Curse

Adam of Tyria · Feb 12, 2008, 11:44 PM // 23:44

When monking, people say it's important to observe the field. But what exactly are they looking for?

One thing is probably auras from casted/casting hexes or enchantments, but is there anything else?

Siirius Black · Feb 12, 2008, 11:53 PM // 23:53

All depends. Its different in PvP and PvE.
Usually in PvP when one player is going to be spiked. You can tell by
the players getting close together (in range) of the target. A good observer can see this coming, but then again, all depends on the player.

Try to view some of the High ranking GvG battles and follow a monk.

TheOneMephisto · Feb 13, 2008, 12:14 AM // 00:14

A huge part of it is being able to follow the patterns of the enemy. If you're a defensive character, you want to be able to follow the enemy damage (especially melee) in order to be able to predict them and preclude spikes/converges/major threats. As a melee, you want to be able to follow the entire enemy midline/backline, knowing people's kiting patterns and attempting to switch off to close targets to maintain pressure and even get people to kite where you want them. As a ranger or mesmer you want to be able to watch whatever you need to disrupt, constantly keep in your head which opponent characters have important skills to disrupt and watching to ensure that you're in range when you need to be. As every single character, you need to constantly watch enemy melee in order to better kite and prekite them, along with keeping track of your teammates positions to keep proper spacing and making sure that you don't spread out too much.

And that's only some examples.

Div · Feb 13, 2008, 12:24 AM // 00:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheOneMephisto

A huge part of it is being able to follow the patterns of the enemy. If you're a defensive character, you want to be able to follow the enemy damage (especially melee) in order to be able to predict them and preclude spikes/converges/major threats. As a melee, you want to be able to follow the entire enemy midline/backline, knowing people's kiting patterns and attempting to switch off to close targets to maintain pressure and even get people to kite where you want them. As a ranger or mesmer you want to be able to watch whatever you need to disrupt, constantly keep in your head which opponent characters have important skills to disrupt and watching to ensure that you're in range when you need to be. As every single character, you need to constantly watch enemy melee in order to better kite and prekite them, along with keeping track of your teammates positions to keep proper spacing and making sure that you don't spread out too much.

And that's only some examples.

To add on, as a monk you should know the casting animations for some of the more popular spells (spinning diversion mesmers). As a damage dealer, knowing monk enchantment animations helps. For example, as an axe warrior, you don't have to care if someone puts SB on a target if you're just building adren, but you'd want to switch targets if it gets SoD'ed.

Enemy patterns is a big one. Though some enemies you fight will try to mix it up, inevitably there will be some patterns you can identify. Also, the best monks (Tommy, for one) is able to fairly easily determine when a mesmer is looking at him or when the mesmer's on another target, making it really good for knowing your own casting patterns. Through more practice, you'll get a better intuition of how to maximize your chances of avoiding enemy mesmer and rangers from disabling you.

I Angra I · Feb 13, 2008, 12:27 AM // 00:27

As a monk most of what you're going to be trying to do while observing the field is watching where the other team's melee characters go to. Most of the time that is where most of their damage is going to go, so you can pre-prot the target that the melee is on before he does his damage, or kite away from it.

There are of course other things as well, such as looking for casting animations, watching where ranged damage is going (paragons, etc.) and stuff like that. Another good thing to do is to occasionally tab through the other team's midline to watch for incoming diversions, shames, gales, etc.

xDusT II · Feb 13, 2008, 04:43 AM // 04:43

Oh and if anyone hasn't said it yet, knowing the sounds for different skill's is pretty useful. Diversion's are pretty easy to hear, and most Warrior attack skills are pretty easy to notice as well, as well as frenzy and rushes.

Adam of Tyria · Feb 13, 2008, 03:36 PM // 15:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by xDusT II

Oh and if anyone hasn't said it yet, knowing the sounds for different skill's is pretty useful. Diversion's are pretty easy to hear, and most Warrior attack skills are pretty easy to notice as well, as well as frenzy and rushes.

I listen to them too normally in arenas and stuff, but when I do GvG/HA I usually turn my GW sound off because I want to hear my party members on Vent.

Elu Arina · Feb 13, 2008, 06:02 PM // 18:02

I'd leave sound in Guild Wars on. Turn it down to hear your team, but losing the auditory information in the game can leave you at a disadvantage. A lot of skills, especially important ones, have very distinct sounds associated with them, and you can kind of tell what is going on merely by listening. Removing all of that information hinders your awareness of the game.