Freaky Friday Forest Post

Being Nice is Harder Than Being Mean

Who here has said something nasty online? We are all guilty.

On Reddit this week, people were able to ask why their account was banned when their character names were not in violation of the naming policies. They put some of these people in their place by actually showing what they wrote in /map chat. For dropping N-bombs and BOTH F-bombs (sometimes both in one sentence) they had been temporarily banned; not so much for cursing but for verbal abuse.

As a liberal and someone who always stands up for free speech, I surprisingly found myself delighted when I read this. I have noticed how brazen people become when they can hide behind a computer screen.  They also do not think of the consequences of their actions because the Internet is not a face-to-face reality but an electronic cold world. You do not see the look of hurt on the person's face who you have insulted. You can not be empathetic to someone you do not know. Just ask yourself these questions the next time you are about to say something nasty to someone online: Would I behave this way at work? At school? In public? No, you would not. Because saying nasty things to people in public is not socially acceptable and unless you are a sociopath, you would feel a sense of shame for being so uncouth.

Into the Mists

LFG The Villany of Galrath

I have spent some time in PvP the past few days and find it exhilarating. I did a lot of WvW during the BWEs but have only spent about half an hour since launch. Until the servers are not balanced I will not throw myself to the wolves to be torn apart and have to pay for armor repair. Currently, Tarnished Coast has control of about 5%, another server has 4% and Northern Shiverpeaks owns the rest.  In two weeks when the servers are balanced I'll join in but I refuse to be a victim of Zergfest 2012.

Now sPVP Map Conquest is where I have been sneaking in every once in a while. Looked up armor possibilities and tried to figure out which build would be the best for my style of play.  I noticed that too many people were running away from me during battles, so I set up a lot of immobolization and it has been highly successful. Where you going? Stay right there! WHACK! I've been finishing off a whole slew of peeps. The Triple B is currently using Sword/Shield and Scepter/Torch with Signet of Judgement and Signet of Wrath as my  movement impeders. Also, one of my runes chills the area when I swap to sword so I can hack and slash whoever is around me. Hint to other Guardians: If you can keep 'em still, you can put a whole world of hurt on them. Stupid thieves! ;p

In terms of team strategy, people need to start realizing that zerging on these small maps is a sure loss.  The best strategy is to split up in teams of 2 or 3 but this is easier said than done.  Most people are stubborn in PvP and do what they want to do without thinking about the team. I also noticed that in PvP (GW1 as well as GW2) there is this lack of communication or people thinking their way is the only way. Maybe it is just that there is lack of experience but let me put an example of how I came to these conclusions.

Forest of Nifhel

The Triple B, daughter of Snow Leopard

The battle has begun and I have spawned blue so I immesdiately hit "Save Yourselves" and sprint to the Henge. I see that my whole party is headed to the Henge and quickly think to myself that we need to split up so I take the initiative and head directly to the Keep. At this point, everyone who was headed to the Henge obviously gets confused and follows me to the Keep. WHAT? Do you see what zerg mentality and the stubborn insistance of letting someone else do it does? The Henge went uncaptured and nobody followed up by heading Northeast and killing Chieftain Utahein. We successfully got the Keep but we missed out on 35 points because we did not do the essential task of taking our area. Was I to blame for trying to break free from the wolf pack or rushing to the Keep? Or were the other players at fault for blindly following someone like me and not thinking for themselves? Maybe tonight makes a week and people still haven't thought about the best strategy methods for maximizing points.

Later, being on a team that did split up wisely and efficiently, we faced an enemy team where EVERYONE was roaming around in a group. The other team member I was paired up with ended up slaughtered and we respawned at different times. I ended up alone and headed to the mines to neutralize the point. We had the other 2 capture points so I figured the enemy team would be busy trying to reclaim those. Within seconds, the whole enemy team was headed for me. Why were they headed to a point they had under control? I'm figuring that they saw me during a retreat from the Keep, all alone and helpless.

I found myself alone a few times against 4 or 5 enemies and could tell how they were so excited to finish me. They all striked F and I saw 4 finishing animations going, all trying to take advatnage of the wonderful Ms. Bumpback. I laughed at this. You all really followed little ol' me? What you do not understand is, I am willing to take one for the team (every now and then) and have pulled you away from your true purpose on this map. To win! So go ahead, get your moment of satisfaction of hitting a girl when she is down. Trololo!