About sniping

nic13

Folks, we know you need the points. It's fine to take them from others. All we ask for is a little patience and wait some 6-10 minutes after we land in your queues.

It is not fun at all to go out, run 2 matches and find yourself barely advancing, or even worse off than where you have started. If you let us finish our matches in peace and shield up, you, and all the other little sharks who q'd us, would have more points from your fight.

Quebbster

The problem is that if I wait to hit you I might get hit myself and the node with you in it will be replaced with a retaliation node. Probably a low point one. Damned if you do, damned if you don't...

IReallyHatePVP

.....Not what i Think of when I hear the term "Sniping".

I was under the impression that "Sniping" was when you wait until the near-end of an event to join, in an attempt to place(high) into a new bracket, thereby, depending on the event, easily obtaining 1-3 (or better! thanks again, Prodigal Sun Dec '14!) for approximately 2-5 matches worth of work.

But yeah, the PvP shielding thing is a pain in the neck, too.

Can't remember the last time I paid for a , though....sniping great....unless Sharding/MMR (still heretofore 'Sharting') hates your guts...

Unknown

I think of the term sniping as hitting someone in your bracket when they are unshielded in an attempt to lower their points while increasing your own, knocking them out of contention for X prizes, and solidifying your position. This requires them to either play another match against someone to get the points back, thus exposing them even longer to the chance of multiple hits, or shield up and accept the losses.

When shield hopping it's usually not a problem since once you are shielded and scanning for points, the chances of those people being unhsielded later when you hit them is going to be very low. It's more about while you are climbing, in which case speed is often king. It's nice if people can hold off a few minutes, but they often don't feel like they have the time to do so, as any time spent unshielded makes them a target as well.

It's slightly ironic that one of the stated goals of instituting the shield cooldowns was to decrease outside of game communications, when the result is just the opposite. Now more than ever outside of game communication, often through multiple friendly alliances, is necessary to facilitate better scoring, and essentially, leaderboard manipulation.

Unknown

It also applies to a bunch of people queuing someone who's above you in your bracket and hitting them at the same time when they unshield.

It's pretty funny to me that this change to shields was intended to make out of game coordination worse, and basically made it essential.

Arondite

So are you really asking that others stop competing with you? That they remain unshielded for longer, exposing themself to protect you? Are you asking they risk losing out on your node entirely if they do get attacked?

Unknown

I know right? LOL Like I'm really gonna sit here and wait for your little Dolly parton self to shield up just so I can hit you. Be real yo, it's a strategy game. Everyone's hitting everyone. I'm sure as hell not gonna wait for anyone to shield. I snipe plain and simple

Infrared

Cooperation is a strategy too. After you pass 500, the points you win are the same as the points your opponent loses. So the number of points in the system remains unchanged. The exception is when you hit someone who is shielded, then the total points in the system increases. This is the only way that progression rewards can be reached, otherwise there just are not enough points to go around. The introduction of time slices and shield cool downs has spread the points even thinner and made cooperation all the more important.

Yes, we cannot expect you to sit there vulnerably while waiting for us to shield. But there still are little things you can do to help boost points overall within your time slice. If you have three targets queued up, maybe hit the oldest target first. Perhaps by the time you are done, the 2nd and 3rd targets will have had time to shield. If you are shielded, then queue up your targets well beforehand so that they will likely be shielded when you are ready to climb again. Try not to queue them right before you attack.

Unknown

Yea, ok buddy lol Like I said before I snipe. I'll hit whoever and whenever. I could really care less if you're shielded or not. I don't have time to sit here and debate and wonder if someone else is friggen shielded lol You guys are really dumb with this stuff. Please...

over_clocked

Cooperating with people has helped me get so many more covers and prizes than I would be able to get on my own or just with the help of my alliance.
Communicating outside of the game itself might be something that's frowned at by the devs, but I like to think of achieving progression rewards along with others as a fun community activity which MPQ otherwise sorely lacks.

nic13

I agree that it's scenario dependent, and that there's a risk of a node being covered. Judging by the hits bouncing off my shields, however, it's actually safe to say that those hitting me are likely to have alternatives. At 600, must you really hit a 48 point target immediately? Or has the shield nerf gotten so bad that people are also sniped relentlessly at 600?

And on in game communication... I've never seen so many players so helpful until today. Hat tip to the guys we worked with today.

Quebbster

nic13 wrote:

I agree that it's scenario dependent, and that there's a risk of a node being covered. Judging by the hits bouncing off my shields, however, it's actually safe to say that those hitting me are likely to have alternatives. At 600, must you really hit a 48 point target immediately? Or has the shield nerf gotten so bad that people are also sniped relentlessly at 600?

And on in game communication... I've never seen so many players so helpful until today. Hat tip to the guys we worked with today.

Unless you join the tournament at the very last minute, there is always someone climbing up beneath you. A 48 point target is always juicy, and why not hit the big payout first?

Unknown

Quebbster wrote:

nic13 wrote:

I agree that it's scenario dependent, and that there's a risk of a node being covered. Judging by the hits bouncing off my shields, however, it's actually safe to say that those hitting me are likely to have alternatives. At 600, must you really hit a 48 point target immediately? Or has the shield nerf gotten so bad that people are also sniped relentlessly at 600?

