Curse

Medion · Nov 07, 2008, 08:53 AM // 08:53

Play monk. If you are somewhat decent at it, you'll be able to get gladpoints somewhat reliably. I'm not saying other classes can't, it's just that if you have no monk on your team and you face a somewhat decent monk, it rarily happens you're able to win against that.
If you do want to play something offensive, and if that isn't a physical character, it can help to bring skills that somewhat aid your teammates. A simple Heal Other on an elementalist can help out the monks which aren't all that great or games where it's just hard to survive as a monk (think of facing a VoR mesmer who isn't interupted + warrior + sin + monk) or the Heal Other can keep someone up for just a bit longer if you have no monks at all. Whenever I don't play monk (which really is the fastest way to get glad points for me), I tend to play ritualist quite a bit, simply because it's so easy to combine offense with defense.

In my TA experience by the way (which is lacking admittedly), it's quite hard for a PUG to win glad points. Sure, it's not impossible, but if you ONLY want to get glad points and don't have decent friends/guildmates then I'd say it's quicker to just get them in RA as a monk.

urania · Nov 07, 2008, 09:11 AM // 09:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeydra

"blabla about shovespike" - I actually LOLed. you obviously have no idea what you're on about.

"blabla about playing RA"

"blabla about high glad ranks"

IMHO do not listen to what is being said in any of the posts regarding RA/only playing monk/whatnot.

Its easier, if you're a monk, but its even better if you're a good warr (though, the recent warr templates are so dummy-proof that even a monkey could play them)/necro or especially, a good ranger.

stick around in TA, choose a profession you will learn to play well and once achieving that, try out other things. Play a lot of TA and NOT RA - you will soon see what builds work and what dont. You will also get to know good players and eventually perhaps be able to play with them. It takes a while, often several months, before any of that happens, so if you lack patience, you can just go RA and pretend you'll one day play TA on an advanced level. I admit it happens here and there that RA actually produces good players. But it happens so rarely that it's not worth bothering with it. Not to mention RA is a HUGE pain in the ass.

Jeydra · Nov 07, 2008, 09:28 AM // 09:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by urania

"blabla about shovespike" - I actually LOLed. you obviously have no idea what you're on about.

Suit yourself. When I play Shovespike with a good caller I hardly ever lose, make 40 win streaks with relative ease and beat Mesmers who carry Cry of Frustration and twitch interrupt WoH. Oh, and once I actually played and beat an anti-Shovespike team with 4 copies of Ward of Stability and 3 copies of Balanced Stance (they were hoping to win when we warp in, Shock -> Aftershock -> Shockwave, but bleagh, they lost anyway).

I think Shovespike is beatable in TA, but if the team executing it is good it is not easy at all. If you prefer to think otherwise, up to you.

Quote:

Originally Posted by urania

stick around in TA, choose a profession you will learn to play well and once achieving that, try out other things. Play a lot of TA and NOT RA - you will soon see what builds work and what dont. You will also get to know good players and eventually perhaps be able to play with them. It takes a while, often several months, before any of that happens, so if you lack patience, you can just go RA and pretend you'll one day play TA on an advanced level. I admit it happens here and there that RA actually produces good players. But it happens so rarely that it's not worth bothering with it. Not to mention RA is a HUGE pain in the ass.

Lol, you didn't read the OP who can't find a TA team since he doesn't have R1 Glad.

Cass · Nov 07, 2008, 10:08 AM // 10:08

RA should be taken with a grain of salt, really. Trying to 'farm' points there is ultimately only frustrating.

Even when you play effective builds, the randomizer likes to pull tricks on you, according to my experience:

- play mesmer or necro and get 1-2 other mesmers or necros in your team for free, but damage is not included.

- play monk or rit and meet 1-2 new monk friends in your team, with all the time in the world to get to know them, as your team has no damage.

