macskull

This is one of the biggest reasons the fiteklub mentality makes no sense to me (another reason is the entitlement - "I should be able to duel in an open PvP zone, why do you keep interrupting me!?"). You might think you're becoming a better player by not using inspirations, kiting, or phasing/hibernating, but all you're doing is limiting your options and narrowing the scope of what is "acceptable" to the point where you're no longer advancing in skill level. Essentially, you're handicapping yourself by refusing to use all the tools available to you.

Imagine forming a team of like-minded people who don't kite, use inspirations, or use phase/hibernate, and then enter that team in the test PvP ladder (we'll assume for the purposes of this exercise that there is a test ladder, even though that's no longer the case). You would get absolutely destroyed by even the worst teams on that ladder.

Awesome, thanks for the update.

It proves that Hibernate isn't the "get out of jail free" card you're making it out to be. Here's why:

* In a 1 vs team scenario, using Hibernate generally only prolongs your death for the 30 seconds while you're in it.
* In a 1v1 or small team scenario, using Hibernate means you've got 30 seconds of immunity followed by 90 seconds where you're not able to use Hibernate.

If you're so insistent on a nerf to Hibernate, why not just increase its activation time? Making it interruptible is a bit much, and the "make the block of ice able to be destroyed idea" would be neat but the tech probably doesn't exist. Increasing the animation time would mean there's a larger window between when you click the button and when you're actually immune, and it means more time spent rooted while the power animates.

Note that I'm not advocating any of the above changes, as I think with the current travel suppression and heal decay rules an escape power of some sort is necessary, even if it's only temporary. Travel suppression and heal decay, and now the phase change, has served only to slow down PvP and make kills and deaths more guaranteed. Some of the best duels I've ever watched were ones where the participants' HP was constantly bouncing around and you never knew exactly who'd get lucky or who'd do what - watching those was fun. Watching duels these days under the TS/HD on rules just makes me sad.

I don't know a single competent PvPer on Justice that doesn't like Con, or at least has respect for him as a good player.

There is a huge difference between agreeing to a duel and then losing, and agreeing to a duel you know you're going to lose ahead of time. The first situation makes sense - the other person's build might've been better, they used inspirations more efficiently, or they had better timing. The second situation doesn't make sense at all - it just means you're a moron.

I thought I13 did that? Oh wait...

That's not how it works - your math is wrong. Let's say NPC X has a 1:1000 chance of dropping a purple. When you're running solo, you'd have that 1:1000 chance because you're the only person defeating the mobs, therefore any drops will go to you. When you add a second or third account into the mix, the chance for drops doesn't change - that NPC still has a 1:1000 chance of dropping a purple. When you defeat that NPC and the RNG determines it will drop a purple, the RNG will then decide which of the people on the team gets that drop. In short, running with more accounts doesn't mean you'll get more drops. Rather, you'll get the same number of drops (within a reasonable variation) but they will be split up between all team members. This is why, in terms of drops, soloing large mobs will be better than running on a team against the same number of NPCs in the long run.

I'm pretty sure I know who that is, and it's not Sentry.

This

Exactly!

Hey, I take the time to read your posts, facepalm, and kindly explain why you're wrong, yet you continue to act like a complete moron. I'm willing to bet that's more tiring than reading three letters.

This is me in a nutshell. I've got a few characters from my early days that I actually went back and gave nice IO builds to, but don't play often because I simply have better characters for what I do.

"Skill" is evasion, knowing what powers to use when, good inspiration management, but most importantly the ability to perform a role really well in a variety of situations (good Blaster, good Emp, good Tanker, good Stalker, etc.). Ultimately duels are meaningless as long as the rock/paper/scissors mechanic exists and the only measure of performance is the ability to do well in a team situation in a given role. For example, I don't duel often even though I have some characters capable of it, because I'm much more comfortable in a team situation playing a squishy when I know the entire other team will be gunning for me (I usually play an Emp or support-spec'd Therm). In a dueling situation, kill:death ratio is all that matters because there's no other way to win a duel. For example, next time I duel one of your toons (if I ever decide I'm feeling bored and need a laugh) I'll just damage you until you hit a heal, and then say "You had to heal, I win" and then quit the match. However, the system will give you the win since I quit early. Does that mean you won? Heck no - you had to heal, therefore I win!

(See how stupid faulty logic is?)

Regarding "cheap tactics," you'll find that the GMs are in support of us, and not you - in short anything goes in PvP short of utilizing geometry exploits. You put toggle debuffs on me and I run into a group of NPCs, which aggro on you and kill you? Too bad, fair game. I have a team and you're solo, and we kill you? Too bad, fair game. I drone you? Too bad, fair game. Ironically, you're the one talking about "cowardice" and "honor" - aren't you the one who uses a flying AR/EM Blaster who uses Boost Range + TP Foe to teleport people into midair and snipe them, and then TP away if you get grounded? But, for you that's okay, because "he wouldn't be able to kill anything the normal way" (your words, not mine) and because "anything goes" (in my words), yet it's ironic that you're perfectly okay with such tactics yet when someone uses phase, it's the end of the ****** world.

Because something will go wrong and require you to need it (or wish you'd had it). My clicks might be recharging when I take a sudden burst of damage on my Regen, or my health might be dropping and my team's nowhere near me on my SR. I might just be taking too much damage, or get into a situation where I'm at risk of dying. I'll phase because it will stop me from dying, which will buy me time for my teammates to get there or for the situation to change so I have the upper hand. In a duel situation, I've got Phase for the occasions where my heals aren't ready and/or my opponent is outdamaging my regen when IH is running.

This is a videogame. There's no such thing as "honor" or "cowardice" here. "Respect" for other players is covered by the terms of the EULA. There's no clause in the EULA that says "don't phase if you're about to die" or "don't use inspirations." When I'm playing an FPS like Call of Duty, I don't give a rat's *** that there's someone at the other end of the screen. I'm there to win and short of network manipulation everything's fair game. In an RTS like Halo Wars, the same deal goes - I'll rush my opponent at the start before he can build up his defenses, because if he doesn't prepare for all potential outcomes, he deserves to lose. Or I'll turtle and then overwhelm him with heavy units, and again, he deserves to lose for not taking the initiative beforehand. I don't care who's at the other console - I'm just some pixels on a screen trying to fight other pixels on a screen and not die. Same holds true here.

1. Learn who's good and who's not. Hint, you're in group two.

2. Shin is terrible no matter what he's playing. Always has been, always will be.

3. No-inspiration duels are boring and predictable because any intelligent observer could tell you before the duel even starts what the outcome will be. Inspirations balance the fight and make it exciting.

lol.

Now, let's see how many of the good Justice PvPers I can list. Some of them don't play anymore, some don't play on Justice anymore, some were on test teams before I13, some were on test teams after I13, and some really only do zone or the occasional arena on Justice.

Con, Dream, Doll, Mini, Sand, Exit, Gerswin, Black Mute, Flea, Quatermain, Smoke, Gunrock, Deth, Solo, John, Lucas, Phantastik, Philly, Zizka, Amabert, Gurch, Imp, Sid, Cleo, Ra, Hery, Toona, Merc, Dent, Troken, Rakin, Ice Knight, Mere, Red, Swansu... and I'm sure I've forgotten some, my apologies.