And on in game communication... I've never seen so many players so helpful until today. Hat tip to the guys we worked with today.

Unless you join the tournament at the very last minute, there is always someone climbing up beneath you. A 48 point target is always juicy, and why not hit the big payout first?

Not only that, but just because it's 48 points now, doesn't mean that it will be in 10 minutes. With people shielding less, points seem to be even less stable than they used to be.

Unknown

The only issue I have is that I don't know my opponents points...

I'm not one that goes to 800-900 (usually get 500) but sometimes I hit someone and then sit down and wonder: maybe that guy was really close to a progression reward and now I set him back.. It's one thing that I enjoyed from the old format. I could have been unshielded at 480 and no one hit me cause (id like to think it was for this reason lol) they waited for me to get the progression reward. All the new changes implemented from D3 seem to be favoring a more "ME ME ME" game rather than a community helping each other out.

nic13

I guess you guys have a point.

Can't beat them, join them. Gonna start late too then. At least now I know who believe in the mechanics of the game and wouldn't mind being sniped

Unknown

I personally have changed my approach to starting sooner rather than later simply because...everyone wants to start later so more people are climbing, meaning more people are likely to find you and attack you. I initially started this season with a 3-8-3 approach, meaning i would at most spend 300 hp which i still plan on doing if the rewards arent something i really want. But this time i tried an early approach with the idea that i would be finished with 1 day remaining, spending 300hp. Ive climbed to 925 points, no stress, not many attacks but a few, but definitely not like the last 3 hours of an event thats for sure. Sure i have no idea where i will finish, but judging from the brackets ive been in so far, probably top 10 at worst. And usually, the top has been very clustered so i can still break my day shield in the last 5 minutes to break into the top 5 if possible with little risk of getting smashed. Just my 2 cents.


Update:

Finished 4th overall...that was by far the easiest and less hectic event so far for me, no worries, just went about my business and collected the rewards.

Quebbster

EpicBeastmode wrote:

I personally have changed my approach to starting sooner rather than later simply because...everyone wants to start later so more people are climbing, meaning more people are likely to find you and attack you. I initially started this season with a 3-8-3 approach, meaning i would at most spend 300 hp which i still plan on doing if the rewards arent something i really want. But this time i tried an early approach with the idea that i would be finished with 1 day remaining, spending 300hp. Ive climbed to 925 points, no stress, not many attacks but a few, but definitely not like the last 3 hours of an event thats for sure. Sure i have no idea where i will finish, but judging from the brackets ive been in so far, probably top 10 at worst. And usually, the top has been very clustered so i can still break my day shield in the last 5 minutes to break into the top 5 if possible with little risk of getting smashed. Just my 2 cents.

I didn't notice any big difference in total scores when I started late vs when I started early, so I don't think it matters much - you climb as high as you are capable and get the appropriate rewards. The main advantage of starting late is that you don't need to spend as much HP on shields. The main drawback is you have very little margin for error as one bad game can completely wreck your chances of getting a good placement.
Then again, I tend to play the Europe-friendly brackets as opposed to the US-friendly brackets, so I suppose it is quieter in there. It also helps that I have a good roster capable of sustained pushing, so it's not a big deal to play continously for the last few hours of an event.

Unknown

nic13 wrote:

I agree that it's scenario dependent, and that there's a risk of a node being covered. Judging by the hits bouncing off my shields, however, it's actually safe to say that those hitting me are likely to have alternatives. At 600, must you really hit a 48 point target immediately? Or has the shield nerf gotten so bad that people are also sniped relentlessly at 600?

And on in game communication... I've never seen so many players so helpful until today. Hat tip to the guys we worked with today.

If you are working with a transition team, 600 is the point of no return. Cross that line and get lit up. I tend to sit around 550, wait until the last 3 hours, then speed run through 6 matches and shield. I usually get hit 2 to 4 times during my push and another 3 to 10 times in the first 10 minutes of my shield. I am just fighting the highest value nodes I can find, as fast as I can find them because the hordes are coming.

wymtime

I think not sniping people was easier when you could actually hop. If I am in a climb and will be placing a 3 hour shield to the rest of the event I have to hit the person with big points. If I line someone up in when I am shielded I always wait before I start my hop because I know how hard it is for that person to score so high and the HP they have made the game easier for me. The problem with the new shield system and time slices is it is harder to find good points so if I am making a push to 800-900 points and someone pops up for 30+ points I have to go right away or else I will get sniped from below. I also know this is an issue for people who have higher scores than me as I was making a push for at the same time as someone in my alliance and they ended up to hit me for 18 points. He was climbing and had to take the points that was given and didn't notice it was me.

I agree if you can wait respect the people who have given you the opportunity to score big points. Unfortunatly it is becoming harder to find these people and might not be possible to wait.

nic13

Yeah. Seems like it sucks to be at the bottom and at the tip. The biggest pain is not being able to recoup the points because we can't shield

Unknown

Just keep in mind they keeping an eye on how high every one gets after shield changes to adjust progression reward teirs.

So the more everyone 'abuses' mechanics now through outside cooperaration, the more essential it will be to reach the top progression rewards in future.

If you only care about top rank, let's not kid ourselves, there is always going to be someone willing to pull out every stop and take advantage of every mechanic they can.

The only thing up for contention should be the progression rewards.