Psoma

Now I know why punki isn't on our 200-person roster. There goes my captain for team 4-b.

lol I just visited your new site, and that's some relaxing music you guys got going on there. gj Peril

New pre-round ritual: did everyone email their green partner?

dUmb votes:

1. Roster cap? None.
2. What should the scheduled match timer be? Within 2 weeks after challenge is accepted.
3. Matches take place (by default) on Test or Freedom? Test.
4. If Test is the default server, and it becomes unavailable before a scheduled match can take place, should the match automatically take place on Freedom at the originally scheduled time, or should a reschedule take place (essentially resetting any match date timers)? Reschedule.
5. Blind line-up submission or counter-pick? Blind submission. (I'm voting based on dUmb consensus, since I don't personally care.)
6. Power(s) you want banned:
• Defender TK
• Dominator Poisonous Ray
• Corrupter Lingering Radiation
• Stalker Thunderstrike
(We're open to discussion...just voting along league lines atm.)
7. Limit the number of stalkers (the league had a 2-stalker limit)? 2-stalker limit...again, just voting along league lines and open for discussion.
8. DC rule? (If yes, applicable to stalkers only, or do you suggest a different rule?) Applicable to stalkers only is fine, unless we start having problems.
9. List any rule changes/suggestions you have: I prefer having strict, set rules, but I don't want to run into situations where wins/DQs happen because of technicalities, loopholes, etc. The problem with requiring some sort of voting system to settle controversies is that win/loss decisions can then be made based on emotions or alliances. I'd like to hear suggestions from captains that address potential, grey-area-type issues.

Please keep this to ladder captains only. I copied the now-buried draft ruleset from the other thread for reference. I added in the barcode name rule, since I figured it was a no-brainer. I also changed the 10-minute round wording to include optional 20-minute rounds. There will be obvious changes, based on what is decided here:

Thanks for stepping up with a new team. Would you guys mind editing your "free agent thread" posts so the other teams don't think you're still available?

No offense, but whenever I see your name, I can't help but think of the jingle on this commercial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpvf_4EB0ug

Edit: That was meant for PF, but PF+Hot Wheels...

Yeah, on Live, but wasn't it @Shu on Test?

(Stealing this from Silit's league sign-up thread.)

If you're not already on one and are looking to join a ladder team, post the following:

What are your in-game Globals?:
What are your PvP characters?:
Which of these characters are on Freedom? (This may not be too important at first, if the ladder starts on Test):
Are you willing to respec into a better PvP build?:
Are you willing to roll a new character if needed?:
Do you have a mic?:
What is your general day/time availability?:
Briefly describe your PvP experience:

Edit: If you join a team, please edit your post to reflect that you're off the market. This makes it easier for (actively recruiting) teams to find available players.

Again?

updated

Con, having mac on your team made you spell dUmb...offically.

This is for the new ladder:

1. Psoma- captain- @Psoma
2. Slax- co-captain- @Slax, @Slax2
3. Lib- co-captain- @MrLiberty
4. Trez- @Trezen, @TREZEN2
5. Sir- @S I R, @S l R, @burner one
6. Neuronia- @Neuronia, @Neuronium
7. Pixel- @Pixel Empire, @Pixel Nation
8. Doyler- @doyler, @doyler2
9. Joe- @Smiling Joe
10. Kiwi- @Aponiwi
11. JK- @JKwervo
12. Stoney- @St0n3y, @The Other St0n3y
13. Rick- @Starr Struck
14. Heroes- @Heroes Demise, @Villains Demise
15. Siolfir- @Siolfir
16. Shu- @Shu
17. Masque- @Masque, @Masque2

I haven't been able to confirm with everyone, so I'd say there will be more additions. I need to verify some of the globals as well.

PvP Emp Play Style

First off, I’m not writing this to tell people that they must play exactly like I do; everyone has their own way of doing things, and that’s part of what makes things fun. But Masque asked if I would write up a guide of sorts, and I said I would if it could be helpful in some way, so here we go:


Evasion:

If you can't keep yourself alive, you can't expect to do much to keep others from staying live either. For new PvP emps, I think your number 1 priority is getting good at evasion. When PvP'rs talk about evasion, they're talking about staying alive through a combination of the following:

When to Phase:
So, we covered the first part of survivability by building for HP and Phase Shift. But when should you phase…uh, obviously when you’re about to die, right? That’s true, but that time can be vastly different when you’re fighting against a zone pick-up team and an organized arena team. Honestly, that timing can only be improved upon by facing those better arena teams. (If you don’t arena, then this probably isn’t an issue for you.) Getting used to how psi damage comes in is one of the biggest issues when facing decent arena teams these days, so try not to get too discouraged at first. Also, if you're playing in an arena match, try to conserve those greens (inspirations) when you can; a 10-minute round can seem a lot longer if you pop 10 greens the first time you get spiked.

