A PvP a Day...

[Banderal]

Today we had a good lesson in why you don't rush up to the landing spot at mid in ACW and "farm" the other team. We were the other team. We couldn't really kill them off effectively, and I guess they wanted to show their "dominance" by doing that farming thing. I don't know why teams think that's cool. When my team is doing that, I'm always the one hanging back doing that boring thing of actually watching mid, and announcing "hey, guys, turn around, there's two behind you". In any event, one of our guys snuck around back and capped mid out from under them before they got to that magic "double our score" point. And then we died a lot, but we steadily streamed back into mid JUST fast enough to stop them from recapping, and held on to win by somewhere close to 50 points. It was a very satisfying game.

 

Also had a couple very intense huttball games, one a win, one a loss. Both close though, with scoring on both sides, last second passes just before being killed by the acid, things like that. Fun games.

 

Double XP weekend isn't helping much though. I'm so behind on my story quests that they are all grey, and even with double XP leveling via PvP is still R E A L L Y slow.

[DomiSotto]

Oh, gods, that's frustrating! I could never understand the fighting out in the field thing! Fighting on the objective is just as much fun!

 

Just sweep through the quests till you hit green. I did 3 or so zones on the Knight, and I reconsidered taking him all the way to 60. I am not playing him well enough. So I will stop at some point after 55, so I have time to do some dummy training, and a nice stretch of just warzones to get a handle on the character. He now has all his abilities, including the Sabre reflect! I will grind the PT a bit once the Knight is in a good place level wise.

 

Anyway, gotta go take off for a bit.

[DomiSotto]

@Banderal: Are your toon's names Flintstone and Jetson or are those Legacy names?

[Banderal]

@Banderal: Are your toon's names Flintstone and Jetson or are those Legacy names?

 

Toon names. I haven't actually turned on my legacy on Harb yet. Flint is republic, Jet is empire. I have another empire toon (my healer) named Cry'meanocean that I should probably add to my sig.

[DomiSotto]

I'll add your Imperial toons as well.

 

I only got to L53 right now, since it was sensei's last day in the game (sniffle, sniffle) so I indulged myself in playing with him/her Got a bootcamp and a few things to ponder and to live by. I am going to miss him/her. A genuinely nice person.

 

I am going to be Tuonel/Tredici on the Pub, and Ruvvoy/Gori on the Imp for a couple of weeks before I decide my next project the Pub side.

 

I kindda am wondering about moving a toon to the Bastion to see the real PvP thing. Or to TofN from the Progenitor. I know, I know... I have too much time on my hands while levelling.

Edited March 29, 2015 by DomiSotto

[DomiSotto]

Finally got to play today. A bit late, but still. Run the Dailies and a couple of extra zones on the Pub side, repalced couple of Exhumed mods from Crit to Pwr (still need one more) have no energy to go Imperial. I am trying to play a little more intelligently and move far more. Almost made it to 1.5 mln heals in Alderaan, but not quite. In bad things, I did pull someone I should not have pulled, because I thought the toon was off to the side, but it was on the door, so really facepalmed there. Luckily no harm done, and the toon lived, but yeah... Pull is a very powerful tool, and I am trying to be more responsible with it. Gotta go stand in a corner for a while

 

I got the Knight to Level 55, finished his Class story yesterday. He will keep till the weekend, since I need a milk run through Yavin to get a legacy 192 set for his last companion, and find that other Legacy 172 set to get him through Forged Alliances to obtain a 162 to play PvP in (‘cause that’s how we do stuff, lol). All and all, my feeling is that even after the dummy, I will never be fast enough for the APMs/staying on/switching target for an average mDPS.

 

Powertech: Kwerty’s guide is printed and gonna start reading it to get the terminology and start planning the layout of the keybinds. Her level is 27, so she should be Okay to go DPS without tanking. But for now, I can't think about levelling.

 

So, Empire tomorrow!

Edited March 31, 2015 by DomiSotto

[DomiSotto]

...and then I remembered that tomorrow's going be maintenance so I went and did the Imperial Dailies. And it was totally worth it, because I ran 2 games against the team that had Cerebrir the Vanguard on it. A fangirl moment! Got completely destroyed in Alderaan by the Republic finest, but won a Voidstar.

 

Also a couple of interesting arenas, one where I could not heal a merc through the focus. I think the tank should have swapped the guard and taunted off of our focused DPS with rebounders. I tried to ask the tank to take the guard off me before round 2, but it did not happen. Well, notes to self for when I play Tags. Another one we did win, so it did not feel *that* bad.

