What I Learned From 3vs3

First of all the most important thing I learned from this, was Humility. This event was very humbling for me, as well as others I assume. Not just those who participated but those who were spectating as well.

Seriously there are some redonkulous PVPrs on our server. Not that I didnt know about all of them before, but something about seeing all of them in one spot at one time really drove home the concept. For an RP server, the amount and skill level of toon on EbonHawk is astounding.

Having said that, I sure am glad to have all of you. Not just for the competition, but for when cross server is finally implemented. I am 100% certain that the Ebon Hawk will be mixing it up with the best TOR has to offer.

Lastly, on a personal class note. Whirlwind or Force Lift. I dont use is half enough. Mostly because everytime I do its broken by damage or purged off. Seeing the more elite groups use it effectively is proof that it can be done. Maybe not in a PUG, but it certainly has its place in a coheasive well put togeather group that is communicating.

After getting our butt handed to us, we decided perhaps that team composition was actually pretty important in a small setting like this . I think it's safe to say the following things are a must for any 3v3 team:

- One person using tank stance that can still put out very good damage

There's no doubt about it that having a hybrid Shadow/Assassin in tank stance is the best class for this job. Shout out to Sindol for still being able to deeps as a Defense Guardian However I think the instant Force Lift/Whirlwind and stealth mez is the best choice here.

- One dedicated healer that can outheal sustained focus fire on either themself or a teammate

At first, it seems that either of the 3 healers would be good for this job. However, Operatives are slightly lacking in sustained single-target healing - they will be under too much pressure to maintain Kolto Probes on all of their team for Tactical Advantage, and while they are good at spamming when a target is in execute range, it's a lost battle at that point. Mercs have the most powerful single-target heals, but only in the short term - without the appropriate cooldowns we will overheat very quickly. A Sorceror healer is best here - they have the best mobility and CC, and can respond quickly to target swaps and don't have to worry about short-term resource problems like the energy-based healers, only long term. A Sorc is also the most viable for off-DPSing because of their range and resource type while the other two will suffer short-term energy problems if they need to throw heals right after.

- One mad DPS with powerful defensive cooldowns

A Sentinel/Marauder or a Guardian/Juggernaut. The second isn't as powerful defensively but that was largely mitigated by Guard swapping and Jevy putting out insane damage and the addition of being able to taunt. Probably a toss-up here. I couldn't count how many times Koenig was at a sliver of health and still got away

And finally, the above 3 should be as mobile as possible and have good CC options. As you can see from the results, the top 3 teams all used a Sorc/Sage healer and the top 2 used a hybrid tank Shadow/Assassin.

Our first team was Sniper, Powertech, and Operative healer. Second team was DPS Assassin, Merc healer, and either Sorceror or Smash Jugg who didn't show up so we grabbed Rytan, a really good tank Juggernaut. Both teams suffered from lack of mobility, the first team had trouble being able to keep up with focus fire on the Powertech, and the second didn't have enough DPS output.

Overall a very good learning experience. I found it amazing how quickly some teams adapted to find the best things to do - even though there is no established arena in SWTOR. Also the importance of Guard and how very often the tank was the first to be taken out. Which should have been obvious to us - in warzones often the healer is the first to be focused but that's only because there are enough players to take them out in the space of a stun or two. The name of the 3v3 game was to CC the healers as much as possible.

2 DPS will take down a guy getting healed. So focus on taking out the DPS first before targeting the healer. CC'ing healer is important, whirlwind. Assassins/Shadows create a devastating advantage when they begin a match by out-of-combat cc'ing an enemy player for 8 seconds.

With a competent tank and a good healer you can heal through the focus fire of two dps.

I think team comp is really important for small group fights, and we knew going in that we would be hard pressed to match the damage output of teams with hybrid shadow tanks/sins,

Dizeren suggested that Sindol run in full vigi if we ever compete in an event like this again; it would be an interesting to see how a full vigi build guardian tank compares to a hybrid shadow/sin tank.

I agree that team comp is even more critical for 3v3's than it is for 8v8's.

Sorc heals and CC, and tankassin control and high dps for tank spec were infinitely more valuable than bursty DPS. Also, snipers have a very hard time functioning in that pit due to how easy it is to LOS them. It's very telling that the final two teams had essentially the same composition, and not a single non-force user made it to the finals.

The other thing I learned...let me rephrase...the other thing that was reinforced for me is that we have some incredibly talented PVPers on our server. We're very lucky to have so many. It was cool to witness such great competition in such a friendly atmosphere. Kudos to Pax Imperius for putting this together. And cheers to all who participated.

I think a lot of servers would kill for such an active and competitive PVP scene. If ever there are cross-server queues I truly believe that Ebon Hawkers are gonna do very well.

I'm very much looking forward to more tournaments. Maybe we should do this once a month and rotate the hosting responsibility?

We have a good server, and some great pvper's, some of the best, ive played with quite a few, im prolly not recongnized as even a good pvper, Mordor my sith assassin, ive played with dashto on several occasions, guarding him, in a pug we have held the center node on civil war against half a team waiting on reinforcements, goes to show that with team work anything is possible (especially against baddies lol).

We have the skill set to own people if cross server ever happens, my mara is on pot5, and i see better players on hawk then i do over there on a more regular basis.

Keep up the good work, keep killing, see you on the fleet

Good to have you on our server man. Yeah some very impressive folks. I've had the pleasure of playing with most of these guys and honestly not everyone is always on their A game. But for the most part we are very consistent and when the players do come together, team cohesiveness and familiarity are a big part, these guys just wreck. I can safely say that except for the presence of Guerilla, we had representatives, and more like the majority of the top PVPers on EB come out saturday night. Everyone's a great personality and a trip. Didn't have any baby-mama-drama, no QQ, no bad mouthing. Just some good old fashion competitive spirit from our elites.

The responses we've gotten have been phenominal and also enlightening both about the event and as you can see by this thread, PVP and Arenas.

Agreed!,, I would Also Like to see a handicap tournament. Where we remove the gear gap. Make Recruit Gear mandatory for all participants. I think this could alleviate the "Ill never have the gear for that, so I wont sign up" people.

Pax would love to share the hosting of this. Would Hex be interested in hosting the next one? Maybe even Zen or Empire?

Considering GG will be the defending champs. Maybe they would like to host.?

Empire would be interested in hosting the next tourney.

Maybe the next one can have two brackets and we can cut it off at some valor level to encourage more teams to participate who don't have WH yet. I'd prefer something like that than all recruit gear. I think we can all agree that there needs to be a next one. It was so fun to watch.