Curse

Blame the Monks · Feb 08, 2007, 06:56 AM // 06:56

Standing there hoping a dumb warrior punches you isn't an effective strategy. Rits are garbage because they are so one dimensional. In virtually every situation, another build would be better. We would all be better off if they were removed from the game, but since they won't be lets at least try to discourage people from playing them.

Zui · Feb 08, 2007, 07:32 AM // 07:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blame the Monks

Standing there hoping a dumb warrior punches you isn't an effective strategy. Rits are garbage because they are so one dimensional. In virtually every situation, another build would be better. We would all be better off if they were removed from the game, but since they won't be lets at least try to discourage people from playing them.

QFT. (Bold added for emphasis)

feriluce · Feb 08, 2007, 07:45 AM // 07:45

How can you say Rits are one-dimensional, when they are actually the most versatile class in GW.
You can fit healing worth a monk AND dmg worth an air spiker in your bar, and be efficient at both!
Spiritspammer might be annoying, but it isnt a reason to call rits one-dimensional

*lemming* · Feb 08, 2007, 08:47 AM // 08:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by feriluce

How can you say Rits are one-dimensional, when they are actually the most versatile class in GW.
You can fit healing worth a monk AND dmg worth an air spiker in your bar, and be efficient at both!
Spiritspammer might be annoying, but it isnt a reason to call rits one-dimensional

You'll do neither task well.

In the healing dimension, a lack of 1/4s heals hurts you against things that solospike well - in particular, Shadow Prison assassins.

As for damage, it would detract from your healing in terms of time (having people die on you while you're casting an offensive spell?) and energy. How effective is your damage anyways? At 12 Channeling (which you'd probably have, or somewhere in the vicinity), most Channeling spells do somewhere from 50-100 damage. The energy investment doesn't seem worthwhile.

Divineshadows · Feb 08, 2007, 04:59 PM // 16:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by feriluce

Spiritspammer might be annoying, but it isnt a reason to call rits one-dimensional

Before the latest skill update, the only thing rits did stronger than other classes was spamming offensive spirits. These communing rits served very well as bad player detectors in RA because bad teams would just let you set up all your spirits, never attack or kill spirits, and just stand in the spirits getting blown up in the process. The rest of the ritualist skills were not impressive enough aside from weapon of remedy/vengeful weapon which had made some appearances in GvG matches as a support role.

The latest buffs to weapon spells in particular gives the rit a few different options, but before these updates the rit was a very one dimensional character.

Colon's Fury · Feb 08, 2007, 06:19 PM // 18:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blame the monks

Standing there hoping a dumb warrior punches you isn't an effective strategy. Rits are garbage because they are so one dimensional. In virtually every situation, another build would be better. We would all be better off if they were removed from the game, but since they won't be lets at least try to discourage people from playing them.

Sure, spirit spamming rits are pretty annoying and rediculous (especially when you run into one at least every other game in RA) - but a Weapon of Remedy/Vengeful Weapon rit is pretty effective I've found. And saying that it sucks because it relies on someone hitting you is a litte...shortsighted perhaps.

For one thing, you're not pre-casting on yourself (unless you can see someone charging at you), and when you're/a team member is under attack the weapon is bound to catch some hits. And hey, if they stop attacking and wait for the weapon spell to run out...well their stupid because those spells have a 3sec recharge...and it'll relieve pressure. For one, I've never seen someone wait for the spell to run out. People do switch targets...but how hard is it to start casting on someone else?

And in case you forgot, the life steal weapon spells trigger on any form of damage, not just physical.

Patrick Smit · Feb 08, 2007, 06:44 PM // 18:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yanman.be

Monking in RA, or this new curse necro I made ( plain ol' SS and some other anti-melee hexes ) is pretty much a glad point per half hour.

I cannot imagine this, as some of your teammates will prevent your win, by rushing into spirit parties and the like. I actually found that whatever I played i get more or less the same glad points per profession per time unit played (played monk, not so long though, curse necro and ed and shutdown mesmer, restore Rt). It really depends on the players on your team as well. Can they be patient, do they allow me to kill spits with unnatural signet first (its great since the buff). In teams I find the problem that they think u can switch so easily between different profs. unfortunately im a tad slow to adapt and it cost me some time to adopt to a new build or profession.

