Should Fort Aspenwood be simply removed from the ZQuest rotation?

HawkofStorms

HawkofStorms

Hall Hero

Join Date: Aug 2005

E/

I actually like Upiers suggestion about a more active goal, as the Kurzicks do have it kinda easier.
I just don't like the drama about it.

MithranArkanere

MithranArkanere

Underworld Spelunker

Join Date: Nov 2006

wikipedia.org/wiki/Vigo

Heraldos de la Llama Oscura [HLO]

E/

AB 'balances' by changing maps.
That's just lame. In most games you use is a REAL handicap.

Just add an environment effect:

- Emperor's Intervention.
The Emperor's power affects the struggle between Luxon and Kurzick.

Every 10 matches, the wins of each side are counted, and the difference is added as Morale Bonuses of 1% to the side that lost more times, that affects all players and NPCs of that side.
0-10. 10% MB
1-9. 8% MB
2-8. 6% MB
3-7. 4% MB
4-6. 2% MB
5-5. 0% MB
The ones that lose more get an advantage, and so the sides balance themselves.

Symeon

Symeon

Forge Runner

Join Date: Jul 2005

The main problem with FA, which has been mentioned already, is that Kurzicks can sit around in their base and still win (albeit slowly). Running amber is also too easy, and people often use this to repair gates as soon as they've been breached.

A few ideas for fixing FA:
1) Increase the number/strength of NPCs guarding the Amber Mines. Also increase the amount each amber chunk adds to the weapon percentage. This encourages the Kurzicks to be more active.
2) Once the Luxons have captured both Orange or Purple gates, a group of NPCs with anti-running skills (e.g. water elementalists, rangers with Pin Down) should spawn between the two gates. This makes it harder for Kurzicks to run amber while their main base is under assault.
3) Remove the gate-repairing NPCs. Killing the forward Luxon NPCs mentioned above should start a timer after which first the inner, then the outer gate on that side is repaired.
4) Increase Turtle armor/health.
5) Put a Luxon Monk in each turtle/warrior team.

wetwillyhip

wetwillyhip

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Aug 2006

USA, Southern California, Orange County

Tyrian Elements [TyE]

R/Mo

I like it cause i'm Kurzick


Oh and you know what should really be removed from Zquests.... ALLIANCE BATTLES. I am so sick and tired of 100's of newbies coming to AB without knowing jack and ruining it for the experienced players who want to win, just b/c they want to get their zquests completed. My gosh this weekend was the freakin worst AB ever for the kurzick side (not to mention the x2 bonus event).

We were on Grenz Frontier, OUR advantage map and we lost 90% of the time all 3 days of the weekend. This was absurd... I'm fine with newbies learning new PVP but seriously go back to PVE when you don't know the difference between capping shrines makes us win and mobbing and letting the luxons catch up 400 pts in the last 100 pt stretch, seriously we had retards not figuring it out after losing so many freakin times. No one talked in team chat whenever other kurzick experienced players were grilling the noobs for being stupid. You know why they didn't talk back, b/c they didn't know what to say, it was true.

diehuman

diehuman

Academy Page

Join Date: May 2009

Hong Kong

N/

that was just bullshit
it is all about player quality, not the map
if u cant win u should go monking / caster instead of
meleeing there or comes up in any profession with roj

Shadow Slave

Shadow Slave

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Feb 2006

..My home away from home..

Currently looking ~

N/

Ahhh good - another poster who fully understands the purpose of this thread.

Thank you for your contribution.

Nowait....gtfo.

HawkofStorms

HawkofStorms

Hall Hero

Join Date: Aug 2005

E/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Shadow Slave View Post
Ahhh good - another poster who fully understands the purpose of this thread.

Thank you for your contribution.

Nowait....gtfo.
Maybe you should stop trolling ever person who disagrees with you.

Like I said in my post, I actually like Upiers idea. But drama and crap like this makes me hesitant to want to discuss anything with you.

Bryant Again

Bryant Again

Hall Hero

Join Date: Feb 2006

Quote:
Originally Posted by Crom The Pale
FA is all about the randomness of parties. If you are lucky you get a balanced team if not you get screwed.
Largely, this is true. But it doesn't help that Kurzick has less of a chance "getting screwed" than Lux.

Quote:
Originally Posted by HawkofStorms
I just don't like the drama about it.
Eh, welcome to the Guru?

