Unsportsmanlike conduct in Team Arena: Running Players

This attitude is why random arena is the hell hole that it is. You have the runners, griefers, quitters and the occasional faction bot. And when someone voices a complaint about these issues, suddenly it's called "crying"

Sheesh.

Most people who run probably don't even come the forums much less would ever care to reform. So it pretty much comes down to this being a venting thread. Which I can respect, however I do admit I'm in the "cry more" camp on this. It's a social issue that really isn't going to change. Take it or leave it, PvP is PvP and Internet Smacktards are Internet Smacktards. You shrug them off and you carry on. If you can't, well, gaming with random people online probably isn't for you.

I got into a match a few sundays ago where we killed off the other team, leaving a Wa/Mo running around.

Our monk left instantly; it ended up with my Me/N, a Warrior, and an Elementalist on my team. We were on the Jungle map, and bodyblocking there can be pretty tricky- although we managed to do it once.

After twenty minutes, I was chatting idly with my teammates, perched on a bridge, while doing my homework.

Thirty minutes go by, us deciding to just sit/stand there and repelling him when he comes too close. We chat about everything you can possibly imagine.

By the end of the 69-minute match, he's challenged each of us to 1v1 (and ran away when we accepted and he was losing- he lost against my bloody MESMER/NECRO, with faintheartedness and enfeebling blood), I have two new additions to my friendslist, and one new guildie. We actually benefited from it, just sitting there and getting to know one another. It was especially good after we all turned off local chat.

Just because I take issue with some problems with random people in a random arena doesnt equate that I can't handle it. Apathy does not equate some sort of strength of character or that I can't handle some social retards.

It's not the behaviour of runners that people here are wanting to change....it's the mechanics of the game that runners are abusing that's the problem. For instance, you don't try to change the behaviour of spammers, instead you put in a measure to keep those spammers from spamming.

you can farm faction alot faster with an actually good build that doesnt take 25 mins for a flawles.... so....

and hey i mean maybe you dont like the word crying, but your all complaining about what a bunch of assholes do to waste time. call it what you want....

and you really only need like 1 skill to catch runners, usually, so i mean its not like you need to rework the entire build, just shuffle a few things around. like some people said, you dont win until you win, assholes or not. in tombs, if you come against a group your in a stalemate against, you dont say "ohh lame build blahblahblah" most people just start to think of ways to augment the damage of their own build. so just extend this idea to TA....

Right. But "(Such and Such) sucks and I hate it" threads in Riverside isn't that great a way to accomplish such a thing. Not only do these types of threads become polarized and hostile, they ultimately tend not to result in anything constructive when the interest in it passes or they are locked.

Sardelac Sanitarium, on the other hand is far more suited for complaining about problematic mechanics. Even more so if the poster explains why it's a bad thing and offers suggestions about how it can be fixed.

The tone, topic, and location of a thread can be responsible for the type of responses it recieves. This thread is obviously angry, this topic has been done to death, and it's in a place where fights tend to break out pretty easy.

I appreciate the advise and stories of successful techniques to combat the running build in PvP. I adjusted my build accordingly, although with a big sacrifice to my ability to cause damage.

Thanks to the rest of you for making it my fault. -_-

Honestly, having runners be your Achilles' heel isn't all that bad. I would rather focus my build to beating stuff that actually is a concern.

The responses weren't made to make it your fault as much as explain that "Yeah, it sucks. But there is meta out there for it if you wish to take it."

Really? How'd it gimp your damage by bringing along a skill or two? I'm interested in what your current setup is.

And, well, it's not really your fault you don't have a counter. Learning to counter runners in Arenas can help later on.

I always love the idea that you guys imedially attribute these kinds of acts to butt ramming a homosexual. Is that some kind of obscure insecurity of some kind? I always wondered? anyway. Try either crippiling the little twerp or pinning em down or something. a running ranger / warrior can be delt with. just DO it. whats so hard about that?

Running is not poor sportsmanship at all. What is poor sportsmanship and what should not be tolerated are the original poster and others like him thinking they have any legitimate claim on asking other players to commit in-game suicide just to gratify them.

There is also a new thread on this exact same subject every 3 weeks or so. It's really old. I don't understand why mods often lock good questions threads that have been asked before yet threads about running players get repeated perpetually and they do not get locked.

Can you explain why? *ponders*

I agree you have been unlucky if you enter a random arena with a group of, say, 4 characters that don't have any skills against a runner. But then again, you are equally unlucky if you enter the arena with 4 healers, or any combination that leaves you extremely lacking in one skill area.

The point is, if you find yourself facing teams that are beating you because they are evading you, then you better look at your skills and find some combination that can counter this. And take at least one skill with you. If you are a ranger, take pin down or a trap. If you are a Mesmer or elementalist, take one of the skills that slow. Considering that all characters have a second profession, there must be something you can take. Otherwise, don't take anything against runners and evaders, and accept the loss when you come up against a team that uses this strategy.

The best way to deal with a runner who won't fight is to simply do absolutely nothing. Nada. Just get your team to stand completely still and don't talk on public channel. Just wait. If they want to run around for an hour and give themselves RSI then let me.

Tell me, who is the bigger fool? The runner or the person who fruitlessly chases them?

I don't know where an actual rule is, but it seems to be the general consensus to leave screennames out of posts here. Whether it encourages flaming of a person or is an invasion of privacy, it's just better to leave screennames out of discussions, especially ones that involve a fault, out of it. The 5 seconds it takes to blank out a name ishouldn't a problem.

And for what coolsti said...it's true. Pretty much anyone can bring an anti-runner measure. Mesmer, Ranger, Ele, Warrior: these all have some way to stop a runner. Unless you're running a N/Mo or Mo/N, you can bring one skill.

Ok ive done a bit of pvp but not really go into it yet, bit here bit there.

Is this a common occourance, should i be worried about it?

Because to be honest when i hear things like this i just think, meh shant bother.

I have come up against a few of these, but then I never have any problems, I have yet to see someone outrun my pet build, and if I bring maiming strike its all over red rover as the saying goes.

actually, when i was in the CA yesterday and we foudn one of those runners/trappers we had this 3 warrior/1 monk team. and he was using sprint, stormchaser and dodge. there was no way i could catch him with sprint alone... so what i did was just start a mini flame war with him. he started talking, and it isnt *that* easy to talk/run at the same time so after like 5 mins he got cornered and died. so maybe if you keep him talking back at you, you have a better chance of getting him.

aaanyway

This isnt about how to combat runners, this is a complaint that runners exist and if they are un-sportsman like!

If you or your team cannot defeat a runner then it is you who is lame, to force a draw is a perfectly acceptable strategy used by sportsmen all over the world... take chess for example..

if your oponent cant check mate you because your in a situation where you could run your peices around the board forever then this is classed as a DRAW. why should one say.. oh its a draw, so I'll just declare you the winner?

Why should a ranger who can run you around the arena for the rest of your life be the one to give up?.. has he lost?.. no... YOU have failed to defeat him! and probably its YOU who has had to concede.

This is about the runners skill, and your lack of skill... nothing to do with sportsmanship at all!

It is when the sole reason for a build is not to take part in combat but to run away with the deliberate intention of causing annoyance and frustration. We're not talking about people who run away at end of match when the rest of their team is dead but people who start the match with no intention of fighting at all. It's not skilfully, big or clever but juvenile (and God knows there's already enough children who use the anonymity of the internet to try and ruin other peoples' fun as it is).