You know those pictures that, after you stare at it a long time, you're supposed to see a different image?
Well, I'd like to subvert that sentence and say "It has nothing to do with Halo." But if you really like to overthink things, like I do, then Audley Enough you could make the argument that it does.
Today's topic is Awareness. On the base level, Awareness is being able to see what's around you. But if you really look at awareness on a bigger scale, you start to see it differently as well.
If I were to generalize Awareness into separate categories, I would divide them into three: Spatial, Peripheral, and Situational.
Spatial Awareness is an obvious one. It's what you see. In gaming, Spatial Awareness will usually be reflected by a player's reflexes and how fast they respond to visual stimuli.
In Halo, the most basic form of spatial awareness is seeing your enemies. The better your spatial awareness is in that regard, the sooner you'll acknowledge and react to enemies as they come into your field of vision. While gaming reflexes aren't ENTIRELY tied into spatial awareness, better awareness will improve your reflexes. On the flip side, better reflexes won't necessarily improve your spatial awareness.
Additionally, knowledge of data presented on your HUD (such as your radar, ammo counter, or any other data presented in any other game) are related to spatial awareness. Being able to be aware of your radar as well as your gun's aiming reticule is a very basic skill that can make a large difference in a player's gameplay.
Spatial awareness can also improve your mobility around a map. Players with keen vision are more quick to notice the different ways they can get from Point A to Point B when first playing a map.
Spatial awareness is the difference between barely being able to make a jump, and having the ledge only meet your ankles, leaving you to fall to oblivion.
Since spatial awareness is almost entirely taken at face-value (there aren't many nuances to it. You either have it, or you don't) I won't linger too much on the subject, apart from one aside: how to improve your spatial awareness.
Most often, when I see VoD of players reacting very slowly to enemies appearing on screen, I have but one recommendation for them. Go play a Rhythm game. DDR, Guitar Hero, Rock Band, FFR, BeatMania. Any game of this type is excellent for improving your spatial awareness. You have split seconds to react to colored stimuli scrolling up your screen to a certain point. Even if you have generally slow reaction time, you'll find that with practice, you eventually become able to react more quickly to the notes you have to hit. Once you've improved at that, you'll also notice you begin reacting more quickly to that enemy that ran across the top left of your screen.
You can call me crazy for a recommendation like that, but I've always found an improvement in my reflexes when I play a few rounds of Flash Flash Revolution before a scrim in Halo.
If you're finding you have trouble moving around maps due to difficulty making jumps, the only way to improve is to spend time practicing those specific jumps until you can make them running backwards with your eyes closed and controlling your joysticks with your teeth. Knowing the nooks and crannies of a map comes from experience.
Now, on to type 2: Peripheral awareness.
How do you react to enemies beyond your visual periphery? Well, that would be peripheral awareness.
In gaming, most peripheral awareness is auditory in nature. And among the triggers that can clue you in toward objects outside your vision, there are generally two main sources.
In-Game Sound and Communication. In-Game Sound is another pretty skin-deep facet of awareness. You either hear what's going on or you don't. If you don't, you either need better speakers or better ears. (I use an Astro A40 headset. So if I fail to hear a sound in-game, it's lack of ears. If you're on the market for a headset for gaming, and have money to spend, I highly recommend Astro's products. Be sure to get the MixAmp. )
Now, since I've already talked a TON about Communication in my inaugural Audley Enough, hopefully everyone reading here already has top-notch communication! But...what about RESPONDING to communication?
When your entire team is talking, sometimes it's hard to pick out the call-out you need to respond to. Sometimes it's hard to hear an important call-out over one that doesn't pertain to you. If your team's Sniper is screaming out a one shot guy he failed to pick up the headshot on, and the teammate next to you is calmly asking you to back down and stay alive while he finishes the opponent you're fighting, chances are your ears will focus on the Sniper screaming, and you'll keep fighting only to die or trade a 1 for 1.
Being able to train your ears to hear what you need to hear (and even more, to hear EVERYTHING and respond to which one you needed to hear) is a very important skill when playing with highly communicative teams. While sometimes people need to learn to be more quiet in their calling out (so as not to yell over quieter teammates), it's still necessary to be able to sort layered calls out in an instant and react accordingly.
If three people are talking at the same time, there are a few possibilities for how you will react, or even what you will get out of the communication. A very weak peripherally aware player will fail to obtain any information, and tell everyone to stop talking at the same time. Other weak PA players will hear all three, but their minds will combine them all into one garbled message. "No, I'm sorry, I don't know about the elephant that trampled the New York Giants' win streak." Nor do you know about peripheral awareness!
As peripheral awareness in that instance improves, the sentences get heard individually, with the person speaking them separated. At the apex of awareness, the player whose call-out is most relevant to you personally is the one whose gets focused on in your mind.
The best way I can recommend to improve your ability to pick out the important call-out when several are being made is to, in less important gaming times, have some form of loud background noise also layered in with your sounds. Music or talk radio is usually a good choice (especially for players with headsets, when the music can be sent through the same headset as your in-game sound). As you grow more accustomed to hearing call-outs over music or unrelated talking, you'll be better at hearing important call-outs when you're in a more serious game, with the extraneous sound stripped.
As you become more peripherally aware, you'll know more and more often where your enemies and teammates are, even if you don't see them yourself. Once you're aware of where your enemies are, and where your teammates are, then it's time for awareness category #3, the big one: Situational Awareness.
Now, I talked about a large important chunk of situational awareness last week, when I discussed positioning. You'll always want to position in ways yadda yadda yadda goreaditifyoudidn'talready.
Situational awareness is knowing what to do and when to do it. Not just knowing what kind of situation you're in, but how to move into a better one.
Often, it's referred to as "decision making." But situational awareness is a little bit deeper, as it also explains why you're making the decisions you're making. If you were on Let's Make a Deal, and presented with the options of Door #1, Door #2, or Half-Opened Curtain #3, you wouldn't just pick Half-Opened Curtain #3 without being aware of the fact that there was clearly an Ogre behind it, with the demolished corpse of your long-lost brother smashed upon his club (unless you were seeking vengeance, that is).
Decision-making is usually something you can only improve retrospectively. Go back and watch your game films and look to answer a few criteria:
1) Why did I make this decision?
2) Did making this decision put me in a better position?
3) If it put me in a worse position, was the trade-off worth it? (Did you secure a power weapon? Did you improve your team's lead?)
4) Was their another way I could've achieved the same result with better consequences?
Experience is the best teacher for decision making. Analyzing your gameplay is a lot easier and saving game film to watch and analyze can take your improvement progress through the hyperbolic time chamber (That's right, I just made a Dragon Ball Z reference, readers. Deal with THAT.)
But again, decision making is just a part of situational awareness.
Even if you have excellent decision making, your situational awareness may not necessarily be as good.
I'll give a scenario to explain myself here.
Two players on Countdown are standing in cross positions at each side's third floor balcony. They each fire equal, max firing rate for the first two shots. Each lands the first shot and misses the second. Both players spam a third shot. Player one lands his shot, but player two misses.
From here, Player 2 makes the decision to back down from the fight. Because he was behind in the fight, this is a good decision (probably...we're theorizing in a vacuum here which can be impractical at times). Anyway, Player 1 knows he landed two shots, which means a grenade could finish the kill. So he throws both his grenades toward radio (Player 2's best escape path) and attempts to get the kill. Player two dodges.
Both get their shields back. Now there is one important piece of information Player 2 has that should come into play before he makes a decision on where to go from here.
If you said "that Player 1 has a better DMR, lol!" then no, shut up, you're an ass. Player 1 no longer has grenades. Either 1) Player 2 will have an advantage in the next fight. or 2) Player 1 will be moving to a place where grenades spawn. This kind of information is directly related to situational awareness.
Imagine the scene in Dirty Harry, if the guy had been a bit more situationally aware, he would've known. Clearly, Clint Eastwood's character fired six shots. (Not that it would've mattered, the guy only had one useable arm and was already on his back in front of a standing foe...but still.) Knowing how much ammo your opponent has remaining in a magazine, whether or not a weapon you're about to pick up has to be reloaded, or other subtle nuances of that type are all forms of situational awareness.
An opponent fires one rocket at you then immediately switches to a DMR and tries to clean you up. You still kill the enemy. Upon the enemy's death, a set of rockets falls to the ground. A situationally aware player will immediately be able to realize, "Those rockets have to be reloaded!" Because in almost any situation, a player would not switch off of Rockets (unless it was a long-range battle) if a second rocket was loaded and ready to be fired. So if you were no shields after the fight with the rocket guy, it would generally be a poor decision to rush to those rockets. Picking them up will lead to a reload animation and you would not be able to fight back immediately.
The final form of situational awareness is strategic awareness. Sometimes there's a "best option" a player can take to get from one position to another. This may mean a better route you can take to get to a power weapon. It may mean a better weapon you can use to counter an enemy. Sometimes, though, it's not related to the options available to you.
Situational awareness also includes being able to get into the mind of your opponents, and know what THEIR decisions will be. Knowing the potential routes an opponent can take, and being able to guess what their goal is, will allow you to be a step ahead of your opponents. Take the standard BTB opening from Standoff, for example. The majority of games on that map began with both teams trading massive amounts of grenades at each others' Warthog spawn area. Why? Because from your initial spawn, there was really only one way to go: forward. Both teams wanted the laser, located a short rush in front of the base. The grenades could disrupt the warthog and damage any enemies that went directly forward in front of the base. This grenading was a response to strategic awareness.
Sometimes, opponents may attempt to use strategic awareness against you. They may expect you to take a specific action based off what they expect to be the best action. So how do you respond to this? Intentionally take a less desirable action in order to catch the opponent off-guard. This is called Meta-Gaming. (And it's something I'm going to talk a lot more deeply about in a future Audley Enough.) But for now, we'll summarize metagaming as: when two players are equally aware of the best decision, it's often a better decision to make a worse decision. Open bracket slash confusion close bracket.
Because of its reliance on spatial and peripheral awareness, taking the steps I mentioned to improve those will have positive effects on your ability to take in the information with which you're presented in a game. However, situational awareness, like decision making, is something that must ultimately be improved through experience. The more experience you have, the more you can guess an opponent's likely responses, and the more you can pre-emptively react accordingly. The more experience you have, the more you can guess an opponent's guess of your guesses, and counteract accordingly.
If you want to improve your situational awareness, the first start is to improve your other forms of awareness. Put limitations on yourself in more relaxed games that push you to improve certain skill-sets ("Only use Hologram" for example is one limitation I like to give myself. That way I never have any guaranteed way out of a bad situation. I have to learn not to get into a bad situation, or find easier ways out.)
Well-rounded players typically have better situational awareness than specialized ones. While specialized players may have excellent decision making for their specific role they bring to a team, well-rounded players have more experience filling other roles. This unique trait gives them more first-hand knowledge of potential situations they may have gotten into in the past. Because well-rounded players have been in another players shoes and sometimes Evaded a mile, they're generally more equipped to know what can happen in a given situation.
These bits and pieces of seen, heard, and thought information all combine into one moving unit we call a game. And being able to perceive and conceive all of these potential ways a game can go, and react in a way to make the game go the way YOU want it to do, all stems from that one trait we like to call Awareness.
That's all for this week, folks.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Positioning: The Paramount of a Skillful Player
So, you guys remember a few weeks back when I wrote a big huge article about how Movement was the most important aspect of a competitive game?
Today I'm going to talk about something that stems from that: the most important skill of a competitive game. If Movement is the most important aspect, then it's a logical conclusion that Positioning is the most important skill.
(I'm going to go ahead and cut in on anyone who said "Manual dexterity" or "Awareness" are more important. I'll agree on the latter, as Positioning is actually part of awareness, more specifically, a part of situational awareness. But for the purposes of this blog, I'm going to talk about how movement around a map is the most important skill to a competitive game.)
It's fairly obvious based off my previous blog that I believe competitive games should encourage movement. Players should have goals that require them to leave their most powerful positions in order to gain advantages so they may get ahead and still be encouraged to get further ahead. Situations in which a player is encouraged to 'camp with the lead' are typically less competitive (although sometimes more tense) than situations where a player must press his advantage or lose it.
Now, it's time to apply that to the player's actions, rather than the design of the game. This is where Positioning comes into play. By positioning, of course, I mean the placement of a player (or his units) around a map at any given moment.