Giga_Gaia

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Sep 2006

Travelling around Tyria, Cantha, and Elona

P/W

Quote:
Originally Posted by upier View Post
That's "luck" you can control.
Once Kurzicks start playing to win - they'll realize that rolling a monk is the best option. And once every guy in the outpost rolls a monk and enters with that guy - each and every person does everything in their power to have the best team they can. The only luck you need to rely on is that you won't be paired up with morons.
Whereas as a Luxon there is no ONE build to rule them all. You need a pretty balanced party. In a random arena.
What that means you need to hope that Lady Luck smiles down at you and decides to pair you with some monks, some mesmers, some necros, ...
And you still need to rely on the luck of not getting paired up with morons.

Now - Kurzick teams without a monk can still win. But that also means that they have given the Luxons a fair chance. Let's be honest though, that's kinda dumb. I mean, if you are trying to win - you use the best option possible. And if you aren't using that chance - that means you are bad. And why should bad teams win?
You still missed my point about the whole monk thing. You need to get it through your head that seeing more than one monk on every team is actually a pretty rare sight. But since you can't accept that and instead only look at things from your biased point of view, there is little validity in your theory crafting and your "8 man kurzick monks". Like someone else said, if you're going to assume the ideal conditions for kurzicks, you must also do the same on luxons.

I've played the arena on both sides, and it was just so much easier to win on luxon. Again, RoJ's, MM's, EoE + turtles = win. Using balanced team on luxon side = not enough damage = not enough pressure = lose. Luxons need offense. But how many times have you actually seen luxon teams use those builds correctly? I'm sorry to say, but the problem lies in how bad the luxon players are. I've seen your history of posts about FA, and all of them were about the same thing: "8 man monks can do this and that". Makes me wonder if you even play the arena at all. Your last sentence is exactly what I'm trying to say: why should the luxons win or even deserve a winning chance when so many of them are so terrible? Anet can keep buffing luxons and nerfing kurzicks all they want, but the good players will still find ways around it while the bad players will continue to fail.

Arkantos

Arkantos

The Greatest

Join Date: Feb 2006

W/

Quote:
That aside, the maps are not broken, it is the way Arena Net has intended it to be. one side luxon has more advantage the other side kurziks has more advantage. Stop arguing about the maps. You loose some you win some.
I hope you aren't trying to say JQ gives Luxons an advantage.

Giga_Gaia

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Sep 2006

Travelling around Tyria, Cantha, and Elona

P/W

Quote:
Originally Posted by Symeon View Post
The main problem with FA, which has been mentioned already, is that Kurzicks can sit around in their base and still win (albeit slowly). Running amber is also too easy, and people often use this to repair gates as soon as they've been breached.

A few ideas for fixing FA:
1) Increase the number/strength of NPCs guarding the Amber Mines. Also increase the amount each amber chunk adds to the weapon percentage. This encourages the Kurzicks to be more active.
2) Once the Luxons have captured both Orange or Purple gates, a group of NPCs with anti-running skills (e.g. water elementalists, rangers with Pin Down) should spawn between the two gates. This makes it harder for Kurzicks to run amber while their main base is under assault.
3) Remove the gate-repairing NPCs. Killing the forward Luxon NPCs mentioned above should start a timer after which first the inner, then the outer gate on that side is repaired.
4) Increase Turtle armor/health.
5) Put a Luxon Monk in each turtle/warrior team.
I like your ideas. Let's buff the luxons even more! Now we can just roll our heads over our keyboards and win no problem! How about we make the turtles shoot laser beams instead of those puny siege attacks? Now instead of spiking anyone inside green with less than 90% health when camping outside it, it's an insta-spike of death at 100% health!

Seriously, if changes are made to FA, it needs to be a MAJOR overhaul, not just "buff this, nerf that" kind of thing. This only introduces more unknowns/variables/imbalances than fixing anything. Take the timer change for example: now kurzicks can earn faction at a more reasonable rate like luxons, but it (supposedly) gave luxons a much harder time winning there. Then the turtles were buffed to hell and back, and now it's too easy to win as a luxon there, provided you don't suck. Yes one good player with a good build *cough* RoJ monk *cough* CAN make a big difference.

pumpkin pie

pumpkin pie

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Jul 2006

behind you

bumble bee

E/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Arkantos View Post
I hope you aren't trying to say JQ gives Luxons an advantage.
I actually think JQ has balance map, and cannot fingure out why players still complain that the points have differnt distance. I think the only way to find out is printing out the map fold them in half and see if the points meet. I am guessing they do. but I didn't want to say that cos then players QQ more and attack me

MithranArkanere

MithranArkanere

Underworld Spelunker

Join Date: Nov 2006

wikipedia.org/wiki/Vigo

Heraldos de la Llama Oscura [HLO]

E/

It's nothing about distance. It's heights, spawn points and terrain blockings.

You can't really see it easily, but a Juggernaut can get faster to their base by going around corners easier, and you can go past some nearby luxon-capture posts without aggroing them easier than with kurzick.