I can only agree to what Colon's fury is saying about restore rits, hell it even works in team arena, there are few thumpers and especially pets that stop attacking. Some people claim u should play only certain classes, but i have seen effective builds in all professions, giving me even some nice ideas how to improve on my char. Damage is really not al there is, shutdown is better if fights last long cause usually damage wont improve the situation, diverting more monk skills, or offensive sin attacks is working quite nicely, to support pressure building, or relieving your own team from pressure.

Since the buff of unnatural signet i advice dom mesmers to take it into RA, it's really worth it now. make sure u don't get interupted, diversion doesn't harm the signet ^^.

Blame the Monks · Feb 08, 2007, 07:44 PM // 19:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by Colon's Fury

- but a Weapon of Remedy/Vengeful Weapon rit is pretty effective I've found.

Basically its a bad healing monk. Without a monk, it cannot heal enough to keep a team alive against any real or varied pressure. It has high recharge, relatively high cast time, hohum healing efficiency, and no prot or utility (other than removing conditions). With a monk, it is wasted space and less damage than you should have. In gvg it has a role because a half healer has some value on splits, but in TA/RA it is a pretty worthless tweener.

Divineshadows · Feb 08, 2007, 08:02 PM // 20:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blame the Monks

In gvg it has a role because a half healer has some value on splits, but in TA/RA it is a pretty worthless tweener.

I had come to the same conclusion about a remedy/vengeful rit who has the rest of their bar filled with other restoration spells. Cannot substitute fully for a monk in TA. Can pass for a "monk" at times in RA (based more on how much the opposition sucks than on the strength of the template) and has a bit of cute life-steal to inflict a bit of pain on the opposing team.

For TA, it may still be usable if the rest of the bar is filled with channeling magic and/or some forms of utility but I still have yet to find any spectacular combos for this type of support character.

Windjammer · Feb 11, 2007, 07:37 AM // 07:37

Saying a Rit can't heal worth a monk isn't entirely true IMO. Most monk builds either have a good elite as e-management or an elite combined with e-management (ZB is former, SoR or some Boons is latter). The monks prime attribute, divine favor, is even a form of e-management as it makes all their spells heal for some amount. A Rit primary doesn't possess the e-management, even with Attuned, to match a monk, and no expensive but powerful spells that work well with glyphs. A Rit has spells like Weapon of Warding though and does, in fact, have 1/4 100+ heals. Problem is a Rit prime doesn't seem to have a good way to combine its heals and weapon spells in one build due to energy costs. I've been using a build using all Rit heals and weapons as my main RA build though, and it works awesome. For me, it has worked better than many monk builds in RA. It is hard to compare it to other builds I've played though because I think I've gotten better as a healer since using it. Plus it gets left alone alot since it isn't Mo or Rt primary. What I had to do though was make an E/Rt using Master of Magic. One spirit provides energy returns from MoM and works with the Rits heals that need a spirit present. Weap o Warding is an awesome spell and prevents half of all melee damage, plus provides small regen. Venge is good but could be replaced. Wielder's Boon is 1/4 and heals for over a hundrend when cast on someone with a weapon spell (usually the guy getting sin spiked that has WoW on them). Mend Body and Soul heals for close to a hundred and removes conditions. Spirit Light heals for 160 but casts in 1 second; usually use just it though unless I need to heal very fast. The majority of builds, especially in RA, will depend on at least one melee for doing damage. WoW when properly placed prevents almost 50% of all that damage; it can be kept on at least 2 and often 3 allies. The build has three good heals, casting at 1/4, 3/4, and 1 second. Condition removal, top notch energy management. Since you don't need extra energy you can pump up health getting 590 health. I don't how it works outside of RA. But in that arena it has been the perfect healing build for me.

Ganks · Feb 11, 2007, 02:31 PM // 14:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by necrosfeelyaks

I perfer RA over TA simply because it is easier to find players to play with (duh!)
My guild dosent TA much, we are simply GvG and HA, but I like to 4v4 when I'm bored

I dont mean this in a rude manner but uh... no, not if you have a class they want. Try a derv. Try a mesmer. Try a sin. If youre really bored try a cookiecutter ZB monk even tho its not the best and not as good as a lot of other monks itll get you in a noob party and that will be that.

Of course you could always find a decent guild who PvPs often.

