Curse

Alton Grey · Jun 14, 2005, 06:03 PM // 18:03

I've been playing my now level 10 monk, in the Ascalon City arena, for the last couple of days just to try something different and to level. A little while ago today, we had 4 primary monks on our team. For those that don't know, Ascalon City arena is 4 vs 4 random arena, so we were dealt all monks.

Having been told before that I don't heal fast enough, I'd put most of my attribute points in healing before going into the arena. I quickly told my brothers I was a healer, and one other responded he was also. The other two never responded. The match begins, and I'm sure the other team wasn't sure which monk to target first. I spotted one monk on the other team, and quickly targeted him. Having few smiting skills and points, I did what I could before I needed to heal myself or another. When I could, I looked for the monk again, he was at back at full health, and targeted him a second time. None of my teammates responded, nor did they ever target anyone themselves.

A few minutes into the battle, I knew we were in for a long battle. Our team was pretty much at full health, but so was theirs. I continued to try and target their monk, but then the other team started effectively targeting. I knew this when I found myself with 2 conditions, 2 hexes, and something a Necro had put on me, all at the same time. My health was plummeting and it was all I could do to stay alive. I didn't, but was quickly rezzed. They moved on to another target, and he quickly died. This continued till we had used our res signets, and were needing to use the res skill. After about 8 minutes, we started dropping faster. I rezzed one just to watch another fall, and then the one I had brought back and tried to heal, quickly died. Low on energy and alone, I was ripped to shreds. They had done it. Beat 4 monks.

Maybe 4 monks don't hold up well in a random match, but had we targeted someone, and the whole team had ganged up on them, I think we would have had a better chance. Use the T key if somebody targets, and than don't let up. I always ask if anyone wants to target before the match begins, and if no one responds, I start targeting. Rarely will the whole team listen to me. Used effectively, a normal team can make it quite a few rounds. I've seen it. Unfortunately, there are too many rambos in the arena, and I end up wasting time and energy to save their behinds.

I know I'm probably preaching to the choir, but if I could reach just one person, the arena would be a better place. Teamwork is your friend.

Red Locust · Jun 14, 2005, 06:14 PM // 18:14

True, although I should mention that some classes really don't reach their full potential until they get most of their skills. Monks and Mesmers are some of those classes that early on just don't get the needed skills to be effective in a PvP environment. Four lvl 20 monks with access to most of their skills will never lose in the arena. I've been in groups with myself (a monk) and another monk, and life bars never dropped below 75%, yet we had an incredibly hard time killing the enemy (and this is with 2 damage-dealing classes). With 4 monks, there is absolutely no way you can lose, unless maybe you face 3 mesmers and a warrior or ele.

burianek · Jun 14, 2005, 06:27 PM // 18:27

Really? I would think a number of things could counter, but I'm no expert.
You could take 4 crappy energy drain rangers with dot and debilitating shot and beat 4 healers couldn't you?

JoDiamonds · Jun 14, 2005, 07:16 PM // 19:16

Every group can be beat by some other group. At least, that's part of ArenaNet's intent. There's no ubergroup; it's RockPaperScissors instead.

As far as calling & sundry, the Ascalon Arena is always a crapshoot, because many people there really don't know what they are doing (which is fine; it's the first arena after all). You can't expect them to know about targeting or what it means, or why that other guy keeps saying, "I'm attacking Bob!"

Things get better in later Arenas, even for pickup groups. (Obviously, some people are still clueless, but less likely.)

RMThompson · Jun 14, 2005, 07:31 PM // 19:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by Red Locust

True, although I should mention that some classes really don't reach their full potential until they get most of their skills. Monks and Mesmers are some of those classes that early on just don't get the needed skills to be effective in a PvP environment. Four lvl 20 monks with access to most of their skills will never lose in the arena. I've been in groups with myself (a monk) and another monk, and life bars never dropped below 75%, yet we had an incredibly hard time killing the enemy (and this is with 2 damage-dealing classes). With 4 monks, there is absolutely no way you can lose, unless maybe you face 3 mesmers and a warrior or ele.

Ive got a 4 person team that would kick 4 lvl 20 monks...

2 mesmers casting Backfire and Arcane Echo for MORE backfire...
1 Tanks beating the crap out of each monk one at a time
1 Monk to keep those two alive in case of smiting prayers.

Tellani Artini · Jun 14, 2005, 07:36 PM // 19:36

Have beaten a 4 monk team at droknar arena with a pet ranger, energy drain mesmer, and 2 monks. And damn.. it really took awhile. Didn't help that it was the ice cave map with res shrines.

Maybe four good monks are invincible, but just throwing together four mediocre players with uncoordinated builds won't cut it.

Makkert · Jun 14, 2005, 09:02 PM // 21:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tellani Artini

Have beaten a 4 monk team at droknar arena with a pet ranger, energy drain mesmer, and 2 monks. And damn.. it really took awhile. Didn't help that it was the ice cave map with res shrines.

Maybe four good monks are invincible, but just throwing together four mediocre players with uncoordinated builds won't cut it.

ha, and now it becomes interesting:
what is a good monk? a simply question, hard answer probably...

theclam · Jun 14, 2005, 09:17 PM // 21:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by Makkert

ha, and now it becomes interesting:
what is a good monk? a simply question, hard answer probably...

It's a simple answer. When given the same teammates and enemies, a good monk will keep his teammates alive and effective for longer than a bad monk will.

Red Locust · Jun 14, 2005, 09:25 PM // 21:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by RMThompson

Ive got a 4 person team that would kick 4 lvl 20 monks...

2 mesmers casting Backfire and Arcane Echo for MORE backfire...
1 Tanks beating the crap out of each monk one at a time
1 Monk to keep those two alive in case of smiting prayers.

I assume we're playing in the prearranged teams arena, in which case there are many counters to that. A simple one would be one monk bringing smite hex and remove hex and spamming it on the other monks while they kept alternating spellbreaker on him. Hexes get removed as soon as they come on, and the one monk removing them is invulnerable to spells. The one hexbreaker monk could also be maintaining life bond/barrier on everyone else since he won't be getting drained of energy.

Warrior damage is easily avoided with healing seed, life bond and maybe shielding hands, plus the warrior will be vulnerable to smiting since he's sitting right in front of the monk. That leaves you with the monk who I doubt can take out 4 enemy monks on his own no matter what he was running. Really, this game is more balanced towards 8v8. In 4v4, there are some unkillable combos.