Breaking Line of Sight (LoS):
Breaking LoS is a big part of good evasion. With good spiking teams, you’ll typically need to pop some greens and head for the nearest obstacle while hitting Healing Aura (or phasing, if called for) in order to survive. Obstacles are your friends, and cornering around them whenever is possible is a really good habit to start if you haven't already done so.

Helping the Other Emps:
If you’re on the run and have another emp on your team, do your best to find a path that takes you around an obstacle and finds you meeting up with that emp for a heal. This requires some planning and/or communication, and it helps if you’re familiar with your fellow emps and maps. It’s not a bad idea to work out evasion routes for everyone, honestly. That leads me to the next point:


Communication/Planning:

You should get better at it as you play your emp more, but giving your teammates any helpful information you can will be a big plus. If you’re quick to recognize a spike target, call it out to warn your teammates; this is especially helpful if those teammates are newer and are slow to recognize this for themselves. If you’re the spike target, call it out so that teammates can help you or know that you can’t be helping them. If you’re phasing, call it out, so other emps don’t waste time trying to heal you, and so that your teammates know you can’t give them a buff or heal for a bit. It’s not a bad idea to call out when you throw out Adrenalin Boost so that your teammates know who has it without looking at their icons, etc. and because of the casting animation time for which you’ll be grounded.

Also, work out with fellow emps where you’re starting your buff cycle (from the top or bottom of the team list) at the beginning of rounds (if you’re in the arena). If you’re evading and don’t think you need a heal, say so in order to keep your fellow emps available to your other teammates. It takes time and practice, but communication is essential and can change the outcome of matches.


Positioning:

Depending on your opposition and your own team’s ability to pressure them, you may want to alter your approach here. Some teams are really sloppy with spikes, so you may be able to survive while playing really aggressively, keeping in the action at all times. Some teams, though, are really good-to-great at spiking, and you better try to keep some distance between their spike group and yourself if you expect to live. The key is finding the proper balance between keeping close enough to your teammates (so that you can support them) and keeping enough distance between the opposing spike team and yourself so that you can effectively evade spikes on yourself. And remember...obstacles are your friends! Use them whenever you can.


Risk vs Reward:

Now, you can choose to play really defensively by staying out of the action as much as possible, just swooping in for buffs and heals, and maybe that’s the best overall strategy for a new emp. You can reduce the number of times you’re targeted by the other team this way, for sure. And teammates love not seeing you die, and some people think that if you never die, then you’re a great emp and not a liability.

The problem with this play style is that you can easily put yourself too far out of the action. You may not be close enough to throw heals when they’re needed, and you may stretch out your buff cycle times too much, increasing your teammates’ chances of not being buffed…which makes them easier targets. You are on the team to support it, so how can you do that if you’re not there when they need you the most?

Now, we don’t usually think of emps as aggressive, but I consider an aggressive emp as one that stays close to the action, always either buffing or healing. The problem here is that you put yourself at higher risk, since you’re obviously more visible to the opposing team. Overly aggressive emps tend to be at greater risk of buff tunnel vision too; you don’t want your focus to be so great on your buff cycles that you lose sight of the fact that you may get damage spiked yourself. A dead emp can’t buff or heal teammates.


The Bottom Line:

Depending on your opposition and your team’s experience/ability, no one may ever notice the difference in how you play your emp, but your combination of evasion, positioning, and timely heals/buffs will be what determines your skill level. Playing an emp is often thankless, and it’s probably the most difficult position you can pick for others to judge your skill on because of the many factors that determine your effectiveness. People generally notice when they’re not getting heals or buffs, but having those things can easily be taken for granted. Having thick skin and teammates that understand your position and its demands can go a long way in helping you maintain your sanity.


I'm sure I've left out some info, but I think that covers the biggest part of what I can offer.

I don't really have a preference. I know Slax and some of the others on our team really liked the blind submission, and a few others have said that on here, so that's why I included it. I know Barrier hates it. You guys fight it out or vote or whatever it takes I guess.

I did a quick combining of old ladder and league rules, so I'm sure there are mistakes, but here's a rough draft to digest, correct, debate, etc.:

Ladder Entry and Positioning:

• Teams sign up for the ladder by announcing so in this thread after creating an official team thread (on these same PvP Arena boards) with their official roster and team name.
• Initial ladder placement will occur when the first match takes place between 2 teams that have signed up for the ladder.