Blame the Monks · Feb 11, 2007, 04:54 PM // 16:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by Windjammer

Saying a Rit can't heal worth a monk isn't entirely true IMO. *snip -- eman and ancedotal discussion*

I didn't say anything about eman, nor is it particularly relevant in this discussion. In a 60 second average fight, eman isn't your highest priority in any event. Besides, the only eman most monks use these days is gole. If you call ZB, LoD, word, and so forth eman because they heal efficiently, I just don't know what to say. We could just as easily be talking about how rof is eman because rarely will you overheal with it. When you define eman that broadly, it has no meaningful role in this discussion.

But back OnT, as I said earlier:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blame the Monks

Basically its a bad healing monk. Without a monk, it cannot heal enough to keep a team alive against any real or varied pressure. It has high recharge, relatively high cast time, hohum healing efficiency, and no prot or utility (other than removing conditions). With a monk, it is wasted space and less damage than you should have. In gvg it has a role because a half healer has some value on splits, but in TA/RA it is a pretty worthless tweener.

Rit healers can't efficiently heal degen (no Lod/ZB/Hp type skill). Rit healers cannot remove debilitating hexes. Rit healers cannot prot anything. Rit cast time and recharge is generally unfavorable to monks. Rits have no power heal strong enough to stop a spike. At best, a rit healer is an orison turret (moderate healing efficiency direct heals). But when is the last time you saw a successful RA/TA pure heal monk?

The life steal generally isn't relevant as damage. Its just a random bit of damage here and there. More likely it just means the war stops to use heal sig now and then and never results in a kill or even monk pressure. Random, minor, and unfocused damage just isn't that deadly.

So again, what you are left with is a bad healer doing bad damage. As I stated earlier, it is a tweener -- either a real monk or a real damage dealer would be more valuable. This is why you never see rits in planned teams (TA). The primary value of rits in RA comes in taking advantage of really bad players and in supplementing really bad monks. In both cases, you would be better off doing something else. If your monk is crap, you are better off finding a new one or playing it yourself. If your opponents are crap, you should be able to win regardless, so why run a build to beat people you could beat no matter what?

Windjammer · Feb 11, 2007, 07:40 PM // 19:40

I'm a relatively new player, so may be not fully aware of monking. I've also only done it in RA, and can see how in TA with a designed team eman may not be so important. But typical RA battles are much longer on average than 1 minute. Usually 3 or 4 minutes is par, making eman very important. The only thing I can see a Rit healer not matching a monk on is hex removal and the degree of condition removal they possess. But they do have the heal power and recharge speed of any monk heals.

Healing:
Wielder's Boon: 1/4 cast 115 health 4 recharge
Mend Body and Soul: 3/4 cast 95 health 3 recharge
Spirit Light: 1 cast 160 health 4 recharge
Venge: 1/4 cast 50 health 3 recharge

Prot:
Weapon of Warding: 1 cast 50% block, 4 regen, 10 second duration unstrippable 5 recharge

Compared to a ZB monk

Healing:
ZB: 3/4 cast 150+30 health 4 recharge
Dismiss: 3/4 cast 70+30 health 3 recharge
Sig o Dev: 2 cast 90 health 5 recharge

Prot:
Rev o Fort: 1/4 cast 70+30 health 2 recharge
SoA: 1 cast, damage prevention is variable+30 health. 10 recharge

Most ZB's in RA have holy veil and some stances for self defense taking up other slots. The E/Rt will have MoM and a spirit taking up its other slots. It uses WoW and ability to have a huge health pool (since it needs no extra energy or anything more than minor runes) as self defense.

If you look at the cast times and recharges, the E/Rt actually has faster average casting and recharge than the ZB. If the ZB and the E/Rt just spam heal somthing as fast as possible they will end up healing for arbitrarily close to the same amount. WoW can be used on allies to give block power, the ZB possess nothing like this. The prot power of 50% block is better than > SoA _and_ RoF IMO; especially in RA where there is a parade of Sins. The E/Rt can in fact efficiently heal degen because it can cast its heals in a continous cycle and they all cast fast. It's eman means it can spam heal its party for extended periods through heavy hex pressure too, whereas the ZB cannot, even with ZB.

