Bizzarre and really frustrating PvP behaviour...

I just started PvP last weekend, and it has been pretty fun. But the other day I was in a match in 4v4 Team Arena and the other team didn't fight -- they just kept running and running. They wouldn't stop and fight, and their hope was that we would give up out of anger and just leave and give them the win. They kept saying "You know you can leave any time you want" and "Don't you have anything better to do than chase us?". Of course, in our determination and pride, we decided to stick it out. The dumb match lasted an hour! I was caught between not wanting to stay and waste my time, and being determined to stay just so they wouldn't get the win from such stupid behavior. They finally dropped at one hour and we got the win. What a waste of time, but I felt good that they at least didn't get a win from behaving like idiots. I figured I'd never have to deal with them again, hopefully.

But then today, I was just in a match that started out pretty well, we had 2 monks (me and someone else) and we were doing a pretty good job of keeping up with healing while the others dealt the damage...2 guys died. Our whole party was all healed up and looking great. Well the other 2 guys (both rangers) pull the same crap -- they just keep running and running and running! Forever! They won't stop, they won't fight, they just run. Eventually 2 guys in my party dropped (including our other monk) and it left just me and a mes. Of course, then they got up enough nerve to fight (of course!), and killed us. What stinks is I was on a pretty good team, we had about 4 consecutive wins, and that little crappy trick broke up the team.

What the heck!! Is this kind of unsportsmanship common in PvP? I just can't imagine anyone feeling good about winning like that. I'm sorry to ramble, but this has really gotten under my skin. Just wondering if anyone else has encountered this...

yup i have encountered that and i think its pretty danm funny i have nothing more to say now

It's unfortunatley not that rare to find people doing this in the Competition Arenas, though I've never seen more than one person doing it at once.

My sympathies to you. It really sucks when people pull that garbage. The best bet you have is to use a snare and try to pin the runner in-between your own teammates, provided you have some teammates left once you realize you're up against a runner.

In the mean-time, smile.

Good for you.

A lesson to be learned: Bring a snare. If you're a Warrior, also consider bringing Wild Blow to cancel their stances. This is especially important in Random Arena, which is a breeding ground for retarded behaviour.

Pack a snare - most of these groups are lousy at actually getting away from a group. Once snared they should be easy pickings.

I don't see a problem with it - and I've never done it or tried to, so don't accuse me of it - it is a legit strategy in the game in a way; bore your opponents. It forces people to either wait them out, pack snares or give up the streak. Many builds could do this - a dedicated healing ball build that deals no damage could likewise sit there and ignore attackers. The old spirit spams could wall themselves in with spirits and just wait, keeping them up with healing springs and fertile seasons. The fact is that if you can't deal damage to your opponents, either because they ran, outhealed you, blacked out your skills or whatever, you don't get the victory.

It's like any build, do you sacrifice from your available skills to fight it? Fighting enchantment builds takes packing enchantment strippers; packing against smiting builds requires anti smiting build skills (diversion for example), fighting against running builds requires snares or the like. Really, every match is determined by who lived longer - some do it by healing, they do it by avoiding the damage in the first place, some do it by killing fast. Take a snare and kick their butts if you care enough, otherwise leave them alone, or win by waiting them out (boring evening). I generally pack a snare anyway, but if I didn't I'd probably just drop. Someone else will have a snare and will beat them.

can I ask wtf is your pet doing in that pic ?????

I think it's hilarious, especially since I have several skills equipped as a warrior that slow them down.

A good strategery is to simply have one party member go one way and the other three chase him. A little cornering should do the trick in bring that straggler down.

It happens a lot in Random Arena. The last guy, usually a warrior or a ranger, decides to run, because being an annoying twelve year old is 1337. I just hit /dance and go out in style.

All the arenas are circles, just split up and corner them. When I play my warrior I bring Sprint and Ward Against Foes to help counter runners. The hardest skill to counter though is escape. It's a ranger elite that gives both speed and evasion.

Whne Our team is losing or has left, I stick it out and fight to my last breath. One time I was in the 4V4 random arena and my whole party left right at the beginning and I ended up winning against 4 W/Mo's. Of course it's kinda hard for them to hit me when they're blind from my belly smash.

Also if you have Ward Against Foes, Have your 3 teamates chase the runner, you go to a choke point and cast the ward. The runner is chased into it and that's all she wrote.

Another tip for warriors is to bring the adrenline run skill, because if you can keep up with them and your strength is high enough you can just keep running.

Two words: Pansy Bastards. If I'm in a situation where I'm the only one left, I will run for a short while to see if I can pull off a res, but eventually I just give up.

I Run If Playing A Ranger And I Could Lay Traps Or Fight And Try To Win But Just Running For Hours Is Boring And Dumb

I hate to quote someone who capitalizes every word in the sentence, but I have to agree. The only reason to run would be if you still had some chance of winning the match. If you run simply because you want to bore the other team to death, or because you don't have a chance of winning by yourself... well, I hate to say it but you're a griefer plain and simple.

Thankfully my one and only PvP build incorporates a snare. This has helped me shut down a number of runners as a convienent bonus.

It's attacking... thought that screen happened to catch it at quite a funny point in the animation.

sorry I type with caps lock on alot because im at work and program in all caps

I wish ANET would ban people who think its fun to run around. As punishment for being so lame, for a week, every time a that account tries to PVP it ports him to a quarter mile track, where he and his fellow lamers can run laps rather than PVP.

That would be justice.

get your sprint on and hamstring goin!

Quoted for truth. Why oh why are there so many arena warriors out there who don't have this?

Here's a suggestion, and it comes from having been in the same situation myself:

Download a shareware screen/video capture program, like fraps, which I use (www.fraps.com) and record a movie of those people acting in that manner. Place the file on a web server (i'd be more than happy to host for you at no charge) and then contact arena net and send them links to the movies, whereby they can see how annoying (and common) this tomfoolery is, and how it upsets your gaming experience. Based on my previous encounters with anet support, when they see that irrefutable evidence of morons behaving normally (for them) they WILL step in.

Thanks for mentioning this aloud to the greater community, because it is a serious issue that needs to be addressed.

I think running around is fine if they have a reason for doing it. Like working up a strategy.

But I dont see how its so hard to catch them. The competition arenas are pretty confined. All that would need to be done is one or two people wait in different locations and then catching them would be no problem.

Many of these runners are just griefers who will gain satisfaction in proportion to how long they can prolong the fight. If you complain or vent your frustration, it makes it even more worthwhile for them.

Sure you can just snare them, but is it worth spending 5-10 minutes extra of your time to prove something to a bunch of fools? It's better to just leave the battle and start anew without saying a word.