[SIZE="6"]Proper Penetration:
A Beginner's Guide to Jousting[/SIZE]
A Beginner's Guide to Jousting[/SIZE]
So, are you one of the many who've browsed the wiki in search of splendor only to stumble upon the seemingly daunting challenge that is jousting?
Maybe you were looking for a particular +30 STR title, or maybe you just collect titles in general. Perhaps you wanted to get a shiny Knight Lance, or maybe you've decided to enchant your Flamerider/Cressida Suit with the Explosive enchant, only obtainable by burning a broadsword prize. Perhaps you were intrigued by a Mana Stone Kite Shield, or maybe you wanted to build up an arsenal of powerful arrows, bolts or javelins. But then you tried to joust once, and your experience crushed you. You registered while surrounded by a large group that, believe it or not, all seemed to be part of the same guild. As your first opponent blasted you off your steed, you felt embarrassment welling up in you, drowned out by the congratulations received by your opponent from his fellow guildies.
A little deterred by your sudden loss, you double check the wiki to see how much work you'll have to do for your goal, only...
"I have to win this 30 times to get the title? Screw this. I'll hunt it some other time. Time to get that King of Diligence title."
"150 points for the Explosive Broadsword? That'll be half a year at this rate. Maybe someone'll sell the burn or something."
"170 points for a KITE SHIELD? Never mind. The enchant's not that great anyway..."
Does this sound like you, or someone you know? Then this guide's for you. Firstly, no one is going to sell you that shield or that sword. Anyone spending points on them either want them for personal use, or to give to a friend or guildie. Secondly, 30 wins may seem like a lot at first, especially if all you do is lose, but if you start getting a good grasp of the game you'll start winning more and more and be on your way well past that title in no time. And thirdly, the longer you put it off, the longer it's going to take you to get what you want. So, long-winded intro aside, let's get started on jousting and you.
[SIZE="3"][COLOR="Red"]
Jousting 101: The Attacks
[/SIZE]As you no doubt know from the wiki and your firsthand experiences with competition, there are four basic attacks in jousting, and a sort of rock-paper-scissor system that keeps them balanced. They are executed using the A, S, D, and W keys, and each of them has a strength, a weakness, and a strategic use.
A: This is easily the most commonly used attack, a prime choice for the first attack in any match. It is the weakest of the four attacks, but strong against both W and D. It is bested only by S. While it is the most common attack, it is not necessarily the safest.
S: This is a moderate damage attack, and arguably the safest of the four, but I'll get into that later. S will easily defeat A, while being completely crushed by D. When clashing against W, both attacks will connect, although I suspect W is slightly stronger than S.
D: This is the strongest of the four attacks, and ultimately the riskiest. D has the unenviable disadvantage of being vulnerable both to A, and to W, which is a problem as those two are the most commonly used attacks in a match. However, if it is pulled off at just the right time, usually when punishing an opponent's S attack, it is easily the most devastating attack in your arsenal, capable of burying an opponent's chance of success almost instantly or even turning the tides in an uphill battle. Knowing exactly when to use it will grant you some of your most satisfying victories.
W: The second moderate damage attack, it defeats D and is beaten by A.
Now, some things to note. When jousting, you will have a small window of input to select which attack you will use. If no attack is selected, an available attack will be chosen at random. Once both you and your opponent have an attack prepared, you will charge at each other and one of three results will happen. In the event of your attack beating your opponent's, they will deal no damage to you and you will deal full damage to them. In the event of your opponent's attack beating yours, the opposite will happen. In the event that your attacks match each other, which happens when either both of you select the same attack that round, or one chooses W while the other chooses S, you will clash and both deal full damage to each other. This is the simple gist of things, although there are some other details to keep in mind that I will explain in full later.
Keep in mind that when you have used an attack for a turn, you cannot use that same attack on the next turn. Choosing A will make you unable to use it twice in a row and force you to choose S, W or D. There is no exception to this. Mashing a button when it is unavailable will do nothing; if no other attack is selected, the timer will tick down until another attack is chosen for you at random. So pay attention to what attacks you have used, because I assure you that your opponent will also be paying attention to them.
[SIZE="3"]
Combination Attacks
[/SIZE]Did you know? In addition to the basic rules listed above, each race has a specific combo they can use for dealing extra damage. The combos are determined with a lead-in attack (no special attribute) followed by a more powerful attack.
