Curse

Turbobusa · May 28, 2008, 06:30 PM // 18:30

I meant the orb shrine, not the res shrine. The orb provides a very small advantage imo and it is not worth it when you're in a point rush

Alex the Great · May 28, 2008, 07:03 PM // 19:03

obviously people don't take Ab seriously, but a great strategy is to have everyone mob at the Battle Cry station, then split up from there.

People underestimate that buff all the time.

My guidl sych entered and got 2/3 teams at Grenz. we all went and capped sides, sprinted back to the middle shrine in front of the base to get the buff, then went for rez shrine. after that we capped the 2 shrines. the kurzic side resed out of the base, and we just picked them off nice and easy with our balanced squads.

moral: donsn't matter what you do, it just matters that you are organized

MasterSasori · May 29, 2008, 09:38 AM // 09:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alex the Great

... Battle Cry station...

People underestimate that buff all the time.

QFT. It's always good to come back to this location if you're in the vicinity because this buff is ridiculously good.

Now to my main point....

NPC Collecting

I'm not sure if this is considered a "strategy" as how Mika defined it to be, but I find this strategy in AB to be useful.

It's pretty self-explanatory - you just go around collecting NPCs like you would normally BUT also actively reviving them with the rez orb when they die. I'm not referring to just 1 or 2 NPCs that you collect when your side has control over those shrines, but 2+ permanent NPCs (don't die when the NPC's shrine is captured by other side). Though this may seem obvious when I post this. I rarely see anyone actually actively collecting NPCs.

There are some really nice benefits in doing this:

1. Increase your numbers so you will have a significant upperhand in killing and stalling without the full detriment of mobbing.
2. If you can take out a shrine quickly, each NPC counts as 1 Pip faster when capping a shrine. Therefore you can essentially solo cap.
3. Camping them in strategic points such as entrances, teleport pads, certain shrines can really make a difference.
4. You can donate the NPCs to other members in your team, spreading the additional help where needed.

Of course there are also limitations that you must consider:

1. It requires fast capping and moving quickly.
2. You must be more careful than normal when picking fights during collecting phase.
3. You must let your opponent take the shrine occasionally when you have the orb.
4. You must make a trip to the monk shrine and carry or find someone to carry the orb.
5. You can get carried away with collecting the NPCs that you fail to play your role in the team.
6. The more people adopt the strategy of NPC collecting, the less opportunity you have to nab an available NPC.
7. You have to survive well and not die often.
8. Only works for Etnaran/Grenz

Some tips when doing this:

1. The drawbacks are serious. If you attempt to do this and you mess up, it can cost you the game.
2. If the shrine is under attack and there is a 50+ percent chance enemy will get the shrine, leave the NPC unless you have the orb.
3. DO NOT make trips to the monk shrine unless you are in the vicinity or on your way to capping the Monk shrine itself. The reason for this is that you can easily develop the habit of losing focus on what really matters: Capping and controlling the shrines. You're supposed to be brave, strong soldiers in battle, not Darwin collecting bugs.
4. It is recommended to have at least 1 elementalist or character with efficient AoE in the group. Otherwise NPC collecting will be inefficient and probably not worth your time.
5. When rezzing the NPC, make sure that the enemy has captured the shrine before the NPC is resurrected or when you recap the shrine, the NPC will die.
6. Elementalist NPC should be your preferred target. They also spike a single target if you call target.
7. Solo capping is often more efficient than battling unless you have decent micromanagement of the NPCs. It's also good to carry one other non-idiot teammate to help out in sticky situations.
8. AoE will own the NPCs, be careful when coming across them.
9. Don't die or you've just wasted your time. On the bright side, if your killer stays to trash talk, 3 or 4 eles will make short work of him or her.
10. When having 2+ NPCs, sneaking into a small skirmish will give you a huge advantage.
11. The orb is on the monk shrine and resurrects nearby targets only and thus, has short range. If there is a dead comrade, be nice and rez him or her instead of your NPC. But if you do rez the NPC, it will rez in 3 seconds with half life.