After this initial match has taken place, the following procedures will be in place:

• Teams climb rungs by challenging teams on higher rungs.
• Challenges must be accepted by teams that are less than 3 rungs higher than the challenging team. (Teams on rungs higher than 2 spots above the challenging teams can refuse the challenge.)
• Challenging teams can only move up 1 rung at a time by winning matches against teams on higher rungs.
• Challenges are to be made and responded to in this thread.
• Challenges must be responded to within 48 hours or the challenging team is awarded a forfeit.

Banned Powers List:

• Banned: Defender TK
• Banned: Dominator Poisonous Ray
• Banned: Corrupter Lingering Radiation
• Banned: Stalker Thunderstrike

Team Captains must be able to show proof for a ruling to be made on the use of restricted powers, enhancements, and/or procs. Use of the above-listed powers will result in a forfeit for the violating team.

Match Rules:

• All matches will take place in Pocket D, Test Server. If Test is down, Freedom Server will be used as a substitute during that time.
• Matches will consist of 10-minute rounds. Rounds will be played until 2 rounds have been won by one of the teams.
• Matches will be 8v8. If both captains agree to it, team sizes may be reduced.
• Round Wins: The team that has scored the most kills at the end of a 10 minute round is the winner of that round. Rounds in which Sudden Death occurs are considered ties, no matter the result of the Sudden Death Round.

Round Details:

• Round Length: All rounds will be 10 minutes in length.
• Round Settings: All rounds will be set with only the following options selected: No Travel Suppression; No Heal Decay; Small Inspirations Only, Super Heavyweight.
• Map Selection and Illegal Maps: Map selection will be set to Random for all rounds. Resets occur if the map draw is: Monkey Cage, Office, or Cave.
• Each team is allowed one reset within 60 seconds of round start if a player did not load into the round, disconnected, or loaded in off-team. Teams will play short-handed if their reset has been spent. If a round is reset, the line-ups submitted for that round are to be played again with no AT alterations and on the same map.
• Only small inspirations and temp powers bought from the Arena Store are allowed. No Base Buffs or special inspirations (i.e. Presents and SoWs) are permitted.
• No Ouroboros portals will be permitted during the match.
• All matches must start within 15 minutes of the agreed upon match time. This includes time required to submit and approve line-ups.
• Match Results: The captain of the winning team must post the match results in the official ladder thread within 24 hours of match completion. Both team captains should be prepared to supply screenshots of the results for all rounds if necessary.

Line-up Submission Rules and Procedures:

• Prior to each round of a match, the captains of each team will be required to present their lineups via private tells to a neutral, 3rd party line-up taker (agreed upon by team captains).
• The 3rd party line-up taker will ask both captains for their lineups at least 5 minutes prior to the start of each round. The line-up taker will announce that the round is playable once he or she has received both team line-ups. The line-up taker will NOT disclose the line-ups to anyone until both line-ups have been received.
• A team will forfeit the round if they do not submit a line-up prior to that round.
• A team will forfeit the round if they run any line-up other than the one submitted to the line-up taker.


General Match Procedure:

1. Team Captains present their lineups to the agreed upon line-up taker.
2. In arena chat, the line-up taker announces both line-ups and that the round is cleared to start.
3. The round is listed and played out.

If not, I'm pretty sure I have a ruleset that's close enough for us to tweak.

I don't think the skill disparity is actually as bad as it once was IF you have a couple of people that just seem to semi understand the arena basics. Look at EP from the league. That team was not a joke; they practiced and improved, got some quality wins, and they didn't get rolled too often like people thought they would when they entered the league. Their D8 team played some decent rounds against the league winners, U2BG, if I'm not mistaken. Actually, looking at U2BG's GP site, their last official against EP in D8 had scores of 4-3, 13-2, and 10-6. I think all league teams had either some split wins or close matches against each other, so I don't think it's as bad as you may think.

Honestly, teams aren't nearly as "hardcore" as they used to be in the old ladder days. I don't see any teams out there practicing almost nightly as some of the teams used to a while back. Experience can only make up for so much lack of practice, and that's why I think teams that actually try will stand a fighting chance against the vets.

We've asked before for them to keep the 2nd Test server open.

I've found that I'm much more content if I do the following when considering a logical thought regarding PvP: Think, "Can this somehow benefit the PvP community?" If the answer is "yes" then it's safe to say that it's not going to happen, will cease happening, or will be changed in a negative way.

The exception is community-controlled stuff, so you can't say that I'm entirely cynical.

Awesome. Posts like these (about new teams) get me excited, and your bottom comments cracked me up.

So, atm, we could potentially be looking at:

U2BU2BG
POSMD
quasi-dUmb
Divine Clan
RAFTCIGAL
Greenynotdahjeesteamwillplay