So when I started the game yesterday, I felt like leveling my new trooper healer. So I went and logged on into the game and queued for a warzone, since I had bought the legacy xp boost for warzones.
On my old server (Peragus Mining Facility) I had fairly good experiences with <50 PvP on my main character. This was allmost a year ago, when the game just launched. Ofcourse there was the occasional retarded pug, but I mostly had fun and I was not that much irritated all the time. Unfortunately, things seem to have changed alot. Allmost every warzone on the Red Ecliple that I join on my trooper is filled with baddies and retarded people. Im usually not the first to start QQ'ing about baddies and all but when it just keeps coming back and when people keep stating that <50 PvP is better fun than 50 PvP I just can't keep myself from writing this thread.
Below, I will list the 8 sins of <50 PvP. These things are what is killing the fun for me in <50 PvP and I'm sure I'm not the only one. Now I know people will say stuff like: "It's the same in 50 PvP" but really, its not. The reason I'm doing this is that people need to be made aware of the issues they cause to others by not paying attention and ignoring all the basics. The PvP we have been handed by BW isn't great, but if the people break the fun as well, its just too much. Please note, that I have seen these eight things happen in just one warzone.
1. People just not reading the chat
This happens in 50 PvP as well, but not as much as in the <50 PvP tier. Since rarely anyone tries to coördinate these warzones, I mostly try my best to place everyone where they need to be. I try to keep it simple, because I know alot of ppl are new to the game and are still learning the basics. But I can't tell you how many times my chat has been straightly ignored by players in the warzone.
For example, when the warzone The Civil War starts I tell people 2-6-0. Just to be sure, I also say: 2 go left, rest middle and if you are a healer, go mid. No reactions. This is the first sign of things to come. When the forcefield disappears and we eventually land on the first platform, out of a habbit I just wait at the edge to be sure at least one person goes left. And I just see every single player run past me and storm mid... So i just went left. As a result, we do cap mid, but after a while I see 3 guys coming for me at the left turret. I immediately call inc 3 left in chat. First of all, no reactions, both verbally and physically. Everyone just keeps fighting at mid and the occasional player tries to take right on his own. Even the ones that are respawning don't take the left turret to help me. The warzone eventually ended with us only having capped mid and the imps having the side turrets. It was just impossible to coördinatie a decent attack because nobody was reading chat. Even if you are still a new player, reading chat cannot be that hard.
2. Sheep/Cattle mentality
Like I listed in point 1, bad PvP'ers tend to go mid at first because they can kill the most enemies there. This is not only in The Civil War ofcourse, it is the same in both Voidstar and Denova. The worst example I can think of is a situation I encountered yesterday in The Civil War.
We had just capped mid at the start of the warzone. The two guys who were at left were getting attacked by 6 imps, soon after. They astoundingly enough managed to call inc, which increased my hope of succes. So this is where the bad part starts. Each and every player at mid instantly rushed to the left turret and tried to defend/reclaim it. I thought, well I'd better stay here to defend. After we repelled the attackers and send them back to their ship to respawn, the imps started coming after mid again, so I call inc mid fast. I look on my map and I see every single one of my teammates abandon left and come to mid. After, that they did not react to my message about never abandoning a turret and we lost the left turret soon after. At this point the imps knew about the retarded cattle mentality and lured our team out every time only to take the one which was abandoned. As a result we lost ofcourse.
Aside from this example this kind of thing happens alot in Voidstar as well where if one guy drops down at the right side, everyone just follows and doesn't even look at where the enemy is going. With the new changes to Voidstar it is already hard to defend well, but when people completely ignore certain parts of the map, they just make it too easy for the opposition.
3. People don't know how to play their class, not even the basics
Ofcourse this is comon with new players, but when you see a lvl 46 scoundrel dps with full energy just spamming flurry of bolts and quick shot, I am just baffled. At lvl 46 you have either completed most of your class's story in PvE or have done alot of PvP. Either way, you should know the basic rotation of your character by now. Other examples are sentinels just instantly forceleaping into the enemy zerg and lolsmashing, without paying attention to where his own teammates are and classes stunning without thought like in Huttball where the ballcarrier is stunned in front of the firepit in stead of on top of it. Do I have to continue?
