Anti-Gaming

[FRANK_THE_TANK]

I've been there man. I remember saying to a kick arse Aus player "You suck the life and fun out of me because you kick my arse so hard". He still would but after enough duels I started to get him every thirdish fight so it evened out a bit.

It's just one of those games where some people do develop superior levels of skill and can dominate the crap out of you.

My advice is find an amusing build that is enjoyable and don't play to win.

15/18 thrower cav/1h used to be my laugh my arse off build. I used war darts, nothing quiet says "UP YOURS!" like riding head on at a lance cav and hitting him with a dart just as he goes to lance you.

Use a rouncey, and light armour.

[Vibe]

get autoblock

[Gricks]

Indeed it is. If this game was easy like all the other dumbed-down shit out there, it would probably have a ton of people playing. I play cRPG because it presents a real challenge. I'm not good at it, but I don't want to be given anything for free.

You can go play some tab-target piece of garbage with the rest of society if that's your thing.

Here you earn your keep.

Calm your tits buddy. The mod is obviously amazing. And it isn't so much the skill involved as it is the character being useless for 20 levels.

[Zerran]

One hour on the duel server, in Teamspeak, with someone who knows what they're doing will teach you more about how to "go pro" than 2 months of playing by yourself ever will.

So much this.

When I first started playing as a Pikeman I only had maybe 3-4 maps of experience playing against Xeen as reference. I remembered what kinds of tricks he used against me, but had absolutely no idea how to repeat them. I have no idea how many times I got slaughtered by a_bear_irl trying to learn how to helicopter stab, but it was certainly a humiliating experience. 

Join a clan, have them show you the ropes. It's much less frustrating than repeatedly suiciding trying to learn new tricks. And try out every class and every weapon. Yes, that's a lot of trying new things, but eventually you'll find something that really suits you. It took me something like 4-5 gens before I tried the Pike, but now I love it.

[Slev23]

To be honest, I've been trying to practice, and I'm probably doing better than average. But it's frustrating coming up against the same guy who you know will beat you, or watching the lancer cav go 25/2 every map and just couch you in the back within two minutes. Or just the unending knockdowns that cav do.

I'm currently using my light gear because I love how it looks; blue tourney helm, blue brigandine, and a heavy bastard sword.

[Vibe]

To be honest, I've been trying to practice, and I'm probably doing better than average. But it's frustrating coming up against the same guy who you know will beat you, or watching the lancer cav go 25/2 every map and just couch you in the back within two minutes. Or just the unending knockdowns that cav do.

I'm currently using my light gear because I love how it looks; blue tourney helm, blue brigandine, and a heavy bastard sword.

If you're bad at blocking I suggest you start with singleplayer tutorial bots. If you have some knowledge in blocking, then go duel. It will improve your personal skills a lot more than battle.
Dueling guys much better than you might be frustrating, but you'll progress the most by dueling good players. If you just dueled bad players or players of the same skill your progress would be much slower. Ofcourse the time it takes to get good also depends on your gaming talent.

Anyway, work on personal skills first then go battle and train advanced battle-related skills. Battle is for training stuff like awareness, choosing your fights, moving around the field, fighting multiple opponents, ...

[Slev23]

I"m a pretty good duelist, it's battle that I find frustrating, why would I want to play a mode where 80% of my deaths are backstabs from cav, headshots from archers, or pin cushioning from archers, crossbows, throwers.

[Vibe]

I"m a pretty good duelist, it's battle that I find frustrating, why would I want to play a mode where 80% of my deaths are backstabs from cav, headshots from archers, or pin cushioning from archers, crossbows, throwers.

My advice: don't just hunt kills. Play battle to survive, not to kill. This way you'll learn all the stuff that is necessary to not get backstabbed by cav or shot down by ranged. Focus on avoiding stuff that kills you and then when you get a hang of it, join it with your dueling/killing skills.

[Slev23]

But that's not fun... I don't want to sit in a group of players and do nothing. I want to have fun, but of course you can't, because any fight will be ended by an arrow, bolt, throwing axe, or lance to the back.

[Vibe]

But that's not fun... I don't want to sit in a group of players and do nothing. I want to have fun, but of course you can't, because any fight will be ended by an arrow, bolt, throwing axe, or lance to the back.

Who said do nothing? I just said try to survive and don't mindlessly kill hunt. Move away from fights that are dangerous. If your group is outnumbered, run away and seek other opportunities. Don't charge a bunch of ranged alone, use surprise attacks instead, play it safe. Don't go charging in open field if the enemy team has cav superiority.

[Kafein]

Go archer or lance cav an pwn people who spent 3543563465465 hours learning feinting chambering blocking an using good foodwork.

Problem solved now move along..

Now try doing that in a duel 

[Slev23]

I would spend all my time on duel if they let you earn better experience

[Rhaelys]

I would spend all my time on duel if they let you earn better experience

Duel servers used to give no gold/XP ticks, so be thankful you get free XP and free gold without paying upkeep.

(click to show/hide)

Of course this was after the change from the proximity system to the tick system.

[Shatter]

I"m a pretty good duelist, it's battle that I find frustrating, why would I want to play a mode where 80% of my deaths are backstabs from cav, headshots from archers, or pin cushioning from archers, crossbows, throwers.

Doing well in battle as a melee and doing well in duels are not really the same thing. In battle, knowing when to go in and being aware of your surroundings are more important than being able to successfully block every attack.

I've been playing this game since September/October of last year so I'm not one of the vets. I also remember just getting destroyed by a lot of people in melee. You just have to keep playing and you will gradually get better over time (I know a lot of people have said this but it is the truth). I remember joining CoN when I was gen 3 and I learned a lot by just watching Namo play when I was dead in observer mode. Being in a clan and watching good players when your dead and observing what they do will help you get better a little faster. Duel will also help you mechanically get better faster than battle but there are some things you can only learn in battle (watching out for horses, knowing where to be in a battle and when to attack/when to stay back).

[Kafein]

Duel servers used to give no gold/XP ticks, so be thankful you get free XP and free gold without paying upkeep.

(click to show/hide)

Of course this was after the change from the proximity system to the tick system.

I duelled all my way from 37 to 38 on my last gen before the upkeep patch. Sweet memories