- play warrior and you will most likely not see a monk for hours, which is great when you have a secret hate for monks. Also matches are quick, as you die extremely fast.

I'd say though that if you want to reduce the frustration of RA somewhat, I'd shy away from play melee classes. The vast majority of teams have at least 1 person who thinks himself very clever for bringing some form of melee-hating build, the frequency of which unfortunately limits the enjoyment of playing said classes.

X Cytherea X · Nov 07, 2008, 04:33 PM // 16:33

monking for glad points isnt very gratifying. neither is playing antimelee. (both are gay, the latter is gayer).

a true gladiator does it through the blood he spills on the battlefield!

1. bring as much damage as possible.
2. bring counters to your counter.

Chucky333 · Nov 07, 2008, 04:57 PM // 16:57

Actually it's true that the most effective way to get glad points is monking and being decent at it.
There's a simple reason to it, while a good ranger or warrior will be a great asset to any team, they can't make up for bad players, not like a monk can anyway.
Monking in RA isn't very forgiving nowadays with alot of anti-monk builds being very common like VoR\backfire mes, SB necros, beguilling haze sins etc.
So the way i see it, you have 2 ways to make fast glad points, first one being getting decent at monking, the second one is getting a bunch of good players you know on your friendlist, go to TA with them, run lameway (R\P spearchucker, VoR mes, SB necro, fortressmonk build) and profit.

No One Famous · Nov 07, 2008, 05:10 PM // 17:10

Play anti-melee/curse necro (should be easy enough) and grind RA up until Glad 4. Then work your way into TA from there.

Yeah.

Krill · Nov 07, 2008, 05:31 PM // 17:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by urania

You will also get to know good players and eventually perhaps be able to play with them. It takes a while, often several months, before any of that happens, so if you lack patience, you can just go RA and pretend you'll one day play TA on an advanced level.

I do kinda have to disagree with what people always say about making a friends list in TA. Those of you who have played TA for quite a long time take for granted how difficult it is to break into what's left in the TA scene.

Personally, when I reinstalled GW in February or so I started with like 6 glad points and worked my way to 1200 by April. I really made an honest effort to learn everything the right way, familiarize myself with common builds in RA, observe good gvg players and make a friends list. For a short while it was was incredibly fun, some of the most fun I've ever had with online gaming. But it really seems like many of players in the g2-g6 range come and go, there's only a very small number of players that are really dedicated to quality TA. I found myself being one of those fickle players because you can only take so much of lamers that run the same garbage night after night.

It was weird because I won so much when I was a very bad player at the beginning and then started losing so much when I thought I was starting to get decent at warrior and ranger, about the time two dom mes stuff started. Then it was just plain frustrating to get into ranked pugs that always blamed the ranger for every little problem and it was no fun at all to play TA.

So that's my story about starting where you were Weilder.

/walloftext

Kim Sythe Weilder · Nov 07, 2008, 10:28 PM // 22:28

Alright, Thanks guys for all your help I'll look into it!

Div · Nov 08, 2008, 03:31 AM // 03:31

Play good builds, and learn how to play those bars. Playing a shield stance endure pain warrior isn't going to get you many points.

Dmitri3 · Nov 08, 2008, 06:09 PM // 18:09

Playing any full support class in RA is mostly painful. When I monked in RA, 90% of my matches were 5 minutes or longer... even when opposing team didn't have a dedicated healer.

Nowadays, well, I don't do RA for serious business... but I usually decide to go in with my rit, or any class that has some minimal support and good damage. No more of those times (when I played full offensive chars, with minor self heal) when opposing ranger poisons 1 or 2 teammates and runs back, so my team decides only to charge in when they're at about 50% of their health...

