XMegidoX
Posts: 1159
Joined: 12/28/2005
Credibility: 700 pts
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| Evaluating Skills from a pvp perspective. |
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Everyone knows that Mending is a bad skill in pvp. Some just get told that fact and are forced to accept it, others find out for themselves through experiment or theory. This post is a quick overview on how to evaluate skills theoretically before trying them out from a PvP perspective. Skills are totally different in PvE, so hopefully this will help you let go of your beloved pve skills when you step into the world of pvp.
An example of the pve/pvp differing mindsets was the skill Energy Blast from Guild Wars: Eye of the North. When it was announced, there were many pvers saying that this was going to be the next big spike skill - it does 130 damage for 10 energy, 5x130 = 650. The pvpers, on the other hand, were more focused on that 20 second recharge. This recharge time is far too long to be used as a spike skill, and, once it was released, it did not see any usage for that purpose.
Obviously, effective evaluation is something that takes time to be able to do properly. This is the main reason that people still use mending in random arenas.
Why is that skill bad?
First, lets look at what makes skills bad, or ineffective.
Firstly, lets look at raw stats.
As an example, lets look at Ash Blast. The damage it deals is very low, even at high earth magic. Compare this to to Stone Daggers, another earth magic spell with the same casting time and energy cost. This also deals low damage, but has a 0 recharge time. This means you can use it far more often than you can use Ash Blast, so in the same space of time, you will deal a lot more with Stone Daggers than Ash Blast.
Second, lets look at utility, or what else can this do apart from damage?
The example here will be Glowstone. As well as its damage, if it hits a weakened foe, you gain energy. Nice extra right? No. The fact that weakness is a condition makes it a lot harder to get it to stick. A lot of teams have a Restore Condition monk, meaning that any condition you apply is going to be removed fairly quickly. Add onto the fact that weakness does barely anything compared to other conditions, do you really want to be using that? And in turn, if you dont have it, are you ever going to use this?
Third, we'll look at combination, or how easy skills fit into a team.
Now, I know you can try to make a team build around any skill. Thats not the point of this, for example, blood drinker is pretty lame until you put it into a necro spike team. What I mean is, how useful is it in a normal balanced team, how well does it fit with other skills that do different things, and does it do a necessary job, and does it do that job well?
As an example here, lets take Armor of Frost. The purpose of this skill is a way to mitigate damage. +40 armor is no small amount. However, this skill doesnt help the other members of your team mitigate damage at all, and so if something isnt attacking you, this skill is a waste of a skill slot. Mitigation, while necessary, is done through a variety of methods, and aegis, for example, is way better a that job than armor of frost due to its party wide nature and it also further mitigates damage by preventing adrenaline gain.
Fourth is threat.
If your skill doesnt really do much, your opponent isnt forced to deal with it (refer back to the article on Proaction vs Reaction). In order to force your game on your opponent, you want all of your skills working together effectively to force your opponent to deal with them or die. For example, theres no point at all in using Conjure Phantasm if you have no other hexes.
Lastly, theres the matter of detail and ease of removal.
If your skill can be removed easily, its not going to be much of a threat. Enchantments and Hexes are very easy to remove. There are many skills which can deal with these that see common usage. Again, lets look at Armor of Frost. This is a long duration, long recharge enchantment. When this gets removed, the downtime is huge. If something is recharging, its not helping you in any way.
Also, projectile spells come under this category. Projectiles have a high chance of missing due to people moving, so they better do a lot if you are going to use it. For example, Flare can be evaded by shuffling side to side, whereas Mind Blast cannot. Note, this does not mean that enchantments, hexes and projectiles are inherently weak. What it means is, if you are using them, they better pack a punch.
What makes skills good then?
Well, obviously, the opposite of what makes them bad is a start. I'll let you figure that out for yourself to avoid repeating everything ive said previously.
