07-01-2005, 08:59 PM
Having been in a great many unsuccessful pickup groups now, I can distill down the four biggest issues that cause a loss in pickup CTF matches. Think of it as the four habits of highly ineffective people.
Oooh, shiny!
This is a game of capture the flag. Even taking into account the issue of contribution points, winning the game is worth more cp than farming all your opponents until diminishing returns hits 0. As such, the sole determination of where you fight should be the location of the flag. Too many pickups, however, simply dismount and attack the first red name they see. Half the team can get distracted chasing a couple of the other team's players while the rest roll the opposition and run away with the flag.
Flag? What flag?
Flags are the most important thing, but most pickups don't seem to get it. If your guy has the flag, you shouldn't be doing anything but helping him get back to base. If the other guy has your flag, you shouldn't be fighting anyone who isn't him or someone actively healing him. If both flags are taken, work on getting your flag get to base and defended, then send out rogues and mages to hunt their flag carrier. Naturally, pickups tend to be aggressively indifferent to the flag carrier, and spend time fighting people nowhere near the flag.
Yee-haw!
Solo cowboy antics are absolutely the worst thing for a CTF team. Not only do people haring off solo not successfully kill anyone, they essentially put their own team a man down for the entire match. Rogues and mages going off on a mission to hunt down the enemy flag carrier is fine. Rogues and mages going off on a mission to hunt kills (and getting two-or-more-on-oned and killed) is quite another. This goes for picking up the flag, too. It doesn't help your team to go off and grab the flag on your own. You will be caught, killed, flag returned, and your team will be a man down for up to thirty seconds. Always, always stick together. If you don't have the flag, all ten should be together until you do get it; then you can split into flag-guarding and flag-hunting teams.
Need more defense!
No...no, you don't. A habit of pickup groups is to assign people to defense right away. The key point to recognize is that your own flag isn't what needs defending. No defense, even of all ten players, can stop someone from getting into your base and taking the flag out: a priest/warrior duo can scatter ten defenders and be out the door with the flag before any of you recover from fear. What really needs defending is their flag, or rather, the player on your team holding their flag. It's more important to have their flag than to have your flag still in your base.
Oooh, shiny!
This is a game of capture the flag. Even taking into account the issue of contribution points, winning the game is worth more cp than farming all your opponents until diminishing returns hits 0. As such, the sole determination of where you fight should be the location of the flag. Too many pickups, however, simply dismount and attack the first red name they see. Half the team can get distracted chasing a couple of the other team's players while the rest roll the opposition and run away with the flag.
Flag? What flag?
Flags are the most important thing, but most pickups don't seem to get it. If your guy has the flag, you shouldn't be doing anything but helping him get back to base. If the other guy has your flag, you shouldn't be fighting anyone who isn't him or someone actively healing him. If both flags are taken, work on getting your flag get to base and defended, then send out rogues and mages to hunt their flag carrier. Naturally, pickups tend to be aggressively indifferent to the flag carrier, and spend time fighting people nowhere near the flag.
Yee-haw!
Solo cowboy antics are absolutely the worst thing for a CTF team. Not only do people haring off solo not successfully kill anyone, they essentially put their own team a man down for the entire match. Rogues and mages going off on a mission to hunt down the enemy flag carrier is fine. Rogues and mages going off on a mission to hunt kills (and getting two-or-more-on-oned and killed) is quite another. This goes for picking up the flag, too. It doesn't help your team to go off and grab the flag on your own. You will be caught, killed, flag returned, and your team will be a man down for up to thirty seconds. Always, always stick together. If you don't have the flag, all ten should be together until you do get it; then you can split into flag-guarding and flag-hunting teams.
Need more defense!
No...no, you don't. A habit of pickup groups is to assign people to defense right away. The key point to recognize is that your own flag isn't what needs defending. No defense, even of all ten players, can stop someone from getting into your base and taking the flag out: a priest/warrior duo can scatter ten defenders and be out the door with the flag before any of you recover from fear. What really needs defending is their flag, or rather, the player on your team holding their flag. It's more important to have their flag than to have your flag still in your base.