Funny thing though, is that you still do get flamed "noob healer" even after you've called out your offensive spells, but that's RA for you.

scruffy · Nov 11, 2008, 03:41 PM // 15:41

ignore everything else in this thread

the following are the absolute best things to play in RA to win

1)Warrior: A warrior who is good at destroying teams is always useful. I find the best bar in RA is cripslash. Choose shock or disarm as your utility skill and either shield bash or disciplined stance as your self defense skill. Shock/Disarm are good skills for linebacking but they are also good counters to linebackers/anti melee hexes. Interupting/KD'ing monks is a gaurenteed way to get kills.

2)Utility Caster: Fast cast water mesmer(the abolute best utility caster template in the game at the moment) - How you use it: depending on what the situation is you either snare shit so that your warrior can blow them up or you snare shit so that they dont blow your team up. It's really simple/effective + easy to play. The only requirement to play this build is this: know which characters on their team do damage and which prevent damage, and hex up the one thats preventing you from winning the most(in fact you don't even have to know which one is preventing you from winning the most because theres a 50% chance you're hexing the right one): Basically this is the role that helps your offense and defense depending on what's needed.

**NEVER EVER play a monk, unless your goal is to practise it to get better at it.**

Reason: There is always going to be a moron who thinks playing monk is the best way to win, there will be no shortage of them(for example: see the other people posting in this thread). Monk is very easy to play: in fact the only challenging part of monking is protting, and in an arena where the warriors are TERRIBLE and attack protted targets, and in an arena where shit RARELY gets removed, blind/snares/blurred vision are 1000x better 'prots' than guardian.

If you're good at warrior, play that. You most likely aren't good at warrior so play the water mesmer: it's just as useful to a winning team and it is a lot easier to play.

In case you were wondering what the water mesmer's build is: Icy Shackles, Freezing Gust, Blurred Vision, Steam, Glyph of Immolation, Power Drain, Drain Enchantment, Ressurection Signet.

Attributes: 12 water 8 fire (Put the rest in Inspiration I forget the exact number)

Another good utility character is the cripshot ranger but it takes about 9001x more skill to use than the water mesmer so unless you're good at it or want to get good at it I would suggest you stay away from it.

Stoella · Nov 11, 2008, 10:50 PM // 22:50

You forgot some fast casting to your mesmer too, if you dont take any just run an Ele.

And here is my results, after only rank 2 glad of grinding in RA :

First, the districts.
I found that in the American district, having really big damage helps ALOT, because there are lots of noobs. Monking there is retarded, because you'll team up with noobs, which means 1001 year fights. I've made some points there with a wounding dervish, only mashing at my bar. Do not expect to get points with classes like mesmer or curse nec, because you wont have any support from your teammates. This is the same, to a lesser extent, in the French district. Never played in english or other, but i believe its the same.
The international is ... random. Noobs and good players makes this the big random thing. If you're not really good with one profession, go for it, you'll get glads, but dont expect to have teammates to heal AND to damage, because you'll find these occasions are rare.
Korean district is the best if you are really good with one profession. Monking there, if you're good (and not average) is great. I've made most of my points there with my mesmer (VoR + empathy + D-shot owns).

To sum up, go Korean if you're good, go American with something with a scythe (caricaturing) if you're bored and go International if you're average.

Now classes ... Monk if you're good at it, or want to improve, or it's a waste of time. Monking is not the easiest way to get glads. I'm average with a monk and I get more glads with my mesmer in Korean than with my monk in Inter.
Big damaging classes are the best in American, and manage well with some self utility skills.
In Korean, play a good build that you play well and you'll get points, downside is you'll need a monk in your team and you'll be facing monks, which means that every fight is a challenge. By the way, you'll learn there, and only there, how to cancel-fake your skills.

And never go in RA with a healing Warrior. Ever.

That was to get glads in RA. Korean ftw

PS : Do not try to bring a shutdown build such as PB mesmer except in Korean.

urania · Nov 11, 2008, 11:11 PM // 23:11

Monking in RA is prolly one of the most painful things there is.

and wtf at go-korean-distr instructions. ppl go there to synch alone or to afk...koreans or whats left of them play in intern..along with other good players/gimmickers/random nubs.