I've played in both sides, and It's easier to cap things near the kurzick base without being touched by archers. Some places that cover you near the kurzick side like rocks, are trespassed by arrows near the luxon side. While near the kurzick side an archer on top of a cliff can't hit me, on some spots near the luxon side all what the archer has to o is get a bit closer to the edge, and arrows hit.

All those little and almost not noticeable differences add up and mix into more damage over time to luxon side creatures.

pumpkin pie

pumpkin pie

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Jul 2006

behind you

bumble bee

E/

i've played both side too and win most the time. you've got to know the map is all, there are places where you can cast spells on luxon's archer players and they can't touch you as well. sometime its not staying alive, you get kill to get behind the archer players by going thru the portals and comes right behind them where they are doing the snipering. try all the teleport points, and know where they land you, and where they lead to, you'll be surprise. Hug the walls if your a caster and you find an annoying archer. they will not be able to get you. In some cases, you can kill the NPCs without having to go to where they are, from across the raised platform, cast and step back.

reaper with no name

reaper with no name

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Apr 2009

FaZ

D/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Arkantos View Post
I really don't see how that's possible. Out of the ~25 FA matches I've done at all times of the day in the past 2 weeks, I'm fairly sure I can count the number of losses on one hand.

If a monk is watching the juggernaut, it won't go down easily, and will actually do damage. The turtles are very easy to take down before they breach the two initial breaks unless a monk is watching (which I've seen maybe 2 times). The luxons get to the last gate all the time, and they rarely win. You don't need a crapload of healers, you need one or two decent ones.

Either I'm a frickin amazing player, you play with the worst players and against the best, or you're really over exaggerating.
I'm not exaggerating. That's why I know people are exaggerating about any imbalances that might exist. Even if I'm constantly playing with the worst against the best, that still wouldn't account for my luck with that mission.

Seriously, monks can be countered. There are respawn times. Kill the monks if they are giving you that much trouble, and then spike Gunther. It can't be any harder than killing the Juggernaut (which always happens).

pumpkin pie

pumpkin pie

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Jul 2006

behind you

bumble bee

E/

sometimes players are so predictable and stubborn that they keep using the same portal, making it possible for you to just wait there, kill them and waits for them to come right thru that same portal again and again and again lol, this is not the porblem of the map. its players not thinking while playing and the only thing on their mind is "god damn it, Anet nerf the map already" but failed to think that if they had use another portal, then I would not have the pleasure of killing them over and over and over and over, okay repeatedly.

upier

upier

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Mar 2006

Done.

[JUNK]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Giga_Gaia View Post
You still missed my point about the whole monk thing. You need to get it through your head that seeing more than one monk on every team is actually a pretty rare sight. But since you can't accept that and instead only look at things from your biased point of view, there is little validity in your theory crafting and your "8 man kurzick monks". Like someone else said, if you're going to assume the ideal conditions for kurzicks, you must also do the same on luxons.
So what you are saying is that if no-one would keep Shadowform up permanently - not because it would be impossible, but rather because they wouldn't want to - it would be balanced?
What you need to accept is that certain things NEED to be considered on a different level than what YOU observe in the game. They need to be considered on a different level that I observe in the game. For instance, my experience - 2+ monks on your average Kurzick team is VERY common. Hell, I went up against a 3 monk+a resto rit team yesterday. (And actually that battle was INSANELY fun. We had a very good Luxon team - despite their initial tries, we soon dominated the map, breaking down all gates and controlling the mines. Still, there was nothing we could do about Gunthy and his gang. They really couldn't do much about us either - I mean, when half your team is completely defensive with no damage, and those Kurzicks that did damage were a bit sucky - but that didn't matter in the slightest. Once GV was complete - we all dropped dead and the game did their job by killing us. Despite our team having more better players than theirs - the few monk monk players on their side were able to negate that. Just because monks are so powerful there. Still, after getting out - I closed GW. Sure, having fun is is sweet, but I play PvP to win. And if you know that you will be unable to win unless the opposing team allows you to win - that's not fun enough.)
What needs to be considered is how the BETTER players are going to play this map. If you are shit - you deserve to lose regardless of the side you are on. And the better Kurzick players will roll a monk. Which means that the better Luxon players need to be able to take that down.
Now ask yourself - in GW, how many monks per party are able to keep a party of 8 alive? In PvE - hell, you can do it with one. In high end PvP - you're prolly going to need 2-3. You don't need 8 monks in your team to be able to negate the damage a 8-man team throws at your way.

