A PvP a Day...

[DomiSotto]

Wow, Flintstone is at 50! Good gods! I remember the guy in his 30'ies

 

@Banderal: Nah, no need to make a big post or anything, I just need to sound it out. I think I will keep my DPSs on standby, maybe pick one to play a little more... but for now, I need to get the levelling done on Gori the Powertech, that should free up some of my time to run the zones. I haven't been playing a lot of PvP last week, spending a lot more time going with sensei through the Ops. Can't believe people complain about nothing to do in this game! I forever have at least a dozen things more than I can do!

 

I am hoping so much to actually get to play with you guys. One of the reasons I want to sort out my far-too-many - characters situation!

Edited May 10, 2015 by DomiSotto

[Banderal]

Flint was a young punk when he was in his 30s. Always into trouble. He's matured so much now.

 

I'll group up Alrik. But I don't know any of your toon names to watch for them. Flint is my only pub toon though. I'm usually on-and-off at various times on the weekends. Weekdays usually 6-8-ish EST.

[AlrikFassbauer]

Flint was a young punk when he was in his 30s. Always into trouble. He's matured so much now.

 

I'll group up Alrik. But I don't know any of your toon names to watch for them. Flint is my only pub toon though. I'm usually on-and-off at various times on the weekends. Weekdays usually 6-8-ish EST.

 

My Harbinger toon is called Alrikadaram.

 

Well, ands now, after this revelation, I must expect troll remarks galore in-game !

[DomiSotto]

Oh, you worry too too much, Alrick

 

@Banderal: I’d better log in my Guardian and see that older and wiser Flint of yours J Not to mention I should flex some leaping muscles!

 

Banderal and I played a few zones yesterday – his Sorc and my PT in the glorious midbies, which was super-useful in terms of getting a hang of the growing number of abilities. In terms of winning – ha-ha! Nope, not so much.

 

Re-read Kwerty again to update PT’s rotation with the Thermal Detonator use, will need to throw in a few rounds on a dummy to get used to throwing the detonator. Also need to use overrides and grapple more, particularly against the pesky ranged characters so they can’t destroy me on approach (high-level snipers on the platforms in the Huttball, argh)!

 

I hit L47 with my PT, so she’s parked for re-equip. Used to love the re-equips! But this one is the last one before she starts getting EZ-armor handed down/out to her. I’ve decided not to invest time into gearing her out at 60 for the time being.

 

I waved good-bye to sensei the second time so I am on my own at 60. Awareness and healing through burst… yep, I have things to work on.

 

I’ll try to rotate my Sage/Sorc with the Guardian and the VG-T (on Bastion) once the PT’s story is done to slow things down and get a breather.

 

I know, 12xXP and all that, but I want the time to enjoy my characters before picking up the learning & levelling!

[DomiSotto]

Yep, big plans, but all I have managed is 3 zones on the Bastion, while starting Ziost story.

 

We badly lost Alderaan, starting with me and another guy trying to take Grass, and being waylaid by 2 Sins out of the doors. OUCHIE! Then we had two abs fabulous matches of Huttball Classique, first we lost 3:5, second we won, iirc 5:1. Oh, those Scops in Huttball!

 

The pop is much slower but steady on the Bastion. I am starting to remember how to play Tags, but still have 'wrong button' moments and "oh, yeah, the RIOT GAS!" moments. And, of course, I need to get back to something I vowed to do a few times and never drilled in: the Target of Target. I'd start practicing it in the levelling to throw guard on Yuun off the attackers I am targeting, but Tags holds aggro well enough in levelling even in the 168 PvP gear.

 

Yes, the Bastion just does not favor healers in regs, or maybe I am just slightly before their prime-time.

[Banderal]

Well, PvP was good today. Between that and the 12x, I got to level 52 on Flint. I also added Alrik to my friends list, but didn't see him. Tredici came on for a bit, but was gone by the time I got out of the WZ.

 

First match started out with a pipeball. We only had 6 when the curtain went up, but it looked like we were doing OK. The other team got the ball, but my team was there with lots of Cc to stop him. Then my game client crashed! #&@#$&!