In StarCraft 2, this could refer to the bases to which you expand, as well as the location you decide to move your army. A unit positioned at a Xel'Naga Watchtower, for instance, is at an advantage over one attempting to move within the vision radius of said watchtower, as the former unit has vision much sooner of the latter and can react accordingly.
Currently, StarCraft 2's most consistent-placing player (with two First Place finishes in the Global StarCraft League in Korea) is oGsMC. MC is notorious for a heavy Sentry-based army composition he wields against his opponents. For those of you reading that play StarCraft 2, you may be thinking "But Sentries don't really deal that much damage." For those of you that don't play StarCraft 2, you're probably lost right now.
It's true, Sentries' attack is essentially tickling someone to death. They deal much, MUCH less damage than any other unit available to Protoss (save for a Probe, Observer, or Warp Prism, which aren't designed to engage in combat). However, the Sentry has one ability that isn't available to any other unit in the game: Force Field.
Force Fields create a (mostly) impassable block over terrain. (I say 'mostly' because certain units such as the Thor and Colossus can walk over the force field to pop it, and Roaches can move while burrowed under it.) For those of you still scratching your head as to why this is important...it's positioning.
Sentries allow you to completely determine the positioning of your opponent's army. If you're at a choke point, you can block it with a force field and only allow a few enemy units up at a time. If you're in a wide open area, but you have multiple sentries (like MC does), you can literally cut an enemy's forces in half by spamming force fields along the concave of his army. With his forces split, that means at least half his army is out of positioning, while yours is all at fighting force. If your opponent is trying to run with a weaker army, you can force field his escape path in order to ensure your army mops up and continues to push.
I personally believe Protoss are overpowered in StarCraft 2 almost entirely on the backs of the Sentry's Force Field ability (although Blink Stalkers are pretty B.S. as well). Those two abilities are the only two non-transport abilities in the entire game that can affect a unit's positioning.
To further support this case -- LiquidHuk (a Canadian/North American player) has recently made it to Code S (meaning, he's a Top 32 StarCraft 2 player in the world). Mechanically, his gameplay is much weaker than his opponents. However like oGsMC, he plays a more Sentry-focused build and positions his force fields well. Plenty of mechanical mistakes can be made up for by proper positioning.
This brings us to the next title I brought up in my blog about movement, League of Legends. I'll keep this one brief, but there are a few main important things regarding positioning in League of Legends.
The first is EXP Range. Minions that die have a certain range in which you must be in order to gain EXP from them (unless you were the one to actually kill the minion...but most skills don't have a long enough range to kill from outside EXP range). This means that during the laning phase, a player or team with a stronger lane can zone an enemy out from this range, while remaining in range to gain the experience from enemy creep that are dying. In essence, they are denying experience to their opponents, and gaining a level advantage.
It's a very basic skill to learn, but it's often only exhibited by skilled players. It is an example of pressing an advantage (a better lane composition) to gain a bigger advantage (a level advantage) by being encouraged to move. Sure, you could sit back and safely farm, but if you can move to threaten an enemy to force the enemy to back off and let you free farm without being able to farm themselves, WHY WOULDN'T YOU?
The next piece regarding positioning in League of Legends is simply the positioning of a team fight. I mentioned in a previous article (see: Composition) that you typically want to target down DPS players before Tanks. Can you see where I'm going with this?
If you said "I should run straight at a DPS player and try to attack him!"
No, shut up, you're wrong.
First: DPS positioning. You should almost always be near the back of your team, but not back far enough that you cannot deal damage, nor back too far that you can easily be flanked. You need to be near to your supports (who can protect you) and near your tank (so you can damage what he disables.)
Support positioning: You should be near your DPS Carries (so you can protect them) but as far away from the enemy as possible (supports often get focused before DPS because of their ability to protect so well.) The exceptions to this rule are the carries who also deal tons of damage or are hybrid tank (like my main, Alistar.)
Tank positioning: This is tricky, and really varies from tank to tank. However, tanks are generally tasked with initiation. This means they have two goals: 1) Be in a position to convince your opponents to attack you first. Generally, good players will "ignore the tank, focus on DPS." So sometimes, even if you run straight at opponents, if your team is nearby, they'll ignore you. 2) Be in a position to immediately threaten the enemy's DPS.
If you attempt to walk directly at the opponents they'll either 1) counter-initiate, and disable your entire team or 2) kite you, dealing long-range damage and retreating from your failed initiation. This generally means a tank's job is to flank in League of Legends (which makes the positioning for the rest of his team kind of tricky, unless they are simply baiting the opponents out of position for the tank to do so).
So tanks have the most complicated job of positioning themselves. How do you come from an angle from which the enemy DPS is exposed, while still being in position to prevent your unguarded allies from being initiated on? Tank players that can answer these questions to themselves are usually those that shine in their role. Anyone can play a tank, but few can play a tank extraordinarily well. And a large part of that comes from the player's positioning.
Finally, there is one Support champion that is generally regarded as hands-down the best support champion in the game, and "a complete counter to Area of Effect clusterfucks."
That champion is Janna. Her ability set allows her to disable enemies from a range (meaning she can be quite far away from enemies and allies and still disable to protect those in danger). It also allows her entire team to move faster, as well as her to move even faster than that. She can shield an ally who gets out of position in order to mitigate the damage they take. And finally, she has one ability that out-shines almost any other in the game.
It's called Monsoon. Once every two minutes, a Janna player can press his or her R button and in an area around them knock back any enemy champion. The direction the champion flies depends on where they were standing in regards to Janna. This can be used to knock away chasing enemies, split up entire enemy forces, get a pesky enemy off one of your squishy teammates, or knock an enemy back toward your towers and your team. It can single-handedly affect the positioning of all five enemy players. And all she has to do is be semi-kinda-sorta near you for you to be affected by it.
Janna is in a state right now of being banned in nearly all high-elo games, due in no small part to her ability to say FUCK YOU to the necessity of intelligent positioning, whether it be hers, or that of her opponents.
And now, on to Halo. Since I'm sure most of you reading this play Halo, and probably don't care about those first two games. But I include them, because they help to make a point (and you're probably subconsciously thinking about how to apply some of those examples up above to Halo, even if you don't realize you're doing it.)
Some of the important facets of positioning in Halo are pretty obvious, even at face value.
You want to move to places that have power weapons, because duh power weapons are powerful. If you don't understand that, you probably have nothing to gain from reading this blog.
You want to move side to side to attempt to avoid bullets in a fire fight. We call this strafing. While this is micromanagement of positioning, and more reliant on manual dexterity, it still can mitigate a lot of potential damage. A player with an excellent and unpredictable strafe will typically win the majority of their one on one battles against an opponent with a weaker strafe.
You want to move to a high ground. High ground offers some immediately obvious advantages. Most of you probably jumped straight to: you can see more of the map from up high, which means you have more potential targets to shoot at. (Caveat: this also means more people can see you, which means more potential assailants upon you. If they have a weapon with range to fight you...which, given DMR starts, means they DO have a weapon with range to fight you...then they will probably shoot you if you are a threat.)
The largest advantage of high ground is something that people use often without consciously realizing they're doing it. It's natural cover. If you're fighting someone on the ground below you, less of your body is showing (since you fire from your upper body, rather than your toes.) This means the opponent has less surface area upon which they can hit you. It also means that you can remove yourself from an opponent's vision by moving backwards.
If you are to do this, the opponent not only loses track of where you will assault from next (assuming you strafe just outside of their vision), but it also means they have only one way to regain vision of you easily: jump. Jumping makes them more visible, and forced into a predictable strafe. This will allow you to more easily land your shots upon them.
Because of high ground's positional advantage, a lot of (well-designed, competitive) maps will stray away from placing power weapons in high positions. This is a good thing, because it requires players to make positional trade-offs in order to gain their advantages.
Some of you are probably saying "Hey Audley, what about MLG's Snipe 3 on Guardian?" Well Point 1) It was a more balanced location than Snipe 1, since both teams could reach it with fairly even contestation, Point 2) it was a relic from the map Guardian was inspired by (Lockout), and Point 3) Snipe 3 is one of the most vulnerable locations on the map, due to its ability to catch grenades so well. Attempting to Snipe from up there was a death trap unless your opponents were already forced low. Stop arguing with me, Hypothetical Reader.
So if you can't get a power weapon from a high ground position, or said high ground position is too dangerous to fight from...what are you supposed to do?
First off, you have to put yourself in a position to get the power weapon in the first place. Generally, these are in positions where players will have to fight for them.
Remember when I was talking about League of Legends earlier? (No? You skipped it? Scroll back up and read that section, trust me.) Well, if you were to rush straight to a DPS Champion, which I said was a bad thing to do, you'd probably die to his entire team very quickly (focus fire hurts). The same goes for rushing straight to a power weapon (when it's placed well).
A player who mindlessly runs straight in to, say, Rocket spawn on Pit from MLG in Halo 3, or straight to Laser on Standoff in Halo 3, or straight to rockets on Boardwalk in Reach is generally going to die, quickly. These are in positions that either pass through choke points (Pit/Boardwalk Rockets) or are in areas of wide-opened sight lines (Standoff Laser) that all make it easy to kill someone who attempts to rush straight there.
I've mentioned the word "choke point" a couple of times now over the course of this article. The first was with regards to Force Fields from Sentries blocking choke points. Just now, I mentioned passing through choke points in order to reach a power weapon.
Choke points are dangerous places. They have very little room for lateral movement. You can either go forward, through them, or go back and leave them alone. If you decide to go through them, you are limiting your options for movement (and thusly your options for positioning).
If your opponents are attempting to haplessly advance through a choke point, there's one tool in your pocket that can halt that idea in its tracks. Well, hopefully you have at least one handy. You spawn with two of them. Say it with me now, class, Pistol cli--okay, I'm kidding. Grenades.
Grenades in the Halo games are often misinterpreted as tools for killing. In Reach, this is even more the case as the grenades feel very powerful. However, if you observe extremely high level play in the Halo games, you'll find that more often than not, grenades are not used as a weapon. They are used more as a Swiss Army Knife. It's not often you use a Swiss Army Knife to gut open a guy (although it is an option). You bust out the can-opener attachment and have yourself some Campbell's Soup. Eff yeah. Campbell's Soup.
Audley, what the devil are you talking about, Campbell's Soup? I thought you were talking about Grenades. While I admit the analogy was a bit odd, Grenades from skilled players are used most often to do a task without damage as a requisite consequence.
Sentry Force Fields can do it. Strong laning champions can do it in League of Legends. It's called Zoning.
Zoning is a way of forceably controlling your opponent's positioning. Typically, if players observe a threat to their well-being, they move away from it (or avoid passing into it.) So, for example, if you were attempting to rush through a choke point to get to a Rocket Launcher, and a grenade lands just barely ahead of you, you are given two options. You can suck it up and take the damage, leaving yourself very susceptible to a quick clean-up shot to kill you, or you can back off and let the grenade explode harmlessly.
Except even if the grenade doesn't deal damage, it still wasn't harmless. Like a Sentry force field that prevented you from pushing up the ramp into the enemy base, or like a Garen hiding in the bush to scare you out of experience range in lane in League of Legends, the grenade has zoned you out of your goal. You're delayed during the fuse time of the grenade, which means a few more seconds an enemy may move into position to battle you. Controlling your opponent's movements is one of the single greatest positioning-related skills you can begin to master.
If an opponent is running away, and you know where they are going to go, which is the better choice: attempting to shoot at them, while they're evading/sprinting/strafing away, or throwing a grenade just beyond where they are currently, forcing them to either die to the grenade, or stop and face certain death anyway?
The latter is the safer option. If you take the former choice, and the opponent manages to find cover or escape around a corner, you've missed out on a kill.
Another situation where a grenade can be effective without dealing any damage -- when enemies are attempting to reinforce their teammates. If their avenues to do so are limited, you can limit them further by placing a grenade along the path they would be most likely to take. If an overaggressive enemy over-extends onto your side in blatantly obvious bad positioning, throw a grenade where you believe his teammates will come from, THEN engage the stranded enemy. Chances are, that aggressive player is a Tank, and he's simply trying to get your attention long enough for his teammates to deal the damage to you. Cutting off those allies' reinforcement routes will also reduce the chances of his gambit being a success.
Halo: Combat Evolved gave grenades yet another positioning-related power that is not exercised nearly as prominently in the more recent titles. You could grenade weapons and even power-ups away from their spawn. This meant two things: 1) You could knock a risky weapon out of a risky position and 2) You could anticipate where a power-up would land from a grenade and knock it out of the generally expected position.
