It's here. Panic at the disco. Or whereever you are. The new PVP tournament is out and it's only been four days since the last one ended. 3 days. 2 days how Playdom counts the days. I wrote way too much stuff about the last tournament. It had ups and downs, and it was fun and torture, but here we are. New tourney, so new blog.
But, I am taking a more modest approach to this tournament. So, let's set some goals:
GOALS[]
I burned myself out in the last tournament. I have no intention of doing so again. So, the first goal is an odd one. I will not do more than 500 fights in this tournament. That will be less than half of the fights I did in the previous tournament. And a third of the fights in the first tournament. But it's a good goal. I am hoping to keep it under 300. But do not think that is especially feasible.
The second goal is to keep this blog to one page. I think written everything I have to write about AFK and about PVP in general, so I don't need to log fights here, or really do much of anything. No daily progress. Maybe weekly. No long ruminations.
And, finally, win as many prizes as possible. I have every reason to believe that I can win all prizes. Even with the diminished level of activity. So, let's see that it can be done.
PLAN[]
- 5 fights a day for two weeks (70 fights).
- Evaluate where that has me.
- Decide Next Step
- Continue at 5 fights a day for another week (35 fights)
- Step up to 10 fights a day for that week (70 fights)
- Evaluate
- Decide on the 300-400 plan (125 fights on the last day, other fights as fit my schedule)
- Decide on the 500 fight plan (125 fights the final day, 50 fight the three days before the final day).
- Evaluate
- Decide Next Step
- Evaluate where that has me.
RESULTS[]
Daily logging of results. Format is Date - Rating (rank%) / overall record W-L-D / # attacs (W-L) / # defense (W-L)
- Dec. 14 - 927 (4.5%) / 23-14 (62%) / 12 attacks (11-1 - 92%) / 25 defenses (12-13 - 48%)
- Dec. 15 - 962 (3.7%) / 32-19 (63%) / 17 attacks (15-2 - 88%) / 34 defenses (17-17 - 50%)
- Dec. 16 - 997 (3.2%) / 45-27 (63%) / 29 attacks (24-5 - 83%) / 43 defenses (21-22 - 49%)
- Dec. 17 - 1028 (2.7%) / 51-29 (64%) / 36 attacks (29-7 - 81%) / 44 defenses (22-22 - 50%)
- Dec. 18 - 1098 (1.6%) / 58-31 (65%) / 41 attacks (34-7 - 83%) / 48 defenses (24-24 - 50%)
- Dec. 19 - 1157 (1% - 9191st) / 71-41 (63%) / 47 attacks (38-9 - 81%) / 66 defenses (33-33 - 50%)
- Dec. 20 - 1106 (1.9% - 17773rd) / 83-57 (59%) / 52 attacks (42-10 - 81%) / 88 defenses (41-47 - 47%)
- Mayan Non-Apocalypse - 1176 (1.1% - 10910th) / 98-68 (59%) / 57 attacks (46-11 - 81%) / 109 defenses (52-57 - 48%)
- Dec. 22 - 1149 (1.7% - 16396th) / 111-84 (57%) / 62 attacks (49-13 - 79%) / 133 defenses (62-71 - 47%)
- CHRISTMAS BREAK - No Flash based Internet access.
- Dec. 27 - 1021 (7.3% - unranked) / 151-132 (53%) / 68 attacks (54-14 - 79%) / 215 defenses (97-118 - 45%)
- Dec. 28 - 1105 (3.8% - 42442nd) / 168-143 (54%) / 88 attacks (67-21 - 76%) / 223 defenses (101-122 - 45%)
- Dec. 29 - 1122 (3.8% - 40335th) / 190-162 (54%) / 100 attacks (76-24 - 76%) / 252 defenses (114-138 - 45%)
- Dec 30 - 1335 (.8% - 9123rd) / 218-178 (55%) / 125 attacks (96-29 - 77%) / 271 defenses (122-149 - 45%)
- NYE - 1409 (.5% - 6054th) / 261-214 (55%) / 166 attacks (122-44 - 73%) / 309 defenses (139-170 - 45%)
- NYD - 1538 (.1% - 1538th) / 281-228 (55%) / 187 attacks (137-50 - 73%) / 322 defenses (144-178 - 45%)
- Jan 2 - 1612 (.1% - 907th) / 323-263 (55%) / 223 attacks (166-57 - 74%) / 363 defenses (157-206 - 43%)
- Jan 3 - 1655 (.1% - 660th) / 348-284 (55%) / 241 attacks (183-58 - 76%) / 391 defenses (165-226 - 42%)
- Jan 4 - 1645 (.1% - 961st) / 381-316 (55%) / 269 attacks (210-59 - 78%) / 428 defenses (171-257 - 40%)
- Jan 5 - 1214 (2.7% - ?????th) / 392-358 (52%) / 275 attacks (216-59 - 79%) / 475 defenses (176-299 - 37%)
- Jan 6 - 1653 (.1% - 1225th) / 451-392-1 (53%) / 327 attacks (264-63 - 81%) / 516 defenses (187-329 - 36%)
- The End - 1685 - (1144th) / 571-500-1 (53%) / 448 attacks (369-79 - 82%) / 624 defenses (202-421-1 - 32%)
NOTE: You can see your Offensive/Defense Wins and Losses by opening your profile and hovering over the wins and losses.