 

When I got back in the next one that popped was a regular HB. After our first goal, a nice "pass-pass-pass" chain, someone typed in chat "wow, I filled into a good team!" - or something like that. I was worried they just jinxed us, but no, we ended up winning 6 to zip.

 

After that, it was the one bad match. Got into a same faction AHG, where they were just out-killing us by a lot. I tried to ninja a pylon once (because I just got insta-whirlwind!), but they had 2 defenders. We lost that one.

 

After that I ended up in a good NC match, and got to go south and actually be a tank (vs. a node defender). They had south and east for quite a while, and actually had us down to 50% with them at 100! But we were doing a bit better than them in the "pure fighting" realm, and eventually we managed to flip south back. It was a good fight, and we ended up winning by about 20% I think.

 

Then a few game were we pretty much stomped the other team, and so I don't remember much about them. I remember I got to practice a few times the "pull - insta-lift" maneuver to take enemies out of the fight. That's very cool. And there was one more where we lost big time, but I spent almost all that match solo guarding west, so didn't see much action.

[DomiSotto]

Heya, oh, I did not see you, sorry, was doing the Gree event on my 2 heals! Managed to do the whole thing on the Republic side in PvE gear, lol, no problems. On the Imperial I was paired with a L54 BH tank, was PvP decked out, we managed to defeat a couple of Republic players that decided to attack us, but could not go past a couple of DPS guys camping the pylon (Imperial). Not too too bad overall. Though, the same thing as ever: folks complain in the chat about being ganked, but when i asked for L2M for the PvP area.... crickets. Typical. Edited May 13, 2015 by DomiSotto

[AlrikFassbauer]

Since I live in Europe, I have a bit problems with time zones : When it's late for sleeping in Europe, it's just afternoon in the USA - and even worse with Australia.

 

I know because I was the second European member in an otherwise american guild in DDO. We had *lots* of fun there, but eventually the time zoine shift was something I just couldn't bear anymore.

 

And it's especially bad during the week for me, because I really need to get up early for work -> need to get to sleep earlier.

 

Weekends will be better, I assume.

Apart from the Gree Event.

[DomiSotto]

Hey, Alrick, I caught you a few times in my normal afternoon timeslot on the weekdays, so once I am done with my PT story, & playing more on my Pubs, I think I will be seeing you more. I am undecided right now if I want to do Scoundrel/Operative parallel levelling or a Commando healer. So… I am trying not to think about it too too hard until I need to.

 

I am right now a bit pressed for time, because we are trying to run Ilum on two characters/day for my preferred status husband to get the Friend Standing with the Gree (dat Scalene Legacy Gear!), plus I started running again after a year of nursing my poor foot, so I am sleeping more too.

[AlrikFassbauer]

For me, it's fully okay because I'm planning to do the Gree Event as well.

 

I have already been wondering whether people from here were playing against me.

 

Especially yesterday in 2 different Huttball matches - both with 2 equally incompetent pub teams - but the second match was won by my team (of which I was totally unaware because I got mezzed, rooted, slaughtrered etc. ad nauseam.

 

Weekend will be a bit more difficult for me, because

 

- RPC on Saturday ( "RPC" = "Role Playx Convention" ) http://www.rpc-germany.de/

- pen & paper Aventuria setting (known from "Drakensang") group on Sunday

And because of an HUUUUUUGE bag of work incoming next week I can't even take my tiny holiday on Monday & Tuesday as I had originally planned ...

Means that I will have far less playing time than I had intended to.

[DomiSotto]

Ha! I can understand being busy!

 

I haven’t had time for anything but Gree. My dear husband is deadset to run it 2x a day every day. Oh, my, I've married a grinder!

 

I think I am going to run a Healing Commando next. I don’t think I can manage the double run right now for Scoundrel/Op. And I don’t know why, all the passionate talk about Mando/Mercs makes me want to try it out.

[Banderal]

Got Flint to 55 1/2 running Ilum missions. 4.5 levels to go (if only they went as fast as the first 4.5 levels).