While we can still grenade weapons out of position in Reach, it's not nearly as effective as it was in the original Halo. It leaves me a little bit sad.
Another obvious positioning-related bit of information:
You want to move with your team.
This does not mean you want to bunch up together in a Flying V formation and run across the map. While humorous to see and be a part of, it's stupid and impractical.
More specificially, you want to move in a manner that allows you to help your team without being susceptible to splash damage.
Take Rat's Nest on Halo 3 for example. If you wanted to invade an opponent's Kitchen, it would be a poor idea to send four people across the bridge at the same time. A few grenades, a rocket, or a clip of Brute Shot would deal enough damage for someone to claim an Overkill. Instead, you'd want to try to engage from multiple entrances. Maybe one person across the bridge, one through the turret door, and two from the bottom floor (uh oh, no height advantage!) This would allow you all to help one another (the two coming from down low would likely have sightlines on anyone visible to the person coming from bridge, save for people directly above the bridge door, while the person coming from turret would be able to help the person coming across bridge with anyone actually at the bridge door).
A Sniper doesn't really want to move forward with his team, but he wants to put himself in a position that allows him to shoot what his team needs him to shoot the most. In Halo 3 (again with the Halo 3 references, Audley, what gives?) this was most prominent on Valhalla. If your team did not have hill control, the Sniper's biggest concern didn't need to be the enemies on the hill itself. Typically, a Waterfall Sniper needed to worry about the opponents at Turret (they controlled the choke point known as Water Cave). A Beach Sniper needed to worry about the opponents on the Pelican (they controlled the choke point known as Territory 4). Once the enemies possessing the ability to slay your choke point pushers were slain, you could begin to take a foothold back and potentially regain control of the hill. Teams that were unable to retake hill control were often unable to do so because of their Sniper's positioning.
In Halo Reach, one of the most common tactics on smaller maps outside of situations where it's not available, is to group up with Armor Lock. When you engage an enemy at a choke point, one player goes through first, getting the enemy's attention (and dealing a little damage). He or she then armor locks, and the next player (or two) come through, cleaning up the kills in the next room. This is an example of players moving as a team, as well as practicing the Tank / DPS roles (tank gets focus, gets enemy to burn ammo/grenades, then DPS come in to clean up).
On Hemorrhage in Halo Reach, attempting to assault an enemy Wraith is a daunting task. While a large part of that is the sheer power of the Wraith, one may find that an organized team is also protecting their Wraith with the very agile, anti-vehicular menace known as the Revenant. The Revenant moves in a manner to guard the Wraith from assaulting Warthogs, Ghosts, and enemy Revenants. And guess what? The Wraith stays alive for a long period of time, thanks to the Support (yes, capitalized) from the Revenant.
Being aware of your teammates' movements is a staple for positioning yourself. If you end up herp-a-derp zerging closely behind an ally, chances are the both of you will end up dead. If you both go for the same power weapon at the same time, that's less presence your team has on the map at any given time.
And that brings me to my next point, zone control.
At any given time, you want to have as much map presence as you possibly can, without leaving any of your team isolated.
The more holes you have in your cupboard, the more likely a mouse will feed. Likewise, the more holes you leave in your team's defenses, the more likely a player may sneak past and get behind your team.
An isolated teammate is a teammate you're asking to have killed. (Or if the case was self-isolation, the teammates is asking to be killed.) An uncontested zone is a zone you're asking to have taken.
We'll go back to Valhalla from Halo 3 again. That's right, gang, more Halo 3 references. If you did not control Pelican, your enemy took Pelican. And that meant they had a foothold from which to retake the hill. If you did not control Turret, your enemy could control turret. And that meant a foothold from which to retake the hill. Uncontested zones being given up led to loss of hill control.
On The Pit, in a 4v4 setting, this was a mess, and a large part of why I had a strong distaste for the map in Slayer variants. There were essentially four lanes across the map: Long Hall, Green Hall, Bridge/Sword, and OS. In 4v4, this meant you had two options: Leave every lane with an isolated player to control it or heavy push one lane and risk the enemy taking another lane.
In close games of Slayer, because of these choices, it typically led to the third option: "Sit around out of view for two or three minutes until the next power weapon spawns, then do what you can to get it." Although these games were tense when the score was near tied, it led to some of the most boring spectator experiences I've ever had from MLG.
In Halo Reach, this lesson is probably best taught on the Noble map, Tempest. I see two mistakes made rather often even in organized play on the map.
The first mistake is with regards to uncontested zones or isolated players. For some reason, players like to gravitate toward the Long Sword side of the map (and disregard the fact that the map is functionally the same on the opposite side). This often allows deviant players to slip past into the enemy's base via the river, or push down the sole defender of the side and continue advancing. Sorry Gandalf, but this time I SHALL PASS.
The second mistake I see made is with regards to the form of pushing I see employed upon the map.
I'm going to ask you readers to ponder for a moment, what is the strongest shape an army can take?
To anyone that said Flying V!!! No, shut up, you're wrong. Unless you mean a backwards V, then you're at least close. But that would be a Flying Lambda. I'll give you a hint: I mentioned the word earlier in the article. Up there in the StarCraft section.
Concave. You ideally want to be Concave around your opponents. It constricts opponents' movement options the most and allows you the most strength in your zoning and reinforcement.
Oftentimes, players try to push the enemy turret before attempting to secure their flanks. And this is where they are mistaken.
It's much easier to assist your allies who are pushing the enemy caves or man-cannon from your turret than it is to do so from the enemy turret. The sight lines are more open.
Additionally, it's much easier for your allies in those positions to assist YOU once you begin to push than it would have been if they were still around your mancannon or shotugn. If they are pushed up to semi-surround your opponents, then they are not only limiting your opponents' retreat options, but chances are they also have sight-lines into the side of the enemies, allowing a much easier team shot opportunity.
Once you have secured a concave around the perimeter of your opponents' base, it's much easier to collapse that perimeter where it's necessary in order to completely control your enemies.
Attempting to pressure your opponents in this manner also prevents those gaps through which those pesky aforementioned "mice" may sneak into your base, leaving your team from being forced into a situation of uncontested zones or isolated players, which happens much more often when teams attempt to push in a much more expanded Flying V that sometimes tends to happen on Tempest.
Once you've mastered moving with your team in a manner that prevents you from being caught alone, prevents your allies from being caught alone, allows you to secure power weapons, prevents your enemies from moving to reinforce, and prevents enemies from escaping, you've begun to master what it takes to position yourself properly to be a superb Halo player.
While intelligent positioning (and zoning) do not make you a master of the game, they can often serve as buffers from other weaknesses, such as poor accuracy or lack of communication. And that is why Positioning is (one of) the most important skill(s) in competitive gaming.
When you Master positioning, you not only control your own destiny, but often you control your opponent's.
Today I'm going to talk about something that stems from that: the most important skill of a competitive game. If Movement is the most important aspect, then it's a logical conclusion that Positioning is the most important skill.
(I'm going to go ahead and cut in on anyone who said "Manual dexterity" or "Awareness" are more important. I'll agree on the latter, as Positioning is actually part of awareness, more specifically, a part of situational awareness. But for the purposes of this blog, I'm going to talk about how movement around a map is the most important skill to a competitive game.)
It's fairly obvious based off my previous blog that I believe competitive games should encourage movement. Players should have goals that require them to leave their most powerful positions in order to gain advantages so they may get ahead and still be encouraged to get further ahead. Situations in which a player is encouraged to 'camp with the lead' are typically less competitive (although sometimes more tense) than situations where a player must press his advantage or lose it.
Now, it's time to apply that to the player's actions, rather than the design of the game. This is where Positioning comes into play. By positioning, of course, I mean the placement of a player (or his units) around a map at any given moment.
In StarCraft 2, this could refer to the bases to which you expand, as well as the location you decide to move your army. A unit positioned at a Xel'Naga Watchtower, for instance, is at an advantage over one attempting to move within the vision radius of said watchtower, as the former unit has vision much sooner of the latter and can react accordingly.
Currently, StarCraft 2's most consistent-placing player (with two First Place finishes in the Global StarCraft League in Korea) is oGsMC. MC is notorious for a heavy Sentry-based army composition he wields against his opponents. For those of you reading that play StarCraft 2, you may be thinking "But Sentries don't really deal that much damage." For those of you that don't play StarCraft 2, you're probably lost right now.
It's true, Sentries' attack is essentially tickling someone to death. They deal much, MUCH less damage than any other unit available to Protoss (save for a Probe, Observer, or Warp Prism, which aren't designed to engage in combat). However, the Sentry has one ability that isn't available to any other unit in the game: Force Field.
Force Fields create a (mostly) impassable block over terrain. (I say 'mostly' because certain units such as the Thor and Colossus can walk over the force field to pop it, and Roaches can move while burrowed under it.) For those of you still scratching your head as to why this is important...it's positioning.
Sentries allow you to completely determine the positioning of your opponent's army. If you're at a choke point, you can block it with a force field and only allow a few enemy units up at a time. If you're in a wide open area, but you have multiple sentries (like MC does), you can literally cut an enemy's forces in half by spamming force fields along the concave of his army. With his forces split, that means at least half his army is out of positioning, while yours is all at fighting force. If your opponent is trying to run with a weaker army, you can force field his escape path in order to ensure your army mops up and continues to push.
I personally believe Protoss are overpowered in StarCraft 2 almost entirely on the backs of the Sentry's Force Field ability (although Blink Stalkers are pretty B.S. as well). Those two abilities are the only two non-transport abilities in the entire game that can affect a unit's positioning.
To further support this case -- LiquidHuk (a Canadian/North American player) has recently made it to Code S (meaning, he's a Top 32 StarCraft 2 player in the world). Mechanically, his gameplay is much weaker than his opponents. However like oGsMC, he plays a more Sentry-focused build and positions his force fields well. Plenty of mechanical mistakes can be made up for by proper positioning.
This brings us to the next title I brought up in my blog about movement, League of Legends. I'll keep this one brief, but there are a few main important things regarding positioning in League of Legends.
The first is EXP Range. Minions that die have a certain range in which you must be in order to gain EXP from them (unless you were the one to actually kill the minion...but most skills don't have a long enough range to kill from outside EXP range). This means that during the laning phase, a player or team with a stronger lane can zone an enemy out from this range, while remaining in range to gain the experience from enemy creep that are dying. In essence, they are denying experience to their opponents, and gaining a level advantage.
It's a very basic skill to learn, but it's often only exhibited by skilled players. It is an example of pressing an advantage (a better lane composition) to gain a bigger advantage (a level advantage) by being encouraged to move. Sure, you could sit back and safely farm, but if you can move to threaten an enemy to force the enemy to back off and let you free farm without being able to farm themselves, WHY WOULDN'T YOU?
The next piece regarding positioning in League of Legends is simply the positioning of a team fight. I mentioned in a previous article (see: Composition) that you typically want to target down DPS players before Tanks. Can you see where I'm going with this?
If you said "I should run straight at a DPS player and try to attack him!"
No, shut up, you're wrong.
First: DPS positioning. You should almost always be near the back of your team, but not back far enough that you cannot deal damage, nor back too far that you can easily be flanked. You need to be near to your supports (who can protect you) and near your tank (so you can damage what he disables.)
Support positioning: You should be near your DPS Carries (so you can protect them) but as far away from the enemy as possible (supports often get focused before DPS because of their ability to protect so well.) The exceptions to this rule are the carries who also deal tons of damage or are hybrid tank (like my main, Alistar.)
Tank positioning: This is tricky, and really varies from tank to tank. However, tanks are generally tasked with initiation. This means they have two goals: 1) Be in a position to convince your opponents to attack you first. Generally, good players will "ignore the tank, focus on DPS." So sometimes, even if you run straight at opponents, if your team is nearby, they'll ignore you. 2) Be in a position to immediately threaten the enemy's DPS.
If you attempt to walk directly at the opponents they'll either 1) counter-initiate, and disable your entire team or 2) kite you, dealing long-range damage and retreating from your failed initiation. This generally means a tank's job is to flank in League of Legends (which makes the positioning for the rest of his team kind of tricky, unless they are simply baiting the opponents out of position for the tank to do so).
So tanks have the most complicated job of positioning themselves. How do you come from an angle from which the enemy DPS is exposed, while still being in position to prevent your unguarded allies from being initiated on? Tank players that can answer these questions to themselves are usually those that shine in their role. Anyone can play a tank, but few can play a tank extraordinarily well. And a large part of that comes from the player's positioning.