I know there are other monk builds, and I'm only comparing this to a ZB. But those seem to be very popular in RA and its the only monk build I've played anyway. Since I've had such great success with an E/Rt in RA, and its nice to not get bothered by the other team and getting people telling me "Wow! I'm suprised an E/Rt is healing that good", I just play the E/Rt now.

Blame the Monks · Feb 11, 2007, 09:02 PM // 21:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by Windjammer

But typical RA battles are much longer on average than 1 minute. Usually 3 or 4 minutes is par, making eman very important.

The average RA battle lasts a minute or so. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say the reason yours last so long is a rit that neither plays offense nor defense well.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Windjammer

If you look at the cast times and recharges, the E/Rt actually has faster average casting and recharge than the ZB. ... The only thing I can see a Rit healer not matching a monk on is hex removal and the degree of condition removal they possess.

No. As discussed earlier, rits cannot do the following:
1. Remove condition stacks, such as a buried cripple, blind, deep, etc.
2. Remove hexes
3. Reduce damage taken efficiently (prots such as SH, gaurd, soa, preveil, etc)
4. Heal party wide degen efficiently (lod or zb)
5. Heal fast enough heal to stop a spike (rof or draw)
6. Heal in one large, efficient heal (zb)
7. Get more out of the skills by intelligent use (getting 168+32 out of a rof, getting a 170+32 heal for free with ZB, and so on as opposed to simply getting 100 out of every rit heal regardless of how smart or dumb you play)

What they can do:

1. Approximately match the healing efficiency of a pure heal monk
2. Remove single conditions cheaply
3. Do minimal damage as a bonus benefit of healing

Can you see now why that is just not a good trade? You are trading all the utility and skill based play of a monk for incidental damage and condition removes.

Rit heals are primarily buffed versions of orison that sometimes remove a condition. IE, relatively slow, semi-efficient direct heals. Like orison, rit healing skills lack the ability to do anything other than react to bars going down -- meaning skillfull players cannot get more milage out of the skill (as opposed to skillfull preprotting, etc). Much like why the healing line sucks, rit heals suck because the prot line can "heal" for a similar (or better) amount while also providing the utility of damage reduced, debilitating effects removed, and while getting the ability to get more milage out of the conditional prots.

Ultimately if you think running an ele/rit is a good plan, feel free. Your own experience in getting rejected from quality teams and losing will be more convincing than debating with me on guru. But understand me here -- I'm not talking theory here, I'm talking what months of experience has proven. Rits simply cannot substitute for a monk. They are too one dimensional and share many of the flaws of the healing line. This is why no quality team ever uses a rit as a primary healer. Rit healers get play on in the rare situations where soul reaping gives infinite energy or when a half healer is worthwhile. Neither of those apply to RA/TA often, if at all.

Windjammer · Feb 12, 2007, 03:36 AM // 03:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blame the Monks

No. As discussed earlier, rits cannot do the following:
1. Remove condition stacks, such as a buried cripple, blind, deep, etc.
2. Remove hexes
3. Reduce damage taken efficiently (prots such as SH, gaurd, soa, preveil, etc)
4. Heal party wide degen efficiently (lod or zb)
5. Heal fast enough heal to stop a spike (rof or draw)
6. Heal in one large, efficient heal (zb)
7. Get more out of the skills by intelligent use (getting 168+32 out of a rof, getting a 170+32 heal for free with ZB, and so on as opposed to simply getting 100 out of every rit heal regardless of how smart or dumb you play)

1. Multiple spirits = multiple conditions gone with Mend Body and Soul
2. Your right.
3. Weapon of Warding = 50% block, unstrippable, able to maintain it on at least 2 allies if you like. Similar monk spells are not typically not feasible to maintain like this and don't cast quick enough to prevent spikes.
4. Spirit Transfer = 1/4 cast 200+ heal. Spirit Light = 1 cast 160+ heal.
5. Spirit Transfer again. Wielder's Boon too.
6. Spirit Transfer or Spirit Light.
7. Don't oversimplify. Of course you get more out of Rit skills with intelligent use. Proper weapon spell placement, using bigger slower heals when you can, proper use of spirit transfer if you use it, ect.