[Cox_The_Beast]

...and then I remembered that tomorrow's going be maintenance so I went and did the Imperial Dailies. And it was totally worth it, because I ran 2 games against the team that had Cerebrir the Vanguard on it. A fangirl moment! Got completely destroyed in Alderaan by the Republic finest, but won a Voidstar.

 

Also a couple of interesting arenas, one where I could not heal a merc through the focus. I think the tank should have swapped the guard and taunted off of our focused DPS with rebounders. I tried to ask the tank to take the guard off me before round 2, but it did not happen. Well, notes to self for when I play Tags. Another one we did win, so it did not feel *that* bad.

 

Eh, most tanks just place a guard on the healer and leave it there.

Healing through focus is not something you can usually do, in my experience. That's what peeling is there for, after all.

After all, static guard on the healer is not always the best option. Sure, it can get you a nice protection score, if the opposing team focuses said healer. If the opposing team focuses a DPS first, however, that protection is wasted. Guard swapping can save the match, thanks to the reduction of dmg the targeted ally gets.

 

Plus, every tank-able class gets a skill to peel off a focused target.

Assassin/Shadow and PT/Vanguard have the pull and the harpoon, which work the same, and pull an enemy off the target.

Juggernaut/Guardian - my favourite - gets Intercede/Guardian Leap, that not only allows a fast way to move to the focused target and masstaunt right in the middle of the opposing team, but also reduces the dmg the target takes for a short amount of time.

 

To put it in perspective, my favourite Jugg Tank peeling off a focused target usually consists of guard swap to him, Intercede to the focused ally plus Intimidating Roar (mass mezz) followed by the mass slow. Then a masstaunt. Because, after all, why not?

On my Assassin I pull someone to me first - either a melee DPS or, if they have, it a healer - stun it and Force Speed to my ally, throwing a Wither to reduce dmg output from enemies and masstaunting as I get in range. Of course, first of all I move my guard on the focused target.

I'm kind of rusty on Vanguard/PT tanking in PvP, especially in arenas, but I usually followed a similar routine to my Assassin. Move guard, pull someone off, stun it, then charge in, Flame Sweep/Explosive Surge everyone to reduce dmg output and masstaunt, with the oil pool/gas grenade on the floor aswell.

 

They say in arenas the Tank has to taunt and guard, but that's not all their work: guard swapping and peeling off the targeted ally are two things they should at the very least try to do, imho.

[DomiSotto]

Hi Cox! Haven’t seen you forever! (Waves and jumps up and down)

 

VGT is very good at peeling. Between the Harpoon/Grapple, charge, the AoE stun, the Sonic Rebounder, the range AoE taunt, a couple of good AoE attacks, a VG has the tools at his or her disposal and really makes an awesome tank. Well, I loved it. I still do, and I hope to play it a little once I am over the gearing frenzy, and after I finally manage to try the ranked and all that jazz.

[Cox_The_Beast]

Yeah Domi, been off for a while now, sadly. Hoping to return to PvP scene soon, though.

 

Good to see you still do your thing and keep improving though, it's nice to read of your work - and the other people's too, of course.

[Banderal]

That tanking description is spot on. It's what I try to do, although, I'm not always successful. And thanks for the tip about the pull for the guy you notice having trouble. I'm always thinking in terms of getting to them first to get in guard range, and then I think... well, I'd pull that attacker away from you, but I'm RIGHT NEXT TO YOU, so it wouldn't do much good. But... hmm... pull FIRST. What a thought.

 

I started with my healer today. Had a good arena, 3 dps & me (healer), vs 3 dps and a healer. They focused me, and we focused their healer, but luckily our DPS were better. The second round they focused one of our DPS first. I kept em up long enough that we still got the better of them. Then had a weird pipe-ball game, where I guess it ended early because the other team all quit after we went up 4 to 0. We were right near their goal, about to get score #5, and the guy with the ball was stunned. The "you win" screen came up, but then the stun wore off and he went in for a goal anyway. The timer kept counting down, and everyone could still move if they wanted. I quit out after that anyway, but seemed a little odd. Maybe that's how some of those people get scores of 7 or more in a HB?

 

Now on the pub side waiting for midbie bracket with my shadow, while my xp bonus ticks down. Why do PvP pops always drop to nothing when I'm running an xp bonus?

 

I wonder how many people will screw up their expertise-bolster by putting in the blue-black expertise crystals today.