In theory - the Kurzick win EACH and every single battle at Aspy. Currently, the Luxons are still wining because Kurzicks are bad. As player get better and better - reality will catch up with theory. Unless of course there is a change.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Giga_Gaia View Post
I've played the arena on both sides, and it was just so much easier to win on luxon. Again, RoJ's, MM's, EoE + turtles = win. Using balanced team on luxon side = not enough damage = not enough pressure = lose. Luxons need offense. But how many times have you actually seen luxon teams use those builds correctly? I'm sorry to say, but the problem lies in how bad the luxon players are. I've seen your history of posts about FA, and all of them were about the same thing: "8 man monks can do this and that". Makes me wonder if you even play the arena at all. Your last sentence is exactly what I'm trying to say: why should the luxons win or even deserve a winning chance when so many of them are so terrible? Anet can keep buffing luxons and nerfing kurzicks all they want, but the good players will still find ways around it while the bad players will continue to fail.
Share with us how many monks did the Kurzick have on the games you won as a Luxon? Because it's my guess that the Kurzick allowed you to win.
Also - explain to me how does one get RoJ (for the Luxons reading this - be aware of the it's limitations! While it's damage will work against bad teams - it won't do anything against good teams. So against good teams - healing/prots are preferred. But against a really good team - you've lost by entering.), minions (once again for all the Luxons out there - do not run minions. The fact that GG does not know how bad they are - makes me question his/hers knowledge of GW.) and EoE (tip - if the Kurzicks are good, they will trash it. Which means, like RoJ it will only work against bad teams.) onto one guy.
If you are unable to do that - that means, as noted many times, you need to rely on luck to give you, not only a team of players that know what they are doing - the same luck you need on the Kurzick side, but also a team that complements your build. And that's in a random arena.
As a Kurzick - you do not need to rely on this luck. If the player is good - he is going to roll a monk. Which means - when it comes to the random party forming - the Luxons are ALREADY at a disadvantage. Not only do you need to get lucky by getting a good team - you also need to get the RIGHT good team. Whereas the Kurzick good team is ALWAYS the right team also!
Now insert this party into the Aspy map. And the map does not negate this advantage - it actually multiplies it.

Toxic OnyX

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Mar 2009

Atreia

lol was just in FA as a luxon

kurzicks didnt do anything but run amber and sit in the base near gunther

so we break through to gunther in about 5 mins and then the farce begins, 3 monks and a restoration rit simply sit there and negate all damage give to the gatekeepers and gunther

I reckon my win ratio is about 1/10 as luxon so agree that the map has a touch of imbalance

Deimos Zargarda

Deimos Zargarda

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Aug 2008

Nothing wrong with FA, been playing at for about 2 years almost every day on both sides, lost as often as I won, sure sometime the Kurzick can simply wait at the base using their monks to win but the Luxon can therefor win the match in just 5 min., which they do very often. Anyway, most of the time the Luxons lose is because of ppl chasing Kurzicks outside the fort instead of attacking only the gates, meaning that its the players fault.

The only differences in FA and the other PvP areas are its goals, tne winning rate is the same. I actualy preffer to play on the Luxon side as the wait time to enter a battle is 30sec.-1Min..

So /notsigned for removing it from the Z-Quests.

Chocobo1

Chocobo1

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Sep 2007

New Zealand

CoA

N/

There is no imbalance, it keeps coming back to the quality of the players. And Luxon just happens to have more bad players than Kurzick.

Smurf Minions

Smurf Minions

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Jun 2006

Somewhere you can't see

Limburgse Jagers [LJ]

N/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Roupe View Post
Primal echoes & Edge of Extinction (EoE), is effective to deploy against the Kursics.

thats was one of the reasons why EoE was nerfed a while back -but its still effective.
not even close to the reason, it was because of the EoE bombs in HA but as you said, primal echoes will kill kurzick monks, as does natures renewal.

refer

refer

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Jan 2009

US

It shouldn't be removed but it seriously needs to be improved. I play Luxon usually and Kurzicks have WAY too huge of an advantage. They respawn near Gunter almost instantly (we respawn really far back), they can teleport to other locations (we can't even use their teleporters), have way more NPCs which are better than ours (notice how fast the Luxon warriors disappear), and I think it's more fun at times to play Kurzick since you don't have to target NPCs 24/7. They have more to do but they win much more. I have played on the Kurzick side goofing off, running almost no amber, and almost contributing NOTHING and even with no monks we win, nearly every time. Luxons have to have a flawless team, and even then there isn't enough time usually... Kurzicks only need to defend and stall and get to attack real people, not focus on NPCs. The game should be able to end in a draw too. There should be more incentive to play melee and more real people targeting on the Luxon side. And the turtles are horrible. People can tank them indefinitely if you have the right build. And they only have 1 attack which can be interrupted. And they're so far away to even get and they don't automatically go out when they're back as they should.

