Mercs in 3.41

[Scowl]

Hey guys,

I know that most of the 'high elo', or more elite games are played on 3.41 as opposed to 3.5. I've played a lot of both but I'm finding it harder to improve on 3.41 whilst improving elo due to the fact that nearly every game someone goes merc and effectively changes the entire make up of the game.... What did others do to get used to playing in 3.41 whilst maintaing a good elo?

[iightfyre]

Scowl,

Merc is a plague in 3.41 that is only getting worse. This is why the "pros" all flocked to the HR bot and the LIHL. The best piece of advice that I can give you is to practice with game mode set to -hpgmcb with prophet builder and risk the other team going merc. It may add to some unwarranted losses but remember that merc is not invincible, they have a lot of weaknesses.

If you want to play without merc you can chose -hp mode which is limited income. The drawback here is that the pros do not play with limited income in the "pro" games.

Sorry this doesn't help much... I've lost my fair share of games to mercs and I know that it can be rough. In all honesty though, facing heavy sends from merc players is the best way to practice because the "pro" games usually involve a lot of big lumber saving.

EDITED:

Also, try the a-bal bot. You see much much less mercenary on that bot!

[BeepBoopBeep]

There was alot of respect among the players a while ago before HR and LIHL we would usually agree no merc in the lobby and played that way with a verbal agreement, now most of these players play in the LIHL (where mercenary isn't allowed). I do play the odd public game and yes what you said about mercenary being used everygame is a sad reality.

Hybrid is a good builder to learn from if your red set the mode to -hpgm hybrid. Hybrid allows you to explore every possible unit in the game and judge which is good and which is not.

If your wondering what LIHL is take a look here; viewforum.php?f=72

[Feor]

Here is where i will come to disagree with both Beep and Iight. I play in lihl with them as well, no merc allowed there and I love it.

However while I was learning the game I happened to play a lot vs mercs, when they were good I usually lost.
I decided to learn how to play merc, once you learn how to play merc, you can learn how to defeat them also. I don't guarantee you will win, but learning how to play merc and how to play vs merc will also help you become a better player.

A better understanding of any part of the game is not to be underestimated.

[eldryan]

it's pretty shitty. playing merc isn't difficult, and most know how to do it. my advice is stick to 3.5 beta unless you are red, and sdgm if you are red. dont need to prophet.

[supersexyy]

I disagree with feor, you will not gain any real skills playing as merc.
As others have pointed out, for a balance of fair, fun and improvement go for -hpgm hybrid as theres no mercs and you can get a good sense of general game play.

[Scowl]

Thanks for the responses guys.

I'll check out the hr and lihl stuff- my current elo is around 1330 I believe and doubt I'd have any vouchers lol.


Thing with merc is that it ruins the game for newcomers, i try my best to teach new players in ltd, but when they get overwhelmed by huge merc sends there's not much they can do.. It's a baptism by fire and I hate to see it.

[Dr.Manhattan-]

Or you can do what I do when I get red, and play -sdgm. No li, no merc. Ofcourse you can't change your builder but who needs a builder change if you're good at the game?

[cyberpunk]

try lihl.

[kak_tibja_zavut]

i think should have bot with no merc, make game much better

[wTc[Aunt.Tan]]

I disagree with feor, you will not gain any real skills playing as merc.
As others have pointed out, for a balance of fair, fun and improvement go for -hpgm hybrid as theres no mercs and you can get a good sense of general game play.

hybrid not solving the problem. i get often 3x Elite Archer, 2x Pyro in SAME game or some other real T2 strong units, so hybrid isn´t best for LTD. and sometimes really shit units but never a real Balance^^
thats not prove if u have skill or not. Prophet (hpgm) is best mode or with cb because of mostly balance in Troops (some good units, some bad are always on each Prophet with little chance for op-lowop builder) and some getelmen aggreements (e.g. no merc)

[iightfyre]

1. Hybrid is a VERY good way to learn LTD. You get to learn all of the towers and their strengths by being forced to use them once they are rolled. You also learn what towers are good to upgrade and when. It may not be the preferred mode but it is a great way to learn the towers. I personally used hybrid to learn LTD in my early going. Was a big benefit for me.

2. Choosing prophet without CB is a terrible option. The only way that prophet is a balanced race is with the CB function. One bad roll can be impossible to recover from.

3. The LTD HR bots have a "no merc" rule. Merc'ing in HR is a ban-able offense. You can always try to get the HR bot full as well.