassador of goodwill for all players starting PVP on any given day.

 

Long live Domi!

[Banderal]

Long live Domi!

 

Agreed. Domi was a force for good. I know she switched to a different game, but continued with a PvP focus. I hope she's finding good games in whatever PvP she's involved in now.

[Lhancelot]

Agreed. Domi was a force for good. I know she switched to a different game, but continued with a PvP focus. I hope she's finding good games in whatever PvP she's involved in now.

 

People used to even attack her on the forums I was surprised how disrespectful some people were at times to Domi.

 

She lacked a killer instinct I suppose and was quite idealistic but that never warranted how some people talked to her.

 

I think she even got a bit jaded towards the end, which was strange coming from such an up-beat person. It just shows, negativity wears on even the best of us.

[Banderal]

People used to even attack her on the forums I was surprised how disrespectful some people were at times to Domi.

 

She lacked a killer instinct I suppose and was quite idealistic but that never warranted how some people talked to her.

 

I think she even got a bit jaded towards the end, which was strange coming from such an up-beat person. It just shows, negativity wears on even the best of us.

 

Actually, she had by far the best type of response to being attacked in game or on the forums. I watched/read her de-escalate such a situation several times, and I wish I were as good at it as she was. She just engaged them. Not in an inflammatory way, but with an attitude of, sort of, "you know, you are probably right about <insert complaint here>. Please explain to me how to get better at that, because that's what this thread is all about"... kind of thing.

 

I was amazed at how often that worked, and she ended up in a productive discussion, or an in-game tutelage. I guess she just exuded the "I'm someone really trying to learn" vibe, instead of the "shut your face, I'll play the way I want to" vibe that most of us have.

[Lhancelot]

Actually, she had by far the best type of response to being attacked in game or on the forums. I watched/read her de-escalate such a situation several times, and I wish I were as good at it as she was. She just engaged them. Not in an inflammatory way, but with an attitude of, sort of, "you know, you are probably right about <insert complaint here>. Please explain to me how to get better at that, because that's what this thread is all about"... kind of thing.

 

I was amazed at how often that worked, and she ended up in a productive discussion, or an in-game tutelage. I guess she just exuded the "I'm someone really trying to learn" vibe, instead of the "shut your face, I'll play the way I want to" vibe that most of us have.

 

Yeah true.

 

There were a couple people who really didn't seem interested in discussing stuff though and would outright insult her. With them she basically would concede and say, "ok you are probably right", and then that would end it.

 

I just find it annoying how some people use their anonymity and online persona to personally attack others because they know there's absolutely no repercussions to be had and they genuinely find it fun to insult others.

 

Oh well. Domi was nice and a friendly spirit. Miss her.

Edited January 22, 2017 by Lhancelot

[Groncho]

any pics of Domi IRL?

[Lhancelot]

any pics of Domi IRL?

 

From what others told me, she looks just like her avatar on the forums.

[AlrikFassbauer]

any pics of Domi IRL?

 

Why is this of interest ?

 

 

 

 

Yes, Domi was an extraordinary person here.

So much different than most others ... always beaming so much optimism ... She even managed to get me into PvP for some trime.

[Groncho]

From what others told me, she looks just like her avatar on the forums.

 

hawt!

[Gelious]

Doing PvP as Preffered is a *****, because apparently you only get 5 each week. But even then, I still got some interesting matches.

 

It was another Civil War. Me and another dude run to snow (with me far ahead cause I was the first person on speeder + i am a Mara), everyone else went mid. I capped without interruptions, second guy run away, so I am guarding. It was the longest time I ever saw middle remain unconquered (the grass, naturally, was taken by the enemy mere seconds after I took snow) I think both ships lost more then half HP before enemy took mid. But then we took grass and never lost it, so it was a win (a close one - we had like 50 points remaining)

 

Snow was attacked 4 times. 2 by a sin, 1 by a jug and 1 by a duo. It was 4 time when we actually lost it, but then retook it later. First 3 times ended in failure, in large part because somebody always responded to my incomings. What suprised me is an assassin. He came twice and both times died without even killing me (I am a clicker, keyboard turner and generally suck at PvP. Sins always kicking my ***) What was weird about the sin - he never used stealth sap. Not once. He just attacked me from behind from stealth and that's it.

Edited January 27, 2017 by Gelious

[Ruhun]

Doing PvP as Preffered is a *****, because apparently you only get 5 each week. But even then, I still got some interesting matches.

