Curse

Blame the Monks · Apr 11, 2007, 08:09 PM // 20:09

I was looking at the historical ladders and noticed a few things. Specifically, I was looking at the historical ladder from Oct, or ~6 months ago.

http://www.guildwars.com/competitive...tumn101606.php

Count down the top 16 from back then:

1. QQ - inactive, members left for other games
2. eF - the current champs, still active
3. Te - bordom / drama death
4. Cow - inactive, members left for other games
5. EW - some drama, but alive
6. FS - gimmickspike got nerfed and they fell off the earth
7. Deer - see above
8. ICE - ragequit GW over balance issues
9. FF - no clue, but they are gone
10. LOL - Idk why, but totally inactive
11. iQ - like cockroaches, they can thrive in any environment no matter how vile
12. SpNv - active, but seem to be worse than before
13. OUT - assimilated by iQ
14. FW - inactive
15. LOA - inactive
16. PnH - active in spurts, lost thier monks

So only 3 of the top 16 seemed to survive unscathed, with a handful of others experiencing significant strain. Add in your own list of other top 30 guilds that have died or had significant drama as we twiddle our thumbs waiting for ATs -- I can think of Evil, WM, Char, Rifts, Lag, Lame, KGYU, FFs, Vibe, Dv, Reno, Fish, EnS, Ace, MB, NUKE....

I can't help but notice this was right about the time people started leaving for WoW because of persistent balance problems and a lack of real tournament play. Makes you wonder what percent of the pvp community has already ditched the game.

Interesting stuff, eh?

Relambrien · Apr 11, 2007, 09:10 PM // 21:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blame the Monks

13. OUT - assimilated by iQ

I lol'd

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around · Apr 11, 2007, 09:32 PM // 21:32

Quote:

11. iQ - like cockroaches, they can thrive in any environment no matter how vile

I lol'd.

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Skuld · Apr 11, 2007, 09:56 PM // 21:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by spawnofebil

I lol'd.

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+1

Um Yeah · Apr 11, 2007, 10:20 PM // 22:20

Uni, ZPZG, iGi, emt...Everyone else I could think of, you said. Prolly some more I can't remember atm though.

minor · Apr 12, 2007, 12:02 AM // 00:02

resistance is futile you will be assimilated.lol
really though its scary to say they left for WoW, just had a guy other night said WoW was very unbalanced so he had come over to GW. Lack of ATs=ladder grind, plus all the smurf guilds and a lack of balance all contribute. Along with good old rage and edrama.

Lord Natural · Apr 12, 2007, 01:38 AM // 01:38

Tough to stay motivated when the game was/is so woefully unbalanced, not to mention a 5month+ period without a ladder essentially. What sense did it make to abandon the ladder when they were still half a year away from getting the AT ready? It made the CT somewhat retarded to say the least. Not to say these guilds would have fared differently had there been a traditional season to bridge the AT's, but the timing certainly didn't help.

As far as balance goes, when EviL and WM tried to make a comeback and failed miserably a couple of seasons ago, the game officially became Build Wars, if it wasn't already. That had to be frustrating, for guilds (EviL anyway) who spent ages perfecting their build such that it could counter pretty much anything, to be so completely overmatched by ridiculously overpowered expansion skills.

Dzan · Apr 12, 2007, 01:55 AM // 01:55

To be honest, when the game launched people's expectations were much lower and people were satisfied by much less. Unfortunately for high end gvg, people's expectations rose faster than the devs could keep up with. I still think its a misrepresentation to say competition is worse now than it was a year ago, which seems to be the implication of a few posters in this thread.

Clinically Proven · Apr 12, 2007, 02:13 AM // 02:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blame the Monks

.... people started leaving for WoW because of persistent balance problems and a lack of real tournament play....

Never quite understood this, why would you go to a game that has worse balance issues in pvp?

Legendary Shiz · Apr 12, 2007, 03:23 AM // 03:23

Competition IS worse now than it was a year ago.

