Playing Arena on Friday

[Mekt-Hakkikt]

Hi!

Ironduke and I, we will be "meeting" for a little bit of Arena on XBox Live tomorrow (Friday, 7th) at 10 am CEST (central Europe summer time), that should be GMT +1 (which switched to summertime as well, didn't it?).
We mostly plan to play free-for-all to rack up some kills for that Paladin award (only missing about 700...) but if we get some more people maybe we could play a bit of satellite shuffle.

Though we have to warn you: it will be just a quick two hour play, at least for me. Of course, if enough people stay you'll be able to have decent games still going on.

We realize that this is short notice and not a very favourable time for many but it was the only time for us. So, we won't be disappointed if nobody else shows up but we thought it would do no harm if we announced it.

 

[Spartan689]

I'll make an effort to join you guys, I have only one achievement I need to get more! My gamertag is DirtyDave1833.

 

[Mekt-Hakkikt]

You're certainly welcome.

But I think we'll have a problem if we're only 3 people - AFAIK, ranked games play at either 2 or 4 players (or more) but not 3...

We'll see.

 

[Dundradal]

I believe it's 4.

 

[Mekt-Hakkikt]

That's what I thought. But we were only 2 so that wasn't a problem.

One question concerning the "Bearpit": is there an end to it? Because we played it for some time and well, then quit it and it didn't save any kills (guess that's because there is no "ranked" setting) but it also didn't update our records for the ranking list (how many series in how many games).

And we now know that the Shank, Stalker and the Vanguard only carry a single Neutron gun and that the Dragonfly only carries a single Tachyon gun. The Rhino also carries only a single Plasma.

 

[ChrisReid]

The leaderboards are for the ranked versions of things where applicable. The killboard only counts kills in ranked games. All kills count towards the Paladin achievement. You can hit Start and see how many kills you have in a bearpit game, but that only matters for the current game.

 

[Mekt-Hakkikt]

Ok, thanks.

But I am still unsure how the game takes track of the "series won in the Bearpit". I mean, it has to for the achievement but there's also a leaderboard for it. But if the Bearpit is neverending (is it?) did it only keep track of it until you gained the achievement?

 

[ChrisReid]

When you kill people in the middle of the pit, you accumulate a winning streak. That's the point of the Bearpit mode. This streak is tracked in ranked games for the leaderboard. Either mode should work for the achievement I believe.

Also, I noticed you got the gunfighter achievement. How was that? Did you go through and play it 18 times? That's an unusual one to get before Paladin, and one of the hardest ones to get today with the number of people in Ranked Duel. You should be able to easily get the last two achievements now.

 

[Mekt-Hakkikt]

When you kill people in the middle of the pit, you accumulate a winning streak. That's the point of the Bearpit mode. This streak is tracked in ranked games for the leaderboard. Either mode should work for the achievement I believe.

But when I create a Bearpit game, I cannot choose the option "ranked". I can only choose how many players are able to play and how many private slots I reserve.

And when I played a Bearpit game with Ironduke, it didn't seem to end on itself. I am pretty sure I had a higher winning streak than 5 but it wasn't saved for the leaderboards. But since the game didn't seem to end for itself, we quit the game manually which usually leads to losing all progress.

Has Bearpit a time or a frag limit?

Also, I noticed you got the gunfighter achievement. How was that? Did you go through and play it 18 times? That's an unusual one to get before Paladin, and one of the hardest ones to get today with the number of people in Ranked Duel. You should be able to easily get the last two achievements now.

I made an appointment with Ironduke specifically to play Duel. There are never any games when we go online . We agreed only to use appropriate fighters so that you didn't have to fight a Behemoth in a Scout.

I think we'll both (Ironduke and I) get Paladin if we manage to meet up on Xbox Live once or twice a week to battle it out. It's more a matter of persistance. But Arena is really fun, so that's not a problem.
For the Ring game we'll need some more players of course. Also, my motivation for it is rather low. I tried to succeed in the Ring game during the Tiger's Clar achievement meet-up and boy, it was frustrating and not much fun.

 

[ChrisReid]

But when I create a Bearpit game, I cannot choose the option "ranked". I can only choose how many players are able to play and how many private slots I reserve.

On second thought, ranked might not work because people would be leaving and joining mid game, but I'll have to check.

And when I played a Bearpit game with Ironduke, it didn't seem to end on itself. I am pretty sure I had a higher winning streak than 5 but it wasn't saved for the leaderboards. But since the game didn't seem to end for itself, we quit the game manually which usually leads to losing all progress.

Has Bearpit a time or a frag limit?

Neither. It goes forever.

I think we'll both (Ironduke and I) get Paladin if we manage to meet up on Xbox Live once or twice a week to battle it out. It's more a matter of persistance. But Arena is really fun, so that's not a problem.

Yup, and it's even better when you have more people.

For the Ring game we'll need some more players of course. Also, my motivation for it is rather low. I tried to succeed in the Ring game during the Tiger's Clar achievement meet-up and boy, it was frustrating and not much fun.

Once you get the hang of it, it's a fun and easy distraction, but in the beginning it's very hard. I know people who can do it while playing in public games, but that's even worse (a cloak helps). You can stop by #Wingnut and see if there is someone there who'll sit in the pit so you can practice the ring game uninterrupted next time.

 

[Mekt-Hakkikt]

Neither. It goes forever.

Then I wonder how/when it keeps track of the winning streaks since quitting it manually always says that the progress will be lost.
I guess it just does somehow.

Yup, and it's even better when you have more people.

I agree but only until a certain limit. When it's too crowded and everything is just laser and missile fire I think it looses some of the fun. I consider 4-6 the amount of people I have the most fun.

Once you get the hang of it, it's a fun and easy distraction, but in the beginning it's very hard. I know people who can do it while playing in public games, but that's even worse (a cloak helps). You can stop by #Wingnut and see if there is someone there who'll sit in the pit so you can practice the ring game uninterrupted next time.

Thanks for the offer and I certainly will get back to it in the future. But I think I'll focus more on the Paladin award first.

 

[ChrisReid]

Then I wonder how/when it keeps track of the winning streaks since quitting it manually always says that the progress will be lost.
I guess it just does somehow.

As soon as you hit 5, you should get the achievement. It might only transfer to the leaderboard upon your death and end of the streak.

I agree but only until a certain limit. When it's too crowded and everything is just laser and missile fire I think it looses some of the fun. I consider 4-6 the amount of people I have the most fun.

I think it just gets going at 8 people. It's pretty tough to do any of the team modes with just 2 on 2 or 3 on 3 teams. You can't even start those games until you have 4 people present. If you do it right, 8 on 8 capship is about the most rewarding experience in the game.

 

[Mekt-Hakkikt]

I should have been more specific: I think too many people spoil the fun a bit when playing free for all deathmatches.

Capship and (presumably) Satelite shuffle sure are great with as many players as possible. Or a team deathmatch, never played one of those.

 

[ChrisReid]

I should have been more specific: I think too many people spoil the fun a bit when playing free for all deathmatches.

We can just come out and say it... Dundradal should fly something besides the Rhino sometimes.

But when it's all CIC people, free for all is great because everyone is on the same comm channel.

 

[Dundradal]

We can just come out and say it... Dundradal should fly something besides the Rhino sometimes.

But when it's all CIC people, free for all is great because everyone is on the same comm channel.

Yeah I do find myself in its cockpit a bit too much.

Although on capship battles I switch it up depending on the distance between the BCs.