For humans, using A and immediately following up with W will make your W much more powerful.
For giants, using W and following up with S will produce the same result.
Elves will get more damage from A if the preceding hit resulted in a tie (must be W vs W, S vs S, or D vs D. It will not work if done with S vs. W or W vs. S).
Keep in mind that it is completely possible to have your lead-in beaten, only to land the extra damage attack on the next turn. The only time a whiff will cost you the combo is if it happens on the second hit, when the damage would have been increased.
Because the opportunities to use each race's combos vary greatly, there is a certain balance to them. Because clashes happen often, elves have perhaps the easiest time getting their combo off, and as such their combo is the weakest. Giants have the hardest time with theirs, but do significantly more damage on a successful hit. As with all things human, their difficulty and payoff rests in the middle. (Thanks to Zid for this info.)
The combination attacks and the inability to use the same attack twice in a row keep the matches from being too predictable, although you can see quite clearly how easy it is to read an opponent once you have pressed the advantage.
[SIZE="3"]
Player Psychology: Getting Inside Your Opponent's Head
[/SIZE]As with many showdowns, the battle is often decided at the first attack. But which one is right for you? Figuring out your opponent's game plan is the most effective way to shut them down. You should also avoid falling into the pit traps of a tried and true formula, because there is none. Chances are, you will meet the same opponent multiple times if you plan to joust often, so you don't want them figuring you out, do you? Then again, not everyone is particularly bright, so use whatever works.
This section is less about concrete tactics and more about putting you in a proper state of mind to face off against other players. The important thing to take from the below paragraphs is to always remain one step ahead of your opponent's train of thought.
You will find that most people, regardless of race, start out with A then W. It is important to watch out for this when fighting humans, as this is their favorite combination for obvious reasons listed above. Why do people use A so much? Believe it or not, S is not commonly used at all. Humans want to use A-W early and often, and Giants will not start out with W because humans will start out with A. Also, no one likes getting hit by the rare D. No one.
But this is a misconception. S becomes the safest move especially when your opponent is obsessed with A and W. This is because D is the riskiest attack to use at the start, due to it being weak to two out of four attacks and strong against an attack not used as often--it's highly unlikely someone will want to gamble with D as a starting move. For that reason, S will often give you the element of surprise at the start of a match.
It should also be noted that if you know your opponent is trying to get this advantage early on, that is an excellent time to lead in with D. As I said before, knowing when to punish S is the best thing you can do for using D effectively. This includes reading an opponent who loves starting with S, as well as anticipating a giant who used W on the previous turn.
Once you have grasped the advantage, do not let it go. If you beat an opponent's A with S, do not be afraid to use A next if it means that you will avoid letting your opponent get their extra damage from a W clash. The worst that could happen is that they decide to negate your advantage by using S against your A. Of course, if you know them to be the type to do this, that might be an opportunity to cleverly slip a sneaky D attack in.
Are you an elf who just forced an S clash? Even if your opponent uses A next, you'll do more damage by clashing with them again. And they wouldn't dare use W or D after S-clashing an elf if they know what's good for them. Likewise, are you an elf who just got forced into a W clash? Tempting as it may be, you need to ask yourself if your opponent will punish an A with an S, or if playing it safe by reaching for S will backfire from an opponent choosing D.
S becomes indisputably the safest attack to use if your opponent used D on the previous turn. You're guaranteed a tie in the worst case scenario. Alternatively, D becomes just as safe as A or S once W has been used. As long as either A or W were used on the previous turn, D only has one attack it has to worry about, although this is less of an advantage after your opponent has used A for the reason listed in the next sentence. W becomes the safest move to use if your opponent used A on the previous turn. A becomes safest when your opponent has recently used S.
Perhaps it's just safer to gamble. Are you and your opponent doing nothing but clashing with the same attacks? You'll both have a 50-50 chance of winning if you clash when both of you are on your final hit. If you like those odds, maybe it'll be a good idea to just keep matching their A with yours, your W with theirs, and so on.
These are all things to consider when facing an opponent.