 

It was arena h-3-double-toothpick though. Started out with 1 NC and 1 ACW. Then I got into a group with a couple others (lvl 57 vanguard, lvl 43 GS). And we got, I swear, about 10 arenas in a row. I tried that "pull / lift" move that the was mentioned in the "how to play a shadow in arenas" thread, but I couldn't get it to work. I think I might have to go ask about positioning. I only tried once, but by the time I got to what I though was a good position to pull someone out of the fight and string them up, my team had already engaged without any tanking support from me. So it didn't go so well.

[Cox_The_Beast]

Last night I had a few more WZs on my Lightning Sorc. Now full Dark Reaver save for one Implant.

It was actually quite fun, though most of the time I was the main focus of the opposing team I'm learning new ways to use that to my advantage.

 

An example is the Novare Coast we had. My team managed to capture S and our W node - we had the W camp - but the opposing team stole S from us. Since the team kept charging S, I decided to bait the opposing team E instead. I took a long run there and kept the two guards, a Sorc Healer and an Assassin Tank, busy for a while. Then a DPS of their team came along. Then another. I was still kiting at that point, 4 vs 1 and I was surviving nicely at about 35-40% health. Then my team came E with almost all the others and we died all together, the others kept E...

So, noticing my team took the long path for E, I went S and did the same, only this time with a Jugg DPS and a Sorc DPS. In a minute of kiting three more enemies came S, and I was still the only one there. I kept them busy long enough for my team to get E and entrench there. I died a few seconds later, but my team was able to hold both turrets till the end that way. So much for being marked...

 

Huttball was a pain, being focused is not the best thing ever... But, I just stopped getting the ball and started positioning to pull strategically, saving our ball carrier the need to walk through half the path. We lost it 6-5, but it was very close.

 

Then we had an Arena. Me and a guildie of mine spawned during the first round, dead of course. The others were taking down our team's Healer Sorc. Our team lost round one due to 3 vs 2, of course. When me and my Guildie came along though, things changed. Our Healer was ignored in favor of me, to make an example, which allowed him to freecast at his desire, keeping us 4 up with little trouble. I just had to stay detached from him so the enemies wouldn't walk from one to the other, but into his field of view.

Needless to say, we won that WZ 2-1. And I achieved top dmg, which considering I missed round 1, unlike all the other DPS, means that my dmg was quite good.

 

So, there are times when you are able to do your best staying in a corner, others when you have to run the ball and others when you get "famous" and have hordes of people wanting to get you. Adapting to the situation at hand is the most fun part of PvP, imo.

[AlrikFassbauer]

Yesterday or the day before that I was in an most excitiing Denova match !

 

EVERYONE was taking West, East AND South / Mid at a time ! It was very funny to see all the colours change within a few minutes !

 

The other team was good and got lots of medals through defeating me ... But we won in the end.

Edited May 15, 2015 by AlrikFassbauer

[Banderal]

I love games like that. Very dynamic ones, with lots going on. And it's just an added bonus (a nice one) when you win!

 

Today I played too well. Went into a NC, and immediately saw someone I knew was a healer, so I started off throwing a guard on her, and went south instead of my normal "guard the off node" mode. Turns out we had two healers, and a good overall team, so I was able to concentrate on my job of protecting, and peeling and such. Had nice protection numbers. Got to use a lot of Cc to help keep enemy things off of healers. Responded to incs a couple times. We ended up winning that one. And then it started...

 

People start pestering me to join their guild! I'm like "really, I'm not that good. You just caught me at a good time. Normally I'm just kinda mediocre". Actually, it was pretty nice. I got into a group with the second healer from that first game. Unfortunately, we then had some rough games. One arena, where they were just better than us. The second game was actually pretty close with some back-n-forth node changes in another NC. But we lost. I think it was totally because I was regulated to "off node guard" and didn't get to do my awesome tanking. Then my healer team mate dinged 60, and I decided a needed a break to do some house chores.

 

Terrible PvE question though... does 12xp only apply up to level 55? I stopped getting it, so I thought the whole thing had ended, but someone said "no, it just stops at level 55"? That would suck.

[DomiSotto]

Thsi is weird, I did not know it would do that. My Guild Master was saying though that you need to finish Ilum with the Flashpoints in order for the bonus to extend to Makeb. So, maybe you just ran out of planets? Either way though, if you run Forged Alliances and Rishi-Yavin-Ziost, you should be Level 60 before you finish Yavin.

