Prey v Delta Rivalry.

[CaineDeSoulis]

so i was testing kill shot with prey in order to sure up my match with ormgar and while i was in the black market i noticed i was suddenly injured. then looked and saw 2 fights with delta. what unfortunate timing. Stay Steadfast Delta you'll lose the throne by this evenings end :P.

[crow]

Delta, got his level 10 Armor Movement today. Let the games begin

[Cynaidh]

oh snap this should be good!! (grabs the popcorn)

[BlkTmplr]

Don't hog the popcorn Cynaidh!

[CaineDeSoulis]

well it looks like the prey v delta matchups are going to be decided by....echo?. yup echo beats prey 90% of the time barring a stun from prey. which is why 4 challenges from echo later delta holds the top spot. a CounterStriking Theatrics best matchup is a berserking speed rage. regardless of what changes i make to prey i cant over come that. But CaineDeSoulis will happily Trade Echo shot for shot being a power rage.so it lookes like it will be Prey vs. delta, Echo vs. prey, CaineDeSoulis vs. echo, and Delta vs. (anyone but prey). This is probably going to result in rotating champion's

[crow]

To be honest the Echo vs Prey is closer to 95%+ But Prey has company Echo gives plenty of challenges to Wargh also, just ask Apocalypse. Echo has been a project in the works for awhile for me, he is just now coming together. I have a few tweeks left before he is near complete. He is doing better against the wars lately, well see how that keeps up. Actually I enjoy reading the Caine vs Echo fights because the intangilbles decide the winner of the fight. Mainly who is prone and if Echo is able to disarm Caine. The main thing for Echo to avoid is Caine's rampage attack, if he deflects that then he has a very good chance.

As far as Delta shying away from Prey is not true. Delta can only challenge or avoid Wargh and Prey (the other 2 glads occupying the top 5 are Foxtrot and Echo and they are from the same team..so he is not fighting them). Both are about the same...so I just hit the fight button and see who the lucky fella is. Had alot of fights against Summit today. Poor fella did not stand a chance.

On a personal opinion note..I am not a fan of these blade speed rages. There fights are generally ridiculous...most of there opponents don't get a shot in and the only build that stands a good chance is the more defensive theatrics. The only war that is doing okay is Laharl..but the recent nerfs on the Wars is very evident..as the War glads go tumbling down the rankings.

[Dainoji]

On a personal opinion note..I am not a fan of these blade speed rages. There fights are generally ridiculous...most of there opponents don't get a shot in and the only build that stands a good chance is the more defensive theatrics. The only war that is doing okay is Laharl..but the recent nerfs on the Wars is very evident..as the War glads go tumbling down the rankings.

Did you feel War was overpowered as Eruption and the rest of the War gang were dominating their way up the ladder and winning the lion's share of the Blood Games? As I said in another thread, all I see are people focusing on one type of matchup speed rage vs war. How are speed ragers faring against theatrics? How is war fairing against theatrics, etc. So it looks like war is having a tough time with rage, well, rage is having a tough time with theatrics, how about war vs theatrics, my guess is that one is pretty close. I see a simple rock paper scissors at work here which is great for a game to prevent a dominant build. As the above posts show, Prey can't handle the theatrics gladiators, that's great news for game balance.

[crow]

Dain,
You are correct in theatric doing well against this build (speed rage). But speed rage is much more brutal against 2-hand rage and very dominant against axe and mace rage. Most 2-handers don't even get a single shot in. And power ravers such as Caine and summit get slaughtered as well.
I'm thinking this was done by Nate to get us thinking of more creative builds and strategies. Make us figure how to win a little differently.

[Dainoji]

I understand the frustration, and many pvp games I've played suffer the same problem. How do you balance speed and power? The 2Her problem is classic. 2H weapons are supposed to be big and slow and do lots of damage, but as many managers know, a lucky parry or unlucky bounce can ruin your day. The speed glads can afford to have some unlucky shots. Heck, maybe this is where that luck achievement comes into play...never thought about it that way until now. I've always suspected gladiators have more attributes then what we see since very similar gladiators with similar builds and strategies can perform different.

I think there are some more balancing tweaks that need to be made but if the champs at the top rotate fairly often, then that actually is a great sign to me that things are moving in the right direction.

[CaineDeSoulis]

the basic breakdown is each gladiator has 3 types

Speed Gladiator (trying to kill as quickly as possible with as many shots as possible)
Power Gladiator (trying to kill as quickly as possible with the most powerful shots possible)
Defensive Gladiator (trying to slow down or prevent the speed/power gladiators, while at the same time landing thier own shots or letting endurance wear out)

Speed beats Power
Power beats defense
Defense beats Speed

Its been this way since total parry was changed. Speed types have grown so strong as of late the only way to beat them is to build against them specifically. or build one with more Agi than the next guy.