GvG report, 2/24/07

[Lurker Wyrm]

We had a small bit of an issue getting people for GvG tonight, 5 were there and ready and the other 3 slowly joined in. The roster this time was:
Wyrm - W/Rt
Xyn - W/E
Moo - N/E
Miyu (KKoP guest) - N/A
Seijin - Me/E
Fox - E/Rt
Hawk - Mo/E
Vort - Mo/A

For starters, I was a bit of an airhead and didn't realize which necro was which until 2 matches had gone by. Oops. Next time, I think we'll order it so that the N/A and E/Rt are next to each other on the roster to keep that straight.

Our first match a warmup match that didn't count.

I don't remember much of the second match either, but it didn't exactly go our way either.

Our third match was fun. We went up against Basin Amazons, which none of us were really expecting, but turned out well since we won.

So, the first 2 matches are a blur at this point, so I'm going to make a few statements based on the third one (and the few bits I do remember from the first 2), which you can watch any time over the next 24 hours or so.
- We're getting better.
- We pretty much have the "critical" roles filled out now thanks to good ol' election by default.
- Communication is still an issue, especially for the person leading (guess that's me, huh?)
- People need to spend more time with their builds to get acquainted with them.
- We're playing too defensively (also my fault).
- Flag runner doesn't need to ask for permission to cap the stand. If the other team is controlling the tower, that's permission enough to cap. The only reason you wouldn't cap is if it would mean death.
- Similar note to above, we did a much better job controlling the tower stand this time around, even during the matches we lost. Yay to Fox for that one.
- Monks should pay attention to the health bars of NPCs if they can. We lost the bodyguard against AB, which was something that didn't need to happen. That's something I had trouble with for a while when I would guest for Fang, so don't worry about it.
- Whoever uses the W/E needs to make more liberal usage of Shock. Don't worry about the exhaustion, just make sure you've got 25e (radiant/glad's chest and leggings) and you're set. You can also consider bringing along a +30/-2 set on switch so you can dip below 0 energy to Shock someone. Remember, a KD is a very effective interrupt.
- People shouldn't be afraid to mention things they notice about the team movements, or if you see someone using a skill that really hurts our build (aka Divert Hexes) point them out asap.

I'm trying to think of what else to say here, but my brain is a little scrambled right now. Let's hear what other people have to say about the matches.

[FoxBat]

I may have prevented morale boosts this time around, but it sure was difficult securing them!

- We need to kill more flag carriers, as well as bodyblocking to slow them down. For when I'm skirmishing, I'm not sure there's any way for my build to stop a flagger solo, though sometimes I can manage to kill them before they escape. Maybe if I followed the flagger up to near their base instead of going back to grab another flag.
- You did a really good job leading vs AB, but still having trouble maintaining battlefield awareness as you say. That can be hard when you have to keep spamming drunken blow et al on the same target. Again, is leading better suited to the N/E who has a bit of time to tab around, and often needs to anyway to distribute the hexes appropriately?

[Lurker Wyrm]

- We need to kill more flag carriers, as well as bodyblocking to slow them down.

Agreed. We're not doing enough to stop the enemy flag runner. We did a pretty good job vs. AB at noticing him and keeping him away, but when he pushed through to cap, we kinda just let him.

is leading better suited to the N/E who has a bit of time to tab around, and often needs to anyway to distribute the hexes appropriately?

Well, most of the time it's a warrior (or even a paragon in some cases) who's calling not because of their skillbar, but because they're generally under a lot less distress than the other chars. Most of the time, the 60al casters should be kiting around (that's something that should probably get its own topic) when they're not casting so they can avoid taking mass damage from warriors. But you're right, it is harder to maintain a good idea of what's going on when you're chasing someone around and trying to keep "Fear Me!" pressure on them. Part of that might just be inexperience on my part. Remember, the vast majority of my GvG experience comes from the backline, so it's a bit of an adjustment.

One thing I think we can all agree on is that Wurms Isle isn't the best for us. Like it or not, our best results have come on Warrior's when we've battled there. We also had a few good matches on Solitude. In terms of which hall we switch to next, I wouldn't mind revisiting one of the ones we sorta just skimmed past (i.e. Meditation) since we're now GvGing (even if it does take a bit of a while to start) regularly.

Edit: I think one of our issues is still the "who to target with what" conundrum. I think a good idea (with this build anyway) is for people to spam their low-energy, low recharge hexes around to see if we can sniff out the Divert monk, at which time we can apply Panic, Malaise, "Fear Me!" and whatever else we've got to shut him down and keep him that way.

[DamadmOO]

For killing the flag runner we should maybe bring some crippling / snare? I am not sure if the N/E is the person to be the target caller. I do have some spare time tho most of the times i am just tabbing the first few enemies. This cause that are most of the time the melee chars. I noticed that the last match i started to get the build under control. I had some more time. But not nearly enough to be able to do all the target calling.

Tho won't it work to have 2 target callers? 1 to call the melee chars (N/E) and one to call their casters (one of the warriors). I will try to buy a mic before next GvG match so i will be able to talk on vent as well.

About the time we did spend before we started. Maybe we can make a weekly GvG topic with the strat we are going to use and then ppl can tell if they will be there or not. This way we know how many ppl will be there so we can invite quests way up front. And if we see that there are not enough ppl then we can skip it for a week and do some TA or HA instead?

[ajaxfetish]

I know I could afford some more experience on the monking role I played last night. I hardly made any use of the sin skills at all, and didn't do nearly enough kiting. Once I got comfortable with the basics at least, though, I'd say conditions were my biggest friend. RC is incredibly spammable, and as long as I wasn't getting the **** hexed out of me I could use it pretty much constantly, and as long as we had one or more conditions on whoever they were pressuring they were very healable. So I wouldn't worry too much about disease, and more about enemy hexes. I need more experience using holy veil. I know to stick it on someone who's hexed and strip it, but I've no skill in predicting who's going to get hex spiked and throwing it on them ahead of time to slow it down. I also don't think I made the most effecient use of spirit bond. RoF and RC, though, that I was all over!