Blame the Monks · Feb 12, 2007, 06:38 AM // 06:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by Windjammer

1. Multiple spirits = multiple conditions gone with Mend Body and Soul
2. Your right.
3. Weapon of Warding = 50% block, unstrippable, able to maintain it on at least 2 allies if you like. Similar monk spells are not typically not feasible to maintain like this and don't cast quick enough to prevent spikes.
4. Spirit Transfer = 1/4 cast 200+ heal. Spirit Light = 1 cast 160+ heal.
5. Spirit Transfer again. Wielder's Boon too.
6. Spirit Transfer or Spirit Light.
7. Don't oversimplify. Of course you get more out of Rit skills with intelligent use. Proper weapon spell placement, using bigger slower heals when you can, proper use of spirit transfer if you use it, ect.

1. You don't have room for multiple spirits on your bar. You have already got sig, spirit transfer, mom, wb, wow, spir lit, veng weap, mbs. Even if you did, mbs is unreliable and slow at best. The spirits will be killed too quickly and/or interrupted.
2. Yup.
3. wow = too expensive, too slow, nowhere near as dynamic as monk skills
4. depends on a healthy spirit, see #1.
5. WB is junk alone, and in order to get anything out of it you need to put a slow weapon skill on first. Two slower steps for less effect.
6. See above.
7. You miss the point. Prot skills have room to improve will skillful use. Heals do not.

audioaxes · Feb 12, 2007, 07:52 AM // 07:52

RA is more of a crapshoot as far as glad points no matter how good you are you can only contribute like 30% of your teams success (40% if you are monking), the rest depends on your teammates skill, their builds and how they flow together

Windjammer · Feb 12, 2007, 08:26 AM // 08:26

In response to Blame the Monks' post.

1. Alone, in RA, you are right. So play wisely and also pick a resilient long duration quick spirit like Bloodsong. Bsong even at low att levels will outlast its recharge by three, so you can have easily have at least two of them going. I know we are talking about RA here, but keep in mind this skill has more team potential.
2. Uh huh.
3. You are right. But with a skill like Master of Magic for energy management it becomes feasible. I think that the duration of WoW, that it isn't elite, and that it can't be stripped, put it far ahead in terms of usability in the 4v4 format than any similar monk skill.
4. Your right and thats why I don't use it in RA. Spirit Light works just fine in this capacity without a spirit though. Once again we are talking about RA, but Transfer has team potential.
5. Dismiss condition is kind of junk alone too. The point of playing a healer with Rit skills is WoW IMO, and you will, _if you play intelligently_, have it on the right people at the right time and ready to catch that spike.
6. See above.
7. You oversimplify. WoW, WB, Spirit Transfer, really all the skills, get better with player skill. You even contridict yourself with this statement. On one hand you say WB is junk without a weapon spell, which obviously takes skill to place properly by being proactive. Then you say Rit skills don't get better with player skills.

You started out saying Rit heals were slow to cast and recharge. Presented with numbers: Now you are saying they just arn't as useful as Monk skills and don't take player skill to use. What is next? I never said that Rit profession as a whole possess the flexibility of Monk in the capacity of heal support. But many single Rit skills are just as good and somtimes better than any given Monk skill. Compare WoW and Guardian. WoW is twice as expensive, but lasts twice as long allowing it much more flexibility as a single skill. It also gives regen and cannot be stripped. In fact I find it odd you would say WoW isn't as dynamic as Monk skills. Since many teams strip enchants before spiking, it is probably one of the best anti-spikes available. Since it can be easily be maintained on one ally, and is feasible to maintain on two for at least a short amount of time, it is a great skill against typical 4v4 pressure (to the limit of my experience). Also, at least two of the skills brought up have special team potential since they work off spirits, I don't think any Monk skills have this same kind of team usability (I could be wrong). Mend Body and Soul and Spirit Transfer. This build on a team using spirits would have the ability to reasonably consistently remove condition stacks and could think about including the power of Spirit Transfer on the bar. It could also clear its own bar of spirits and have an extra slot.

It is clear you don't like Rits. But wholesale statements like "Rits are Garbage" or "Rit skills arn't as dynamic as Monk skills" are just wrong. Many Rit skills are true gems. Many Rit skills also require spirits to work well. In this way they are a little like paragons in that they can share spirits like paragons share shouts. They probably have great team potential for those people willing to find it.

Blame the Monks · Feb 12, 2007, 03:45 PM // 15:45

> 1. Alone, in RA, you are right.