[DomiSotto]

Yep, sounds weird. I bet you are right, the other team quit.

 

It was the Faceroll Tuesday for me on the imperial side, we won one Voidstar, and had one which was super close. The rest was bad. Couple matches where half the team just wanted to sit on the off-node, and we formed a mini mobile unit with a PT and Op, and just went to cap a couple of nodes, while the premades mobbed to faceroll and catch us. Obviously we stood no chance to keep the cap, but it was fun in a way, plus I need practice moving and working under focus & making them work for the kill. ANd I got a LOT of that practice. And got MVPd for my second day of public service of converting Raid-geared folks to the Bolster Way. I managed to diffuse the bickering over gear and chatted with the raid guys after the zones, so fingers crossed they'll be dressed to kill next time they come over. One raider at a time...

 

I am now only 250 ranked comms away from my DR relic! I did a run of the Rak event, too tired to get through the Pub Daily (and, tbh, to reequip the PvE to PvP). Will see if I wake up early enough tomorrow to catch up the APAC.

Edited April 1, 2015 by DomiSotto

[Banderal]

Faceroll Tuesday AND Wednesday it seems. Spent some time on my shadow tank, and both days it was just miserable. Although, I'm convinced that the first game today, which was a NC, we could have stood a chance if people hadn't kept quitting! They started out triple capping us, mostly because the person at our off node went to help try to take their off node. So right then a bunch quit. But we held two turrets several times throughout the game, so it's not like they were farming us. Unfortunately it's hard to defend against a good team when you only have 6 players.

 

Had one AHG where I ninja'd their node, but unfortunately I broke my own "ninja AHG golden rule" and did it the first round. And they were so much better than us that caught back up by the end of the second round, then they took both of pylons at the end of round 3 for the win.

 

On my sorc healer was better. Except for one arena, where we started down 3 v 4. Lost the first round, then got our #4 only to have one of the original 3 quit, and then the other. So it was just me and the new guy, and I asked if he wanted to go through with it. He said "up to you", and I said "lets just give them a quick win", which I mean as lets go at least fight. But I guess he took it as "let's quit", so I went out there alone. I couldn't even MVP anyone at the end.

 

But otherwise had a lot of VS, where we just had rocking teams. One game was great, where we had a good off-node guard that called incs really well. I always went and made sure to keep her healed up whenever the call came (even though she was the first quitter on the arena above ). Held them to no plants that whole game. I MVP'd her at the end.

 

1/2 way through level 28 now. Hoping BW gets bolster fixed before I reach 30.

[DomiSotto]

I hope so! But I think the update to the Bolster is not coming till the 28th of April? Today is starting badly so far. I am giving it a break for supper, and going to queue again afterwards.

[DomiSotto]

Well, at least one arena put a smile on my face. We went 3 heals and a tank to 3 DPS and 1 heals. Lost round 1. Rallied and won second round by going to acid. The third round, we've improved on that even more, and killed them all. Healz!!! I have 4 offensive spellzzzzz, and I am not afraid to uzzzzz zzzeeem!

 

EDIT: Forgot to mention, finally have belt and last relic DR on my sorc. So, that leaves the big purchases now. Offhand, head, chest, gloves, legs and boots. (Sigh) I might even get it together to enjoy!

 

Also, loaded my trooper to throw some stims into production, and aww.... miss the guy so much!

Edited April 2, 2015 by DomiSotto

[DomiSotto]

Okay, yesterday was one of the very few bad days I have had in PvP, both with the losses and not really measuring up myself (just meh). I ended up quitting the last zone I was in after nobody bothered to come over after 2 successive calls in the VS, when the numbers distribution between the doors were very, very obvious.

 

About the only nice thing was that I managed to handle the chat interface stuck. I know people don't believe me and think I am simply another bad with an axe to grind, but a sap consistently does not close the chat interface for me after the call is sent with a double enter while sapped.

 

This time it was a sin, disabled my sorc, I sent the call out; noticed I was still in the interface, moused over the God-bubble, moused over the ops frame, clicked the name, was finally able to fight. Sure, a waste of a god bubble, but no cap for the sin. Luckily it was a bad Sin. Came over 3 times, and I had no problems healing and kiting till one of my DPSs ran over... which means the player was not on the best of his/her game.

