Monday, June 27, 2011

Gaiscioch Guild Wars 2 PvP Daytime Player Recruitment




Many of us are eagerly awaiting any more information on WvWvW pvp, not to mention when Guild Wars 2 might actually be released.  The guild Gaiscioch, a casual guild born from the objective based pvp fires of DAOC and Warhammer, also cannot wait to get its hands on Guild Wars 2.


We are starting recruitment early for daytime for Guild Wars 2 players for two reasons:

#1. Having a daytime presence for oRvR in Warhammer helped our night casual players achieve more once they started getting on after work.  But many years have passed since then and a lot of our past day players have turned into more night casual players.  In years passed, college students, military service men and women, and retirees were among our day players and we hope to recruit players in similar circumstances.
#2. For similar reasons as in #1, some of our prominent daytime pvp leaders, such as myself Vampiresbane, have become night pvp leaders and so we also need a few good daytime pvp leaders for us to mentor and help take over the daytime damage and destruction that we all became so accustomed to.

Our European and Oceanic players also want to put out the welcome mat and recruit other similar players.  For an American based guild, Gaiscioch actually has quite a few players from Britain and mainland Europe as well as various Oceanic countries.  One thing to keep in mind is that Arenanet isn't sure if players will be region locked or not on servers so make sure to have a backup plan if possible.  No matter what, we'd love to have you if players aren't region locked.

Our guild's two main claims to fame are encouraging players to play how they like and to host server wide events.  In Warhammer, we hosted "Battle for Badlands," a pvp event in Tiers 2, 3, and 4 meant to provide a fun reliable time for both Order and Destruction to pvp in all levels.  A few of our members or allies also hosted other events. "Redhammer Tavern," a weekly roleplaying event on Mondays, was hosted by Clanorton and a weekly event called PQ Madness was hosted by Ltol, where players would do all the Public quests in the entire game, a few during each time.


Currently, our guild is more involved in RIFT, though a large part of our players base longs for the good ol' pvp days.  Our current main event is "The Telara Saga" in which our guild attacks different zones each event night.  Another member, Aethenrbrior, holds "Warfront Wednesdays" as well. 


To get a better taste of what we'll be up to, watch the following pvp video of one my personal favorite nights as a leader during Season 3 of our old "Battle for Badlands" eventline. 


Next week, I'll critique how I led during this battle using Sun Tzu's rules of War.  Even though our side won, though barely, Sun Tzu would have a few criticisms of my orders and of my strategy.  Also make sure to visit www.gaiscioch.com for current projects, guild structure, and guild events.

In meantime, between now and Guild Wars 2's release, sharpen your swords, practice your fireballs, and shine your armor because Gaiscioch will be eagerly waiting for you.

Whether you be friend or you be foe.

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Comparing PvP mmo's using Sun Tzu's Art of War

Anyone studying warfare will inevitably run into a quote or theory from "Art of War" by Sun Tzu.  It's near impossible not to.  I have always been intrigued by history's battles and wars, and when I first read Sun Tzu's book, I couldn't have been more impressed.  Sun Tzu's teachings are surprising for two big reasons:
#1 The rules he laid out apply so well even today and probably forever will.
#2 His teachings are so thorough it's basically impossible to find any other single document that covers how to conduct war as effectively.  

Now this blog and the series of articles I will write over the next year or so will not be analyzing this or that historical battle, but rather how Sun Tzu's "Art of War" applies to a series of very warfare infused video games, more specifically PvP (Player vs Player) oriented mmo's.  Ultimately I hope to use his teachings to have more fun in World vs World (WvW) in Guild Wars 2 (GW 2), but for this first article, I will be analyzing and comparing three big video games and how well Sun Tzu's rules apply to each.  In the end, I think it will be come apparent that if you "Understand the Art of War's lessons and you will prevail. Ignore them and you fight in darkness."

Don't fight in darkness.


Most of us pvp'ers play PvP styled mmo's for the challenge of going against other players and beating them within a set of given rules.  Because of the human condition, most of us love to learn how to fight more effectively or how to outsmart our opponents.  However there are particular limitations to how well some PvP mmo's can intellectually challenge us.  Most games typically include at least a form of instanced pvp fighting such as World of Warcraft (WoW) with battlegrounds or Rift with Warfronts.  Others have objective based world pvp such as Dark Age of Camelot (DAOC).  Some have both like Warhammer Online (WAR) and possibly Guild Wars 2.  In most cases, instanced pvp fights act more like chess.  Typically the healer(s) was considered the "Queen" or "King" depending on your point of view, and every class had a specific and limited role.  In contrast, objective based pvp tends to be more like the Chinese game of Go where the emphasis is more on the holding of territory with the least amount of manpower.  That's not to say chess like situations don't occur in objective based pvp fights (ie if two small pvp groups attacked one another), the overall emphasis just isn't on small scale fighting.  I will say this though: having both types of pvp in one game increases the challenge and as a result, fun.  The instanced pvp helps train smaller groups to become the more "elite" and effective fighting force and therefore can hold objectives better, in some situations, than a big mob of players.  In this case, these "elite" players will often have to think and strategize on TWO levels: on the chess level (which favors attrition) AND on the Go level (which favors hitting weak spots and using Sun Tzu strategy).

