I was thinking to myself, why do I enjoy PvP. Obviously I don’t take it quite as seriously as Cynwise or probably even Gnomeaggedon, but I go in there to have a good time, and to probably net myself a win (because let’s be honest, who likes losing?) (Me, sometimes. BUT ANYWAY, MISSING THE POINT)
I was playing a game of Eye of the Storm, widely lauded as my least favorite BG OF ALL TIME. We were losing. We were losing so badly, it was as if a hundred angels had descended from the heavens right ontop of all of the towers, but you know what? I was having fun.
LOOK MA, A RANDOM PICTURE
FUN
I know, how strange, right? We were losing, the team was horrible, but who cares? I was holding off a million assholes, all trying to tear me a new one, I was fighting DKs left and right, fire-mages who cast frostbolt endlessly (I have no clue why, I wasn’t going anywhere (I would of won that fight except LOL CAUTERIZE, which was kinda confusing at the time)), and I was cackling like a madman.
Part of this has to do with how WoW’s PvP system never feels like a horrible grind. While Arenas and Rated Battlegrounds probably do a little bit, that is because people actually take them seriously, and then suddenly I stop having fun. >>;;
Speaking of fun, I ventured into the Raid Finder this week… that was an interesting experience. The fights are pretty easy, and it’s really… fun! It’s raiding for people with less than 9 friends! (I like it for the same reasons I like the LFG tool as a DPS. It makes grouping easy (no finding groups), and it makes the content easier, it’s a win win win situation)
Your face when you realize this image is irrelevant too.
Anyway, getting back to my point, let’s talk about TOR a little bit. TOR’s PvP is, for the most part, less fun. Ignoring the much grindier feeling (PvP levels that don’t reward anything at all is a pretty annoying system – and the PvP dalies are super annoying, oh man), the gameplay itself tends to feel less fun than WoW or Rift (I’ll go back to it after the PvP changes go through and probably talk about it more then) managed to do.
Huttball is entertaining, but 90% of people have no idea what to do in it, which often makes it an exercise in frustration. That being said, if you get a decent team you can have a lot of fun (before winning the game really fast). Civil War is 3-point AB, and TOR’s general bias towards defenders in PvP means it’s a race to cap 2 points before the other team does, most of the time – it also feels like it goes FOREVER. Voidstar is okay, it has the Attack/Defend stylings of Strand, but again, the bias is towards long defensive games there.
Actually, let’s get into some more details. Firstly let’s go over Strand.
EPIC ART SKILLZ
Obviously, the circles are the boat dock spawns, and the attackers then use demolishers (powerful, big, obvious things) and seaforium bombs (items that can be grabbed and dropped next to doors, kinda hard to disarm), to blow through the HP of the various gates, eventually reaching the relic (or running out of time).
This means that the attackers can chip away at each gate, or amass a great force and blow through, or whatever they like. More options are usually better for the attackers, assuming they can co-ordinate a little bit.
MY ARTS, THEY ARE THE BEST ARTS
Voidstar, on the other hand, tends to be a bit more punishing for the attackers. This partially has to do with the mechanics of breaking doors (more like capping a flag than breaking a gate), and TOR’s pretty strong defending bias.
The best strategy here is to co-ordinate with a couple of Sage/Inquisitors (or whoever else has sprint) and quickly cap the bridge (2nd point) and 2nd door before the defenders can regroup and bring the pain.
Voidstar also feels really long. I’m still not sure why that is. Although it’s not uncommon to see both teams failing to reach the goal, and the winner being decided on how many doors were broken.
Not sure what brought on that, but whatever. It’s also interesting to note that a lot of people really hate Strand. I’m not sure why, I really like it as an objectives focused PvPer.
Still, getting back to my point, I like PvPing for fun. Now, that doesn’t mean I don’t take my games seriously. I’ll hound that objective like nobody’s business, because, to be honest, I really like winning.
However, I like losing, too. I love the whole ritual of raging at my enemies, or my teammates, or whatever. Venting is important. But once I’m off that field? It’s gone. I’m not going to abuse you outside of the BG for something. I’m probably not going to abuse you anyway, most of my anger comes from passion, and it’s not a bad thing. When I get passionate I start 3-capping flags and killing DKs.
Which reminds me, one of these days I should sit down with a microphone and PvP for an hour or two, and see what comes out the other side. Haha. Although if I know people will hear it I’ll hold back or something. This is why I am usually much quieter when playing with people over Skype/Vent/Whatever, they don’t need to hear an endless stream of “WHY YOU NO FIGHT ON FLAGS ASLKDJHASLKDJALSJKDASDlkAJSDLas” and I can’t deadpan “oh no what are you doing why are you chasing that champion to their tower oh god now you’re dead and there’s two of them and now I’m dead yay” for more than 5 minutes.
Anyway, I’ve been rambling for a while, go figure. Turns out writing about PvP is pretty enjoyable. Although I must stress that I am not some strategical genius, and you should take any PvP advice dispensed here with a heaping fistful of salt. That being said, I will gladly ramble like I know what I’m doing for extended periods.