I love upier's ideas about the amber thing and draws... maybe they could make it so that both sides get less of a reward if there is a draw. But I think that system would be pretty complicated. It's already enough getting people on the same page, and to introduce it more would make it messy... and I think you would need to have more people to have both sides to run offensive and defense. 12 on each side? 14? 16?

upier

upier

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Mar 2006

Done.

[JUNK]

Since I can't be bothered to explain this more then once more - I'll just summarize the monk problem at Aspy in this post and then quote it in the future.

There are good builds and there are bad builds.
Bad builds do not matter. If the map is balanced - bad builds just represent a good build that isn't optimized. Which means that the same rules apply for the bad builds as they do for the good ones - just on a level that is really not interesting. It's like comparing the 100m sprint at the Olympics to a 100m sprint of 5 year olds. Unless you are somehow emotionally connected to those 5year olds - those guys can not achieve any kind of greatness. So it's not really worth watching. Or in GW terms - what will be more interesting - watching the mAT finals or watching some non-ranked guilds qualify?

That means, we just need to focus on the good builds.
In GW - there are two kind of builds. A player build and a team build.
A player build is defined by 200 attribute points, a primary and secondary class and 8 skills.
A team build is either defined by (a) player(s) OR, as is the case in all random arenas (or better yet - as it SHOULD be in all random arenas) by luck. As is the case in Aspy.
This leads to the following scenario:
Player A run build A. (As previously noted - we are dealing just with good builds, since, like noted, bad builds are just weak good builds!)
Player B runs build B.
Player C runs build A again.
What the game then does it choose a team build out of the pool of player builds. That's why you end up with a team build that might look like ABBACDAA. Or CCCCDBBA. Or a ton of other variations.
It's a random arena - so getting an "interesting" team build is part of it's charm. But since this is the luck that both sides are blessed (or cursed!) with - we do not need to focus on it. If you get a bad team - make the most out of it - and if the map is balanced and you are a good player - that should show!

So that leaves us with player builds. Keep in mind - these are good builds. Played by competent players (because once again - bad players are just good players that haven't dug themselves out of the hole they are in).
The Kurzick monk problem at Aspy though is that the monk build (which would consist of a few heals, prots, some hex removal (and potentially corpse denial)) isn't as powerful as other options.
It's much, much, MUCH better.
And to make it worse - the Luxon side does not have a comparable super-build. A Luxon super-build would be a build where a player can bring all the needed skills in one bar.
This is because these kind of builds can be negated by the arena they are played in. To simplify it - compare a 4 man offensive build vs. a 4 man build which consists of 3 offensive guys and one defensive guy. The team with only 3 offensive guys will not be able to provide the same damage output as the the 4 man one. And since the goal of the normal battles should be to kill the opposing team - this might pose a problem.
At Aspy - the Kurzick side does not need to kill the Luxon side to win. Which means that the Kurzick can win without actively defeating the Luxon. The Kurzick just need not to die (or better yet - Gunthy just needs to not die!).
That means there is no penalty when the game randomly selects players from the pool of options. Yes, if the game selects a number of monks out of the pool of options that will mean that the team will be REALLY weak offensively. But the Kurzick side does not need to be offensive. So what we end up with is a team build that is REALLY strong in the areas that matter - and really weak in the areas that do not matter. And the more monks you add - the stronger the team gets defensively and the weaker it gets offensively.
So - what happens is that we and up with a random team selection of players on both sides. The Kurzick have a super build that the Luxon do not.
That makes the Kurzick side inherently stronger. Both sides have access to strong builds - but the Kurzick options are stronger.
And since the game randomly selects a team out of the available options - all the Kurzick need to do is OFFER only the best option. If everyone rolls a monk on the Kurzick side - you'll end up in teams with NO offence - but to counter that, you'll end up with defence that can not be penetrated.

What further magnifies this problem is how the map is build.
In GW - the damage dealers are physicals. These guys require a line of sight to do damage. And in Aspy - the monks are able to hide behind a wall, where damage dealers can not reach them.

So what we are left with is the offensive side not being able to use the best offensive options - but even with those options in the game - they simply can not match the best defensive options the Kurzick have to offer.



And if you are unable to see this - well then, you are just bad at Aspy. Because you are just unable to see past the smokescreen that bad players with bad builds put up.

Hugh Manatee

Hugh Manatee

Jungle Guide

Join Date: May 2007

Nice But Deadly[nice]

N/

Another idea, why do we have to send the turtles in each round? why not just have them advance on their own after the first wave? And why is it all warriors? why not put a luxon ele in there(they have mind freeze iirc).