Edited April 3, 2015 by DomiSotto

[Morrolan]

My first story for this thread. Had a weird arena match yesterday. I was on my assassin, my team had 3 assassins and an op healer (who was late and dead for the 1st round). The other team was 4 sages, 2 of whom were healers. 1 of the healers had PvE gear on to start so I called focus on him, halfway during the 1st round I noticed he'd changed to PvP gear after I'd examined him. It was the makeb arena and we were fighting on the bottom. We only had 3 to start with but their dps was horrible so it went to acid and we were lucky enough to survive it and win.

 

2nd round we had a 4th (the op healer) and went up on the bridge and it was again a bit of a stalemate until we started force waving (or whatever the assassin equivalent is called) them off the bridge, managing to isolate 1 or 2 and burning them down 1 by 1. So a good win but an unusual match.

[DomiSotto]

Hi Morrolan! Well, guys, at this rate, we will all eventually, maybe, possible finally end up in ONE zone!

 

Winning a 3 vs 4 Arena is one of those rare and precious. Grats

 

EDIT: forgot to add - my resolve bar was taking so much beating lately that I have decided to finally switch the healing bubbles to 30% DR while stunned. I think it does help, but the whole LoS-egress concept is still WiP for me.

 

Also, managed to get 3/4 of the FA flashpoints, so guessing will be rebuilding and re-equipping my Guardian tomorrow for the final levelling run from 57 to 60 (I assume he will hit 57 by the end of Rakata Prime). That thread about operatives lifted my spirits somewhat, 'cause I'd like to go and try kill off scoundrels/operatives. Was trying to put affliction on any one I noticed today And, I am kindda getting worried with all the talk about the changes to the PTS, there will be pressure on the Guardians to be the new FotM, and I am... very, very, very, exceptionally bad at it. So, everyone will point and laugh. Oh, well. So long as I can kill at least one operative a day.....

Edited April 4, 2015 by DomiSotto

[Banderal]

Been having a good time with my PT-tank. Even at level 35 he's doing fine in mids. Had a run of VS for a while, about 5 in a row I think. Was on the winning side most of the time. Had one arena where everyone else was level 50+. First round was 3v3. Next round we both got our 4th. We still won. It was all the healer though, since NONE of us died either time. But I did remember to guard swap.

 

Then it was republic h-e-double-toothpick for my shadow tank. Just rolled over for several games. Finally got a good HB going! It was 0v0 up until about 2 minutes to go, with both sides coming close to scoring several times. Then I outplayed myself. Ball carrier and one other coming over the last fire pit, towards our goal. I'm the only one in the way. I manage to stun the ball carrier ON the fire pit... it's about to go off. The other guy got across, so I'm thinking, I need to knock him back into the fire too! So I did my knockback... and you can probably see where this is going... I knock back the stunned guy OFF the fire, and the other guy doesn't budge at all. Then their ball carrier just passed across the fire after the stun wore off, and number 2 ran it in for a goal. After that we sort of fell apart, and lost 3 to 0.

 

On the plus side, however, I got to kill an operative in an AHG. We were both down to a sliver of health, and I got my execute ability off first.

[DomiSotto]

You know, remembering my times on Tageren, I think the midbies went better for him as well than for my Vigi-Guardian. I am glad you are having a good time!

 

I have the whole family visiting weekend going here, but managed to sneak in the Dailies on the healers. And, hilariously, I have fought maybe 4 or 5 reg arenas, which were basically the only winning zones for me today (save for erm... Alderaan? And a Hypergate?) Of course, I'd love to assign it to my total awesomeness as a healer but I was just very fortunate in my teammates. Though, I am immensely proud to report that I have finally managed to heal a mercenary through focus fire! They tried to pressure me a bit, but I just went into the hut (it was Tattoine), and popped back in with the merc still standing, pulled the toon away from the Jugg (yeah, I am bossy like that) and continued to heal and by some miracle it lived!

 

I think my endless gearing efforts are finally starting to pay the dividends, since I am seemingly taking far less damage, and that utility of 30% DR while stunned is golden. Love it!

Edited April 4, 2015 by DomiSotto

[Banderal]

Ok, I know it's part of the game, but I don't think I could possibly HATE any worse this Rackghoul event crap! Only because I'm forced to participate. I mostly ignore it. I get infected in fleet, or apparently in a WZ (I swear the RG progression was frozen in WZ's just a few patches ago? Did that stop, or am I not remembering that right?) Then the next WZ I'm in people are crying at me to stay away from them, and cure it, and blah blah blah. I've never had that happen before. Usually people relish in getting and spreading this stupid plague. I find it interesting, though, that one guy, instead of whining about me, just traded me a cure and problem solved - at least until I died, because the STUPID cures don't last through death - danged PvE stuff.