Finally, there is one Support champion that is generally regarded as hands-down the best support champion in the game, and "a complete counter to Area of Effect clusterfucks."
That champion is Janna. Her ability set allows her to disable enemies from a range (meaning she can be quite far away from enemies and allies and still disable to protect those in danger). It also allows her entire team to move faster, as well as her to move even faster than that. She can shield an ally who gets out of position in order to mitigate the damage they take. And finally, she has one ability that out-shines almost any other in the game.
It's called Monsoon. Once every two minutes, a Janna player can press his or her R button and in an area around them knock back any enemy champion. The direction the champion flies depends on where they were standing in regards to Janna. This can be used to knock away chasing enemies, split up entire enemy forces, get a pesky enemy off one of your squishy teammates, or knock an enemy back toward your towers and your team. It can single-handedly affect the positioning of all five enemy players. And all she has to do is be semi-kinda-sorta near you for you to be affected by it.
Janna is in a state right now of being banned in nearly all high-elo games, due in no small part to her ability to say FUCK YOU to the necessity of intelligent positioning, whether it be hers, or that of her opponents.
And now, on to Halo. Since I'm sure most of you reading this play Halo, and probably don't care about those first two games. But I include them, because they help to make a point (and you're probably subconsciously thinking about how to apply some of those examples up above to Halo, even if you don't realize you're doing it.)
Some of the important facets of positioning in Halo are pretty obvious, even at face value.
You want to move to places that have power weapons, because duh power weapons are powerful. If you don't understand that, you probably have nothing to gain from reading this blog.
You want to move side to side to attempt to avoid bullets in a fire fight. We call this strafing. While this is micromanagement of positioning, and more reliant on manual dexterity, it still can mitigate a lot of potential damage. A player with an excellent and unpredictable strafe will typically win the majority of their one on one battles against an opponent with a weaker strafe.
You want to move to a high ground. High ground offers some immediately obvious advantages. Most of you probably jumped straight to: you can see more of the map from up high, which means you have more potential targets to shoot at. (Caveat: this also means more people can see you, which means more potential assailants upon you. If they have a weapon with range to fight you...which, given DMR starts, means they DO have a weapon with range to fight you...then they will probably shoot you if you are a threat.)
The largest advantage of high ground is something that people use often without consciously realizing they're doing it. It's natural cover. If you're fighting someone on the ground below you, less of your body is showing (since you fire from your upper body, rather than your toes.) This means the opponent has less surface area upon which they can hit you. It also means that you can remove yourself from an opponent's vision by moving backwards.
If you are to do this, the opponent not only loses track of where you will assault from next (assuming you strafe just outside of their vision), but it also means they have only one way to regain vision of you easily: jump. Jumping makes them more visible, and forced into a predictable strafe. This will allow you to more easily land your shots upon them.
Because of high ground's positional advantage, a lot of (well-designed, competitive) maps will stray away from placing power weapons in high positions. This is a good thing, because it requires players to make positional trade-offs in order to gain their advantages.
Some of you are probably saying "Hey Audley, what about MLG's Snipe 3 on Guardian?" Well Point 1) It was a more balanced location than Snipe 1, since both teams could reach it with fairly even contestation, Point 2) it was a relic from the map Guardian was inspired by (Lockout), and Point 3) Snipe 3 is one of the most vulnerable locations on the map, due to its ability to catch grenades so well. Attempting to Snipe from up there was a death trap unless your opponents were already forced low. Stop arguing with me, Hypothetical Reader.
So if you can't get a power weapon from a high ground position, or said high ground position is too dangerous to fight from...what are you supposed to do?
First off, you have to put yourself in a position to get the power weapon in the first place. Generally, these are in positions where players will have to fight for them.
Remember when I was talking about League of Legends earlier? (No? You skipped it? Scroll back up and read that section, trust me.) Well, if you were to rush straight to a DPS Champion, which I said was a bad thing to do, you'd probably die to his entire team very quickly (focus fire hurts). The same goes for rushing straight to a power weapon (when it's placed well).
A player who mindlessly runs straight in to, say, Rocket spawn on Pit from MLG in Halo 3, or straight to Laser on Standoff in Halo 3, or straight to rockets on Boardwalk in Reach is generally going to die, quickly. These are in positions that either pass through choke points (Pit/Boardwalk Rockets) or are in areas of wide-opened sight lines (Standoff Laser) that all make it easy to kill someone who attempts to rush straight there.
I've mentioned the word "choke point" a couple of times now over the course of this article. The first was with regards to Force Fields from Sentries blocking choke points. Just now, I mentioned passing through choke points in order to reach a power weapon.
Choke points are dangerous places. They have very little room for lateral movement. You can either go forward, through them, or go back and leave them alone. If you decide to go through them, you are limiting your options for movement (and thusly your options for positioning).
If your opponents are attempting to haplessly advance through a choke point, there's one tool in your pocket that can halt that idea in its tracks. Well, hopefully you have at least one handy. You spawn with two of them. Say it with me now, class, Pistol cli--okay, I'm kidding. Grenades.
Grenades in the Halo games are often misinterpreted as tools for killing. In Reach, this is even more the case as the grenades feel very powerful. However, if you observe extremely high level play in the Halo games, you'll find that more often than not, grenades are not used as a weapon. They are used more as a Swiss Army Knife. It's not often you use a Swiss Army Knife to gut open a guy (although it is an option). You bust out the can-opener attachment and have yourself some Campbell's Soup. Eff yeah. Campbell's Soup.
Audley, what the devil are you talking about, Campbell's Soup? I thought you were talking about Grenades. While I admit the analogy was a bit odd, Grenades from skilled players are used most often to do a task without damage as a requisite consequence.
Sentry Force Fields can do it. Strong laning champions can do it in League of Legends. It's called Zoning.
Zoning is a way of forceably controlling your opponent's positioning. Typically, if players observe a threat to their well-being, they move away from it (or avoid passing into it.) So, for example, if you were attempting to rush through a choke point to get to a Rocket Launcher, and a grenade lands just barely ahead of you, you are given two options. You can suck it up and take the damage, leaving yourself very susceptible to a quick clean-up shot to kill you, or you can back off and let the grenade explode harmlessly.
Except even if the grenade doesn't deal damage, it still wasn't harmless. Like a Sentry force field that prevented you from pushing up the ramp into the enemy base, or like a Garen hiding in the bush to scare you out of experience range in lane in League of Legends, the grenade has zoned you out of your goal. You're delayed during the fuse time of the grenade, which means a few more seconds an enemy may move into position to battle you. Controlling your opponent's movements is one of the single greatest positioning-related skills you can begin to master.
If an opponent is running away, and you know where they are going to go, which is the better choice: attempting to shoot at them, while they're evading/sprinting/strafing away, or throwing a grenade just beyond where they are currently, forcing them to either die to the grenade, or stop and face certain death anyway?
The latter is the safer option. If you take the former choice, and the opponent manages to find cover or escape around a corner, you've missed out on a kill.
Another situation where a grenade can be effective without dealing any damage -- when enemies are attempting to reinforce their teammates. If their avenues to do so are limited, you can limit them further by placing a grenade along the path they would be most likely to take. If an overaggressive enemy over-extends onto your side in blatantly obvious bad positioning, throw a grenade where you believe his teammates will come from, THEN engage the stranded enemy. Chances are, that aggressive player is a Tank, and he's simply trying to get your attention long enough for his teammates to deal the damage to you. Cutting off those allies' reinforcement routes will also reduce the chances of his gambit being a success.
Halo: Combat Evolved gave grenades yet another positioning-related power that is not exercised nearly as prominently in the more recent titles. You could grenade weapons and even power-ups away from their spawn. This meant two things: 1) You could knock a risky weapon out of a risky position and 2) You could anticipate where a power-up would land from a grenade and knock it out of the generally expected position.
While we can still grenade weapons out of position in Reach, it's not nearly as effective as it was in the original Halo. It leaves me a little bit sad.
Another obvious positioning-related bit of information:
You want to move with your team.
This does not mean you want to bunch up together in a Flying V formation and run across the map. While humorous to see and be a part of, it's stupid and impractical.
More specificially, you want to move in a manner that allows you to help your team without being susceptible to splash damage.
Take Rat's Nest on Halo 3 for example. If you wanted to invade an opponent's Kitchen, it would be a poor idea to send four people across the bridge at the same time. A few grenades, a rocket, or a clip of Brute Shot would deal enough damage for someone to claim an Overkill. Instead, you'd want to try to engage from multiple entrances. Maybe one person across the bridge, one through the turret door, and two from the bottom floor (uh oh, no height advantage!) This would allow you all to help one another (the two coming from down low would likely have sightlines on anyone visible to the person coming from bridge, save for people directly above the bridge door, while the person coming from turret would be able to help the person coming across bridge with anyone actually at the bridge door).
A Sniper doesn't really want to move forward with his team, but he wants to put himself in a position that allows him to shoot what his team needs him to shoot the most. In Halo 3 (again with the Halo 3 references, Audley, what gives?) this was most prominent on Valhalla. If your team did not have hill control, the Sniper's biggest concern didn't need to be the enemies on the hill itself. Typically, a Waterfall Sniper needed to worry about the opponents at Turret (they controlled the choke point known as Water Cave). A Beach Sniper needed to worry about the opponents on the Pelican (they controlled the choke point known as Territory 4). Once the enemies possessing the ability to slay your choke point pushers were slain, you could begin to take a foothold back and potentially regain control of the hill. Teams that were unable to retake hill control were often unable to do so because of their Sniper's positioning.
In Halo Reach, one of the most common tactics on smaller maps outside of situations where it's not available, is to group up with Armor Lock. When you engage an enemy at a choke point, one player goes through first, getting the enemy's attention (and dealing a little damage). He or she then armor locks, and the next player (or two) come through, cleaning up the kills in the next room. This is an example of players moving as a team, as well as practicing the Tank / DPS roles (tank gets focus, gets enemy to burn ammo/grenades, then DPS come in to clean up).
On Hemorrhage in Halo Reach, attempting to assault an enemy Wraith is a daunting task. While a large part of that is the sheer power of the Wraith, one may find that an organized team is also protecting their Wraith with the very agile, anti-vehicular menace known as the Revenant. The Revenant moves in a manner to guard the Wraith from assaulting Warthogs, Ghosts, and enemy Revenants. And guess what? The Wraith stays alive for a long period of time, thanks to the Support (yes, capitalized) from the Revenant.
Being aware of your teammates' movements is a staple for positioning yourself. If you end up herp-a-derp zerging closely behind an ally, chances are the both of you will end up dead. If you both go for the same power weapon at the same time, that's less presence your team has on the map at any given time.
And that brings me to my next point, zone control.
At any given time, you want to have as much map presence as you possibly can, without leaving any of your team isolated.
The more holes you have in your cupboard, the more likely a mouse will feed. Likewise, the more holes you leave in your team's defenses, the more likely a player may sneak past and get behind your team.
An isolated teammate is a teammate you're asking to have killed. (Or if the case was self-isolation, the teammates is asking to be killed.) An uncontested zone is a zone you're asking to have taken.
We'll go back to Valhalla from Halo 3 again. That's right, gang, more Halo 3 references. If you did not control Pelican, your enemy took Pelican. And that meant they had a foothold from which to retake the hill. If you did not control Turret, your enemy could control turret. And that meant a foothold from which to retake the hill. Uncontested zones being given up led to loss of hill control.
On The Pit, in a 4v4 setting, this was a mess, and a large part of why I had a strong distaste for the map in Slayer variants. There were essentially four lanes across the map: Long Hall, Green Hall, Bridge/Sword, and OS. In 4v4, this meant you had two options: Leave every lane with an isolated player to control it or heavy push one lane and risk the enemy taking another lane.
In close games of Slayer, because of these choices, it typically led to the third option: "Sit around out of view for two or three minutes until the next power weapon spawns, then do what you can to get it." Although these games were tense when the score was near tied, it led to some of the most boring spectator experiences I've ever had from MLG.
In Halo Reach, this lesson is probably best taught on the Noble map, Tempest. I see two mistakes made rather often even in organized play on the map.
The first mistake is with regards to uncontested zones or isolated players. For some reason, players like to gravitate toward the Long Sword side of the map (and disregard the fact that the map is functionally the same on the opposite side). This often allows deviant players to slip past into the enemy's base via the river, or push down the sole defender of the side and continue advancing. Sorry Gandalf, but this time I SHALL PASS.
The second mistake I see made is with regards to the form of pushing I see employed upon the map.
