::Blades of Ouroboros:: RECRUITING NEW PLAYERS AND ALTS

[Tojo]

Banner renewed (for cheap again), so don't bid on our old banner slot.

I respecced hoplite for this week; since siege is always dead now, I wanted to try something more versatile for battle. My KDR has subsequently dropped 75%; it turns out that charging headlong into the fray is a poor strategy for hoplites. I need to learn to play less aggressively on Battle; I feel like I am the first to die every round. Siege rewards manly endeavors, but battle rewards cowards.

Lol maybe you are just looking at it wrong.  Battle is more like "you go 1st", "no you go 1st". It's best to just go with the good players and support them as hoplite. I like to watch their backs to make sure no one flanks with cav, while using the massive reach to stop those pesky agility dancers.

[Jona]

I would say his assessment was fairly accurate... in battle everyone who doesn't turn and run when their team is outnumbered gets ganked and has to wait another several minutes until spawning again for the same thing to happen.

Anyways... Phew, what is your hopliting build? If you are still 18-24 then you should be pretty well-off.

Some recommendations: For a first-time hoplite, I would suggest you use an ashwood (or comparable long pointy stick) over the far-shorter battlefork, which is what I saw you running around with. I personally like the battlefork more since I can use it up close (I have no dedicated 1h wpf, so really my spathion is mostly just for show) but you have a 1hander for those situations. Make use of an ashwood's reach to stay away from facehugging and spammy dedicated melee builds as long as possible... helps if you have allies to hide behind (as previously stated, the best way to play battle is play like a coward). Last but most important bit of advice... don't follow me and use me as an example of a good hoplite.    I rush into bad situations and often times try to out-duel people while hopliting simply because battle is boring and that is the only way to get any sort of "kick" out of it. In siege you constantly have to throw yourself into shitty situations and you can really get a "rush" from that sort of playstyle. Like you, I carried the siege mentallity over into battle, and therefore have either a good kdr and a mediocre experience (form playing cowardly), or a shitty kdr and only 30 seconds of fun every 5 minutes. Very rarely do playing aggressively and getting a good kdr (or simply surviving longer than the first minute) go hand-in-hand in NA1.

[Phew]

Anyways... Phew, what is your hopliting build? If you are still 18-24 then you should be pretty well-off.

18-27 for now; mobility and damage seem fine, just my tactics are flawed.

Using Battle Fork mostly just so I can say "Fork You" whenever I rear a horse, backstab one of my buds, etc. I have a trade up for an ashwood, so maybe I'll get to try that soon. Although all my best hoplite kills so far have been this sequence:
-Shield neutral nudge with fork equipped
-Switch to 1h axe during nudge
-Left swing with axe
So the sheathable aspect of the fork has come in handy. But if all my hoplite kills are with my 1h, I realize I'm doing it wrong.

[Taser]

18-27 for now; mobility and damage seem fine, just my tactics are flawed.

Using Battle Fork mostly just so I can say "Fork You" whenever I rear a horse, backstab one of my buds, etc. I have a trade up for an ashwood, so maybe I'll get to try that soon. Although all my best hoplite kills so far have been this sequence:
-Shield neutral nudge with fork equipped
-Switch to 1h axe during nudge
-Left swing with axe
So the sheathable aspect of the fork has come in handy. But if all my hoplite kills are with my 1h, I realize I'm doing it wrong.

That's a beautiful thing right there.

Hoplite seems like one of those things that you either do very well at or suck ass at. The only way to be in between is if you got a group backing you up. I've seen people do very well with it even 1v1 or 1v2 then I see people with it that'll lose a 3v1. So if you like it.. keep at it. It takes some real knowing how to use it and how to make it go around people and etc. Kicks work well too.

[Jona]

Yeah, I originally didn't like the idea of hopliting since it basically thrives off the exploitation of stabs in this game, but eventually I just decided to try it out since it helped change up the otherwise stale battle a little bit. The playstyles of poles I have still yet to tamper with are now 2d stab-based weapons and 1d polearms (pike+long spear). Those rely too much on exploits for me to ever enjoy*. The hopliting is bad enough, but at least when you are a hoplite your are pretty much hindered by using the shield, so that is some consolation.

(click to show/hide)

*Yeah yeah, ik... "this coming from an agi spamming noob."

[Taser]

Try out the swiss Jona. Best halberd, 2d anyway.

[Jona]

Where you been all this time, mang? I have been using a+3 swiss since March now. I said I have yet to play any "stab-based" 2d poles... the swiss is far more effective with its overheads than its stab that always ends up glancing. By stab-based I mean an ashwood, awlpike, spetum, etc... pretty much anything that has a blunt overhead and is shaped more like a spear than an axe.

[Taser]

A +3 swiss?? And you didn't tell me about it? You been holding out on me!

And yeah the stab is hit and miss. (huehue) Overheads where its at.

[Jona]

And yeah the stab is glance or miss. (huehue) Overheads where its at.

[Phew]

Those rely too much on exploits for me to ever enjoy

I thought 2h and 1h stab were wonky/exploitable, but hoplite stab is full retard. It always does one of three things:
-Hit for full damage when it should glance (up close, after 360noscope spin, etc)
-Just phase directly through a guy/horse it should have hit (no glance, just nothing)
-Teamhit somebody that isn't even remotely near your thrust

Even last night on siege (thanks for the heads up on Steam Jona), most of my kills were still from the "switch to 1h during nudge animation" trick/exploit. This befuddles people so much, I might still carry a spear around after I respec back to pure 1h. Actual hoplite isn't my cup of tea though; I lack the willpower to stay on the fringes of the fight.

Pending marketplace transactions, I think I might do Huscarl next week (1h+shield+2 stacks of Heavy Throwing Axes). I did this for like 2 years back when siege was in its prime; good fun.

[Jona]

Well, in case you haven't noticed, although I'm sure you have... all stabs are just full retard.

This,

-Hit for full damage when it should glance (up close, after 360noscope spin, etc)

describes all stabs in this game. While,

-Just phase directly through a guy/horse it should have hit (no glance, just nothing)
-Teamhit somebody that isn't even remotely near your thrust

does indeed apply only to hoplites. Well, that 2nd point can apply to 1h or pure polearm stab as well I suppose, when someone is standing off to your right side. The problem I have the most often with hopliting is a combination of both those points... I stab straight through an enemy and there always seems to be a teammate standing right behind him who I manage to just barely tickle in the pinky toe, somehow for full damage.

And for the sake of siege, I hope your marketplace transactions fall through.   The last thing we need is one more thrower in siege, battle, anywhere...

[Phew]

The last thing we need is one more thrower in siege, battle, anywhere...

Years back, my shielder heroes were Rusty and Turboflex (agility sword/board and str axe/board+jarids, respectively). So for most of my cRPG existence, I tried to play a Frankenstein of these two opposite playstyles (agility sword/board+throwing axes). Throwing secondary adds a lot of fun/utility for minimal weight/skill pt/wpp investment. Chucking axes down a ladder on siege defense adds fun to the first ~30s of the round that would otherwise be boring.

Throwing is pretty much a direct counter to agility 2h and pole (i.e. you), which are the classes that by far cause me the most trouble. As a shielder, I'm never particularly concerned about throwers, other than the like 3 dedicated throwers that know how to throw through/over shields (Chucky/Artie/Xeen).

[Tojo]

I think I threw over 100 war darts at Jona last night. Which is basically what I do when 1h shield isn't working for me, switch to Brees and score touchdowns

[Jona]

Aren't they technically interceptions?

[Draeth]

hi