[SIZE="3"]
Competition and Points
[/SIZE]Throughout the week, jousting events are held at 7 PM PST. Monday through Saturday, the preliminaries are held on all channels. Simply show up, and register. On Sunday, however, the finals are held, and all finalists should report to channel 2 of their respective servers. Registration starts 10 minutes before the matches (30 for finals) and ends exactly when the matches begin. If you change channels after registering, you will have to reapply. To qualify for the finals, you must win at least 2 of the preliminaries that week. For every 2 wins you get during the week, a coupon will be awarded to you. This coupon must be presented at the finals when you register. If you lose it, you cannot compete. If you should change channels or disconnect after registering for the finals, you will lose your registration and need another coupon to apply again. The coupon has an expiration date of 7 days, so it will never last until the finals of the following week, and yes, if you win all six prelims, that's a potential 3 coupons, useful for backups. The first thing you should note is that you will never not get points for competing in a match; you are always guaranteed at least 1 point for every match you're in. On that note, the points break down as follows:
You get one jousting point for losing a match in the prelims.
You get three points for winning a match in the prelims, or losing a match in the finals.
You get nine points for winning a match in the finals.
In addition to these points, the first place winner of the finals will get 96 points, and the runner-up will get 42. Both first and second place get a Knight Lance for their tenacity.
This means that bare minimum, you are guaranteed 6 points every week if you show up on Monday through Saturday but fail to win at all. If you win every prelim but lose on the first round of the finals, you are guaranteed 21 points that week. While it is true that first and second place are the desired ranks for getting points quickly, the finals in and of themselves are a great opportunity to rack up points even if you don't place, especially if there are a lot of finalists that week. This is because the more people in Sunday's finals, the more rounds. For every round you win in the finals, you will get 9 points, including the championship match. So making it to the very end will effectively give you 45 points for second place, or 105 points for first, just for that one match.
The most expensive item to acquire with jousting points is the jousting version of the Leminia Holy Moon Armor at 190 points. With enough wins during the week and enough participants and wins during the finals, it is possible to get this item in just one week. Therefore, while the issue of more opponents works against you during the prelims, such an issue can potentially work in your favor during the finals.
It must be noted that in order for the Sunday finals to take place, enough people have to show up. If not enough people show up to compete, there will be no finals on Sunday.
Now, how do you maximize your chances of making it to the finals? There are several tricks:
-On prelim days, if you're a loner, try to register on a channel where no one else is. While finals cannot occur without a proper number of participants, prelims will face you off against the CPU, even if no one else shows up on that channel. Wins and losses against CPU opponents still count for finals qualification and for point acquisition. It should also be noted that when there are an uneven number of multiple participants on a channel, the CPU will go against the odd man out. The CPU is not a guaranteed win; I can recount weeks where I lost two or three days in a row because the CPU used something I would not have expected both from it, or from any logical player. That said, facing off against the CPU greatly improves your chances when your opponent is simply using preprogrammed attack patterns instead of reading your every move. Here's a hint: the odds of the computer starting out with S or D are much lower than those of an actual player.
-If you're a socialite, on prelim days bring friends or guildies with you. Try to isolate yourselves onto a specific channel, and decide who will win and who will lose. You could even pay certain people to throw matches for you, though that's an ethical issue you'll have to resolve for yourself. Guilds that frequent the jousting event like to bring as many of their guildies as possible as often as possible. That way, they can keep victories (and therefore points) in the guild for quickly obtaining the prizes jousting has to offer. It's also possible to ensure that everyone makes it to the finals by allowing everyone to win at least twice during the week. This will greatly improve your entire group's chances of winning the championship and getting the maximum number of possible points.
-If you're bored and just sitting around the arena with a friend, have a practice match. You're free to practice whenever there is no tournament registration taking place. Hell, even without a friend to practice with you, you're free to challenge the various NPCs who fulfill the role of CPU opponents during official matches.
[SIZE="3"]
Final Thoughts
[/SIZE]Jousting may appear difficult at first, but it's really quite simple once you figure out what works for you. The most important thing you can do, however, is to keep at it. Your payoff will come eventually, and constant competition will only make you better at it. How much better? Well, that depends entirely on you, but I will say this. You won't get any better at jousting just by running from it. It is my hope that this guide will encourage more people to try their hand at it, so I can have more people [s]to trample during the finals for extra points[/s] to compete with. So give it a go, and stick it to them where it hurts. Preferably with a D attack if and whenever possible.
[/COLOR]