I'm going to ask you readers to ponder for a moment, what is the strongest shape an army can take?
To anyone that said Flying V!!! No, shut up, you're wrong. Unless you mean a backwards V, then you're at least close. But that would be a Flying Lambda. I'll give you a hint: I mentioned the word earlier in the article. Up there in the StarCraft section.
Concave. You ideally want to be Concave around your opponents. It constricts opponents' movement options the most and allows you the most strength in your zoning and reinforcement.
Oftentimes, players try to push the enemy turret before attempting to secure their flanks. And this is where they are mistaken.
It's much easier to assist your allies who are pushing the enemy caves or man-cannon from your turret than it is to do so from the enemy turret. The sight lines are more open.
Additionally, it's much easier for your allies in those positions to assist YOU once you begin to push than it would have been if they were still around your mancannon or shotugn. If they are pushed up to semi-surround your opponents, then they are not only limiting your opponents' retreat options, but chances are they also have sight-lines into the side of the enemies, allowing a much easier team shot opportunity.
Once you have secured a concave around the perimeter of your opponents' base, it's much easier to collapse that perimeter where it's necessary in order to completely control your enemies.
Attempting to pressure your opponents in this manner also prevents those gaps through which those pesky aforementioned "mice" may sneak into your base, leaving your team from being forced into a situation of uncontested zones or isolated players, which happens much more often when teams attempt to push in a much more expanded Flying V that sometimes tends to happen on Tempest.
Once you've mastered moving with your team in a manner that prevents you from being caught alone, prevents your allies from being caught alone, allows you to secure power weapons, prevents your enemies from moving to reinforce, and prevents enemies from escaping, you've begun to master what it takes to position yourself properly to be a superb Halo player.
While intelligent positioning (and zoning) do not make you a master of the game, they can often serve as buffers from other weaknesses, such as poor accuracy or lack of communication. And that is why Positioning is (one of) the most important skill(s) in competitive gaming.
When you Master positioning, you not only control your own destiny, but often you control your opponent's.
Monday, March 14, 2011
Feeling Defiant
Reach has fallen. The glassing has begun. No weapons we unearth now can save us from the Covenant.
But despite all that, Certain Affinity and 343 Industries have banded together to bring us three brand new play spaces for Halo Reach: Highlands, Condemned, and the brand new Firefight map, Unearthed.
For their first map pack as the new hands controlling the Halo series we've all grown to love, Certain Affinity decided to offer up three vastly different settings for their new maps.
Highlands takes place in a humongous two-base (somewhat/functionally) symmetrical map, on the planet Reach with the Covenant glassing the planet in the background. Condemned takes place upon a defunct UNSC space station, with the dying planet below, and Covenant/UNSC ships battling it out in space outside the station. Unearthed takes place upon a massive dig site.
If you like Big Team, Highlands is the map for you. Each side is given a Sniper, a set of Rockets and a Warthog to work with, guaranteed, with a quick jump to the middle (through a one-way teleporter, of course) where one may also secure a Shotgun.
Neutral, contestable weapons include two Ghosts, a Grenade Launcher, and two more power weapons connected by a two-way teleporter: the Spartan Laser and the Plasma Launcher. The map will definitely help to fill up that craving for a larger vehicular BTB map not dominated from the skies.
All in all, the play space is beautiful -- it's got a similar style to the Firefight map Overlook, with a sort of moss-covered, pastoral pallet. The map feels like a painting, with intricate detail that allows the player a freedom from ever feeling lost, even if he or she has never played the map before.
The map is similar in size to Hemorrhage (possibly larger), but the sight lines are segmented in such a way that it makes the map feel even larger. Individual skill will definitely be displayed even in the 8v8 contests of Big Team, as some important zones of control will not be prone to bumrushing with a few spare hands. A well-placed grenade (or two) and a solid DMR can quickly turn a 1v2 in a choke point into a victory for the outnumbered.
The flag spawns, in objective, atop a three-story tower with each floor giving access to a lift to take you to the top floor, where the Sniper may also be found. From here, the player may make the daring choice to pull the flag further into the base (in a style similar to Avalanche) in order to run the flag out through the Portal that leaps to roughly mid-map. Alternatively, the player can attempt to zerg the flag across the map, or coordinate with a teammate for a pick-up to beat a hasty retreat.
The downed Pelican in the center of the map houses the Grenade Launcher, which will be important for stopping the ghosts that may be given free reign over the map with it's much more refined sight lines. Being caught in the open without rockets or armor lock is likely to be paramount to leaving the skin of your face to melt upon the Covenant speeder's plasma cannons.
All in all, the map feels as though it will bring a complete package of gameplay. There's enough open air to have larger scale firefights, while there's also enough to break view to allow for stealthy play, and enough room-to-room combat to allow an individual's skill to shine.
Up next we have the smaller of the matchmaking maps, Condemned. I use the word smaller lightly, as it's one of the largest non-Big Team maps I've had the pleasure of playing on.
The atmosphere of the abandoned space station is not a happy one -- although there's plenty of light to allow you to see where you're going, the backdrop is a constant reminder of how alone you are.
The indoor map sports a low-gravity section in the center, where Rockets are mounted upon the station's generator. The low-gravity section is marked by a new implementation from Certain Affinity -- rather than using shield doors as the other two low gravity maps (and countless other maps) have used in the past, the marker is more akin to Halo Reach's Hills and Territories marker, a mostly transparent barrier that does not block your weapons.
On either side of the Low-Grav section outside the higher doors, Snipers may be found. These Snipers are in direct cross positions, with both having a nearly direct sightline on each other. Players looking for awesome plays will probably gravitate to this area of the map. The sliver of hope to Snipe a player from across the map's longest sightline lives here.
Moving clockwise from Blue Base, a few hallways lead the player from Blue Sniper to the Sword spawn. Much of this area is sealed off, but it sports an excellent view of the planet below.
Continuing clockwise, the player may find one of the lower entrances to the low-grav center, as well as eventually finding the Shotgun. While neither of these weapons are outright given to one of the two teams in a 4v4 based off spawn, the sword and shotgun are favored toward the blue and red sides, respectively. However, with the contours of the map, it's possible neither could hold onto them for long.
From here, you pass by the Red team's spawning area, past it's Sniper (as I said, it is across from the Blue Sniper), then down a flight of stairs to the docking bay, where a disabled, partially dismantled Sabre serves as a battle platform.
Although this area does not sport any power weapons, it is the shorter path between the two bases if you venture around the map, and features a very aesthetically interesting combat space. The Sabre can be accessed from a jump up on the nose, a lift onto one wing, or from a platform adjacent to the opposite wing, and serves as a hub between those areas, as well as a power position to cut anyone trying to reinforce from their respective bases on the shorter path.
The map's derelict pallet gives a certain hollow feel to the entire map -- leading me to believe it could make for a very excellent zombie space. Not that I play Living Dead gametypes. I don't. But the thought of being locked onto an abandoned space station with zombies, with no hope of escape, and no true hideout? It sounds like fun to me.
The map is well-suited to free for all, due to its size and the risky paths to cross the map to the desired power weapons. Players will find contests over the central hill in a Crazy King gametype to be quite fun. You just can't get angry when you're floating through space. You just can't.
The map could potentially also sport 6v6 gametypes as well. It's much larger than the majority of other skirmish-sized maps, so there's plenty of room for splitting up your team across the map. But don't get separated from your battle buddy...because in space, no one can hear you scream. (Well, except the other 5 guys with microphones on your team.)
Anyone who likes to stray away from Big Team will probably find themselves playing Condemned often. It suits just about any matchmaking playstyle one could imagine, short of Grifball, and allows for very dynamic gameplay.
That brings us to the last of the three maps, and the first of its category to be included in DLC for a primary Halo game: Unearthed, a Firefight map.
Now, I'm normally not a Firefight kind of guy. I never really get into fighting wave after wave of grunts and jackals with a pre-programmed AI when I could be out trying to out-think a human with the other controller.
But even I have to take a step back and applaud Unearthed.
It's a VERY open map, with a ton of freedom of movement. There's maneuverability room for the map's lone Rocket Hog (don't waste it!) as well as for the Wraiths which are periodically dropped for you to snatch from their operators' hands.
Although drops frequently occur on the open outskirts of the map, some occur upon a landing pad that attaches to the mining facility. The interior portion of the map is still rather open, both in spirit, and in choice. Tons of cleverly placed paths to the upper floor can be found to those who look for them, and the aware Firefight player will always be able to find a way to escape a chasing Suicide Grunt.
Cliffs surround the map, meaning there is one complaint I am allowed to voice: BRAGLRGJAELBKJARLKGAERGakl FOCUS RIFLE SKIRMISHERS!
Of course, I only say that in the frustration of having those things tickle me to death with their Baconator Beam countless times. The truth is, it is an excellent obstacle for the tunnel visioned Firefight players to overcome.
Visually, the map is equally astounding to those before it. The backdrop lends a sense of epicness which I never thought could be dug out of such a deserted map. Puns definitely intended.
If you loved Firefight in ODST, you'll love Unearthed.
If you love Firefight in Halo Reach, you'll love Unearthed.
If you don't really care for Firefight at all, you should still play Unearthed, because chances are you'll love it too.
There are several subtle nuances to its design that, as an aspiring game designer myself, just cause me to grin happily and say "I like this."
There's not much to say about the map that I haven't already said, as the Firefight experience is still much the same. But you'll find yourself enjoying the repeated runs of the Rocket Warthog over and over as you play the map. Because let's face it, why NOT ride in a Warthog that fires six rockets at a time?
There are supposed to be some screenshots with this article, but unfortunately for anyone who was looking forward to my first Audley Enough article with imagery, the screenshots I took are considered Classified Intel, and cannot be shared as of yet. Hopefully I can have them uploaded by the time the maps go live, so anyone on the fence about the maps who happens to read this article will have to say "That looks awesome, I'm going to buy it."
If you are on the fence about the maps, get off the fence. Go get the maps (when they're released). If you've got time to sit here reading a blog by some random guy who writes about League of Legends in his Halo blog, then you've got time that SHOULD be spent playing Halo on the new maps with a group of friends. And heck, you may have time to finally go get that Firefight achievement you're still aiming for. With Unearthed letting you roam free on a Rocket Hog, you really don't have an excuse NOT to anymore.
Audley Enough, some of you still won't be convinced. So I have but one thing left to say (which is supposed to be my catch phrase): No, shut up, you're wrong. Get the new maps. They're FUN.
But despite all that, Certain Affinity and 343 Industries have banded together to bring us three brand new play spaces for Halo Reach: Highlands, Condemned, and the brand new Firefight map, Unearthed.
For their first map pack as the new hands controlling the Halo series we've all grown to love, Certain Affinity decided to offer up three vastly different settings for their new maps.
Highlands takes place in a humongous two-base (somewhat/functionally) symmetrical map, on the planet Reach with the Covenant glassing the planet in the background. Condemned takes place upon a defunct UNSC space station, with the dying planet below, and Covenant/UNSC ships battling it out in space outside the station. Unearthed takes place upon a massive dig site.
If you like Big Team, Highlands is the map for you. Each side is given a Sniper, a set of Rockets and a Warthog to work with, guaranteed, with a quick jump to the middle (through a one-way teleporter, of course) where one may also secure a Shotgun.
Neutral, contestable weapons include two Ghosts, a Grenade Launcher, and two more power weapons connected by a two-way teleporter: the Spartan Laser and the Plasma Launcher. The map will definitely help to fill up that craving for a larger vehicular BTB map not dominated from the skies.
All in all, the play space is beautiful -- it's got a similar style to the Firefight map Overlook, with a sort of moss-covered, pastoral pallet. The map feels like a painting, with intricate detail that allows the player a freedom from ever feeling lost, even if he or she has never played the map before.
The map is similar in size to Hemorrhage (possibly larger), but the sight lines are segmented in such a way that it makes the map feel even larger. Individual skill will definitely be displayed even in the 8v8 contests of Big Team, as some important zones of control will not be prone to bumrushing with a few spare hands. A well-placed grenade (or two) and a solid DMR can quickly turn a 1v2 in a choke point into a victory for the outnumbered.
The flag spawns, in objective, atop a three-story tower with each floor giving access to a lift to take you to the top floor, where the Sniper may also be found. From here, the player may make the daring choice to pull the flag further into the base (in a style similar to Avalanche) in order to run the flag out through the Portal that leaps to roughly mid-map. Alternatively, the player can attempt to zerg the flag across the map, or coordinate with a teammate for a pick-up to beat a hasty retreat.