Also on the kurzik side, why don't the NPCs between the gates respawn? I always felt if you turned in a refined amber to a keeper, that gate's middle npcs should respawn or be reinforced. The interior of the base should also have the effect that the eternal grove has( the speed boost), so the juggernauts can get around faster, and there should be more of them.

Gun Pierson

Gun Pierson

Forge Runner

Join Date: Feb 2006

Belgium

PIMP

Mo/

Quote:
Originally Posted by upier View Post
But the Kurzick side does not need to be offensive.
This is where I think your whole argument is flawed. If nobody can kill the turtles, the luxons just advance. Once they reach the inner circle it's just gg. It's an illusion 8 monks can hold the pressure and keep the gatekeepers and Gunther alive like it's nothing. Turtles keep on bombarding while the 8 luxon players harass the monks. Sooner or later, one or two will go down, leading up to a chain reaction.

Like with everything in this game, you achieve more playing offensively. If I see more than 2-3 monks in a Kurick team I joined, I know we will have a very hard time. The best situation is one monk at each gate, so only 2 monks max in a kurzick team. The other extreme situation is when you start out with no monks at all on Kurzick side which means insta win for Luxons.

Shadow Slave

Shadow Slave

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Feb 2006

..My home away from home..

Currently looking ~

N/

Quote:
Originally Posted by HawkofStorms View Post
Maybe you should stop trolling ever person who disagrees with you.

Like I said in my post, I actually like Upiers idea. But drama and crap like this makes me hesitant to want to discuss anything with you.
I wasn't trolling - just didn't have time for a full post.

I'm just a little tired of people posting the same old crap about which side has the better players and how
Quote:
it is all about player quality, not the map
if u cant win u should go monking / caster instead of
meleeing there or comes up in any profession with roj
>.> I mean, this is why you can find so many threads about FA balance and updates....every single one just gets derailed by this same old same old.

Is it too much to ask that people put the crap to one side and look objectively at how we might improve FA.

It is imbalanced - that has been established and isn't the debate.

Player skill doesn't even have anything to do with how to balance that map.
When thinking balance you assume both teams are running optimum builds, know what they are doing, and do it well. Then you are able to 'balance' around it.
  • Kurzicks being able to just /roll defensive or runner build (which you assume they will, because it's the easiest way to victory, and that is what you assume they hope to achieve) and auto-win is a problem.
  • Melee not being a viable option for the Luxons is a problem.
  • The Kurzick npcs are far superior and need their skills changing.
  • Luxon npcs also need their skills looking at.
  • Kurzicks should have an active goal.
  • Turtles need to be fixed.
  • The random nature of teams is a problem at the moment - if things are not 'balanced', Kurzicks have a greater number of viable options that can win them the game with the team they are given...i.e Run Amber, Kill or Stall turtles & steal the Command Post creating yet another thing for the Luxons to cap etc etc...

Perhaps when a few of these things have been fixed, then "skill" that everyone keeps harping on about might actually mean someting.

For the purpose of this discussion, it really doesn't.

Quoting myself from the last thread I can recall discussing the game duration ~

Quote:
It is now tilted too heavily in the Kurzicks favor - they've always had the superior Npcs anyway (understandable, because it's your 'fort' I guess..) - Luxons get a bunch of Warriors running towards nothing but counters (i.e. Kurz Ele and Necro Npcs ~)

Not mentioning the moronic AI -

The timer is too short, paired with Npcs that fail - this places heavy reliance on luxon players (random teams says hi), whereas the kurz have their superior Npcs to fall back on.

There is a much greater emphasis on the required types of players and builds needed to succeed on the Luxon side - Kurz can essentially /load 'defensive/running build' and wait for the Timer to run out while sheltered behind their Npcs.
Quote:
Well this is my point - You can't 'team up' to ensure everyone is bringing the right builds. Maybe the solution is to allow teaming. (That actually would be pretty awesome)

Your one build isnt going to win the game if you have several people with ineffective builds - there isn't enough time.

Luxons aren't running the 'right builds' because there is more for them to consider, the reality being, most people just Dont.
^ This is the main point which I think Upier is also trying to illustrate.

upier

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Done.

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Quote:
Originally Posted by Gun Pierson View Post
This is where I think your whole argument is flawed. If nobody can kill the turtles, the luxons just advance. Once they reach the inner circle it's just gg. It's an illusion 8 monks can hold the pressure and keep the gatekeepers and Gunther alive like it's nothing. Turtles keep on bombarding while the 8 luxon players harass the monks. Sooner or later, one or two will go down, leading up to a chain reaction.