 

Then I got even with them all by basically running back and forth and retaking the nodes they kept losing, and ended at the top of the boards with good healing, good damage and good objectives and a win. I gave my MVP to the guy that replaced me when I had to announce, at the start, of course, "healer left guarding snow, in case anyone cares". (And it was the same guy that gave me the plague cure.)

[DomiSotto]

The guy earned the MVP! Banderal, I know it's too late, but the best way to skip the plague, is actually participating in it with every alt you've got till you get the lowest status and buy the relics. Not only they are the best levelling, legacy bound relics, they also cure on click.

[AlrikFassbauer]

A few days ago I sent vaccine to an low-level character whose player claimed that he or she didn't have enough credits for that.

Well, no matter whether it was true or not I just thought "why not sending some" since I had just infected that character.

I mean, I want this game to be fun, so I give them what they need to have fun.

[Banderal]

I mean, I want this game to be fun, so I give them what they need to have fun.

 

That's because you are awesome. But good advice about the relics Domi. I had forgotten about those, and admittedly my first reaction was, again, "why should I do some part of the game I don't like". And then I thought, "well, I get diplomacy and run a bunch of missions just to get enough good/dark side points to get relics, that's just as bad." Ugh. Still, I hate racks.

 

Running my lvl 29 sorc healer today, and having some amazing games. Started with an arena with all sorcs on our side, but me the only healer. Round 1 they let me free cast, and I got over 100K healing, which is my personal best in a lowbie arena! Then round 2 they attacked me some, but the other sorcs off healed a bit, and we still won that one with no deaths. Then I realized I forgot to get the daily Dang it!

 

Next arena wasn't so good. They other side basically kicked our asses. And, of course, at the end the "pro" on our team called the other 3 of us "******** idiots" (might not have the right number of '*' there).

 

Then a HUTBALL - YES! And with a good team. Lots of support. We had 2 healers. People controlling mid, and I swear everything was just lining up for me this game. I was arriving at mid JUST in time to knockback the enemy as the ball respawned and pick it up for our team. Got up on the ramps in the right place to stand there and heal our ball carrier. Then they pass to me. Got over the fire with all my cooldowns up AND resolve full - can you believe that - I "tank walked" it into the endzone through SIX of the enemy players.

 

Then I backfilled into an NC, we were down already to less then 50%. I went on a healing spree, and helped us get 2 turrets eventually. But we still lost after no one called "incs" on the off node and next thing we know it's gone. I ended up at 2nd place for our team, and I wasn't even in 1/2 the game, and I got 4 MPVs.

 

Another NC where we had a lot of back-n-forth, but we were doing poorly. At one point we had east and west and then just left west wide open and they took it. We got it back with them at about 35% and us at 4%. At that point we finally got some people to call incs . Still had west empty again at some point, but someone else noticed besides me and went there. We managed to hold both of them for a 0% to 4% win.

 

Then a really good VS game, where I got to practice trying to kite and heal. I was running around like crazy. It wasn't a great test, though, because we had a couple other healers or off-healers who were helping. But I managed better than I have in the past. Learning slowly.

 

[Edit: as if this needed to be longer... but I'm REALLY starting to understand healers complaining about there own team LoSing them. I'm now constantly saying in my head to my team, "WTH are you doing running over THERE!?" ]

Edited April 5, 2015 by Banderal

[DomiSotto]

Lol, I went on a Rak op today with my guild, and in the middle of it the OT typing all over the chat: "Tuonel, stop running around like an idiot". Well, they told me not to stand in green AoE and I was trying not to LoS the tanks... and don't we all know, a stationary healer is a dead healer? I apologized after the Op, and apparently I need to watch my stacks. 9 is Okay... 10 is death. PvE guys.... I guess they want their healers not moving. In PvP everyone is happy when the healer is kiting most of the other team around an obstacle. Keeps the whole lot of us busy and out of the way of the DPS. I solemnly swear, once I play a DPS or tank, I will peel off the healers!

 

I did my dailies on the heals today, including one Arena where a Shadow managed to elude TWO healers on the team. TWO healers, and it went off to do its solo thing and told us we were not keeping up when we tried to hint that it was not the desired course of actions.

 

Other than that, dunno if there was anything particularly memorable.

Edited April 5, 2015 by DomiSotto