The downed Pelican in the center of the map houses the Grenade Launcher, which will be important for stopping the ghosts that may be given free reign over the map with it's much more refined sight lines. Being caught in the open without rockets or armor lock is likely to be paramount to leaving the skin of your face to melt upon the Covenant speeder's plasma cannons.
All in all, the map feels as though it will bring a complete package of gameplay. There's enough open air to have larger scale firefights, while there's also enough to break view to allow for stealthy play, and enough room-to-room combat to allow an individual's skill to shine.
Up next we have the smaller of the matchmaking maps, Condemned. I use the word smaller lightly, as it's one of the largest non-Big Team maps I've had the pleasure of playing on.
The atmosphere of the abandoned space station is not a happy one -- although there's plenty of light to allow you to see where you're going, the backdrop is a constant reminder of how alone you are.
The indoor map sports a low-gravity section in the center, where Rockets are mounted upon the station's generator. The low-gravity section is marked by a new implementation from Certain Affinity -- rather than using shield doors as the other two low gravity maps (and countless other maps) have used in the past, the marker is more akin to Halo Reach's Hills and Territories marker, a mostly transparent barrier that does not block your weapons.
On either side of the Low-Grav section outside the higher doors, Snipers may be found. These Snipers are in direct cross positions, with both having a nearly direct sightline on each other. Players looking for awesome plays will probably gravitate to this area of the map. The sliver of hope to Snipe a player from across the map's longest sightline lives here.
Moving clockwise from Blue Base, a few hallways lead the player from Blue Sniper to the Sword spawn. Much of this area is sealed off, but it sports an excellent view of the planet below.
Continuing clockwise, the player may find one of the lower entrances to the low-grav center, as well as eventually finding the Shotgun. While neither of these weapons are outright given to one of the two teams in a 4v4 based off spawn, the sword and shotgun are favored toward the blue and red sides, respectively. However, with the contours of the map, it's possible neither could hold onto them for long.
From here, you pass by the Red team's spawning area, past it's Sniper (as I said, it is across from the Blue Sniper), then down a flight of stairs to the docking bay, where a disabled, partially dismantled Sabre serves as a battle platform.
Although this area does not sport any power weapons, it is the shorter path between the two bases if you venture around the map, and features a very aesthetically interesting combat space. The Sabre can be accessed from a jump up on the nose, a lift onto one wing, or from a platform adjacent to the opposite wing, and serves as a hub between those areas, as well as a power position to cut anyone trying to reinforce from their respective bases on the shorter path.
The map's derelict pallet gives a certain hollow feel to the entire map -- leading me to believe it could make for a very excellent zombie space. Not that I play Living Dead gametypes. I don't. But the thought of being locked onto an abandoned space station with zombies, with no hope of escape, and no true hideout? It sounds like fun to me.
The map is well-suited to free for all, due to its size and the risky paths to cross the map to the desired power weapons. Players will find contests over the central hill in a Crazy King gametype to be quite fun. You just can't get angry when you're floating through space. You just can't.
The map could potentially also sport 6v6 gametypes as well. It's much larger than the majority of other skirmish-sized maps, so there's plenty of room for splitting up your team across the map. But don't get separated from your battle buddy...because in space, no one can hear you scream. (Well, except the other 5 guys with microphones on your team.)
Anyone who likes to stray away from Big Team will probably find themselves playing Condemned often. It suits just about any matchmaking playstyle one could imagine, short of Grifball, and allows for very dynamic gameplay.
That brings us to the last of the three maps, and the first of its category to be included in DLC for a primary Halo game: Unearthed, a Firefight map.
Now, I'm normally not a Firefight kind of guy. I never really get into fighting wave after wave of grunts and jackals with a pre-programmed AI when I could be out trying to out-think a human with the other controller.
But even I have to take a step back and applaud Unearthed.
It's a VERY open map, with a ton of freedom of movement. There's maneuverability room for the map's lone Rocket Hog (don't waste it!) as well as for the Wraiths which are periodically dropped for you to snatch from their operators' hands.
Although drops frequently occur on the open outskirts of the map, some occur upon a landing pad that attaches to the mining facility. The interior portion of the map is still rather open, both in spirit, and in choice. Tons of cleverly placed paths to the upper floor can be found to those who look for them, and the aware Firefight player will always be able to find a way to escape a chasing Suicide Grunt.
Cliffs surround the map, meaning there is one complaint I am allowed to voice: BRAGLRGJAELBKJARLKGAERGakl FOCUS RIFLE SKIRMISHERS!
Of course, I only say that in the frustration of having those things tickle me to death with their Baconator Beam countless times. The truth is, it is an excellent obstacle for the tunnel visioned Firefight players to overcome.
Visually, the map is equally astounding to those before it. The backdrop lends a sense of epicness which I never thought could be dug out of such a deserted map. Puns definitely intended.
If you loved Firefight in ODST, you'll love Unearthed.
If you love Firefight in Halo Reach, you'll love Unearthed.
If you don't really care for Firefight at all, you should still play Unearthed, because chances are you'll love it too.
There are several subtle nuances to its design that, as an aspiring game designer myself, just cause me to grin happily and say "I like this."
There's not much to say about the map that I haven't already said, as the Firefight experience is still much the same. But you'll find yourself enjoying the repeated runs of the Rocket Warthog over and over as you play the map. Because let's face it, why NOT ride in a Warthog that fires six rockets at a time?
There are supposed to be some screenshots with this article, but unfortunately for anyone who was looking forward to my first Audley Enough article with imagery, the screenshots I took are considered Classified Intel, and cannot be shared as of yet. Hopefully I can have them uploaded by the time the maps go live, so anyone on the fence about the maps who happens to read this article will have to say "That looks awesome, I'm going to buy it."
If you are on the fence about the maps, get off the fence. Go get the maps (when they're released). If you've got time to sit here reading a blog by some random guy who writes about League of Legends in his Halo blog, then you've got time that SHOULD be spent playing Halo on the new maps with a group of friends. And heck, you may have time to finally go get that Firefight achievement you're still aiming for. With Unearthed letting you roam free on a Rocket Hog, you really don't have an excuse NOT to anymore.
Audley Enough, some of you still won't be convinced. So I have but one thing left to say (which is supposed to be my catch phrase): No, shut up, you're wrong. Get the new maps. They're FUN.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Lone Wolf: The Ambiguous Fourth Role
So last week, I talked about three roles players are typically divided into based on their playing style. And generally, a strong team will be balanced with those three roles.
I also hinted that there was one more role I did not discuss.
It's tricky, but there is yet another role that is often crucial to completing a team's composition: The Lone Wolf.
I'll first make a quick comparison, once again, to League of Legends, where even if you have a tank, two DPS, and a support champion, your team composition has one more role to fill: the Jungler. The Jungler in LoL is much like a Lone Wolf player in Halo.
A Jungler's job, from the start of the game, is not to venture into the lanes with the rest of his or her team. Instead, the Jungler ventures into, well, obviously the jungles... where he or she will level up and gain buffs (I touched on Jungling briefly in my article about Movement.)
In addition to the experience benefits having a Jungler nets your team as a whole, there's one more excellent benefit -- the Jungler is given the freedom to roam. This means they can show up in any lane to help their team at any time, and possibly secure a kill or two. They can show up in the opponent's jungle to interrupt, intercept, or just engage the unprepared or weaker jungler. Not having a Jungler sets your team behind on levels, but also means at any given time, all your players are accounted for.
Generally, your players with specific roles are going to gravitate to specific positions, specifically the ones that allow them to perform their job the best. Tanks will have standard routes they take. DPS have power positions that allow them to cover the most ground and deal the most damage. Support have positions that allow them to cover the most area necessary to protect the DPS and set them up for kills.
In League of Legends, the Jungler is not restricted to being a DPS, a Tank, or a Support -- as a few champions from any of those roles can be a passable jungler. Likewise, a Lone Wolf-style player is not restricted to a single role.
Don't mistake that statement as "Lone Wolves are never just one role." That's not true either. Some Lone Wolves are tanks. Some Lone Wolves are DPS. Some Lone Wolves are support. The difference is that Lone Wolves have a completely different mindset in doing so.
A traditional tank will often be constantly communicating to his team where he's pushing or when he's about to bait, and pull his team along with him. The Lone Wolf tank will instead go where action is necessary and draw attention to himself in whatever way possible. They'll want players shooting at them, but unlike a more traditional tank, the Lone Wolf tank is often a player who expects to triumph over at least one (usually more) obstacles on their way to their objective.
A traditional support will often control specific zones of the map, depending upon where best allows them to protect their DPS or weaken enemies. A Lone Wolf support will instead drift from DPS to DPS or engagement to engagement, softening up whomever they can wherever they can.
The traditional DPS and Lone Wolf DPS are the closest in appearance. Both somewhat expect their team to play around them (in the case of a traditional DPS, the team SHOULD be playing around them, period. Everyone else's positioning should be in a manner that allows their DPS to do their job.) Lone Wolf DPS are a bit more difficult to specifically set up around -- unless your team's composition is also built around it.
Lone Wolf players are usually excellent route-takers. Look at any FFA winner from an MLG event, and you'll see a pattern: They know how to move around the map to stay alive, but still have vision where they need it. Pistola is a prime example -- he was fairly well known for his FFA abilities in Halo 2, but in Halo 3 he began to shine on teams. A large part of this came from his dynamic duo partner, Heinz, but even after the two were forced to split, Pistola continued to shine as he was partnered with another versatile teammate in Ogre 2.
Lone Wolves by name may not seem to be a positive attribute to a team, but they allow your team to be more dynamic in its gameplay and less at risk to fall into a stagnant, predictable pattern. They are often more reactionary by style, while remaining proactive, whereas more traditional players are more apt to follow a similar pattern game after game.
It may seem like I'm saying "You must have a Lone Wolf-style player to win any game ever, otherwise people will always know what you're going to do before you do it!" Well... No, shut up, you're wrong. (Anubis says this should be my catchphrase.)
I'm not saying Lone Wolves are absolutes in their necessity for a balanced team composition, nor am I saying players who aren't Lone Wolves are inherently counterable.
Lone Wolves are a huge boon to a team's ability to adapt to multiple circumstances and playstyles. They are less prone to being metagamed by opposing teams. However, because of their more reactionary nature, they are also players who tend to benefit the team less as the team as a whole begins to underperform. This doesn't necessarily mean the Lone Wolf will play poorly -- often, it's the exact opposite and the Lone Wolf will continue to put up impressive stats. But, unfortunately, their skillset is not geared toward pushing a snowball back up a hill.
The Lone Wolf's permanent state of flux acts against a team in the case where teammates are underperforming, as the necessary catalysts for their reactions increase in number.
Lone Wolves are just another role that should be considered when attempting to assemble your perfect dream team. If, upon looking at your team's line-up that you believe it to be heavy on players with extremely predictable or molded styles, a Lone Wolf would be an excellent addition to your team, allowing one amoeba to float among your prokaryotic team. If your team seems more dynamic by nature, or more tactical as opposed to strategic, then a Lone Wolf would likely fit into the group like a glove.
However, if your team relies on strict teamwork, with all units working as one, a Lone Wolf would go against this grain, and be a risk toward dissent among the group. Exercise caution.
(Note: Some of you who read my articles are also League of Legends players, and you'll probably make the observation that not having a Jungler is a STUPID idea in 99 out of 100 cases. While this is true, I believe it to be more of a balance issue with experience in the jungles and the overpowering strength of the Jungle Buffs. In Solo Queue, not having a Jungler is a death sentence, just like not having a Tank.
In a more organized setting, there are additional benefits toward not having a jungler. You are able to zone the top lane, negating their EXP advantage, and often you're also able to get the early tower kill on that lane. Strong zoning champions like Alistar are excellent alternatives toward a Jungler in this case. Additionally, you can still fill the role of a permanent roamer with champions such as Poppy or Evelynn, so long as they continue to get kills, but without the time spent in the Jungle.)
Audley Enough, despite me talking up the Lone Wolf in such detail compared to the other three roles, I am NOT a lone wolf myself. I'm a traditional tank in the most traditional sense of the word, with a little spice of Support mixed in. While I can Jungle in League of Legends (I'm the inventor of the Cloth Armor + 5 Potion opening. I've Jungled as Twitch. I know my way around those jungles.), I do not find it to be my preferred playstyle of choice, and typically underperform when asked to do so.