Like with everything in this game, you achieve more playing offensively. If I see more than 2-3 monks in a Kurick team I joined, I know we will have a very hard time. The best situation is one monk at each gate, so only 2 monks max in a kurzick team. The other extreme situation is when you start out with no monks at all on Kurzick side which means insta win for Luxons.
That's the result of people playing badly.
When you are on the defensive side - and you choose to enter the game on an offensive character, you made a bad decision.
I don't see why this shouldn't be "rewarded" with a loss.
It also means you gambled and hoped you get lucky and the team is going to be what you want it to be.
Your luck ran out - it happens on both sides.

If on the other hand you end up in a team with some 3 monks and you lose - that's once again the result of people playing badly. It's the fault of the other 5 players for not going monk - and it's the result of the 3 monks that suck.

Like I said, that's the issue that arises when people play bad and has absolutely nothing to do with the core issue. We can't balance this game based on how bad players play it.
Either they get better, or they are going to lose each time.


Quote:
Originally Posted by refer View Post
It's already enough getting people on the same page, and to introduce it more would make it messy... and I think you would need to have more people to have both sides to run offensive and defense. 12 on each side? 14? 16?
This would just bring us back to where we are now.
Imagine having something like 8 Kurzick monks and 8 guys that get in the way of the 16 Luxon guys. The damage is going to be much more massive and the healing is also going to much more massive.
What needs to be done is keep people pressured so that the bad players crack under it. But if you'd have such insanely big parties - it's would be much easier to piggyback on someone. Which is what happens now - where the (good) monks control the battlefield regardless of how insanely shitty their team-mates are.


But that was one of the things I struggled with too. I just think that adding more players onto the map would do more harm then good, especially since we we still have the option of modifying the NPCs first.


EDIT:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shadow Slave
Well this is my point - You can't 'team up' to ensure everyone is bringing the right builds.
This.
Since there are no super-builds on the Luxon side, this means that the guys need to get a super team build to be able to compete. And in a random arena - this is broken. In a random arena - getting lucky and getting a superior team build should mean that your party will have an EASIER way of achieving victory and not actually being able to compete.
Because this means that anyone that does not get lucky - loses by default!

Gun Pierson

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Quote:
Originally Posted by upier View Post
When you are on the defensive side - and you choose to enter the game on an offensive character, you made a bad decision.
That's another flaw and I'll tell you why. Following your logic, luxons should all go offensive which is not true as it will result in turtles being killed unless you indeed face a team of 8 defensive monks who can't kill the turtles. And like I said above, 8 monks will not hold the pressure.

There is no offensive or defensive side, it just looks that way. Both have offensive goals: Luxons kill Gunther, Kurzicks kill turtles. Both have defensive goals: luxons protect turtle, Kurzicks protect Gunther. And in the middle of the map we have amber mines.

That's why a team with two monks is the ideal situation for both Kurzicks and Luxons.

Shadow Slave

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Round and round we go.

Kurzicks do not have to kill the turtles. They win by default. They win by ensuring gunther stays alive.

They can achieve this by killing the luxons, yes. But there is more chance of them winning by defending/healing - so ideally (being the key word because we're talking about balance here) this is what they will do.

The turtles dont need to be killed to be stopped dead in their tracks - a ranger stalling the turtle is still playing defensively...as is an Ele nuking the mines securing amber to fix the games - forcing the luxons to rez elsewhere, or by stealing the Command Points.

A luxon monk healing the turtle becomes pretty much useless at that point - they can stand around all game healing the turtle while it goes nowhere and fires into a wall...or they (and this is generally the better option) can let it die and go elsewhere. (However they will not be able to actually kill gunther, so they have to hope that one of their randomly assigned teammates will)

Once the turtles dead you also have to hope someone is going to bother sending it again. Once sent you have to hope its AI isn't going to be abused again.

The Luxons dont even need to ensure that the turtles stay alive - or bother sending them at all. It just helps in their OFFENSIVE objective (which 'Ideally' they take all the necessary steps to achieve).

Neo Atomisk

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Quote:
Originally Posted by upier View Post
The map is really broken. A balanced map allows that the team that wants to win goes in and TAKES that win. And the map does allow that for Kurzicks.
Luxons on the other hand can only win if the Kurzicks allow them to win. This is achieved by Kurzicks playing poorly.
Otherwise the Luxons can not win.

So, the question is - why does a map where one side is pretty much determined to lose needs a critical mass of players?
Well yes, the skill of a team depends on whether they win or lose.
I think HA/GvG should be removed because all the noobs go to HA and GvG during that day, and them being good or bad causes a team to win or lose. :|

Gun Pierson

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Quote:
Originally Posted by Shadow Slave View Post
Kurzicks do not have to kill the turtles. They win by default. They win by ensuring gunther stays alive.
They do need to kill the turtles or they'll get hammered in the inner circle. If two turtles are firing at that point it's very hard to keep gunther alive. And 8 monks won't do the trick either.

