dorkelf
Active Member
I've been monitoring discussions on GWOnline.net and it seems the momentum of discussions is strongly in favor of 8v8. Considering that HA is still set at 8v8 even after the 'temporary' weekend, I think it is probably going to become a permanent change. So we might as well figure out how to deal with it, assuming that we want to continue our quest to win the halls.
The thing most people on the 8v8 side of the team size argument were saying is that 8v8 allows for better team balance. In other words, with more slots you can put together your little spike sub-team and still have all the other 'bases' covered. I can concede that this is definitely an advantage when dealing with 8 experienced players doing what they know how to do. But for our guild 8v8 presents a couple of very serious problems:
1 - With 8v8 we're back to the days of often not having enough people to form a team. This forces us to recruit via alliance chat, or bring heroes, in order to reach 8 players. As a result we end up with a hodge podge of people with various levels of skill and limitations about what they can and can't play. The net result of this is that we're slow to form a team and then even slower to get the team oriented into a viable build. Last night, for instance, we spent far more time waiting for players to arrive and get set up than we did playing.
2 - With 8v8 coordination is just harder. You have more people doing more things, and it isn't always clear what is or isn't working properly. For that reason it becomes even more important to have experienced people into slots where they're doing what they know how to do. But as mentioned above, this is a difficult thing for us to do - we may have 8 serious, regular PvP players in our guild, but having them all show up on time for PvP is a rarity.
The one positive thing about 8v8 is that it will force us to develop skills that will be valuable in GvG. Essentially, HA is going to become much more like GvG, so doing both of these formats will become an easier transition for us to make.
If you have any thoughts about this please share them, particularly advice about how we should deal with this new playing environment and put together viable groups without spending too much setup and recruitment time. Also I'm thinking of posting a last-minute appeal for 6v6 on GWonline, so any comments you have and opinions in favor or against 8v8 will be appreciated.
Paul
The thing most people on the 8v8 side of the team size argument were saying is that 8v8 allows for better team balance. In other words, with more slots you can put together your little spike sub-team and still have all the other 'bases' covered. I can concede that this is definitely an advantage when dealing with 8 experienced players doing what they know how to do. But for our guild 8v8 presents a couple of very serious problems:
1 - With 8v8 we're back to the days of often not having enough people to form a team. This forces us to recruit via alliance chat, or bring heroes, in order to reach 8 players. As a result we end up with a hodge podge of people with various levels of skill and limitations about what they can and can't play. The net result of this is that we're slow to form a team and then even slower to get the team oriented into a viable build. Last night, for instance, we spent far more time waiting for players to arrive and get set up than we did playing.
2 - With 8v8 coordination is just harder. You have more people doing more things, and it isn't always clear what is or isn't working properly. For that reason it becomes even more important to have experienced people into slots where they're doing what they know how to do. But as mentioned above, this is a difficult thing for us to do - we may have 8 serious, regular PvP players in our guild, but having them all show up on time for PvP is a rarity.
The one positive thing about 8v8 is that it will force us to develop skills that will be valuable in GvG. Essentially, HA is going to become much more like GvG, so doing both of these formats will become an easier transition for us to make.
If you have any thoughts about this please share them, particularly advice about how we should deal with this new playing environment and put together viable groups without spending too much setup and recruitment time. Also I'm thinking of posting a last-minute appeal for 6v6 on GWonline, so any comments you have and opinions in favor or against 8v8 will be appreciated.
Paul