Be sure you check back tomorrow night. There will be an extra special Audley Enough article, with a preview of the Defiant Map Pack, complete with pictures.
I also hinted that there was one more role I did not discuss.
It's tricky, but there is yet another role that is often crucial to completing a team's composition: The Lone Wolf.
I'll first make a quick comparison, once again, to League of Legends, where even if you have a tank, two DPS, and a support champion, your team composition has one more role to fill: the Jungler. The Jungler in LoL is much like a Lone Wolf player in Halo.
A Jungler's job, from the start of the game, is not to venture into the lanes with the rest of his or her team. Instead, the Jungler ventures into, well, obviously the jungles... where he or she will level up and gain buffs (I touched on Jungling briefly in my article about Movement.)
In addition to the experience benefits having a Jungler nets your team as a whole, there's one more excellent benefit -- the Jungler is given the freedom to roam. This means they can show up in any lane to help their team at any time, and possibly secure a kill or two. They can show up in the opponent's jungle to interrupt, intercept, or just engage the unprepared or weaker jungler. Not having a Jungler sets your team behind on levels, but also means at any given time, all your players are accounted for.
Generally, your players with specific roles are going to gravitate to specific positions, specifically the ones that allow them to perform their job the best. Tanks will have standard routes they take. DPS have power positions that allow them to cover the most ground and deal the most damage. Support have positions that allow them to cover the most area necessary to protect the DPS and set them up for kills.
In League of Legends, the Jungler is not restricted to being a DPS, a Tank, or a Support -- as a few champions from any of those roles can be a passable jungler. Likewise, a Lone Wolf-style player is not restricted to a single role.
Don't mistake that statement as "Lone Wolves are never just one role." That's not true either. Some Lone Wolves are tanks. Some Lone Wolves are DPS. Some Lone Wolves are support. The difference is that Lone Wolves have a completely different mindset in doing so.
A traditional tank will often be constantly communicating to his team where he's pushing or when he's about to bait, and pull his team along with him. The Lone Wolf tank will instead go where action is necessary and draw attention to himself in whatever way possible. They'll want players shooting at them, but unlike a more traditional tank, the Lone Wolf tank is often a player who expects to triumph over at least one (usually more) obstacles on their way to their objective.
A traditional support will often control specific zones of the map, depending upon where best allows them to protect their DPS or weaken enemies. A Lone Wolf support will instead drift from DPS to DPS or engagement to engagement, softening up whomever they can wherever they can.
The traditional DPS and Lone Wolf DPS are the closest in appearance. Both somewhat expect their team to play around them (in the case of a traditional DPS, the team SHOULD be playing around them, period. Everyone else's positioning should be in a manner that allows their DPS to do their job.) Lone Wolf DPS are a bit more difficult to specifically set up around -- unless your team's composition is also built around it.
Lone Wolf players are usually excellent route-takers. Look at any FFA winner from an MLG event, and you'll see a pattern: They know how to move around the map to stay alive, but still have vision where they need it. Pistola is a prime example -- he was fairly well known for his FFA abilities in Halo 2, but in Halo 3 he began to shine on teams. A large part of this came from his dynamic duo partner, Heinz, but even after the two were forced to split, Pistola continued to shine as he was partnered with another versatile teammate in Ogre 2.
Lone Wolves by name may not seem to be a positive attribute to a team, but they allow your team to be more dynamic in its gameplay and less at risk to fall into a stagnant, predictable pattern. They are often more reactionary by style, while remaining proactive, whereas more traditional players are more apt to follow a similar pattern game after game.
It may seem like I'm saying "You must have a Lone Wolf-style player to win any game ever, otherwise people will always know what you're going to do before you do it!" Well... No, shut up, you're wrong. (Anubis says this should be my catchphrase.)
I'm not saying Lone Wolves are absolutes in their necessity for a balanced team composition, nor am I saying players who aren't Lone Wolves are inherently counterable.
Lone Wolves are a huge boon to a team's ability to adapt to multiple circumstances and playstyles. They are less prone to being metagamed by opposing teams. However, because of their more reactionary nature, they are also players who tend to benefit the team less as the team as a whole begins to underperform. This doesn't necessarily mean the Lone Wolf will play poorly -- often, it's the exact opposite and the Lone Wolf will continue to put up impressive stats. But, unfortunately, their skillset is not geared toward pushing a snowball back up a hill.
The Lone Wolf's permanent state of flux acts against a team in the case where teammates are underperforming, as the necessary catalysts for their reactions increase in number.
Lone Wolves are just another role that should be considered when attempting to assemble your perfect dream team. If, upon looking at your team's line-up that you believe it to be heavy on players with extremely predictable or molded styles, a Lone Wolf would be an excellent addition to your team, allowing one amoeba to float among your prokaryotic team. If your team seems more dynamic by nature, or more tactical as opposed to strategic, then a Lone Wolf would likely fit into the group like a glove.
However, if your team relies on strict teamwork, with all units working as one, a Lone Wolf would go against this grain, and be a risk toward dissent among the group. Exercise caution.
(Note: Some of you who read my articles are also League of Legends players, and you'll probably make the observation that not having a Jungler is a STUPID idea in 99 out of 100 cases. While this is true, I believe it to be more of a balance issue with experience in the jungles and the overpowering strength of the Jungle Buffs. In Solo Queue, not having a Jungler is a death sentence, just like not having a Tank.
In a more organized setting, there are additional benefits toward not having a jungler. You are able to zone the top lane, negating their EXP advantage, and often you're also able to get the early tower kill on that lane. Strong zoning champions like Alistar are excellent alternatives toward a Jungler in this case. Additionally, you can still fill the role of a permanent roamer with champions such as Poppy or Evelynn, so long as they continue to get kills, but without the time spent in the Jungle.)
Audley Enough, despite me talking up the Lone Wolf in such detail compared to the other three roles, I am NOT a lone wolf myself. I'm a traditional tank in the most traditional sense of the word, with a little spice of Support mixed in. While I can Jungle in League of Legends (I'm the inventor of the Cloth Armor + 5 Potion opening. I've Jungled as Twitch. I know my way around those jungles.), I do not find it to be my preferred playstyle of choice, and typically underperform when asked to do so.
Be sure you check back tomorrow night. There will be an extra special Audley Enough article, with a preview of the Defiant Map Pack, complete with pictures.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Composition: Balancing a Powerful Team
Everyone competitive wants to play on a good team. When looking to put together a good team, there's one fatal flaw some players make, regardless of how good they are at the game. They ignore composition.
Rather than considering the strengths and weaknesses of the players they're picking up, they choose instead to pick up players who are just perceived as good at the game by their peers.
Before I continue, I am going to go ahead and quote the hundreds of raging MLG fanboys who say "There are no defined roles in Halo."
And then I'm going to call them on their B.S. Playstyles and tendencies lend themselves to roles. In fact, I'd go so far as to say there are as much of roles in this game as there are in MMORPGs like WoW and MOBAs like League of Legends. And may of those roles are the same.
Many players are stuck in the tired labels of "Main Slayer" "Objective Player" and "Support Player" and labels like that -- but there's a much deeper correlation between players than that.
In an MMORPG, there are three primary roles your party typically has:
1) Tank
2) Support
3) DPS
The first category is the most important to have. In a MOBA, the tank's job is to keep your DPS alive by being a big enough threat to draw the opponents' focus onto them. Additionally, their job is to initiate fights. In League of Legends and Heroes of Newerth, the tank champions are the ones with a skill set to disable or disorient their opponents long enough for the team behind them to deal a load of damage.
Tanks do not win games on their own, but the lack of a tank can quickly lose games. In a game of League of Legends, not having a tank is comparable to not having your mouse plugged in for the duration of the match. Unless you massively outskill your opponents, you're going to lose.
Furthermore, not following your tank is just as bad as not having one. If you're leaving your tank stranded, you're going to find yourself in awful situations. Even if he's running out into a bad engage, it's sometimes better to go ahead and follow and engage alongside him than it is to let him get caught alone, die, and be forced to fight 4v5 shortly after.
So how does this relate to Halo? Some of you may be going "lulz Scorpion Tanks and Wraiths, yarrr!"
And like I said to the people who cried "Laser!" at my prompt re: Paradiso in the last article:
No, you're wrong. Shut up.
The two most iconic Tank players I can label from the MLG circuit of Halo 3: Walshy, and ToTz.
Some of you may be saying "But Audley, ToTz is BAD!"
Those of you who are, didn't watch his gameplay. Didn't watch his TEAM'S gameplay around him. You weren't aware of what he was actually doing.
His job? To take damage. Sure, he often would die because of this. C'est la vie d'un citerne. He did his job well. He took a LOT of damage and drew a lot of focus to himself. What happened while he did this? His team pushed and slayed the enemies who weren't focused on them.
The thing that made ToTz an excellent tank was his ability to so often be able to get players to focus on him, as well as to always pull those players into a position that his opponents could see them.
You'll also often find that tanks are the players going for the flag most in CTF. Why? Well, what better way to get opponents to focus on you than to grab their flag? If they just ignore you at that point, you've scored. The more intelligently you move with the flag, the longer they'll have to search to stop you -- which means less time they've got to focus on killing your team.
I personally am a tank player. In League of Legends, I main Alistar. In Halo, I'll run into a group of several enemies and armor lock like a bitch just so my team can get a one or two shot advantage on a few different players. I simply love being able to get enemies to focus on me without being able to kill me.
Up next, we have Support players. In MMOs, these are divided into three groups: Debuffers, Buffers, and Healers. The Healer group doesn't apply to Halo (I mean, the best you had for that in 3 was the Regenerator.) The job of all three of these is to help make sure your DPS players are able to get their damage done.
So we're left with the buffer and the debuffer.
For anyone reading this that doesn't happen to play RPGs, a buff is a temporary improvement to your player's stats.
The main example of a Support player in Halo is a Warthog Driver. You're giving a large damage and movement boost to the person in your turret, whether you look at it as buffing the on-foot version of the gunner, or buffing the Husky.
Support players are also those annoying bastards that pick up the Plasma Pistol and actually use it the way it was intended. It knocks out shields, it knocks out engines...It debuffs the hell out of anyone it comes into contact with.
They're also the players who'll drive a Mongoose to go pick up your tank (player) who grabbed the flag. Or put down tons of suppressive fire in the Revenant to prevent movement.
The best way to describe a support player in Halo is by this: they protect your primary DPS as well as paint his targets. Support and Tank players have an area of overlap -- they also want the focus on them rather than on your DPS, but they are typically there to draw focus AFTER the battle's begun. Tanks attempt to draw focus to start a battle.
Most of the players who say there are no "roles" in Halo are the ones responding to other players labeling Walshy and ToTz as Support. Which they are not.
Examples of some Support players from MLG Halo: Ogre 2, Destin, Chig, ElamiteWarrior, Heinz. Players like this tend to become unsung heroes behind their DPS (barring Ogre 2, of course, as his repeated success puts him in the limelight.)
These players didn't try to draw focus on them constantly, but knew when and what to do to keep their teammates alive. And that is the mark of a good support player.
...Which brings us to DPS. Damage Per Second. Whether it be wielding iron fists, bows, machine guns, sniper rifles, swords, or a fan that summons bees that shoots guns that shoot swords...DPS are the players you want to be dealing your team's damage and picking up most of the kills.
There are two divisions of DPS champions in most MMORPGs and MOBAs: there are physical DPS and magical DPS.
In MOBA games, physical DPS champions are made to inherently scale better with items, so you're encouraged to attempt to funnel the kills to them. A carry in Defense of the Ancients can almost single-handedly kill an enemy team if they were supported well early on.
Magical DPS on the other hand, are powerful from the get-go and often pull your team through the bulkier, more difficult midgame.
In Halo, there's not really "magic" damage, and your damage doesn't change throughout the course of the game, so DPS are funneled into two main categories: Power Weapons, and Power Vehicles.
Snipers, Rockets, Laser, Scorpions, Wraiths, and Banshees. The people who specialize in this are usually DPS players. There's some leeway, as some players still focus on consistent long-range DMRing. They are also DPS-style players, just less reliant on support to do their job.
People want to kill your DPS. They have to. Otherwise they're going to die a lot. This is why tanks and supports are important. Drawing focus off your Sniper or Laser for even a second is a play that can snowball. Saving your laser person's life once as he secures it can lead to four kills later on as they are allowed to set up.
