Curse

Dragou Du Porzan · Jul 08, 2007, 02:05 PM // 14:05

At some point I may be tempted to post a "mythbusters" thread on rollerbeetle racing, but for now I'll just say that there's a fair amount of incorrect assumptions floating around out there.

For one, sync entry: maybe someone is doing this, but no racer that I know is. I've played with a number of top 100 racers and watched several earn ranked times, and none of them had help from the other racers. Honestly, given how many runs you need to make just to get the lucky box drops you need, wasting time trying to sync up with others on entry is going to hurt your cause a great deal more than it's going to help.

Two, new players certainly can break into the top 100. Just this weekend two racers that haven't been featured prominently on the board (at least to my recollection) posted not only top 100 but top 10 times. One of the neat things about a game like this is that anybody can succeed with enough study and practice. So don't be discouraged from playing!

Three, you don't need 3 SRBs to get a top 100 score In fact, you don't even need two. Believe it or not, just one Echoed SRB is all it takes to land a top 100 score.

Finally, just to reiterate, box camping is absolutely, positively not going to get anybody a top 100 score. Box camping can help you win a race (again, depending on luck). If your goal is to win, camp away and hope for the best. But if your goal is to place top 100, you need that Echo/SRB combo within your first 4 box touches. Otherwise it's /resign and start over.

I completely agree with Hengis: they should make the change to the leaderboard so more people can be recognized. Maybe a little notation to the side of a racer's name indicating how many top 100 scores he/she has could be added. But it's more important (and more fair) for the top 100 individual scorers to be recognized for their efforts.

Im Using The Force · Jul 08, 2007, 04:02 PM // 16:02

lol 1 Echo/Super Beetle is going to break the 470 mark?
Ill need to see it to believe it. Maybe 455 No way 470.

Orphan Anthem · Jul 08, 2007, 04:09 PM // 16:09

its mor ethen that, you need to use super beetle atleast 3-4 times to get high score

LONGA · Jul 08, 2007, 06:20 PM // 18:20

I won the roller beetle about 40% of the times and confirm that only the 2 box by the checkpoint 2 is the only good spot for box camping the other spot is doesn't give much chance to get those super beetle/echo camping there ohter give you the chance to nail down the other beetles

One way to ensure that box camping is obsolete is to make sure that box camper not going to take benefit from gaining a lot of item and fire all of those at once

Maybe just make distracting lunge disable time longer based on how many skill does target have on them.

william1975 · Jul 09, 2007, 12:38 AM // 00:38

Brilliant post Dragou, im sure there is some method of getting to the end very quick, and i have had two echos at same time as SRB, along with another two SRB, and while i may have wond only got 440's,

However getting an 1 echo and srb in quick i managed to get closer to 460.
I've improved route and most of the time i'm just wanting to get a high placement, but what Dragou says makes sense, and if i wanted to investigate im sure i could improve my play.

Agree with only allowing best score of any individual player too.

MAinly I think RBRacing is the most fun game they have done, love it and would love to see it more regularly

Jedi Skillz · Jul 13, 2007, 02:37 AM // 02:37

Learn how to race Icey.

PWNED!!!!!

Martin Alvito · Jul 13, 2007, 07:26 AM // 07:26

Why are tactics you dislike (but that work) "exploits"? We all come into rollerbeetle with the same skills on our bar and the same rules. Some optimal playstyle HAS to exist under those conditions. Further, there IS a way to post top times without using the technique you find so abhorrent, which I have observed in action.

Why is the Top 100 is somehow "unfair"? While I'd also prefer to see only individual bests listed in the top 100, the scoring system that's in place is the same system that ANet has used in every other competitive mission they've created. Go look at, say, the Amatz Basin score chart. It's comprised of the same 10 or so guilds. It's unrealistic to expect the devs to code a new scoring system just for rollerbeetle. Sure it's popular, but it's also not available all that often.

How do other players manage high scores? You CAN figure it out if you put your mind to it, and it doesn't take all that long. I worked it out with Dark Sentry over the course of the first event weekend. Our method was competitive - each of us experimented to find new ways to beat the other's best time and then shared the new techniques. We started trying to figure out how to go fast on Friday night, and by the end of Saturday we had worked out the proper methods. It's really not all that difficult; it boils down to learning what the speed boosts do for you, when and where to trigger each boost, and nailing down the proper line and cornering methods.

You also HAVE to have an up-to-date video card; my wife's computer gets about 15-20 FPS and there is NO way I could post a time on it, because I can't take turns quickly on that computer and all the little delays add up in a big way. I get 60 FPS on my computer that I built last year; your comp probably doesn't have to be quite that good, but every little bit helps.