Stoella · Nov 11, 2008, 11:17 PM // 23:17

Wrong. Strong European/Asian/American players play in Korean. I've yet to see a korean guy there, its pretty deserted from koreans.

X Cytherea X · Nov 11, 2008, 11:24 PM // 23:24

with all due respect to scruffy, i disagree with his post, except the part about not playing monks.

why it's a bad idea to play warrior in ra:
- you will get hexed or blinded to uselessness.
- you need adrenaline, good luck building it, and having it when you need it, considering the amount of block and antimelee prevalent.
- fortress monks will laugh at you...
- ...thus you will have to attempt "attacks of opportunity" on other targets to get kills, but...
- warrior spikes are damaging but often not damaging enough to overwhelm monks' healing (since you're usually not targeting them) without additional damage support that might not be present.

you will sometimes get the occasional totally defenseless flare spammer or noob degen caster to smack around though.

why it's lame to play a utility caster:
- antimelee is gay. end of. preventing an attacker from dealing damage, or making him damage himself, the whole ideology behind it, is the epitome of faggotry. no other way to look at it.
- you try to do so many things, aiding both your offense and defense, which can be useful in some situations, but is quite half-assed overall. you're not actively killing things (which is the ultimate goal for winning), nor do you directly screw monks up, nor will you save your team if your "anti-everything" stuff is being removed/countered. basically playing utility caster means you hope other players do the real job.

....

effective builds to play:
- monk. but there are many of them. play something else.
- spiking casters.
- uber monk-screwer-upper caster.
- the real, MANLY way to farm gladiator points: run an assassin or dervish with as MUCH DAMAGE AS POSSIBLE, and in addition, SELF-CLEANUP (hex and condition removal) to ensure that damage goes through. this is feasible because you have 4 pips of energy.
1. you have EPIC DAMAGE and you can ignore monks and overwhelm their healing by attacking and killing their teammates instead.
2. rely on YOURSELF to CLEAN UP SHIT that prevents you from killing. monks never have enough cleanup for 4 players, considering the amount of hex/cond there is, and in RA they have a very dim or no idea who to use it on at what time. theirs will supplement yours in many situations though, fortunately.

surely some will disagree with me. but i am speaking from experience. all i do is RA.

Stoella · Nov 11, 2008, 11:40 PM // 23:40

"basically playing utility caster means you hope other players do the real job" That's what I meant by "dont come with a PB mesmer" lol.

I agree with you ... except in the korean district. It's nothing like the other countries (and you wont meet korean people).
200 glad points mostly with a shutdown mesmer (I played PB and VoR mostly) in korean.
Just try once

And try Shattering Assa, it pwns

Jeydra · Nov 12, 2008, 12:54 AM // 00:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by scruffy

2)Utility Caster: Fast cast water mesmer(the abolute best utility caster template in the game at the moment) - How you use it: depending on what the situation is you either snare shit so that your warrior can blow them up or you snare shit so that they dont blow your team up. It's really simple/effective + easy to play. The only requirement to play this build is this: know which characters on their team do damage and which prevent damage, and hex up the one thats preventing you from winning the most(in fact you don't even have to know which one is preventing you from winning the most because theres a 50% chance you're hexing the right one): Basically this is the role that helps your offense and defense depending on what's needed.

Fast Cast Water Mesmer might be the absolute best utility caster template in GvG, but it's not a good idea in RA. Why? Because while Warriors are the source of damage in GvG they need not be in RA. Teleporting Assassins whom you can't snare fast enough, Rangers who hit at range anyway with big spike damage (Glass Arrows / Expert's Dexterity etc), Elementalists who deal damage instead of play the defensive role, etc. There is no guarantee you'll find a Warrior or Dervish to target, and once that happens the rest of the bar is almost useless.

