MAG: So what do they do differently that the rest of us arent doing?

[Ausar.9542]

So what do they do differently that the rest of us arent doing? I tried to look at some streams to see what unique about MAG's commander play that we arent doing, but that didnt lead to a clear answer. 

So I figured I ask here directly

[Arya Whitefire.8423]

They aren't running commanders 90% of the time.  Oft times someone will tag up to concentrate forces for a siege, but even then there's no move this way, bomb on this target, most of the time.

 

One cause is so many "retired" experienced and skilled players, who know how to play the tag and stack game, but are mostly tired of it. 

 

One result, is a server where even the less experienced and talented players are used to not seeing a tag, so they don't get into the habit of waiting for a tag to be up, before they can do something useful.

 

Most servers USED to have significant populations that could play without tags, but thanks to changes by anet, unless those players are both numerous and skilled, they just get pwned by the comped voice comm groups, making doing so a waste of time.   Better to play pve or some other game, or wait for your own comped voice comm group to log in.

 

 

[Junkpile.7439]

Looked some videos and seems like all these average and ok WvW players who have dodge binded in keyboard stacked in one server and running in zone cloud together. Didn't really see any big plays, mad skills or any serious skill layering. They play builds that do damage and have some survivability and just poke enemy every direction whole time and probably actually understand what they need to do to win a fight. There might even be 5 man groups inside cloud that use some advanced tactics like group targeting. You can do this poking solo against guild blob too and might even get some enemy downed. When many players do it same time it's kind of annoying and hard to fight against.

[slitherpuss.2854]

You guys will never learn the “SeCreT sUaCe”.

 

As the number 1 MAG fanboy The mighty  teapot once said. “To beat MAG, Ya gotta just get gud” 

 

lol

Edited January 15, 2023 by slitherpuss.2854

[Xenesis.6389]

They're aggressive.

They cloud.

Orange swords is their tag.

[Chaba.5410]

5 hours ago, Ausar.9542 said:

So what do they do differently that the rest of us arent doing?

Logging on to play.

[MedievalThings.5417]

6 hours ago, Ausar.9542 said:

So what do they do differently that the rest of us arent doing? I tried to look at some streams to see what unique about MAG's commander play that we arent doing, but that didnt lead to a clear answer. 

So I figured I ask here directly

Most servers run as a guild or actually solo.  Mag sort of runs as individuals, and is aggressive, but can do so because they know everyone else is doing the same.  They want to be pugs, but always play with the same people every day, most are in their alliance guild, and so don't actually meet the definition of a pug.  So, where most servers aren't going to run into a 1v5, mag will.  Not because they outskill their opponents (which may or may not be true) or are super brave, but because they know 10-15 other people are 5 seconds behind meaning the 1v5 is really a 15v5 in their favor.

 

Mag will push keeps all day, and lose.  Over and over, lose.  Then, when all your guilds have logged off, they take everything and tier it up.  Most guilds will take your stuff and leave because they have already done what they set out to do.  Mag tends to overcompensate and tier everything up in off hours and camp under siege to make a statement.

 

People are just tired of fighting this play style.

[Arya Whitefire.8423]

13 minutes ago, Ubi.4136 said:

People are just tired of fighting this play style.

 

More people are tired of the guild play style, of running over everything that isn't a guild, so many that the population of this game is a skeleton of what it was.  But they were much less visible than the guilds, so it's harder to see.

 

I don't blame most of the new players for adopting the 10 minute afk camp meta.

[Xenesis.6389]

10 minutes ago, Arya Whitefire.8423 said:

More people are tired of the guild play style, of running over everything that isn't a guild, so many that the population of this game is a skeleton of what it was.  But they were much less visible than the guilds, so it's harder to see.

 

I don't blame most of the new players for adopting the 10 minute afk camp meta.

Yup, ran into boon ball guilds last night, let out a disgusted sigh, but then I chain moa'd the commanders, and pulled some off a wall out of the objective, and watched them all follow to save their buddies, about the only joy I could find in that whole disgusting scenario anymore.

