Curse

Senator Tom · Nov 06, 2006, 12:13 AM // 00:13

People always say that rank doesn't matter and it doesn't show skill level...the thing is that the only people I hear this from are low ranked people. Rank does matter, it does mean something. No one who has little to no fame will be as experienced in playing in Heroes Ascent as a rank nine, six or even three. If you have about 100 fame, you probably haven't held halls, so how can you say you're experienced in doing so? Then people come up and say 'well iwayz and vim and fotmz makes it eazy 4 ppl to get fme!!1'...Any experienced player in tombs will tell you that there were sucky fotm teams and good fotm teams. If iway players were so inexperienced, why did they beat other teams that were supposedly lightyears better than them? And how did a previously strictly iway (then a little bit of blood spike) hold earlier today with a balanced build? All that iwaying must've gotten them some experience eh? I'm sick of jealous noobs saying that rank doesn't mean anything, because they are wrong. A rank three is almost always not at the same skill level as a rank nine.

ZenRgy · Nov 06, 2006, 12:23 AM // 00:23

True.

But rank has lost alot of value.

Ec]-[oMaN · Nov 06, 2006, 12:28 AM // 00:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by ZenRgy

True.

But rank has lost alot of value.

Exactly a rank2 back in the day would be of equal experience as a rank 6 today.
Reguardless, who cares today it's not like you need to be over rank2 to figure out how to beat a hench team.

Vermilion · Nov 06, 2006, 12:41 AM // 00:41

This isn't news though, is it? Rank typically means experience, but doesn't always mean skill. I thought this was the general consensus.. -.-

Anyway all that is well and good, but when I hear a guildie in a guild I was in a while ago start talking crap because he was an r3 (lol) it kind of annoys me. Whats to say he didn't Vim for a few hours in the double fame weekend? Or bigger, that he has even played a monk (his main role) before? All of that aside, knowing how to hold doesn't help in gvg. (my assumption anyway)

Neo-LD · Nov 06, 2006, 12:49 AM // 00:49

You seem to confusing two issues, blending them together when they are clearly two seperate beasts entirely. Heres what I mean:

Rank is an accurate measure of how much experience you have in playing heroes ascent. A player with more rank has probably played more games there than a player with less rank. As a benifit of this experience, a higher ranked player probably knows more about the basics of Heroes Ascent than the lower ranked one; for example, he knows the exact mechanics of every map, he knows what happens when there are ties on relic runs or if no one caps an alter on an alter map. He knows how to body block a hero and knows the basic strategy of when you should cap and who you should target in order to push someone off an alter. A lower ranked player, on the other hand, is probably not as heavily schooled in these things.

However, the mistake that many people make (including you) is confusing the knowledge of these things with being skilled at Guild Wars. Heroes Ascent is just a lesser game mode with some different rules; it is just as subservient to GvG as Team Arena is. Having a high rank does not tell anyone anything about how good you are at anticipation, predicition, kiting, pressuring, spiking, interupting, efficient healing, infusing, flagging, target calling, field calling, following-of-calls, how much you know about the metagame, how well you know GvG maps, how well perform in a split, etc etc etc. The only thing a high rank will tell you is that that specific player is experienced in the mechanics of the maps of Heroes Ascent.

This is because are innumerable ways for genuinely bad players to gain rank. IWAYers may know the mechanics of most HA maps, but have little concept of any of the actual guild wars mechanics that I mentioned in the above paragraph... expect perhaps how to pressure. Spikers are the same way. Monks that heal for spike teams are usually the same way. In short, there is every chance in the world that a high rank player is bad, which makes any preconcieved notions regarding the ability of a player that are based only on that players rank NULL and VOID for any area besides HA. In HA, sure you can discriminate that way since rank is the only measure you have to sift through strangers. But personally, I never HA with people I dont know, so I never have that problem. The most important thing to remember, tho, is that when trying to gauge the ability of a player at ACTUAL Guild Wars (i.e., GvG) rank is irrelevent.

All that I just said has been reiterated a thousand times before by people much more articulate than myself, so Im not sure why, out of the blue, this topic came up. But I hope its put to rest again swiftly. No one likes beating dead horses.

Billiard · Nov 06, 2006, 12:55 AM // 00:55

Old topic here and nothing new coming to light - closing for the good of the cause.