Wednesday, August 29, 2007

DPS Doesn't Matter in AB?

I recently had the pleasure of playing a game of AB, my favorite battleground, alongside an Illidan Rogue by the name of Nfcompton. And when I say "pleasure," I mean the type of joy one could only experience while falling ass-first onto a giant man-eating homosexual cactus of some sort. Yeah, they exist, and it was that good.

Having only one base defended, zero bases assaulted, 2 kills, and 10 deaths, the Rogue decided to take his frustration out on his team (which was winning, btw). "DON'T LEAVE BASES UNDEFENDED! YOU GUYS ARE THE WORST TEAM I'VE EVER SEEN!" he exploded.

"Says the Rogue with less DPS than my left nut." a Shaman responds.

It was true too. If the Shaman's DPS was broken down into a DPS:Body Part ratio, his left nut WOULD have had more DPS than the Rogue.

"If you're looking at DPS in AB, please leave the game now kthx." the nut-owned Rogue replied. "AB is about team work, and I'm defending."

Now, as unfortunate as it may be, I have to agree with the last part of this wannabe-gangsta Rogue's comment. AB is all about teamwork, but more than that, it's all about coordination, planning, and execution. Teamwork is nothing if it's all zerging and no meat behind the sauce, if you know what I mean.

But what it isn't is immune from taking DPS into consideration when measuring one's usefulness, especially if you're a DPS class. I mean, think about it. If you're defending, your stats would show. If you're assaulting, your stats would show. If you're not directly doing either, as a Rogue, you should have a good amount of DPS. Otherwise, you're just stalking around, sapping people all day long. And when it comes down to it, that's not doing much.

So yeah, DPS is very much an important stat in AB, and in any BG, really. If you're ignoring it, then, well, you must be distracted by the homosexual cactus with it's thorns up your ass.

Agree? Disagree? Sound off in the comments.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

While I am a dps whore and will clutch my SS/WW while I bust my string, I am a strong believer in class utility.

in a thread not too long ago, a knowitallfag stated somewhere along the lines of "how hard is it to lead bg's." That is the same as how hard it is to fuck a girl...but to do it right takes understanding of what you're dealing with.

It is a paring of both. But there are some classes that will be function primarily as dps and others will function as utility.

During our premade runs, When we'd take a node, I'd send the CC's in the group to the GY while the dps would take the defense down. The CC's primary job in AB is utility. They know I expect them to be rocking the chain fears, frost novas, sheep, etc, etc. This was not to farm hk's but to control the taking of the node. The longer they are stuck at their GY, the quicker it is for us to cap the node.

Majority of the CC classes were stuck at the bottom of the dps list. But we won game after game using our dps and utility in the right way. it is not just a pug-zerg to the node and hope we win.

So I can see how hard it would be for a Spriest or lock to be at the top of the charts when I need him controlling the GY.

btw, a spriest & lock can completely shut down a gy with 5 or 6 enemies successfully until we get the cap and help would be on it's way to them.

but that's in premades..in pugs? well...sometimes the objective gets lost somewhere along the way.

6-7

Zy said...

DPS doesn't matter if your defending.In fact when you consider goals in all bgs there are very few times where the goal has anything to do with nuking people. Aside AV of course.

CC and tactics > all. Everything is equally a strong part in any play, but people that flog meters generally are ignoring the importance of goal oriented play.

Jagoex said...

Woot. Thanks for the comments guys.

First thing I do when I head to a node we're attacking is hit the GY. As soon as they res - Shadowfury into a Howl. DoT. Fall back to the flag. If I'm lucky, I'll have a healer stick with me and we could basically take down the entire freshly-ressed group ourselves.

Tactics are more important sure, but I'm not trying to compare the two. What the Rogue was saying is that DPS isn't important at all, period, and I completely disagree with that statement.

Oh, and lemme clarify something. When he was saying DPS, we were actually talking about total Damage Done. Kinda obvious, ya, but I just wanted to make sure.

If a Rogue is defending (which isn't the ideal role for him in AB) and isn't seeing much action, one would expect low numbers, sure. But if there is much happening at his node - and in this case, it was - his DPS should indicate such, especially if he's calling out INCS effectively and getting the back up he needed on time.

His DPS/Damage Done would remain low only if he was dying quickly and couldn't DPS much at all, or sitting on his hands instead of being at the ready. Seeing his attitude and the complaints he had, my guess it was a little of both.

Zy said...

I disagree. Having rogues and druids guard things is retardedly annoying to people trying to go and take a "free" node.

EvilCheeseWedge said...

Am I the only one that wants to know more about the giant man-eating homosexual cactus? I would also like to see a more comprehensive study on DPS per body part, because I think it would be very interesting... and could really improve play. Not that it matters for me... my nuts are for healing!

Jagoex said...

Lol. Body part DPS list incoming soon.

As for the "Free Node" issue. If there is just one stealth class on defense at a node, it's likely that he/she won't last long once they are observed. They dynamic can get interesting, sure, but to me, the most important part has never been trying to draw the team to a node with little defense. Any competent group would just take it.

Anonymous said...

that's why in pugs or even some scrub premades...they play the 5-5-5

but in our premades..we can pitbull the triangle or run the ring.
having a sound strat allows for 1 or even none to be on perma-D. the response time to support a node under attack is very fast.

6-7-h

Jagoex said...

Oh I remember that strat well. Good times kicking Myst's ass all over the place. :)

Anonymous said...

and yeah...if that rogue was just sitting there with his big toe up his anus, he ain't doing nothing but getting tangled up in his own shit which leads to him not contributing to the squad.

call outs are important, but not at the expense of taking no action.

i've met only 1 rogue that did not want to get his blades wet with blood. that was ginchy. all he would do is yell inc on vent in such a manner that you'd expect to see 10 ally charging farm. but it would only be 2. a rogue, even a decent one can stall/if not straight up take on 2 long enough for support to arrive.

maybe that dude was doing a ginchy and doing it like a mottled boar instead of a shark. btw, some people just love to give orders and not deliver themselves. i hate people who cannot deliver and try to give orders. makes me want to punch their faces.

6-h

Ferarro said...

"First thing I do when I head to a node we're attacking is hit the GY. As soon as they res - Shadowfury into a Howl. DoT. Fall back to the flag."

Oh. You're one of THOSE.

Jagoex said...

Damn straight. ;)