Why would you run a build that relies on others to work when a monk can do the same some less conditionally and less dependent on others? You will see this theme again -- rits are more conditional, slower, and offer less utility.

> 3. You are right. I think that the duration of WoW, that it isn't elite, and that it can't be stripped, put it far ahead in terms of usability in the 4v4 format than any similar monk skill.

Nope. Its still junk. If you preprot with it, the regen is useless, it costs too much, and target switching deals you. If you use it reactively, it is too slow for the block to be valuable and the regen alone isn't enough probably, so you have to chain it with weild boon. Again, switching + cost deal you. Why run two skills to do what a monk can do with one?

> 4. Your right and thats why I don't use it in RA. Once again we are talking about RA, but Transfer has team potential.

See #1.

> 5. Dismiss condition is kind of junk alone too. The point of playing a healer with Rit skills is WoW IMO, and you will, _if you play intelligently_, have it on the right people at the right time and ready to catch that spike.

First, most monks don't use dismiss in RA/TA. They use draw + mend. And no matter how good you are with the skill, its still much slower and more conditional than the monk alternatives. Why would you choose to run a slower, more conditional version of a monk?

> 7. You oversimplify. WoW, WB, Spirit Transfer, really all the skills, get better with player skill.

Yes, but that is such a meaningless statement it isn't even worth considering. You can always heal spam the wrong target, not use your bar at all, and so on. That goes without saying. What matters is that at a point, orison spamming cannot be more than picking the right person and not overhealing. Prot allows preprot and knowing when is the best time to use it. This is a basic tenet of monking and so basic I can't think of a way to prove it to you. Just practice monking for a few months and you will realize it yourself. Or ask anyone you respect and hear it from them.

> You started out saying Rit heals were slow to cast and recharge. Presented with numbers: Now you are saying they just arn't as useful as Monk skills and don't take player skill to use.

No, you must have missed it -- I didn't drop the argument I just assumed you could see from the discussion that rit heals are slower and have a generally worse recharge in any relevant role. Your numbers rely on stupid use to slow a monk down to the point where a rit can compare (such as sticking sigdev in there like monks use it under time pressure). IE, in a relevant role, the monk is faster -- see draw cast time + recharge vs mbs, see ZB cast time + recharge vs. weapon + aftercast + wield boon, etc. On top of that (and prong two of my original post), rit skills are one dimensional.

> I never said that Rit profession as a whole possess the flexibility of Monk in the capacity of heal support. ... But many single Rit skills are just as good and somtimes better than any given Monk skill. Compare WoW and Guardian.

Yes. And btw, monks don't use guardian these days for a reason. It has been eclipsed by better skills. Its also not an antispike skill. And comparing the best rit skill to a semi-bad monk is a strawman. The only thing that matters is total package, and in every instance a monk > a rit.

> It is clear you don't like Rits. But wholesale statements like "Rits are Garbage" or "Rit skills arn't as dynamic as Monk skills" are just wrong.

No, rits ARE garbage and I have outlined a variety of reasons why. This is the consensus of the entire community after months and months of play. Don't believe me? Try to find a decent team and substitute an ele/rit healer for a monk and see how they react. I realize you want to justify your e/rit healer, but it simply isn't an effective build. This whole thread is the same as a wammo clinging to his stance tank despite the scorn and experience of the community. If you want to play your wammo, feel free. But don't spread misinformation like it is a quality build.

zakaria · Feb 14, 2007, 08:24 AM // 08:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by urania

i agree with moko and absum...gladpoints gained in RA are not worth as much as those gained in TA where you meet well organised teams.

despite that i do RA quite a lot lately since i don't have a regular team to do TA with and i must admit that the part of RA that is more "competitive" ia definately intern distr...not only cause most of better players come there, but also cause you often meet lame korean/taiwanese/chinese/japanese synchroers with builds like 2 paragorns or monk+nec degen spreader+mes shutdown and blinder...adds to the challenge, i could say =p

They aren't better than players i play with them or against in Europe dis, some of them suck and some of them are good.
ppl are sync. in int. dis because they have better chance to get 2 or even 4 players together, also it's high likely that you can wipe most of the teams easy in dead time (just filled with noobs since you just have not more like 20 players) are playing there and you keep wiping them over and over. RA int. dis is the fast train to farm alot of gladiator points.