Edited January 15, 2023 by Xenesis.6389

[TheGrimm.5624]

6 hours ago, Ausar.9542 said:

So what do they do differently that the rest of us arent doing? I tried to look at some streams to see what unique about MAG's commander play that we arent doing, but that didnt lead to a clear answer. 

So I figured I ask here directly

Have you not been teamed with them? Its not overly complicated. They don't run with tags mostly, they are roamers and havocs. Piles and piles of roamers and havocs. If you don't roam or run in havocs you may not get that. They don't run with tags because if you get enough people that don't and you known others will do the same you don't need tags. You see a fight, you go and fight. You see them taking something, you go and stop it and you know others will do the same. You see someone attacking a server mate, you go and attack. You see a group coming, you call out and go and attack knowing more will come even if you are going in 1 v 5 to start. They will respond to callouts. Its the same as havocs use against tags that people complain about. In havoc or roaming, you kill the tag. Why, simple since those used to following a tag may not know where to go afterwards which is what allows smaller groups to attack larger against all the other odds and advantages that larger groups get. So no its not about their tags, its about their players that are already used to fighting without tags and why so many servers used to having tags have issues. They don't have to beat all the other players, they just need to beat the players that run tags if the rest of server won't fight without one. Stealing I believe to be a Bruce Lee quote, Learn to fight naked and you will never be disarmed. 

[Chaba.5410]

3 minutes ago, Ubi.4136 said:

People are just tired of fighting this play style.

At the same time, people got to realize that with server linking, they're not always fighting the Mag you are talking about.

Last night Mag was getting spawncamped in EBG during NA prime by the two other servers; didn't have SMC, all their third was paper.  Only saw maybe 1 or 2 MAG guild tags in there, 1 D3RP.  Saw quite a few of these faux Mag players suicide themselves though because they've lulled themselves into a pattern where their opponents usually scatter when they do so instead of them getting punished for it because of personal hang-ups over a nameplate.

My assessment is that Mag's EBG queue is now well clogged up by the linked server, the new transfers, and the new accounts of players looking to get carried.  Playing on Mag is a type of easy mode for them because no one punishes them for it.

If anything, what I saw last night was further evidence that a solution needs to occur for timezone mismatches because servers with not enough NA population have little business being in a high tier match in a region that's supposed to be NA.  Seriously, what Mag does differently is log in and play.

[Arya Whitefire.8423]

Just now, Chaba.5410 said:

My assessment is that Mag's EBG queue is now well clogged up by the linked server, the new transfers, and the new accounts of players looking to get carried.  Playing on Mag is a type of easy mode for them because no one punishes them for it.

If anything, what I saw last night was further evidence that a solution needs to occur for timezone mismatches because servers with not enough NA population have little business being in a high tier match in a region that's supposed to be NA.  Seriously, what Mag does differently is log in and play.

 

Mag has suffered significant skill dilution on the weekends, and to a lesser extent during prime time on weekdays, the entire time I've played here(2-3 years).  It'll probably get better on Monday.

 

And yes TZs are another huge problem, and I see no way they can be fixed while retaining a 24 hour format.

[Chaba.5410]

4 minutes ago, Arya Whitefire.8423 said:

Mag has suffered significant skill dilution on the weekends, and to a lesser extent during prime time on weekdays, the entire time I've played here(2-3 years).

Skill-based stacking has always been just as stupid as timezone stacking in a game with no skill-based competitive structures like real world sports have.  Good that it gets diluted by other factors if the players themselves don't manage it.

[tobin.6754]

35 minutes ago, TheGrimm.5624 said:

 Bruce Lee quote, Learn to fight naked and you will never be disarmed. 

 

I wouldn't fight a dude who is naked in the first place.

[TheGrimm.5624]

1 minute ago, tobin.6754 said:

 

I wouldn't fight a dude who is naked in the first place.

How do you beat a Roman legion invading your country? Paint yourself blue, be naked and charge. It will work a couple of times.

[Evenge.4067]

So many people saying that Mag players don't follow a tag. I would bet that [MAG] the guild is mostly always in coms with their people calling targets and directions.  Same as a tag would do. I'm sure other maggot guilds are grouped and in comms too.

