Arena Sniping, "Clock Blocking", and Being a Jerk
Before I begin, I'd like to acknowledge that I understand the proverbial dead horse on this matter is quite flogged and dead. I'm aware of at least one significant and mostly thoughtful thread on arena payout sniping on this forum. Also, for some this post will provoke a tl:dr knee-jerk response. Those people are welcome to go read something else. I'm simply seeking a little insight and productive dialogue on the matter. Tell me where I've gone wrong, but please do it with some class.
The fight for the top ten, and especially five, arena ranks is ridiculous. The situation: now that my mods have become more competitive, I've found myself staying in top ten arena ranking overnight and usually battling for top five arena payout daily. Some of you reading this may have firsthand knowledge of this top 10 phenomenon going back a long ways because I've gathered this is not a new phenomenon.
Anyone who is a part of the final payout sniping and clock blocking learns really quickly how it works. You learn you don't want to achieve high rank too quickly unless you wish to dump your winnings down the drain by having to refresh to hold your spot. (The exception would be whales who have no concern with the crystals awarded, but merely with the perceived "winning.") You learn how many other people are vying for top five/ten finishes. You learn how long it takes certain opponents to destroy your team. You learn to vary how long you'll let the clock run to try and reduce the chances of getting sniped while the slow-as-molasses game reloads your arena opponent screen. You learn that despite your best efforts to snipe and clock block, you yourself will get sniped and clock blocked. This list of things learned goes on. The bottom line: if you want to finish in the top 5 on a competitive shard you must necessarily be a jerk.
Some people find this fun. The reality is it's mere tomfoolery. Every day a group of obscenely rich dudes are sitting around a big fat $25,000 conference table laughing at the idiots who engage in such activities and, moreover, put real life currency toward it. I digress.
What is contributing to this issue? Several things, but chiefly I believe it's simply too much power and speed. Between AoE destruction and the arrival of the Ambiguously Gay Duo (yea, ya'll know of whom I refer!), there are teams that can shred any other team in less than a minute. I've been sniped in arena having finished my previous battle with only about 45 seconds before payout. I'm not sure whether or not my opponent set it on auto or not. Probably, but it doesn't really matter other than to imply that only absurd speed secondaries could make that possible.
This all begs the question: how could this game be considered WAI?! If it is, everybody must realize we are creeping farther and farther away from the state of playing a game. Honestly, I don't even think strategy is much part of the equation anymore. Maybe only insofar as which toons you opt to farm. I'm open ears for arguments on how strategy is involved.
All this said, I am one of those people using an AoE team and our favorite orange-suited duo. I have finished arena payout number one for the past 4 days. My experiment is complete. It's reasonable to expect the existence of a meta and it's reasonable to expect to have to closely follow and utilize the meta to find success, especially as a f2p player. I see no way around this. The questions remain: what is the cost of all this power/speed and are we still playing a game? I'd like to see some semblance of strategy return. If we want this, I see no alternative conclusion other than speed mods and power (relative to possible health/protection) are our gaming enemies. Because, after all, we do want to play a game, don't we?
p.s. DarthDarthBinks, Matteej, OnddamSerpens, Rkiuto, Starley, (or anyone forgotten)...if you guys are reading this, I'd be down for a truce. Though, I probably won't be around long enough for it to matter, but if I am I'd be happy rotating top 5 with you all and any other guys that can hang in the top of our payout (CDT/UTC +5)!
The fight for the top ten, and especially five, arena ranks is ridiculous. The situation: now that my mods have become more competitive, I've found myself staying in top ten arena ranking overnight and usually battling for top five arena payout daily. Some of you reading this may have firsthand knowledge of this top 10 phenomenon going back a long ways because I've gathered this is not a new phenomenon.
Anyone who is a part of the final payout sniping and clock blocking learns really quickly how it works. You learn you don't want to achieve high rank too quickly unless you wish to dump your winnings down the drain by having to refresh to hold your spot. (The exception would be whales who have no concern with the crystals awarded, but merely with the perceived "winning.") You learn how many other people are vying for top five/ten finishes. You learn how long it takes certain opponents to destroy your team. You learn to vary how long you'll let the clock run to try and reduce the chances of getting sniped while the slow-as-molasses game reloads your arena opponent screen. You learn that despite your best efforts to snipe and clock block, you yourself will get sniped and clock blocked. This list of things learned goes on. The bottom line: if you want to finish in the top 5 on a competitive shard you must necessarily be a jerk.
Some people find this fun. The reality is it's mere tomfoolery. Every day a group of obscenely rich dudes are sitting around a big fat $25,000 conference table laughing at the idiots who engage in such activities and, moreover, put real life currency toward it. I digress.
What is contributing to this issue? Several things, but chiefly I believe it's simply too much power and speed. Between AoE destruction and the arrival of the Ambiguously Gay Duo (yea, ya'll know of whom I refer!), there are teams that can shred any other team in less than a minute. I've been sniped in arena having finished my previous battle with only about 45 seconds before payout. I'm not sure whether or not my opponent set it on auto or not. Probably, but it doesn't really matter other than to imply that only absurd speed secondaries could make that possible.
This all begs the question: how could this game be considered WAI?! If it is, everybody must realize we are creeping farther and farther away from the state of playing a game. Honestly, I don't even think strategy is much part of the equation anymore. Maybe only insofar as which toons you opt to farm. I'm open ears for arguments on how strategy is involved.
All this said, I am one of those people using an AoE team and our favorite orange-suited duo. I have finished arena payout number one for the past 4 days. My experiment is complete. It's reasonable to expect the existence of a meta and it's reasonable to expect to have to closely follow and utilize the meta to find success, especially as a f2p player. I see no way around this. The questions remain: what is the cost of all this power/speed and are we still playing a game? I'd like to see some semblance of strategy return. If we want this, I see no alternative conclusion other than speed mods and power (relative to possible health/protection) are our gaming enemies. Because, after all, we do want to play a game, don't we?
p.s. DarthDarthBinks, Matteej, OnddamSerpens, Rkiuto, Starley, (or anyone forgotten)...if you guys are reading this, I'd be down for a truce. Though, I probably won't be around long enough for it to matter, but if I am I'd be happy rotating top 5 with you all and any other guys that can hang in the top of our payout (CDT/UTC +5)!