4. People not calling incs/not communicating
This issue is a bit similar to number one, however now the failure comes from not speaking, in stead of not reading. I think this point speak for itsself. People are not calling incs when they see enemies coming at them. People are not reacting to questions of other players like: "How is mid?" or "Need assistance?". Communication is one of the main basics needed to be succesful on PvP. Doesn't matter if it is <50 or 50 PvP. Alot of times, when people actually do call incs, they either call it too late, or after they are killed. When they get reactions from other players as to why they didn't call inc earlier, they make retarded statements like: "They guy standing next to me did nothing.If he did, we could have killed the attackers" or the notorious "I was stunned couldn't type cause I was fighting". Yes, this is all still happening. I have also been in a Voidstar match where we lost in under 1,5 minutes, because people just couldn't be assed to call incs on the doors.
5. People breaking tactically placed cc
This issue might seem small and very situational, but it happens alot and at vital moments in a warzone. For example, I remember a few huttball matches where I saw people place a mezz on a ballcarrier when he was walking over the firepit, after he had spent his cc breaker already. A good move ofcourse, and that makes it all the more frustrating when you see some clueless player breaking the cc over and over again letting the ballcarrier escape certain death and eventually score, because of the full resolve. This is just a case of common sense. Why would you ever attack someone that is mezzed in a firepit? There are lots of more examples to give but I think I've made my point.
6. Skirmishing in stead of playing objectives
I think you all know this one. This is probably the thing that irritates me the most and just made me leave the group in Denova yesterday. We had taken west at the start and were fighting over south. I was there, trying to heal my teammates. The opposition was heavy but we managed to drive them back a bit. I thought to myself, good. At least we have no trouble offering resistance, only to see my team rush to the enemy starting zone and skirmishing in front of it, and leaving south virtually unguarded. Ofcourse, stealthers and people who walked around took advantages of this retardedness and took south. Me, together with the guys at west had been shouting for ages in chat that they should not skirmish but play objectives and fight AT the turrets. No reactions, just retarded skirmishing and fighting all around the map without thought. I don't have to tell you we lost soon after as a result.
Don't get me wrong. I don't mind losing if the enemy team is just better, but I absolutely hate losing because of things like this when we have a team that can actually beat the opposition.
7. Not killing the healers first
I know, this even happens in 50 PvP, but I have not seen it as many as in the <50 PvP bracket. People, if you don't kill the healers first, the tanks/dps your are attacking will just get healed over and over and when you have spent your energy/burst on your target and your own healers are dead, you will be banthafodder soon after. This issue has been pointed out alot on these forums and in the game itself. Why is it so hard? What makes you want to kill the tanks/dps first? Yes, in some situations it is good to burst down a dps trying to kill your own healer, but thats about it. This again is something that goes against common sense and it just shows what the average IQ level in <50 PvP is. I'm sure lots of people get sick and tired of it, so please guys. Do your job as a dps!
8. People doing other stuff than PvP
When you are already tortured by the above stated points, it is even more frustrating when you see your teammate next to you doing nothing while being pounded on, while you desperately try to heal him. It is a new trend that people are doing stuff like crafting, doing emotes, talking to guildmates and alt-tabbing while being in PvP. I don't mind people taking up the phone since it can allways be an urgent call and RL allways goes first, don't let anyone tell you otherwise. But please, when you Q for PvP, do it to PvP. If you want to craft, go park yourself on the fleet. If you want to do emotes, talk to guildmates and other stuff, do it when you are NOT in a warzone. Please understand that you can really make your team lose because of this and not everyone has the time to play 10 warzones a day. People have lives outside of this game as well.
In conclusion
It took me quite some time to type this all out, but I just felt like I had to because people need to be aware of their actions. I hope people will read this and think about what they are doing in warzones, to help their team win and to increase the fun for others. Because that is why we all play this game, to have fun.
TL,DR: Communicate, read chat, use your own common sense, play for objectives and don't think you are a sole player on a battlefield, because you are not.
Thanks for reading,
Koen
