PvP shield hop etiquette Q

Trisul

Hey all,

I'm not a real experienced PvPer but I'm going for a personal record in this WoM event via shield hopping.

Question: if you search and find a high-point-value target, is it common etiquette to wait a certain amount of time before playing the node (for them to shield)?

Unknown

You define your own ethics.

Waiting a bit is wiser if you don't want retals in the future, by the player himself or his alliance. Some Alliances like it to snipe, it brings them adrenaline. They are not necessarily "mean", that's their gamestyle.

MarvelMan

I dont know if its really an etiquette thing, but its definitely nice to wait 5-7 min so they can shield back up.


To score high, try joining some of the Line rooms to coordinate hopping.

JamieMadrox

Great question and good answers from both Arktos and MM. Ultimately it's up to you. Personally I, and many other players from top alliances, will ask on Line if the other is shielded if we happen to have each other in Q. That said, not all players play that way and I do not extend that courtesy to players that snipe as a play style. Similarly, there are player in most top alliances whose sole function is to hit back at snipers. So really play as you will, but if your intention is to not hit people unshielded, join Line, get in some chats/add some people, and ask first.

Unknown

Jamie Madrox wrote:

Similarly, there are player in most top alliances whose sole function is to hit back at snipers.

How are they doing that? Just burning through iso when in range of the attacker in order to hit them back? Or is there some easier way to do so? I've read about some of those attacks and have wondered how people queue up/find an seemingly arbitrary name.

Unknown

Yes, they spend a lot of Iso boosting and skipping.

They found a new playstyle to still have fun after the cooldowns.

New habits have arisen. So we all adapted in the end.

Trisul

Wow, anti-snipers... the true heroes of Marvel Puzzle Quest.

Pylgrim

I really don't get this... I'm guessing I am a "sniper" but it's not because I am trying to be mean or taking advantage of others but because:

-I'm over 600 points and trying to collect as many points as I can and then shield before I am savaged.
-When I skip, I am rotated between the same 3-5 teams of 270/270/249s... that give me only 20 points! I can defeat those with boosts and a bit of luck, but I'm certainly not going to do it for 20 points.

Therefore, if after spending hundreds of iso skipping, I finally find a team that will give me above 30 points, you can be sure I'm going to take it without hesitation. If I am "nice" and wait 5 minutes for that person to shield, I'd be attacked for 60+ points in the meantime while getting none. I cannot see how being "nice" is a viable course of action, nor how playing the game in the only way that I can remain competitive (and note that my goal is not top 1s or anything, just get 900 points) is "sniping" and apparently worthy of punishment.

Trisul

Pylgrim wrote:

I really don't get this... I'm guessing I am a "sniper" but it's not because I am trying to be mean or taking advantage of others but because:

-I'm over 600 points and trying to collect as many points as I can and then shield before I am savaged.
-When I skip, I am rotated between the same 3-5 teams of 270/270/249s... that give me only 20 points! I can defeat those with boosts and a bit of luck, but I'm certainly not going to do it for 20 points.

Therefore, if after spending hundreds of iso skipping, I finally find a team that will give me above 30 points, you can be sure I'm going to take it without hesitation. If I am "nice" and wait 5 minutes for that person to shield, I'd be attacked for 60+ points in the meantime while getting none. I cannot see how being "nice" is a viable course of action, nor how playing the game in the only way that I can remain competitive (and note that my goal is not top 1s or anything, just get 900 points) is "sniping" and apparently worthy of punishment.

I think the idea is to search for targets while you are shielded, queueing up as high point totals as you can, so you can afford to wait before hitting those targets. So it's more for multiple shield hops rather than the last-minute PvP rush you are describing.

morph3us

I queue people up in advance, and try to give them at least 5 minutes to reshield, as well. I mostly do this because I hate getting sniped in the middle of a hop, and so I try not to do the same to others (although, getting sniped occasionally is part of the game too). I hit IceIX the other day, so hopefully I gave him enough lead time to reshield

Pylgrim wrote:

I really don't get this... I'm guessing I am a "sniper" but it's not because I am trying to be mean or taking advantage of others but because:

-I'm over 600 points and trying to collect as many points as I can and then shield before I am savaged.
-When I skip, I am rotated between the same 3-5 teams of 270/270/249s... that give me only 20 points! I can defeat those with boosts and a bit of luck, but I'm certainly not going to do it for 20 points.