But let's not get ahead of ourselves.  Let's narrow our focus.  I want to evaluate how current PvP mmo's handle Sun Tzu's rules of war.  I'll be comparing DAOC, WoW, and GW 2 (using what has been announced so far).  The amount of information in Sun Tzu's "Art of War" is staggering even though volume wise, it's a fairly small book.  I've narrowed down a few big rules and grouped them to use to compare the three games:

1. All warfare is deception.
Sun Tzu's famous overall thesis.  If Sun Tzu could write his book in one sentence it would be this.  In instanced pvp, there's some deception, but not a lot.  You're fairly limited to small scale feints.  Perhaps you could charge a large group towards one end of the instance and then split at the last second or if it's arena (ie WoW) have your healer out in the open as bait, but as in most cases you could do these types of deception in objective based pvp as well as have ambushes and more involved feints and deceptions.    In this case, GW 2 ~ DAOC > WoW. 

2. If instructions are not clear and commands not explicit, it is the commander's fault.  But if the orders are clear, it's the fault of the subordinate officers.
Forever true.  Whether it's PUG or a premade, arena or pvp instance, the leader has to be clear.  This applies to all levels of pvp.  Clarity of orders effects all types of pvp equally if the leader isn't succinct and clear with his orders, but there are tools to make giving orders easier.  The major tools players use to achieve this are voice communication softwares such as Ventrillo or Teamspeak.  WoW has a slight advantage as a game over DAOC and GW 2 since it has a built in audio chat system, but Ventrillo and Teamspeak are still used much more since they tend to be more user friendly.

3. It is essential for victory that generals are unconstrained by their leaders. 
This has no effect on whether you're playing GW 2 or WoW or DAOC, but has EVERYTHING to do with what guild you're in and what leader you have.

4. Know your enemy and know yourself and in 100 battles, you will never be in peril.
In most situations in all three games, it's really more important to know yourself, your players, and the tendencies of the PUG's within your group (if you have any).  However, WoW and DAOC actually trump GW 2 in this regard because there is NO rotation of enemies which means you can actually get to know your enemy.  There is rotation for arenas in WoW, but I'm fairly certain you'll face a rotation of teams in GW 2 arena fights as well.  Pre-Lich King WoW and DAOC had you pitted against rivals that you got to know and hate over time.  Real rivalries could spring up (and you could get to know your enemies' tendencies).  The one downside to rotating who you fight against in WvW for GW 2 is that your enemy never stays the same.  Though WvW rotation is superior in many ways to RvR in DAOC, in this one way, it is inferior.

5. To win 100 battles is not the height of skill-to subdue the enemy without fighting is.
I don't know of many instances where instance/arena fights end with one side never fighting, but I know of several times in DAOC or Warhammer where you could take a keep without ever fighting other players, especially if you feigned an attack somewhere else. 


6. Avoid what is strong.  Attack what is weak.
7. More important to outthink your enemy than outfight him.
8. To move your enemy, entice him with something he is certain to take.
9. In battle use a direct attack to engage and an indirect attack to win.
10. Make your enemy prepare on his left and he will be weak on his right.
11. Those skilled in war bring the enemy to the field of battle.  They aren't brought by him.
All of the above Sun Tzu teachings describe using your intellect to beat the enemy as well as using deception to make your enemy make mistakes in order for you to gain a objective more easily.  There are definitely times where this applies in small scale, instanced fights, but it's definitely much more applicable in objective based warfare such as in DAOC or GW 2.

12. Let your plans be as dark as night-then strike like a thunderbolt. 
I seem to remember a different translation of this rule that states "Make your plans formless until at the last moment," but in the end it's the same idea.  Again applies more to DAOC or GW 2 since it's really hard to ever have a form in instanced pvp or arena fights to begin with. 

13. The way a wise general can achieve greatness beyond ordinary is through foreknowledge.  (is also related to #4)
14. Use spies for every kind of business.
15. It is essential to seek out enemy agents who have come to spy against you and bribe them to serve you.
There's two main ideas to these 3 sets of rules.  Use spies to gain knowledge and the general with most knowledge tends to win in much bigger ways.  Now in all three games, you really don't get to use spies because it's consider cheating in most regards, but scouts are the next best thing in pvp fights.  It's still a toss up between all three games in this regard since you really should scout your situation whether or not you're fighting in an instance, arena, or objective based pvp.  