How to experiment: Find obvious landmarks in the race. Mine are the first checkpoint, the two water boxes and the top of the big hill before the 5th checkpoint. When you implement a change, you've done something right if your change: a) gets you to a landmark faster AND b) gets you to the NEXT landmark afterward faster as well. Sometimes it's possible for a change to get you to the next point faster but to cost you momentum overall, hence the double check.

I also know what score I *should* get if I trigger the combo at a specific time; I can thus check how well I'm running by how quickly I finish races and comparing to the expected score. Obviously if I get disrupted or KD'd, this doesn't work.

Addressing some other points:

1) One echo/SRB - Dragou understates the case. You can post a top 10 with just those tools. Granted, you've got to get the echo/SRB from the first 3 boxes you open (first box after checkpoint 1 and then the two water boxes) but it can be done. You can still post a top 100 time if you get the combo while rattling around in the water boxes - if I get there fast enough I have about a 5 second window to get and trigger the combo, which widens if the later boxes I hit provide an echo or an extra SRB.

2) As noted by Dragou, getting the combo early isn't all of it. If you don't know EXACTLY what to do with it, you aren't ever going to break 475k. Very small mistakes cost many seconds, and the spiral bridge in particular will ruin you every time if you don't learn how to get through that section quickly. Realistically, you get fortunate enough with the powerups to get an opportunity to post a top 100 time every 40-60 minutes. So it's no surprise that a knowledgeable player that logs a lot of hours on the event weekends will post a ton of top times, as there's plenty of opportunity for the better players to keep cranking out 476-478k times in the eternal quest to be the first to post the perfect 485-486k run.

3) The famous "map" that was "outed" was wrong in several respects. It was a great resource for the newer players; it also left a good 4-5 seconds on the table. It would be tough to make the top 100 for a weekend (monthly best scores) using just those techniques now - you have to be several seconds faster these days, so you'd still need to improve on it to consistently make the top 100.

4) I observed an insanely unconventional method this weekend that posted a top 15 score WITHOUT camping or echoing SRB. The racer was pretty consistently 465-ish without even an echo or SRB, and given some lucky boxes could post better times. I did not observe the top 10 score itself, but I did see this player break 470 with the method, so I'm convinced that it's how he did it. It's worth noting that this player is also from Europe and had about a 500 ping; I'd tell you that you have to have a good connection (sub-300) to post top 100 times, but apparently if you're persistent enough that isn't the case.

If you're that upset about boxcamping, there IS a way to do it that doesn't involve the "cheating" you seem to find so offensive. You'll still need to do what the rest of us have done to get into the top 100: experiment to figure out the absolute fastest methods, do a significant number of runs in order to get the lucky powerups, and have practiced enough to be ready to convert on the opportunity when it finally arises.

5) I can't even imagine anyone entry spiking, and here's why. After the last event ended, those players that were still in the arena could continue to play, but no new players could get out to the races. I therefore played for a couple of hours with the same small batch of skilled players. Sensibly, a gentleman's agreement quickly evolved to not deliberately KD the other players (since it would just ensure retaliation in the next match). Normally this doesn't happen, as such a contract is unenforceable, but here it was self-enforcing since it was in everyone's clear best interest.

It quickly became obvious that despite the runs being filled with good players (several of whom were in the top 100 already) no one was going to post a top time. All of the good players simply got in one another's way. Touching other players results in lag, desynch and rubberbanding, and since everyone was running the beginning of the race in more or less the same way, no one could get to the boxes with any kind of speed due to latency issues.

In short, you're actually much better off running races over and over in order to get some runs where you get a healthy lead on a group of largely sub-par players. This permits you to get to the boxes much faster and post a faster time.

Kaitoa · Jul 13, 2007, 07:49 AM // 07:49

People don't get multiple prizes for being in the top 100 multiple times anyway. The top 100 should reflect the top 100 account holders, because that's how the prizes are distributed.

I remember seeing someone posting a very very very good guide on how to get into the top 100, all you need to do is go and search for it yourself. There's like a very specific route that has to be taken, and it tells you when and where to use the default skills that are given to you.

And box camping is NOT how people get into the top 100. Every second wasted camping an area makes it more likely that you'll not score in the top. Pay attention to the scores that box campers reel in - it's not top 100 material.

Martin Alvito · Jul 13, 2007, 08:06 AM // 08:06

No prizes have been distributed since the original event. You received 1 prize for your account regardless of the number of times you put in the Top 100 during that event. I wish they'd given me 9 rollerbeetles.

Now you get 7 Victory Tokens for winning races. That's it. The only reward for top 100 now is pride, which makes all the sour grapes about it just silly IMO.