 

Aww, I saw Flintstone when I was reclogging crafting missions – was so jealous you were playing a Novare. And Arenas all in a row? How did you managed to get a windfall like that??? You lucky dog you! Yeah, those moves could be tricky. I remember pushing the tank away from the healer with my Guardian (correct) but then jumping to the tank (!) instead of the healer (duh) – don’t do it children!

 

@Cox: You know, I so wish I could see you play. Your control of your sorcerer is just phenomenal. I have 2 DPS on me, I am basically toast. It’s good to see you

 

I still only had time for 2xIlum. And I am still married! Dear Dr. Phil, when BioWARE announced the extension of the Gree event until May 26th, I informed my husband, as befit a good wife. But after killing a minimum of 40 Tonvarr pirates a day, every day, I regret it, and my relationships with my spouse became strained…

 

But at least I met one of the ranked toons there that attracted my attentions in the end of last season, and I had a chance to say “Good luck!” while yawn-healing.

 

I managed a few too short minutes on my Powertech this morning but didn’t queue, ‘cause I badly want that level 49 to re-equip. I actually had to use medpacks and cc’s during the fights… that L35-37 equipment is seeing a lot of use. Seriously , why did I waste all that time and mats on re-equipping so much before?!

Edited May 15, 2015 by DomiSotto

[DomiSotto]

And, duh! What's with my head today. Banderal, if you see me on Ilum, where I certainly going be (sigh), give me a shout, we'll certainly come for Ilum FPs.

[Banderal]

Well, I'm currently running the Revan prelude series. That seems to be giving me 162 greens. But so far, when I test them in the bolsterizer vs. the 116 blues that I currently have, my stats (main stat & endurance) always go down a bit. Maybe that's because I'm still pre-60?

 

I did a bit of PvP this morning though, because I was soooooooooo bored with killing mobs. Especially when they give you that robot thing who is so good is seems like it's impossible to actually fail on any of that revan quest stuff. But PvP...

 

Had a good huttball match. We won 2 to 0, so it wasn't a complete blowout. I got to firepull twice! I scored one of the 2, but it was really a surrogate score. I was tanking the guy that had the ball, and a mara jumped and rooted him in the last fire. He died, and the mara got the ball, but was still in the fire and died, and the ball jumped to me, and I calmly walked it in after the fire quit.

 

Then a really good NC. It started out looking bad. We took west no problems, but south we got clobbered and they took it pretty easy. I though, uh-oh, this might be a farm. They had a couple pretty good snipers who were kicking my butt whenever I came out of stealth (or they detected me first). We made a try for east, and discovered their fatal flaws! They over-rotated, and tunneled bad! There were about 6 of them left at east and I was the only one of us left alive, but none of them were breaking off and heading back south, so I took a page out of cox-the-beasts book. I just went into survival mode. Los. combat stealth. popping every defensive Cd. Running towards our west. The were DESPERATE to finish me off. Meanwhile we took south from them.

 

We defended south for a while, but we also had a fatal flaw. Our guys kept allowing themselves to get push back so that they could not even see inside the south bunker. Then a couple of them moved inside and took it back.

 

And then another attack on east from us. This time I intercepted the first of the reinforcements with a pull and lift. He broke the lift, but instead of continuing on east, of course he attacked me. Eventually 2 more of his friends were piling on. I had a helper, so 2 of us were holding up 3 of them. And we took east!

 

Then we sort of got our act together and responded with the correct amount to inc calls. Things like, "inc 2 west" - and I see almost all of us start to head there. I turn back - and actually see a couple others also turn back! Someone types into chat "keep at least 3 east". And we did! So when they counter attacked east we were able to hold them in time for our guys to get back from west, and we won! Was a great game. (And, as cox always points out, I got no MVPs. )

[AlrikFassbauer]

They had a couple pretty good snipers who were kicking my butt whenever I came out of stealth (or they detected me first).

 

They can, if they are really the mirror of Gunslingers.

Me, as a Gunslinger, I can almost always see stealthed ones while in cover - only exception when they are farer away.

