Amped Season 3 Recap, A Look Ahead at Playoffs

A whacky, wild, and at times outright absurd season has come to a close, and what stands before us now is a playoff marred by some of the most gimmick-ridden builds in the history of the game. For anyone who participated in this final season of the Guild Wars Factions Championship, it has been a wearying and often exasperating experience, as the metagame has shifted to a point of utter polarity, forcing teams to come prepared for what often ultimately boils down to a rock, paper, scissors contest.

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http://www.ampedesports.com/news/2479

If this is their idea of Guild Wars, then they have never played it.

If you don't understand the reasoning behind that statement, then I think I could say the same to you ;-)

I understand the reasoning perfectly. High-end GvG gameplay is not rock-paper-scissors, period. If that's what it boils down to in GvG, either the team builds are too rigid or the team leaders are flat-out uncreative. The guys going to Germany are too good for that.

It never should become a rock-paper-scissors situation, I agree with you completely - but sadly you're a little off-base with your assessment.

Okay, how? This guy is talking about some very rigid "cookie-cutter" builds. No good team (and certainly not the guys in Germany) would play one of them. Too predictable, too rigid.

git em doomlord, and uh marred by gimmick-ridden, oh contrare I think gimmick builds force people to leanr how to umm counter.

Its not rock,paper, scissors - its "Who can Gank the other's Guild Lord faster after VoD" most of the time...

Some of the top teams saddly made it there simply because they can survive 30-35 minutes, then quickly and surprisingly gank the other teams Lord.

True, and I hope they implement some changes to VoD after the championship to stop that. Still, that's not rock-paper-scissiors at all.

Nice article axiom

Doomlord, the reason things became a lot like R/P/S toward the end of this season was that about every other team was running one gimmick build or another, which puts all of their focus in one particular area and win or lose (usually quickly) based off build.

Yes, and I'm assuming that those teams that play the gimmick builds are not going to Germany, because a decent leader leading a balanced team would crush them all, easily.

Gimmicks are exactly what their namesake implies, and more often than not a bit of tactical finesse will crush them.

Te ran nothing but triple smite and SB/RI spike the last week of the season. Nu ran nothing but SB/RI spike the last week. iQ and Sacrament both ran triple smite for the majority of the last week of the season. War Machine, RenO, and EW are all playing the exact same build right now. Should I go on?

No need. They do not play the builds in the rigid rock-paper-scissors way, and although I have not memorized their skillbars I would have to hazard a guess that they have modified the builds so that they can do something more useful than a big 8v8 fight if need be.

also do not josh you said LAST WEEK they are desperate to get to Germany so SURE they are going to run a build that they are pretty sure about winning in. Also all this talk about gimmicky crud and winning make makes me wanna get my guild to take me with my sin in to GvG so I can get another one of my sin friends and gank the guild lord in 5 mins BWAHAHAAHAHAHA

Doomlord: it may not be self-evident, but the "guy" you refer to who wrote the article is, in fact, josh axiom.

I understand and empathize with the hope (?).. that a well designed balanced build played by strong and experienced players be the measure by which we separate the "best" guilds from the pack. However, it is increasingly apparent that Balanced Builds, however you may define them, are more and more antithetical to the realities of ladder play and the current wave of the so-called gimmick builds.

- while there are some limited counters to triple smite and soul barbs/RI, just as there are some limited counters to fast cast air, ranger spike, etc….they are often dissimilar enough that you cannot counter each of the "gimmicks" within a single balanced build. There are only 64 slots in your toolbox. Designing a specific counter to one will inevitably leave you vulnerable to another.

-the very nature of the most recent gimmicks is such that the damage is overwhelming and fast. If you don’t recognize your enemies build immediately and implement your counters/splits/measures, etc, the match will be over. Against better teams, the match may well be over before the doors even open. It's not uncommon to see match lengths between 3 and 8 minutes. Anyone who thinks this is hyperbole or exaggeration likely has not seen these builds in action.

-tied to that, the nature of the ladder as it currently stands is such that it rewards teams that play a lot, and win quickly. A poorer win/loss record, but with greater win volumes, is better for rank and rating than a slow, deliberate ladder run with a high win/loss precentage. Thus the ladder favours teams that run builds that can win quickly over those that win at VoD for example, even if the "fast" teams lose more total games over the course of the season - and thus gimmicks are favoured over balanced.

-Unlike if everyone ran say..fast cast air spike, and no other "gimmick", there are currently a few gimmick build options available for teams in the playoffs. As noted, it is difficult to design a toolbox build to counter them all effectively, so there is no clear skillbar set that can be used against teams that have shown a propensity for a certain build throughout the ladder season.

In summary, the latter part of this season (and perhaps the playoffs? remains to be seen) has indeed been a matter of picking a paticular gimmick build which will either net you a fast win, or a fast loss based on random match assignments and your opponents choice of build. And if you don't run a gimmick build, chances are high you will lose to one. If both run gimmick builds, the team that ganks fastest wins.

Sounds a lot like Rocks, Paper, Scissors to me.

Off-tangent though, another nice piece by Josh. Keep it up - the gvg community is well served by your efforts..

Shame that a lot of these seasons and GvG in general bottle down to only afew winning builds. But when you think about it most guilds (Mine included) have no choice but to do this.

Using other builds can spell loses, and a lot of builds simply don't work as well. And when they stakes are so high of course people will always use whatever build is popular and powerful at the time.

The universal "gimmick" counter is to outmaneuver them, which is easy since these builds usually need to have all seven participants at the same spot to be effective. I can appreciate that the "gimmicks" kill very, very quickly, but to do so there must first be an engagement of some sort. Do not let them "gimmick" you and they can do nothing but watch while you run them arround in circles while you get the morale boost or a gank on their Guild Lord.

There is of course no possibility of facing down every single "gimmick" with a balanced build and winning, but that is what the rest of the rather large Guild Hall map is for.

Most triple smite teams, for example, dont worry about morale, the flag, your splits, your manouvering, etc.

The gate opens, they run to your base, and kill your Npc's and Guild Lord within 2-4 minutes.

It happens whether you "let them gimmick you" or not, unless you yourself can kill them all, or their guild lord faster with your own smite/spike.

Which is exactly why it seems so shallow. I appreciate nothing more than tactical play and inventive movement....which generally means nothing in matches like this.

I wish it were as you state...but the latest generation of gimmick builds precludes tactics and movement for the most part. More's the pity.

The obvious solution is of course to make sure their Guild Thief dies quickly, which of course is a hard task itself...

I see your point, and it is true that many, many matches now quicky devolve into gank races. However, this is still not Rock-Paper-Scissors, as josh claimed.

I think someone has to check what Rock-Scissors-Papper means....