 

 

Queue with a sub, I do it for some guildies so they can get their weekly.

[Banderal]

Doing PvP as Preffered is a *****, because apparently you only get 5 each week. But even then, I still got some interesting matches.

 

What Ruhun said. Plus, yes, as a preferred it sucks. I don't know what it's like now with the latest gear changes, but I was preferred for a while, and I remember that also you cannot wear the top level gear. (See all the bolster-sucks threads for reference. )

 

What was weird about the sin - he never used stealth sap. Not once. He just attacked me from behind from stealth and that's it.

 

Probably just very new. First rule of PvP is don't ever talk... no wait, that's fight club. First rule of PvP is there is always someone better than you. But the SECOND rule is there is always someone worse too.

[AlrikFassbauer]

First rule of PvP is there is always someone better than you. But the SECOND rule is there is always someone worse too.

 

Should be in *all* Newbies Guides.

[Balameb]

Snow was attacked 4 times. 2 by a sin, 1 by a jug and 1 by a duo. It was 4 time when we actually lost it, but then retook it later. First 3 times ended in failure, in large part because somebody always responded to my incomings. What suprised me is an assassin. He came twice and both times died without even killing me (I am a clicker, keyboard turner and generally suck at PvP. Sins always kicking my ***) What was weird about the sin - he never used stealth sap. Not once. He just attacked me from behind from stealth and that's it.

 

If the sin was Hatred, then is more lickely that you as a Mara can wipe the floor with the sin with a single burst and little more. While hatred has a decent and easy "rotation", 1v1 is kind of tricky and takes time.

When i first started PvP (i'm a hatred sin) i made very similar mistakes as the ones you describe and i'm still trying to get better.

[TheGhostOfSlade]

If the sin was Hatred, then is more lickely that you as a Mara can wipe the floor with the sin with a single burst and little more. While hatred has a decent and easy "rotation", 1v1 is kind of tricky and takes time.

When i first started PvP (i'm a hatred sin) i made very similar mistakes as the ones you describe and i'm still trying to get better.

 

Hatred Sin here, reporting for duty.

 

Personal life has been kicking my *** so I've been away for a week or so, but I got super-stressed this evening and decided some PvP might help me blow off steam. Got the new patch, noticed a slight performance boost.

 

Oddessan: Dull, uneventful, won by a mile. Largely a case of holding nodes from beginning to end, very few changed hands.

 

Corellia Square Deathmatch: Imp v Pub. New arena for me. Won 2-0. I solo'd their healer (a Sage) first time. I'm particularly proud of my use of CCs and AOEs in this one.

 

Huttball - The Pit: Imp v Imp. We scored the first goal and lost 4-1. I performed passably. Fun game, one I didn't feel ashamed of losing.

 

The downside of my time away is that I haven't leveled up with the random crowd of guys I'd been PvPing with, so they're unlikely to pop with me again unless I seriously grind fast and get to the next bracket, which I don't have the free time for.

 

On Hatred Sins, speaking as someone who has also gone with Deception in the past, I said this a while back;

 

Oh, and I'm starting to think that Sin/Shadow is deliberately designed so you can build it to be the most annoying player in PvP. You get a combination of abilities that other subclasses only have in ones or twos, like an AOE that replenishes your health from your enemies (Sorc/Sage), the ability to escape combat by going straight to stealth (Op/Scoundrel), a finisher that's a one-hit kill but can only be used if your target is under 30% health aka the steal-your-teammates'-kills button (Sniper/Slinger), and a powerful backstab ability that's begging to be used to break your stealth (Op/Scoundrel). Add in a stun that can be used without breaking stealth or triggering combat, high burst, Force Run, and the ability to build your discipline specs so all your AOEs either stun or steal health, multiple stuns that deal damage... and basically I understand why before the whole Merc FOTM in the latest patch Sins were so damn annoying.

 

The beauty of Hatred is that it gears you towards stealing health, towards making your AOEs and CCs steal health, and towards improving your stuns. I've beaten Maras 1v1 without breaking a sweat, and I'm not a great PvPer. The key is making sure you always have an ability that allows you to replenish your health or stun your opponent off coodown. Once you hit about level 25 that becomes incredibly easy to manage. You're still squishy, your defences are objectively terrible, but play your cards right and you can do things like this:

 

Queshball: Halfway through this match I think I finally cracked being a good all-rounder on this map, threw myself off the goal line platform in pursuit of an enemy ball carrier, murdered him to death, force-ran half the length of the pitch with the ball, passed it up to a guy by their goal line and cheered in triumph while turning on the poor fools who were pursuing me, healing myself back up to half health with Death Field, and then jumping down to the ball spawn to pick it up and pass it on. Having said that, we lost 4-2.