 

It's because Gunslingers' cover builds up up to 30 stacks of stealth detection. This takes about half a minute or less, so that's my "weak spot", but apart from that i can see every nearer stealthed one.

 

And that's why you'd never see me without cover when I guard a node.

 

(And, as cox always points out, I got no MVPs. )

 

I never get any, either. Apart from ... one in 2 weeks or so.

Edited May 16, 2015 by AlrikFassbauer

[Aumvaar]

I recently made the same decision as the OP: at least one Warzone a day, preferably 2 so as to get the Daily done. I've found that in just two weeks of playing SW:TOR, the Warzones have already "slowed down" to the point I'm no longer overwhelmed & I can actually wrap my head around doing stuff. I've even gotten a few kills & kinda-sorta learned how to deal with Force Leapers!

 

Now, if only I can find a way to deal with the stun-lock brigade

[Cox_The_Beast]

 

[...]

 

@Cox: You know, I so wish I could see you play. Your control of your sorcerer is just phenomenal. I have 2 DPS on me, I am basically toast. It’s good to see you

 

[...]

 

 

Trust me Domi, it's just a matter of perspective, nothing special. Back before casting on the move was a thing, I still played Lightning Sorc in PvP. Now, with cast on the move, Lightning is a walk in the park.

I bet anyone who did my same path can now do what I do with great ease. Especially if they emphasize root breaks/improved dmg absorption/reduced cooldowns of defensives as I do.

 

[...]

 

There were about 6 of them left at east and I was the only one of us left alive, but none of them were breaking off and heading back south, so I took a page out of cox-the-beasts book. I just went into survival mode. Los. combat stealth. popping every defensive Cd. Running towards our west. The were DESPERATE to finish me off. Meanwhile we took south from them.

 

[...]

 

(And, as cox always points out, I got no MVPs. )

 

Haha, I'm glad to see my tales are not only fun, but also useful.

Yes, sometimes being the live bait of your team is the only way to score a victory. Or either, the only way to have fun while playing, if your team can't hold a turret/node... At least you feel like you did all you could.

 

Don't worry too much about MVPs. I myself go from getting 0 to getting 4-5 depending on how many offheals I threw out, how many incs I called and how many solo kills I managed to do.

Sometimes, you see, you're stuck guarding a node. And there's bound to be a stubborn guy who keeps coming to you solo in an attempt to take you down and heroically cap your node... Only killing me solo is not that easy, thanks to the fact my Utilities build makes it easy to kite and DPS on the move. As a result, even against Assassins and Ops, in a 1vs1 fight, I can hold my ground for quite some time, and easily call for the Inc while playing hide and seek.

[AlrikFassbauer]

And there's bound to be a stubborn guy who keeps coming to you solo in an attempt to take you down and heroically cap your node...

 

Okay, I have my cynical mood again.

 

I often am that guy, no matter which bracket.

And if I was an masochist, I'd even enjoy that ... But so I'm nothing but bait, binding the forces of up to 4 people at the node (Denova South, Alderaan Mid) for a few seconds so that they can't be anywhere else due to their foolishness ... But of coiurse they are happy that this Lemming which is me is giving them Medals - and thus Commendations - for free - and, what's mist important, without any effort[/i. So, they should be glad for all Lemmings coming their way.

 

But no-one thanks Lemmings for giving them effortless Comms. They rather laugh over those Lemmings, "how stupid they are that they are coming back again and again and again and again and again ..."

[Cox_The_Beast]

Okay, I have my cynical mood again.

 

I often am that guy, no matter which bracket.

And if I was an masochist, I'd even enjoy that ... But so I'm nothing but bait, binding the forces of up to 4 people at the node (Denova South, Alderaan Mid) for a few seconds so that they can't be anywhere else due to their foolishness ... But of coiurse they are happy that this Lemming which is me is giving them Medals - and thus Commendations - for free - and, what's mist important, without any effort[/i. So, they should be glad for all Lemmings coming their way.

 

But no-one thanks Lemmings for giving them effortless Comms. They rather laugh over those Lemmings, "how stupid they are that they are coming back again and again and again and again and again ..."