16. Put the army in the face of death where there is no escape, and they will not flee or be afraid-there is nothing they cannot achieve.
Nicknamed Death Ground by many philosophers, it really only applies in objective based pvp settings where you have a small group that has the odds stacked against it.  Instanced pvp and arena settings tend to have BOTH sides in Death Ground scenerios and so doesn't really apply.  

17.  When a falcon's strike breaks the body of its prey, it is because of timing.  When torrential water tosses boulders, it is because of momentum. 
This is basically stating that you want to maintain momentum.  Here's a very large difference between instanced/arena based pvp and objective based pvp.  With the instanced/arena pvp, the winning team has a very hard time keeping their momentum because each fight makes them start from square one AND the team they fight each time may ALSO have just gained positive momentum.  In contrast, if you gain positive momentum in objective based pvp, you tend to keep it and the loser tends to keep losing momentum as fighting goes on.  In the end this rule applies more to DAOC and GW 2.  

18. The winning army realizes the conditions for victory first, then fights-the losing army fights first then seeks victory.
Another big Sun Tzu teaching.  Applies to all types of pvp.  No big difference here.  


19. There are five fundamental factors for success in war: weather, terrain, leadership, military doctrine, and, most importantly, moral influence.
20. Must maintain will of the people.  
Of the subjects mentioned above, it would very progressive if a game had weather that affected battle, but I have yet to see that happen.  All the other subjects tend to be equally important in all types of pvp except for one. 

Will of the people (morale) and moral influence really only affect games that have entire sides of servers fighting each other.  WoW never really had server on server fights.  Vanilla WoW had some great fights at South Shore and Tarren Mill when the Honor System was first released but the effects of these battles didn't really have any affect on the morale of the Alliance or Horde.  Conversely, DAOC and GW 2 have entire realms fighting each other.  The morale or will of your people aka server matters greatly in these two games.

21. No nation has ever benefited from prolonged war.  
Really only applies to objective based pvp games, but it's more of a detriment.  The longer there's a stalemate in DAOC or GW 2 world based pvp, the more often players get bored.   In this case, WoW players would be affected the least, but in a positive way.

22. Move only when you see an advantage and there is something to gain.  Only fight if a position is critical.
Applies fairly equally in all three games.  


23. In war, numbers alone confer no advantage-Do not advance relying on sheer military power.
Since in instances/arenas numbers are always equal to start off with, this really only applies to objective based pvp games.  +1 for DAOC and GW 2.

24. When the enemy occupies high ground, do not confront him.  If he attacks downhill, do not oppose him.
Holding high ground gains some advantages in instance/arena fights, but not many.  This definitely applies much more to objective based games.  

25. There are some armies that should not be fought-some ground that should not be contested.  
Even though I'm sure all of us faced that "oh crap, not these guys" groups in instances or arenas, you still had to fight them.  It's only in objective based pvp where you can actually avoid them.  Win for DAOC and GW 2.

26. When troops flee, are insubordinate, collapse or are routed in battle, it is the fault of the general.
Applies equally to all three games.  


27. War is a matter of vital importance to the state-it is a matter of life and death, survival or ruin. 
This Sun Tzu rule doesn't really affect my arguement, but does have a profound effect on how developers should approach pvp games in the first place.  You could read "states" to mean servers or entire mmorpg games and "war" as pvp fighting.  Thus "translated," pvp is a matter of vital importance to the video game-it is a matter of the game's survival or the game's economic ruin.

It appears Sun Tzu approved of pvp in online games long before they were ever made.  :) Doom to developers and their games that ignore pvp.


Overall, it really wasn't a fair comparison to begin with, but as you can see Sun Tzu style warfare greatly favors objective based pvp in DAOC and GW 2.  For the comparison itself, with no regard to anything outside Sun Tzu's "Art of War," DAOC and GW 2 are fairly even.  There's a few things game wise that would probably tip things in GW 2's favor, but  the game isn't even in beta yet so who really knows if it will become DAOC's true spritual successor.  It does help you realize why DAOC is considered the best pvp game ever made-it requires a level of thinking and strategizing WoW never did.

I hope you enjoyed my video game run down using Sun Tzu's "Art of War" as a measuring stick.  If you wanted to learn anything, make sure to try to read and understand Sun Tzu's theories that I typed in bold text.  His ideas are quite impressive and could help you beat my guild in GW 2.  You can bet I'll be using them against you.  Yes, you.

Next up, Recruitment for Gaiscioch.   After that, I'll critique one of my own nights that I led in Warhammer using Sun Tzu's "Art of War."