 

Btw Gelious, if you're on The Red Eclipse and want a subscriber to group with now and then, hit me up. Mostly PvPing on my Sin right now, name is Tandriane.

 

@Lhancelot: what's with the RIP PvP sig? Did the new patch break balance again?

Edited January 29, 2017 by TheGhostOfSlade

[Lhancelot]

@Lhancelot: what's with the RIP PvP sig? Did the new patch break balance again?

 

I am just voicing my displeasure with their gearing system which is imo an immense grind which also disables our ability to gear alts, and also how they reduced the effectiveness of bolster in 5.1, to put the gist of it in a nutshell.

 

WB though, and hopefully all is well!

 

If you have the DvL gears, they are saying it bolsters very well you might want to try it out if you find yourself getting stomped by players you suspect might be in higher rated gears than yourself.

 

Some consider it an unfair advantage but I don't know, guess it depends on how lopsided the gear disparity really is now regarding bolster.

[TheGhostOfSlade]

I am just voicing my displeasure with their gearing system which is imo an immense grind which also disables our ability to gear alts

 

Given that I literally have 17 toons right now, that's bad news for me...

 

they reduced the effectiveness of bolster in 5.1

 

I thought I was squishier!

 

If you have the DvL gears, they are saying it bolsters very well you might want to try it out if you find yourself getting stomped by players you suspect might be in higher rated gears than yourself.

 

Some consider it an unfair advantage but I don't know, guess it depends on how lopsided the gear disparity really is now regarding bolster.

 

I missed a chunk of DvL and effectively only won a couple of DvL boxes on my Op. As I recall, I just got force-bound versions of Cartel Market armour, so meh.

 

WB though, and hopefully all is well!

 

Ask me that again in late March

[Banderal]

I just had the weirdest arena.

 

We killed them in round 1, and it was looking good. But then apparently they discussed things and they changed up their strat in round 2 and took us out. And then my team discussed things, changed up our strat and we took them out (after a good knock-down-drag-out-fight) for round 3.

 

I mean, the teams TALKED. Who does that?

[TheGhostOfSlade]

Sounds fake, mate

[AllisonLightning]

I just had the weirdest arena.

 

We killed them in round 1, and it was looking good. But then apparently they discussed things and they changed up their strat in round 2 and took us out. And then my team discussed things, changed up our strat and we took them out (after a good knock-down-drag-out-fight) for round 3.

 

I mean, the teams TALKED. Who does that?

 

I do. As a Mara, I can get ignored but sometimes I do come up with non-silly ideas, for a DPS main that is. . Teams do talk. Like after watching my last Huttball match leading to another defeat, when I saw the same Sorc on the enemy team, I made sure my new team (only one or two from last round) knew how much we had to keep this person from getting the ball. Scored once and actually was holding onto the Huttball during a tie and popped Undying at the last second and every defensive. I was so proud of me for being so useful other than as a Predation battery.

 

Followed that end to my dry streak on my main with two more wins. One involved guarding and some difficult fights and the other an Arena where my intimate knowledge of one of the healer's abilities/utilities meant I killed them both rounds because that's my primary heal class and I knew how to shut down. Then I moved onto the second healer with an aggressive 'keep focused on me and saving yourself until you bubble pop'. Once the bubble went, the grind is much more fun because you get to the squishy killing part.

 

No flukes, no carries- just good cooperative teams that worked together. (As opposed to that one person who insists they're in charge and that the reason the team lost was because no one listened to them) The whole gear/fail bolster/warzone components have played havoc with the fun of warzones and it's been affecting me. The worse I feel, the worse I play so it was really nice to just get into the rhythm of what I love about PvP which is the competition and teamwork, team player/ player versus player. Take that Eternal Grind Fest!

 

The funny thing is I used to hate Arenas, like I actively loathed every time they popped and now I can move past even the bad ones where my team's hopelessly outmatched without flinching because I use the bad ones to teach myself how to survive longer when holding off a cap matters.

[dr_mike]

I mean, the teams TALKED. Who does that?

 

I can't move and fight at the same time. They always come after me after the first round. Someone's talking.