A turtle that's being stuck is something else, but jugs get stuck at the stairs too. Both these issues should be solved.

evenfall

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Anyone remembered that Fort Aspenwood was considered to be in favor of Luxons for a long period of time since early Factions (just do a search and you can see a number of threads complaining about how it is an easy win for luxons).

The turning point seems to be the tweak to the turtle's /warriors' aggro radius and AI.

Shadow Slave

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No, they do not need to kill the turtles. It is not a condition they need to meet in order to win the game.

If the turtles make it into the base, Kurzicks haven't been playing to win.

Im not talking about them getting 'stuck' in some wierd glitch. I'm talking about Kurzick players actively exploiting the AI of the turtles - which is a perfectly viable defensive tactic atm.

...and if the Kurzicks have "8 monks" and the turtles get in - they either fail, or we have reached the holy grail of balance lol.

Edit:

Sigh...No, it is not a 'condition' to win the game. They win by default. They lose if Gunther dies.

Someone else can discuss this with you if you want to continue.

Edit2:

Quote:
Condition: A circumstance indispensable to some result; prerequisite; that on which something else is contingent

Gun Pierson

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Quote:
Originally Posted by Shadow Slave View Post
No, they do not need to kill the turtles. It is not a condition they need to meet in order to win the game.
It's a condition to meet to not loose the game. Which is the same as killing turtles = win.

We can debate this endlessly, but I'm not convinced by Upier or your arguments. It would be nice to hear how Anet sees things on the subject.

EDIT: The 'Kurzicks win by default' argument is only true if Luxons don't play at all when a match starts.

Xenomortis

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The turtles do not need to die for the Kurzick's to win. A single character can stand still at particular points and the Turtles will just fire at them and not move.
3 monks at each gate may also be able to keep the NPCs alive indefinitly, but I havn't observed that.

The only necessary (and sufficient) condition for a Kurzick victory is Gunther's survival. Necessary conditions for a Luxon victory are the defeat of at least 3 sets of NPCs at the gates and the death of Gunther.
Kurzick NPCs are considerably more durable than the Luxon ones too.

On top of this, the Kurzicks have the ability to harass the Luxon shrines and they can do this very easily.

Gun Pierson

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Quote:
Originally Posted by Xenomortis View Post
Necessary conditions for a Luxon victory are the defeat of at least 3 sets of NPCs at the gates and the death of Gunther.
Kurzick NPCs are considerably more durable than the Luxon ones too.
And you have two walking canons that do aoe damage and strip ench who will do that for you. Also now you say that those kurzick eles, mesmer and necro npc's are stronger than the kurzick warriors? Can't believe that.

The glitch where a turtle can be stopped by one unreachable player should be fixed. But if you mean the ranger who's standing on top of the walls, well I need to heal those or they get bombarded.

But if Anet agrees that it isn't balanced, I'm all for it that they fix it.

Shadow Slave

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...if both teams do nothing, who wins? ::::::::::: Default.

It doesnt matter if 300 luxons join the party, unless they specifically kill gunther, even if they kill everything else once and twice again, they still lose.

What do the Kurzicks specifcally need to set out to achieve in order to win? Nothing - now please lets get back on topic.

I cant believe this page has discussed who is the 'offensiv/defensive' team, and whether the turtles need to die in order for the Kurzicks to win.

<3 to Xeno.

Edit: We've been over the inherent weaknesses of the turtles so many times now.

I can't believe you are questioning whether the Eles and Necros are stronger than the luxon warriors now too. Have you played this arena?

thedarkmarine

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Quote:
Originally Posted by Shadow Slave View Post
...if both teams do nothing, who wins? ::::::::::: Default.
...if no team ever does nothing? :::::::::: Trashy argument.

Gun Pierson

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Quote:
Originally Posted by Shadow Slave View Post
...if both teams do nothing, who wins? ::::::::::: Default.
But that won't happen or everybody gets dishonor and a ban on their ass. People play there and it's why I find the default argument pretty weak.

Shadow Slave

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I'm illustrating what default is. ffs........I'm too tired for this.

Obviously everyone isn't going to do nothing.

Gun, your argument was
Quote:
The 'Kurzicks win by default' argument is only true if Luxons don't play at all when a match starts.
How is that any different.

My point is they have no active goal. The timer fills itself. They have nothing they actually have to achieve in order to win.

I'll come back when some real discussion gets going again......