If you want to play a utility caster in RA (and I play one quite often) I'd suggest straight out Blind from some source (eg. Blinding Flash), but not investing in Icy Shackles or similar. You also want some consistent source of damage to use when there's nobody for you to shutdown (and some self-heal, and a Res, and energy management, etc - bar compression time).

Quote:

Originally Posted by X Crytherea X

why it's a bad idea to play warrior in ra:
- you will get hexed or blinded to uselessness.
- you need adrenaline, good luck building it, and having it when you need it, considering the amount of block and antimelee prevalent.
- fortress monks will laugh at you...
- ...thus you will have to attempt "attacks of opportunity" on other targets to get kills, but...
- warrior spikes are damaging but often not damaging enough to overwhelm monks' healing (since you're usually not targeting them) without additional damage support that might not be present.

While I agree that playing a Warrior when your team has no Monk is painful, I disagree that it's totally a bad idea to play Warrior in RA. Antimelee hexes are not all that common (you don't meet Reckless Haste / Price of Failure / Spirit of Failure all at the same time very often), and even when they are present the player with them usually doesn't keep you shut down. Same applies with Blind; when enough Blindbots are around in RA you can always take Antidote Signet or Mending Touch. And aside from Dom Mes - which does not work anyway unless you have damage of some kind - a Warrior is still the most dangerous character to a Monk. They may not be all that damaging compared to a Dervish or Assassin - but they also have shutdown (KDs, interrupts), and they are very tanky as well as least often targetted.

Quote:

Originally Posted by X Crytherea X

why it's lame to play a utility caster:
- antimelee is gay. end of. preventing an attacker from dealing damage, or making him damage himself, the whole ideology behind it, is the epitome of faggotry. no other way to look at it.
- you try to do so many things, aiding both your offense and defense, which can be useful in some situations, but is quite half-assed overall. you're not actively killing things (which is the ultimate goal for winning), nor do you directly screw monks up, nor will you save your team if your "anti-everything" stuff is being removed/countered. basically playing utility caster means you hope other players do the real job.

Buddy, if you think antimelee is gay, just wait till you meet anticaster. You play a Monk and there's someone spamming Diversion / Shame / Visions of Regret on you, sometimes even through Veil, and then Broad Head Arrow, Golden Skull Strike and Migraine. And then there's playing a caster and getting marked by a Ranger / Mesmer good enough to consistently interrupt 1-second spells, etc etc.

No matter what you run in Guild Wars, there will always be a counter, and sometimes it's just your luck that someone in RA is running that counter. There's no way you can come up with a build that works against everything; even with Holy Veil + Mending Touch for example you can be overwhelmed by a out-and-out antimelee Necro who removes Veil and stacks hexes on you, or by a Blinding Flash Elementalist with enough energy to spare to engage you in a BFlash vs. Mending Touch duel, or a Warrior who Cripples you with Cripslash and then Savage Slash'es Mending touch, or whatnot. You can't counter everything, and bringing too much counters weakens your build.

la_cabra_de_vida · Nov 12, 2008, 01:57 AM // 01:57

Monking is probably your best bet to get the most glad points.

Krill · Nov 12, 2008, 02:31 AM // 02:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by X Cytherea X

antimelee is gay. end of. preventing an attacker from dealing damage, or making him damage himself, the whole ideology behind it, is the epitome of faggotry. no other way to look at it.

A curses necro with SS, IP, and faint is gay. Dedicated water that does nothing but snare and blind is pretty useless unless you happen to have two big damage and a monk. Empathy is way more effective than it should be. Steam is probably too cheap. Regardless there is some room for utility players, e.g. running steam on a fire ele that has immolate, it makes sense and does solid damage.

You do realize that the reason so much anti-melee gets run is because dervs and sins can basically instagib out the door and warrior bars have moved in that direction too. I know u think that's cool-awesome-yay! but really, it's not. If there was no defense RA would be nothing but backbreaker sins.