WRAP[]
I have seen some things, brother, I'm telling you. The first thing is that the current PvP meta is the most strategically challenging, ever. That's not to say that it's the hardest meta ever (I go back to Looping, and really, the tournament 1 meta was a hard meta because of the number of uncounterable super weapons), but really, the most strategically taxing. There are no shortage of top characters in the current meta: Phoenix, Ghost Rider, Strange, Black Widow, Emma Frost, Thor. There's no shortage of second tier viable characters: Cap, Witch, Colossus, Herc, Valk. There's more than that, but there are also no shortage of different agent strategies and neat gear. Let's start with the things that made this interesting (aka hard).
Phoenix[]
At the start of every fight, I do a quick threat analysis and figure out the course of action. In a vanilla battle it goes, "Kill the Agent, deal with the heroes." There were many changes to the meta in this tournament that made Kill the Agent very hard but nothing made it harder than Phoenix. And no threat trumped Phoenix (except maybe Mod Thor) in terms of making the quick threat analysis turn into a longer, more detailed strike plan.
Fights broke down into two categories: Phoenix and no Phoenix. Without Phoenix, you could kill whoever, whenever and not worry about repercussions. Phoenix Fire (particuarly when buffed) can be the ultimate sanction. Which required a plan to kill her protection and then her protection again, and then her, before her turn. Fortunately, her AI makes mistakes (dunno why... should be: Have Phoenix Fire, Go Phoenix Fire), because sometimes turn sequence doesn't work your way. I will probably be building a team around her next go, before the Psylocke Wave hits.
Odin's Cane[]
Not a problem for me. I didn't use it, and I didn't lose any fights to it. Passive for my taste, but would work nicely with a second round kill em all strategy, like Power of 4, to make sure you stay upright. At any rate, Ghost Rider's Highway to Hell and the funny trick with his Damnation Chains made hash of anyone's Third Charm.
Resurrection[]
"Get dead and stay dead, MF." That was me for most of the day as people played agents with Hoarfrost Mace, some with Barrowguard, others with Phoenix. Frustrating, but I cannot complain. I won at least 5 fights on the final day after my agent had be killed, and brought back with the Mace (then healed by Strange), and my team would go on a rampage with the sacrifice buff. Or they'd get torn to shreds. Thor insurance, not so much for Phoenix Fire. Because of a flaw with this item (exploited by me), you might have to kill the agent tank three times before he stayed planted.
Black Widow[]
Her new update made her the Cat's PJs. You don't realize the damage she can do until you see her from a properly bonused perspective. She's a wrecking crew who can hit anyone, anywhere, for large damage. Everything is stealthy, she counters, she debuffs, she has a deadly crit, she can force crits, she stuns. My strategy for her was basically to sacrifice Strange on the Altar of the Widow, stack a whole lot of sin on her, do a burnout, and Penance her out. Emma Frost was a frequent problem partner as she cleans sin (odd, since she's a total sinner).
The Most Interesting Team I Saw[]
Captain America, I forget the other hero and an infilitrator power armor agent with Mace, Scepter, Heavy Sai and Warbringer Axe. The interlaced tank strategy has always intrigued me, and the Heavy Sai does some major damage on the counter. And it counters counters. And followups. So, I'd use Ghost Rider's Highway attack aimed at Cap, which would be intercepted by the agent, and remove Cap's Shield Guard (key), which would soulfire the heroes and put a burn and a sin on the agent. This would result in GR getting up to two stacks of bleed. Nice. Bruiser Cap without Shield Guard is not much, but before you can debuff him, he can wreck a team. The other person obviously wasn't Emma... I wish I could remember. Any rate, all this hitting with the Warbringer raises their Attack and Accuracy (8% of PVP values, which are already insane) making subsequent Sai attacks hit harder. Especially problematic if he ghosted out (which he didn't do that often). Fortunately, that stacked a lot of Sin, and Penance Stare hits everyone who isn't packing Mental Resistance. A TCS would have done a lot for him.
All in all, I enjoyed this tournament. I got everything I wanted with really about three days of effort and learned some things about how to structure my next tournament. What's next for me? Well, I have that ISO post to finish, I have some levels I'd like to put on, and I have this idea for a post entitled "PVP Judo." Oh, I also have a PVE post planned called "Stupid Tricks" inspired by Psylocke, but covering as many other goofy tricks as I can come up with.
COMMENTS[]
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