It's not difficult to collect 2 NPCs in Grenz/Etnaran and 3+ is very possible if the opponent focuses on the capping/less fighting strategy. I've succeeded several times in collecting 4 or 5 NPCs in a battle.

wilson · May 29, 2008, 09:52 AM // 09:52

Don't fight a battle you can't win.

It is truely amazing how many people just suicide into a mob/ a team defending a shirne (special points for people doing that at ele shrine) or whatnot. Just don't do that.

Lexar · May 29, 2008, 06:38 PM // 18:38

Sometimes I run into a mob if I know I can cause a good amount of wammos or assassins to follow after me, tearing up their momentum. In some places this is a good idea, like on the bridge in kanaai/ancestral.

wilson · May 30, 2008, 06:08 AM // 06:08

Dieing is free points for the other faction. It is never a good idea.

Trying to "slow down" a mob isn't useful either, and can't be achieved by one person. Trying to "break up" a mob doesn't help you either. If they mob, your at an advantage (unless you belong to the suicide category).

Lexar · Jun 02, 2008, 04:52 PM // 16:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by wilson

Dieing is free points for the other faction. It is never a good idea.

Trying to "slow down" a mob isn't useful either, and can't be achieved by one person. Trying to "break up" a mob doesn't help you either. If they mob, your at an advantage (unless you belong to the suicide category).

You can slow down or tear up a group with 1 person if you know what you're doing and what your limits are (I can and I don't run no-damage tank builds). People hardly ever bring enchant removal or stance removal skills, so if you're fast enough and keep kiting them they might not even catch up to you or slow you down. Sure, inexperienced players might call you a noob for kiting, but that's the price you pay for playing AB anyway.

But think about it this way: leading enemies towards shrines they already capped keeps them from capping new ones. A mob standing still is even less of a problem than a moving one. That's worth being killed for if you hold out for a reasonable amount of time, anything over 30 secs for example.

O Mika Nakashima O · Jun 03, 2008, 01:09 AM // 01:09

Turbobusa

Oh sorry and MasterSasori argues well for the magical item, orb

Alex the Great

Thanks

MasterSasori

Quote:

if this is considered a "strategy" as how Mika defined it to be

Not strategy yet, just thinking it for update

Your list of benefits, limits, and tips should become a classic guide~

wilson

Sometimes it is difficult to tell the winning chance though and risk can be fun

Lexar

Yeah, but usually I don't like seeing teammates dying this way. No opinions for the allies.

wilson

Thanks

Lexar

Thanks

I have an idea for a possibly new strategy now: "AMP". I'll try to test it first...

And... AB-specialized, Kurzick 2.5M factions, guild [Mika] is recruiting FF/ABers. The management team consists of five maxed R12 FF/ABers and one R4 glad, all have more than 1 year of experiences in FF/AB. We have around 30 members and are in [Lust] alliance. PM "O Mika Nakashima O" or other [Mika] guildies for more information to join.

moriz · Jun 04, 2008, 08:38 PM // 20:38

just as a heads up:

npc collecting no longer works. for example, if you res your elite ele, and then your side takes over the ele shrine, the one following you will automatically die. if you rez it right after your side takes over the ele shrine, i'm pretty sure the one sitting on the shrine will die.

there can only be one elite npc of each type in AB now. i believe they fixed this a while back.

Bobby2 · Jun 05, 2008, 12:53 AM // 00:53

Pretty sure I saw 2 Elite Eles running around on Keys today

Judge Nl · Jun 05, 2008, 10:15 PM // 22:15

i'm pretty sure i had 3 ele npc's running behind me on keys

MasterSasori · Jun 06, 2008, 09:49 AM // 09:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by moriz

just as a heads up:

npc collecting no longer works. for example, if you res your elite ele, and then your side takes over the ele shrine, the one following you will automatically die. if you rez it right after your side takes over the ele shrine, i'm pretty sure the one sitting on the shrine will die.

there can only be one elite npc of each type in AB now. i believe they fixed this a while back.

Are you sure of this? I will have to check this up. As I said before, if you rez the ele while the shrine is not captured by the enemy yet (gray flag on U map), the NPC will die. The shrine must be fully captured (by this I mean opposite colored flag with fully established NPCs).

