Duelling: Two ways of looking at it.

[MrCoulomb]

*SORT OF RANT*

As far as I can tell, there are two main camps developing on the subject of duelling. One is, 'Do whatever you can to win.' and the other is 'Try and win, but also try and make it a good fight.'

 

I'm leaning towards the latter view. It's not because I lose to people who use boring tactics - I usually win against those and lose against those who make it interesting. It's just that - especially in a duel mode when people are watching - it the kill is really easy, or it consists of just slashing until you hit something, or one person only seems to know one force power and spends the rest of the time running away while it recharges... where's the entertainment in that?

 

Nowhere, as far as I can see. And if I'm bored in a duel, whoever is watching is going to be even more bored.

 

Let's face it, the things that make people say 'wow' on the servers, the things that entertain them most are anything that is cinematic. Now, sometimes the use of force grip, or a strong special move can look cinematic. And that's cool. But it stops being cinematic and starts being boring if it's the ONLY thing you do.

 

So.. to make a duel interesting, for both the people dueling, and whoever is watching, then I think the key is variety. That might mean taking some risks and trying new things, but it's worth it. There's nothing quite like a duel with many, many cool moments.. take this example, which is a typical good duel:

 

We begin, with both sabers not lit, in the carbon freeze chamber, circling eachother, walking. Someone throws an insole, the sabers ignite, one person leaps, the other slides underneath to strike the first blow. The two part, waiting for an opportunity, and then one suddenly throws the saber, but the other dodges and slides towards him. He is defenceless, but just as the other is about to deliver a strong blow, the saber comes back into his hand, and immediately the battle continues. One of them suddenly starts a force grip (i'm not a fan of this power in a duel, but only because most people who use it use it ALL the time), when the time is right, and the other is in trouble until he finds the force push button. However, he is still stunned, and things look bad for him, as the other kicks them down to the area arond the main arena. He waits patiently, then takes the lift upward, where the other is waiting and immediately their sabers lock. After a struggle, he is knocked backwards, down to the bottom of the lift, and the other does a flip down, and strikes him dead where he lies.

 

See, in that example, both players make a conscious effort to vary their tactics and the result is a fun duel with lots of surprises. Now doesn't that sound more fun than:

 

They both starts at eachother immediately. One person is in strons stance and trying to hit anything. The other uses force drain and is easily avoiding the slow blows of the strong stance. Eventually, the other one force grips when he is in a convenient place, and then, goes to strike back. It doesnt work, so he runs away again, does more force draining, and tries to grip again. and again. and again. All the while, the other guy is still trying to hit, and maybe he does, maybe he doesn't. Who wins? Who cares!

 

*END OF SORT OF RANT*

[Mavital]

I wish I could say that entertainment is whats on my mind when I'm dueling, but in truth I'm more aimed at winning. I do try to mix up my moves though, simply to confuse my opponent and keep the spectators guessing when its their turn to fight me.

 

Unfortunently... winning is pretty much everything.

 

Mavital

[Azraelt]

I love dueling, when you get a really good fight going with good players the duel is exciting, you get the outragous moves and stuff. For example the other day I was dueling someone on a ledge in the nar shaddaa streets we both had about 50 hp left, I jumped over him slashed his leg, jumped back, we both recouperated for a few seconds, he came in for fliping strike, I ran along the wall and just as I released from the wall I caught him square in the chest with a saber blow. It was great. I think about winning, I think about stragtigy, excitment just comes with it.

[eggyokio]

I agree its about winning....but with style

and some of the exciting combo's that happen, ever been surprised by a wall walk getaway?

 

[Tozier]

Entertainment??!! I really don't give a damn about what the other players think. I play to win. I hardly ever use grip, however, and prefer to supe up push, lightning and drain. I'll charde in and do the strong stance special move, one or two swings in strong then drop down to medium stance and start jumping and attacking like mad. Then to add insult to injury, I'll push someone and kill them with a strong stance attack, or a "swift kick in the face" style. (run at someone, and when you come into contact, jump. You'll wall kick off of the poor sap and do an amt. of health damage which I don't know -never recieved one- he... he.... he...) Another of my favorites is to wall walk around pillar come out of it with a sideways strong atance swing.

*catches his breath* whew.

[MrCoulomb]

Look, look. you're completely misinterpreting what i said. The last guy that replied says 'nah' it's all about the winning, and then goes on to describe this immensely varied attack style of his.

 

 

... which is what I was saying you should do! I'm not saying that you should aim to entertain rather than WIN, i'm saying that a battle in which you use a varied strategy will always be more fun to lose or to win than a battle which simply consists of the same old moves repeated over and over until they work (even if that is a tactic that works for you).

 

I'm not saying that you should stop and think before every move and consider 'is this entertaining enough?' ... instead perhaps it would be better to think 'Am I becoming too predictable? Should I vary my attack more.' And when you vary the attack, it automatically becomes entertaining. Sure, sometimes it's fun to do moves just to show off, but my point was, you can aim to win, and also have an entertaining game at the same time. ... a lot of people on the servers seen to think that you need to boringly do the same thing over and over again to win. And it doesnt even work, most of the time!