Therefore, if after spending hundreds of iso skipping, I finally find a team that will give me above 30 points, you can be sure I'm going to take it without hesitation. If I am "nice" and wait 5 minutes for that person to shield, I'd be attacked for 60+ points in the meantime while getting none. I cannot see how being "nice" is a viable course of action, nor how playing the game in the only way that I can remain competitive (and note that my goal is not top 1s or anything, just get 900 points) is "sniping" and apparently worthy of punishment.

I take your point, Pylgrim, but I guess we're talking about the circumstance where you're queuing people up, before you break shields. It's clearly suicide to wait for people to reshield when you're in the middle of a hop. Generally, if you find a team that's worth above 30 points that only just popped up into your queue, they're probably in the middle of a hop. If you're already shielded, and you have time, it costs you nothing to give them five or so minutes before you break shields yourself.

morgh

What I do when I encounter an absurdly high value target when climbing from 700-800 (which is anything > 33), I ask myself the question "Would I want to be sniped in the same position?" I just Q that person and move on to other nodes and try to fight people between 25-32 points since even if those are not shielded, when they get a retal, they will be able to get most of the points they lost... After about 2 fights - or when running out of HP and healthpacks, I come back to the high value targets which by that time should already be shielded since people hopping usually are done within 6-9 minutes

Arondite

I mean if you're just the guy, you can go it solo and do uncoordinated attacks, sniping when able etc but it's harder and potentially counterproductive if you get retal'd to the red.

ClydeFrog76

Reading this thread really brings to light just how **** PVP is in this game.

fmftint

There can't be 2 #1s and there are no ties either. Letting someone keep their points is counter productive

jackstar0

So what about making PvP opponents anonymous? You could still see their roster, but not their name/alliance/anything.

Just eliminate coordination.

I am saying this from a loner's perspective.

morph3us

fmftint wrote:

There can't be 2 #1s and there are no ties either. Letting someone keep their points is counter productive

Fair point, but I'm not in any danger of placing top 5 anytime soon, so it makes no difference to me personally whether someone keeps their points or not. All I want is that progression reward. If anything, from a purely pragmatic point of view, it makes sense for me to let someone finish their hop, since they'll be worth more points to me if they're successful rather than not.

I also don't think alliance coordination is a big deal. I'm a loner too (as in a casual alliance), and it's important to me that some of the established alliance guys hop up to a high point value, so I can bounce off them when I make my run later.

lokiagentofhotness

i won't snipe if i see someone unshielded in my bracket, will wait until the shield again to attack them - but i don't hold it against people who snipe me either. it's a game. not everyone knows where the line battle chats are, and if you're climbing and see a high point target, then you probably don't know either way if that person is shielded or not. i side-eye more the people who take the sniping personally and get all "OMG must avenge!!!" over it. no one is trying to target you, get over yourself.

Unknown

jackstar0 wrote:

So what about making PvP opponents anonymous? You could still see their roster, but not their name/alliance/anything.

Just eliminate coordination.

I am saying this from a loner's perspective.

So you'd have alliance mates attacking each other? That doesn't make a lot of sense.

Anyway Tris I don't know if people mentioned it yet but waiting for people to shield has the added advantage of no retaliation nodes or vindictive crazies - just makes the whole experience nicer.

Unknown

ClydeFrog76 wrote:

Reading this thread really brings to light just how **** PVP is in this game.

EXACTLY!! (though I would have used other words).

morgh

fmftint wrote:

There can't be 2 #1s and there are no ties either. Letting someone keep their points is counter productive

This might be true if you are talking about same bracket fights - however what do you care if someone in another bracket gets their highish spot? Also - same bracket sniping has been seriously curbed down considering the shield CDs - you can't really just unshield the second you see someone unshielding to snipe them or you will mistime your own shields...

Unknown

Rosraf Ro Denn wrote:

ClydeFrog76 wrote:

Reading this thread really brings to light just how **** PVP is in this game.

EXACTLY!! (though I would have used other words). PVP is hopelessly stupid, and I sudpect the only real reason it has not scrapped entirely is go give players a way to burn $ on shields and health packs.

I think D3 is too lazy to think of another way to make money from PvP which is why we still haven't scrapped this system, even though it seems like there must be a better way to make even more money that'd be slightly less stupid out there.