Thanks for the heads up. I will see whether this is true or not whenever I get the time.

wilson · Jun 06, 2008, 09:53 AM // 09:53

Took this screenie yesterday evening. At the end we had like .. 4 of em iirc.

MasterSasori · Jun 07, 2008, 06:15 PM // 18:15

Just tried yesterday. NPC collecting still works.

Red Sand · Jun 08, 2008, 12:55 AM // 00:55

NPC collecting can be a very strong tactic, with the main benefit of using the NPCs to force multiply your "team" and get the shrines to turn over at max rate, regardless of the number of NPCs or PCs defending the shrine.

6v3 is better than 4v3, since the shrine turns over, from enemy to friendly, nearly twice as fast at +3 vice +1.

I'd definately call it an advanced tactic, due to its complexity. If you can incorporate this into your squad level tactics then it's a decent tactic to use. Unfortunately I find it more frequently used as a solo capping tactic, where PC survival becomes so critical that you may be hindered moving and capping.

In all cases, I believe it's still a much better tactic to keep you squad together and cap/fight as a group, with or without NPCs.

O Mika Nakashima O · Jun 19, 2008, 05:02 PM // 17:02

moriz, Bobby2, Judge Nl, MasterSasori, wilson

NPC collecting still works, but harder than the past

Red Sand

Agreed

I still haven't tested "AMP" yet. It's basically about controlling an area where most players pass by

itsvictor · Jun 20, 2008, 07:40 AM // 07:40

NPC collecting still works, just requires you to maintain the res orb shrine and carry the res orb on someone.

Tactic, I personally use a lot,is to move to the edge of the shrine versus an incoming group to make "frontline"(most of your group has to move up too) so the incoming group is "forced" to start attacking you off the shrine whereas you can finish capping(great vs. mobs that will force you off but finishing the cap buys you time). It's one of the many tactics to proper shrine defense. You'd be surprised by the amount of people that don't res the NPC monk at res orb when it would stop the other team from capping.

Also Mika I love stomping your guild groups with my PUGS <3 and Greendog doesn't remember me anymore :/.

Rakim B · Jun 20, 2008, 01:18 PM // 13:18

Don't let another team follow behind you.

If another pug team wants to run with your group of 4 then run away from that group, it's easier to just find a new path than convince AB pugs that they're wrong

If you're winning than don't get caught up killing a mob because you have a big advantage, I've seen many a games switch gears because all the pugs wanted to have a 12v4 battle vs terratanks while the other 8 capped.

Don't chase people, stick together

tips if you know you have already lost:
Step 1: take rez orb
Step 2: attempt to hug base defender
Step 3: giggle

Hermos · Jun 21, 2008, 05:17 PM // 17:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by Syntonic

New strategy: Charging the base defender.

It's all for teh lulz.

BACKFIYAH HIMZ

OR LYK SHADOW STEP + WTFPWNZ WITH SHOVE LOLPLZ

Red Sand · Jun 21, 2008, 09:17 PM // 21:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by itsvictor

Tactic, I personally use a lot,is to move to the edge of the shrine versus an incoming group to make "frontline"(most of your group has to move up too) so the incoming group is "forced" to start attacking you off the shrine whereas you can finish capping(great vs. mobs that will force you off but finishing the cap buys you time). It's one of the many tactics to proper shrine defense.

This tactic is best used to finish a cap and requires a member of your team to be inside the capture zone while you keep the opposing team outside of the capture zone. Once the shrine is capped, fall back to the shrine to gain the support of the newly spawned NPCs. If the fight is hopeless, you'll want to delay them outside the capture range as long as possible.

This is the tactic that the NPC warriors will use on the Elite Warrior Shrine, if you let them. If a caster/ranger/paragon leads the attack, standing off the shrine and engaging at range, the warriors will come off the shrine to engage them on the edge of the capture circle. Following teammates will engage the warriors as they come into range, often while they are still outside of the capture zone.

Unless your team pushes through to the shrine, or your backline circles their agro radius to get in capture range, the NPC warriors will delay your capture every time.