Saying that there are no commanders is a little misleading. There's just hidden leaders on Discord. 

[WeightTrainer.3219]

My team went from T4 to T1 due to this current link. We just went into T1 on the 13th. I personally haven't seen anything that different in terms of player's skills both individually and as a team. The only difference I have seen is time zone coverage. I would say that Mag puts effort into having 24-hour coverage and has been successful at gaining that coverage, whereas I know for my team we do not have that. That is the whole point of WvW Restructuring is to give better coverage for each team during each "season" I believe is what anet called it? As far as skill I haven't really seen Mag with any more skill than any other teams I have played against during this current link.

 

One last thought is I also have never seen any Mag players standing on a wall while their teammates are fighting, it looks like they are all pushing into a fight and I don't know if Mag players do the typical thing where a gamer auto runs into a wall while using an auto attack skill but that also doesn't help teams. Maybe a Mag player could comment if they see those things or not.

 

I have enjoyed fighting Maguuma and Blackgate this week. More content, more competition. I think T4 is typically very boring. 😂

[Famine.7915]

11 minutes ago, Evenge.4067 said:

So many people saying that Mag players don't follow a tag. I would bet that [MAG] the guild is mostly always in coms with their people calling targets and directions.  Same as a tag would do. I'm sure other maggot guilds are grouped and in comms too.

Saying that there are no commanders is a little misleading. There's just hidden leaders on Discord. 

At most, they in guild chat. No comms, no commander.

[Evenge.4067]

3 minutes ago, Famine.7915 said:

At most, they in guild chat. No comms, no commander.

Really? I doubt that so called very experienced players are not using Discord. 

[Famine.7915]

1 minute ago, Evenge.4067 said:

Really? I doubt that so called very experienced players are not using Discord. 

You don't have to believe me. I just state what I see. :/

[moutzaheadin.4029]

36 minutes ago, Evenge.4067 said:

Really? I doubt that so called very experienced players are not using Discord. 

If you must know MAGSWAG discord is full of cat memes, furry memes, salt filled pm screenshots and threads like this from here and Reddit.

 

that’s all we use discord for. No voice, no com. It’s not needed. 
 

I hope I gave you a peek into the secret sauce of the MAG success.

 

~obs

Edited January 15, 2023 by moutzaheadin.4029

[Stash.8401]

1 hour ago, Evenge.4067 said:

So many people saying that Mag players don't follow a tag. I would bet that [MAG] the guild is mostly always in coms with their people calling targets and directions.  Same as a tag would do. I'm sure other maggot guilds are grouped and in comms too.

Saying that there are no commanders is a little misleading. There's just hidden leaders on Discord. 

nobody is ever in comms unfortunately....sorry to burst your cope

 

EDIT: I stand corrected, the only people who use comms is CTH guild.

Edited January 15, 2023 by Stash.8401

[Tibbs.6508]

One of the biggest advantages is everyone online is on the same lage about most things when we all use team chat to call things out. I've been on many servers and I can tell you quality of scouting and scout calls is important, but what's more important then good scout calls is people who will respond. So many guilds won't even consider going somewhere until an exact number is called out even if they know who the group is, and by the time they muster the strength to click a wp it's too late and they blaming scouts. And tags are incapable of communicating with their scouts or players that aren't in their squad. Too busy trying to rp as a 40man gvg guild. When we get to an objective waiting for more ppl to show up we try to bait/stall which leads to alot of saves

[Tibbs.6508]

Mag def has some old commanders but Noone uses discord man lol. Even the group I play with has 3-10 people here and there and we won't use common, party chat only. Comms is a crutch and without them u learn to think for yourself and make plays based off what's actually happening instead of listening to a commander who doesn't know how to read a fight

[SFShinigami.1572]

Lack of an autobalancing system after 10 years has led to a concentration of experienced players who want to play with other experienced players who share a common goal of wanting to dominate other servers that have less numbers and a relatively higher share of non-wvwers using minimal effort.