 

Hey, I didn't mean to offend anyone, mind you, I tend to bait enemies away myself, as I mentioned a few times already...

 

I just wanted to explain how I usually get some solo kills without effort, because when it's that guy that comes along I never really need help, so I only say "Inc 1 [insert Node/Door/Turret Position Here]".

The team looks at my health bar, and unless it goes under 50% - which never happens with that guy - they don't come to help.

So, their "ruse" rarely pays off.

 

A good rule of thumb is, if you can keep the lone guard reasonably busy - and with that I mean unable to heal above 60% without relying on casts you can interrupt while you keep tunnelling him - go for it, after warning your team of your plan. Chances are he'll get scared and call for help, and if you can resist at least 15-20 seconds while his teammates come along you're paying your death off.

Otherwise, unfortunately, it's not worth it, because you're effectively depriving your team of your DPS output - don't do it as Tank or Healer, you're better off in the big melee - where it's needed the most, where hte node is contested. At least, that's my experience, but others are free to correct me.

 

Incidentally, that's why when I mention I go for the off node you can see at least 2+ enemies are there with me...

[Banderal]

Well, no one has welcomed Aumvaar yet, so I will...

 

I recently made the same decision as the OP: at least one Warzone a day, preferably 2 so as to get the Daily done. I've found that in just two weeks of playing SW:TOR, the Warzones have already "slowed down" to the point I'm no longer overwhelmed & I can actually wrap my head around doing stuff. I've even gotten a few kills & kinda-sorta learned how to deal with Force Leapers!

 

Now, if only I can find a way to deal with the stun-lock brigade

 

Grats! At this rate we will have the entire population of SWTOR doing PvP in about... uhm, how many years? I can't count that high. I see you are on Harb? If you see any of my toons, feel free to see about grouping up!

 

But so I'm nothing but bait, binding the forces of up to 4 people at the node...

 

I could be wrong (it happens a lot), but I think you and Cox are kinda arguing the same side of the coin. I think he was talking about when he's **solo** guarding a node, and one guy keeps coming back over and over with the same result. But if you can keep 3 or 4 guys standing at a node, waiting for you to come back... yeah, that's a win for your team I think, and the same thing Cox quoted me about. Let them tunnel you, survive as long as you can, and hopefully the numbers advantage elsewhere will help your team take a node.

 

But, of course, it's a fine line between "strategically" doing this, and seeing if it works, and doing it over and over when it's not working. In my case, if that other team had displayed any capacity to *not* tunnel me, I wouldn't have tried it the second time. Or, another example, in VS I'll often stealth up to the same side that all our non-stealth attack, and then just WAIT about 5 seconds, just standing there in stealth. It's surprising how many teams watch for that stealth cap right at the start, but if it doesn't happen they forget about the door for a while. So after the enemy has "fully engaged" with my team, THEN I'll unstealth and start the cap. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. But if it doesn't, I won't keep trying it over and over again. Once they've demonstrated that they are good at watching the doors, I think it's bad play to try it over and over.

 

This is why I dislike, very much, the players who are sure they have the *one* winning strategy, and if it's not working it's because the whole rest of the team sucks.

[AlrikFassbauer]

Acknowledged.

 

 

I did today's dailies, and it wasn't fine.

 

First, we got almost farmed at Voidstar (although I managed to successfully plant a bomb - which I had been able to only 1-2 in my while SWTOR life ! Due to Gunslingers being glass cannons ...

 

Second an Arena, were we clearly got formed by the newest pressure composition : PT, Sorc, Operative.

And that Operative really must have been one of those sadists I suppose to be doing PvP quite frequently : AFTER the scoreboard, we could actually fight some more - and the female Operative beat me - and THEN was performing an "cheering" emote while standing next to my characters' dead body ! Like "[her name] is cheering [my char's name]".

 

This reminds me of that sadistic Operative long, long ago on Ilum, who moved his characters' body so over my own characters' body that he was kneeling down with characters' bottom only a few inches away from my own characters' face ... Pure sadism.

 

And now that one "cheering me up" - or, rather "cheering my characters' body up" ... Same category for me.

 

Those people are very effective in putting people off from PvP.