If you have a Sniper in a power position, you've become one of the scariest beings on the map in Halo Reach. The Sniper is POWERFUL in this game. I mean, it kills a Banshee in five frickin' shots (without any help from teammates... which you should have)! FIVE SHOTS!
Wraiths and Scorpions can completely shut down movement in a given area. Banshees are agile bastards who can quickly strike down anyone they please.
When it comes to team composition, having players that wield those weapons with confidence and expertise is important. It gives you obvious benefits to have a player with a Sniper who can land every headshot. It's elementary, even.
DPS players are the rockstars of your team. They're going to get the stats, and they're going to look good. Neighbor, FearItself, Cloud, Snipedown, Strongside, Naded. These players deal a TON of damage and look good doing it. They're known to be strong players. But would you ever put any four of those on a team together?
Anyone who just said "Of course! Dude, that'd be awesome!" is missing the point of this article.
You need balance on your team. If you had players who are not accustomed to being without those power weapons, they're probably not going to be as efficient when it comes to attempting to protect the player who does have it. They're used to sneaking around the map, taking routes that get them to the strongest position safely.
While players CAN be proficient in multiple roles, you really want players who can cleanly fulfill roles that synergize.
Take Triggers Down from late in the '10 season for example -- They went from being SK-Hysteria-Neighbor-Pistola to being Hysteria-Best Man-Neighbor-ToTz.
A lot of players criticized them for dropping Pistola for ToTz. I mean, Pistola was a rock star DPS... but so was Neighbor, and to a degree, so was Hysteria. SK was somewhat of a tank, somewhat of a Support, but did not shine in either role.
They replaced a hybrid SK and a DPS Pistola with a Support Best Man and a tank in ToTz. And their placings improved (compared to their placings earlier in the season)...they never did reclaim their Top 2 splendor from the '09 season.
ToTz and Neighbor's playstyles synergized very well. Neighbor likes to sneak around and clean up kills from odd angles. ToTz likes to herp-derp into the open, dealing a little damage and taking a lot more. While those two worked as a great duo from their opponents' side of the map, Best Man was able to keep targets from rushing Hysteria by keeping their shields low as they attempted to push off the ToTz/Neighbor-occupied side.
Playstyles typically dictate your movement around the map. Your movement around the map will reflect your role and job to the team.
And if your team is loaded with support players and tanks, without anyone confident or as proficient in dealing the MAD DEEPZ, your team will suffer.
Likewise, if you're too concentrated around MAD DEEPZ, without any support, your team will suffer.
A lot of players criticize RuffGonja, A Team, NamelessHero, and BoneGrindinPain for their playstyles, but they were dedicated tanks who helped their team to numerous victories they would not have otherwise had if the team was attempting to all strong-arm their way versus a team that had better slaying power or control.
Tanks disrupt slayers. Supports keep slayers alive. Slayers then kill other slayers. Once those slayers are down, the enemy tanks and supports are but chaff before your thresher.
So if you ever find yourself trying to build a team, or watching MLG and wondering why a team line-up that looks strong isn't performing as well as it should, take the team under the microscope. Look at their roles. Try to figure out what it has, then you'll see what it's missing.
Audley Enough, you'll find that nine times out of ten, a team that isn't performing that SHOULD BE, is failing because of an overconcentration of rockstar DPS, or an underperforming tank.
See you guys next week...where I'll talk about the one role I didn't mention this week.
Rather than considering the strengths and weaknesses of the players they're picking up, they choose instead to pick up players who are just perceived as good at the game by their peers.
Before I continue, I am going to go ahead and quote the hundreds of raging MLG fanboys who say "There are no defined roles in Halo."
And then I'm going to call them on their B.S. Playstyles and tendencies lend themselves to roles. In fact, I'd go so far as to say there are as much of roles in this game as there are in MMORPGs like WoW and MOBAs like League of Legends. And may of those roles are the same.
Many players are stuck in the tired labels of "Main Slayer" "Objective Player" and "Support Player" and labels like that -- but there's a much deeper correlation between players than that.
In an MMORPG, there are three primary roles your party typically has:
1) Tank
2) Support
3) DPS
The first category is the most important to have. In a MOBA, the tank's job is to keep your DPS alive by being a big enough threat to draw the opponents' focus onto them. Additionally, their job is to initiate fights. In League of Legends and Heroes of Newerth, the tank champions are the ones with a skill set to disable or disorient their opponents long enough for the team behind them to deal a load of damage.
Tanks do not win games on their own, but the lack of a tank can quickly lose games. In a game of League of Legends, not having a tank is comparable to not having your mouse plugged in for the duration of the match. Unless you massively outskill your opponents, you're going to lose.
Furthermore, not following your tank is just as bad as not having one. If you're leaving your tank stranded, you're going to find yourself in awful situations. Even if he's running out into a bad engage, it's sometimes better to go ahead and follow and engage alongside him than it is to let him get caught alone, die, and be forced to fight 4v5 shortly after.
So how does this relate to Halo? Some of you may be going "lulz Scorpion Tanks and Wraiths, yarrr!"
And like I said to the people who cried "Laser!" at my prompt re: Paradiso in the last article:
No, you're wrong. Shut up.
The two most iconic Tank players I can label from the MLG circuit of Halo 3: Walshy, and ToTz.
Some of you may be saying "But Audley, ToTz is BAD!"
Those of you who are, didn't watch his gameplay. Didn't watch his TEAM'S gameplay around him. You weren't aware of what he was actually doing.
His job? To take damage. Sure, he often would die because of this. C'est la vie d'un citerne. He did his job well. He took a LOT of damage and drew a lot of focus to himself. What happened while he did this? His team pushed and slayed the enemies who weren't focused on them.
The thing that made ToTz an excellent tank was his ability to so often be able to get players to focus on him, as well as to always pull those players into a position that his opponents could see them.
You'll also often find that tanks are the players going for the flag most in CTF. Why? Well, what better way to get opponents to focus on you than to grab their flag? If they just ignore you at that point, you've scored. The more intelligently you move with the flag, the longer they'll have to search to stop you -- which means less time they've got to focus on killing your team.
I personally am a tank player. In League of Legends, I main Alistar. In Halo, I'll run into a group of several enemies and armor lock like a bitch just so my team can get a one or two shot advantage on a few different players. I simply love being able to get enemies to focus on me without being able to kill me.
Up next, we have Support players. In MMOs, these are divided into three groups: Debuffers, Buffers, and Healers. The Healer group doesn't apply to Halo (I mean, the best you had for that in 3 was the Regenerator.) The job of all three of these is to help make sure your DPS players are able to get their damage done.
So we're left with the buffer and the debuffer.
For anyone reading this that doesn't happen to play RPGs, a buff is a temporary improvement to your player's stats.
The main example of a Support player in Halo is a Warthog Driver. You're giving a large damage and movement boost to the person in your turret, whether you look at it as buffing the on-foot version of the gunner, or buffing the Husky.
Support players are also those annoying bastards that pick up the Plasma Pistol and actually use it the way it was intended. It knocks out shields, it knocks out engines...It debuffs the hell out of anyone it comes into contact with.
They're also the players who'll drive a Mongoose to go pick up your tank (player) who grabbed the flag. Or put down tons of suppressive fire in the Revenant to prevent movement.
The best way to describe a support player in Halo is by this: they protect your primary DPS as well as paint his targets. Support and Tank players have an area of overlap -- they also want the focus on them rather than on your DPS, but they are typically there to draw focus AFTER the battle's begun. Tanks attempt to draw focus to start a battle.
Most of the players who say there are no "roles" in Halo are the ones responding to other players labeling Walshy and ToTz as Support. Which they are not.
Examples of some Support players from MLG Halo: Ogre 2, Destin, Chig, ElamiteWarrior, Heinz. Players like this tend to become unsung heroes behind their DPS (barring Ogre 2, of course, as his repeated success puts him in the limelight.)
These players didn't try to draw focus on them constantly, but knew when and what to do to keep their teammates alive. And that is the mark of a good support player.
...Which brings us to DPS. Damage Per Second. Whether it be wielding iron fists, bows, machine guns, sniper rifles, swords, or a fan that summons bees that shoots guns that shoot swords...DPS are the players you want to be dealing your team's damage and picking up most of the kills.
There are two divisions of DPS champions in most MMORPGs and MOBAs: there are physical DPS and magical DPS.
In MOBA games, physical DPS champions are made to inherently scale better with items, so you're encouraged to attempt to funnel the kills to them. A carry in Defense of the Ancients can almost single-handedly kill an enemy team if they were supported well early on.
Magical DPS on the other hand, are powerful from the get-go and often pull your team through the bulkier, more difficult midgame.
In Halo, there's not really "magic" damage, and your damage doesn't change throughout the course of the game, so DPS are funneled into two main categories: Power Weapons, and Power Vehicles.
Snipers, Rockets, Laser, Scorpions, Wraiths, and Banshees. The people who specialize in this are usually DPS players. There's some leeway, as some players still focus on consistent long-range DMRing. They are also DPS-style players, just less reliant on support to do their job.
People want to kill your DPS. They have to. Otherwise they're going to die a lot. This is why tanks and supports are important. Drawing focus off your Sniper or Laser for even a second is a play that can snowball. Saving your laser person's life once as he secures it can lead to four kills later on as they are allowed to set up.
If you have a Sniper in a power position, you've become one of the scariest beings on the map in Halo Reach. The Sniper is POWERFUL in this game. I mean, it kills a Banshee in five frickin' shots (without any help from teammates... which you should have)! FIVE SHOTS!
Wraiths and Scorpions can completely shut down movement in a given area. Banshees are agile bastards who can quickly strike down anyone they please.
When it comes to team composition, having players that wield those weapons with confidence and expertise is important. It gives you obvious benefits to have a player with a Sniper who can land every headshot. It's elementary, even.
DPS players are the rockstars of your team. They're going to get the stats, and they're going to look good. Neighbor, FearItself, Cloud, Snipedown, Strongside, Naded. These players deal a TON of damage and look good doing it. They're known to be strong players. But would you ever put any four of those on a team together?
Anyone who just said "Of course! Dude, that'd be awesome!" is missing the point of this article.
You need balance on your team. If you had players who are not accustomed to being without those power weapons, they're probably not going to be as efficient when it comes to attempting to protect the player who does have it. They're used to sneaking around the map, taking routes that get them to the strongest position safely.
While players CAN be proficient in multiple roles, you really want players who can cleanly fulfill roles that synergize.
Take Triggers Down from late in the '10 season for example -- They went from being SK-Hysteria-Neighbor-Pistola to being Hysteria-Best Man-Neighbor-ToTz.
A lot of players criticized them for dropping Pistola for ToTz. I mean, Pistola was a rock star DPS... but so was Neighbor, and to a degree, so was Hysteria. SK was somewhat of a tank, somewhat of a Support, but did not shine in either role.
They replaced a hybrid SK and a DPS Pistola with a Support Best Man and a tank in ToTz. And their placings improved (compared to their placings earlier in the season)...they never did reclaim their Top 2 splendor from the '09 season.
ToTz and Neighbor's playstyles synergized very well. Neighbor likes to sneak around and clean up kills from odd angles. ToTz likes to herp-derp into the open, dealing a little damage and taking a lot more. While those two worked as a great duo from their opponents' side of the map, Best Man was able to keep targets from rushing Hysteria by keeping their shields low as they attempted to push off the ToTz/Neighbor-occupied side.
Playstyles typically dictate your movement around the map. Your movement around the map will reflect your role and job to the team.
And if your team is loaded with support players and tanks, without anyone confident or as proficient in dealing the MAD DEEPZ, your team will suffer.
Likewise, if you're too concentrated around MAD DEEPZ, without any support, your team will suffer.
A lot of players criticize RuffGonja, A Team, NamelessHero, and BoneGrindinPain for their playstyles, but they were dedicated tanks who helped their team to numerous victories they would not have otherwise had if the team was attempting to all strong-arm their way versus a team that had better slaying power or control.
Tanks disrupt slayers. Supports keep slayers alive. Slayers then kill other slayers. Once those slayers are down, the enemy tanks and supports are but chaff before your thresher.
So if you ever find yourself trying to build a team, or watching MLG and wondering why a team line-up that looks strong isn't performing as well as it should, take the team under the microscope. Look at their roles. Try to figure out what it has, then you'll see what it's missing.
Audley Enough, you'll find that nine times out of ten, a team that isn't performing that SHOULD BE, is failing because of an overconcentration of rockstar DPS, or an underperforming tank.
See you guys next week...where I'll talk about the one role I didn't mention this week.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)