Short duration, short recharge
In a build where you arent stacking stuff up, the shorter the recharge on an enchantment or hex, the better. This is why you see hexes like Diversion in builds as the only hex. As well as its short recharge, it packs a large punch - it disables a skill for nearly a full minute at best, or, at worst, it forces the opponent to stop using skills for the 6 second duration which helps alleviate pressure or force spikes through.
Inability to be removed
If there was an enchantment that did exactly the same as Warmonger's Weapon, the weapon spell would still be strictly better because it cant be removed except by killing the character with the spell on them. So, if you have a choice between 2 skills which do roughly the same, you want the one that the opponent cant mess up.
Short cast time
I know there are long cast time spells that are amazing (think diversion). But in general, you want a skill with a short cast time which is harder to interrupt and as such, harder to prevent.
Big effect
Now, not all long cast time, long recharge time spells are bad. They are still worth using if the effect they have is big and forces immediate reaction.
Flexibility
Not all games go as planned. Sometimes youll find yourself retreating from a bad push. This is where flexibility comes into play. Crippling Shot, on the offense lets you snare retreating enemies to pick them off. But it can also be used defensively to snare enemy warriors to prevent them from damaging you. The more viable potential uses a skill has, the better it becomes.
Variable power levels
The power of a skill also depends on what you are using it for. For example, Enraging Charge is a great speed boost due to its adrenaline boost. However, if you just want a skill to cancel frenzy with, you are better off looking at a skill that you will have more reliably. This is why most warriors tend to bring Frenzy and Rush.
As well as specific usage, it also depends on what other skills that do the same thing can do. For example, if you want a skill that dazes, Broad Head Arrow's 15 energy is very cheap compared to other reliable skills that do the same like concussion shot (25 energy), skull crack (9 adrenaline), bestial mauling (requires pet and knockdown).
Conclusion
I hope that this post will let some pvers gain some insight into how a pvper evaluates skills, why we say some of your favorite ones are bad and why we say some that do next to nothing in pve are good. Once you get evaluation down to a fine art, you will find your builds, both individual and team, becoming more effective, and as such, you will win more.
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| 01/11/08 11:57 |
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XMegidoX
Posts: 1159
Joined: 12/28/2005
Credibility: 700 pts
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| RE: Evaluating Skills from a pvp perspective. |
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Again, comments and feedback are most welcome.
X Megido X - W/Rt - Questionable Tactics [hax]
| QUOTE | HackingHippie89
s**t, meg doesnt approve...it blows |
If you don't know what you're talking about, ask the questions, don't answer them.
The PvP Mindset Series
Active Skills vs Passive Skills and Proactive Play vs Reactive Play
Evaluating Skills
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| 01/11/08 12:06 |
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| 01/11/08 12:28 |
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Nyoxis
GameAmp Staff
Posts: 318
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| RE: Evaluating Skills from a pvp perspective. |
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Good stuff.
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| 01/11/08 12:42 |
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stanzhao1
GameAmp Staff
General Administrator
Posts: 911
Joined: 03/15/2007
Credibility: 1869 pts
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| RE: Evaluating Skills from a pvp perspective. |
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yeah, that was a pretty good read,
nice job meg :)
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| 01/11/08 12:53 |
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Drucila
Posts: 428
Joined: 08/23/2006
Credibility: 287 pts
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| RE: Evaluating Skills from a pvp perspective. |
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I think it was worthy of article credit (+25) so I gave you +10 here and +15 with an admin award! Very good job and I hope to see more posts like this from you and everyone else in the future.
:-) (And yes I will give others credit where credit is due in admin awards as well)
Dru
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| 01/11/08 13:26 |
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Rogue
Posts: 3967
Joined: 12/09/2005
Credibility: 7161 pts
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| RE: Evaluating Skills from a pvp perspective. |
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Not only from a PvP perspective, ANY perspective.
IGN: Rogue Mysst. Guest me for GvG.
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| 01/11/08 14:20 |
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