Vermilion · Apr 12, 2007, 03:29 AM // 03:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by Clinically Proven

Never quite understood this, why would you go to a game that has worse balance issues in pvp?

I assumed people that left for WoW gave up on the competitive thing. Wow for RPing/good pve(?) and then shooters for competition or waiting for fury. Dunno

Thom Bangalter · Apr 12, 2007, 05:56 AM // 05:56

no one is going to point out that there's no tournament at the moment so there's no point in playing, and that a lot of these guilds played in the tournament (sometimes under a different name?)

It's not THAT dire, it just feels that way.

Div · Apr 12, 2007, 10:04 AM // 10:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lord Natural

As far as balance goes, when EviL and WM tried to make a comeback and failed miserably a couple of seasons ago, the game officially became Build Wars, if it wasn't already. That had to be frustrating, for guilds (EviL anyway) who spent ages perfecting their build such that it could counter pretty much anything, to be so completely overmatched by ridiculously overpowered expansion skills.

Yeah, it does make it quite disappointing to watch teams that have spent so long perfecting their build and just have other teams copy it or destroy it with some overpowered gimmick because ANet can balance about as well as a random fat man on a rope in the circus :P.

JR · Apr 12, 2007, 10:26 AM // 10:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blame the Monks

8. ICE - ragequit GW over balance issues

Not true.

Basically we stayed together for the Winterseason tourney and then broke apart due to the rage building up. Some of those went on to form [vD] Virtual Dragons, others went on to join guilds such as [PnH] and [MH] (me).

Dzan · Apr 12, 2007, 11:17 AM // 11:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by Legendary Shiz

Competition IS worse now than it was a year ago.

Depends where you are on the ladder I guess.

Avarre · Apr 12, 2007, 11:20 AM // 11:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blame the Monks

NUKE....

NUKE reformed. Not dead yet!

Sinful Doom · Apr 12, 2007, 11:56 AM // 11:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by holymasamune

ANet can balance about as well as a random fat man on a rope in the circus :P.

You forced me to picture this in my head, DAMN YOU!

Iotan · Apr 13, 2007, 03:09 AM // 03:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by Legendary Shiz

Competition IS worse now than it was a year ago.

I think this is the problem as well as maps/skills. Even recently when we'd win/lose against some of the top American teams it wasn't as fun as 6 months ago.

Tactics have fallen off the earth because of insta-pwn skills like Shadow Prison and Mending Touch. About a month ago when we were scrimming to prepare for CT playoffs I was splitting on ranger and time and time again I'd see people get their Troll or Heal Sig d-shotted. The boring weapon-spam rit kills splits as well.

Where is the cast/cancel that used to single-handedly win on splits? Why can't people successfully dodge arrows while running away?

The tactics, if you want to call it that, is now in the build-making which makes this game a lot less appealing to people who used to play.

ShneakySquirrel · Apr 13, 2007, 05:39 AM // 05:39

^^^ exactly what I was thinking.

This game used to be about superior tactics/skill, and a good build should only get you so far. Now skills either become OVER nerfed if they were over powered, or become over-powered when they used to be perfect the way they were.

Anet has been destroying the game and digging itself a hole. They've been giving us more health, and make the skills we use, do less damage. This makes for a long and dull game...

Arkese · Apr 13, 2007, 09:25 AM // 09:25

I still think you can find cast/cancel'ers, people that dodge arrows etc on not just high end PvP. I can see rank 200~300 guilds use it. (Usually a former top 30 guild though)
Most of the guilds in GW run super gimmick builds just in order to win, at least 90% of them, but I find comfort in the 10% that's left.
In time, more and more players will learn to play better by seeing others play, wether it's observing top 100 or just during their own GvGs.

Most of you can keep saying that ANet's skill balance team is retarded, and they don't know shit about their lives, but in the end I want to see all of these make a game that's balanced for both PvPers and PvEers in terms of long time with expansions coming every half a year.
Even when they do nerf the skills that are overpowered meta right now, people will just start looking for more of these and ANet will have to leave 64 skills just for the 8 characters of a "balanced" team, which is obviously not what I want to happen.