When to join

[Gandalf.1537]

Ranked games. I have been having fun lately with playing unranked games. So is it a good time to join ranked? Or will I get face rolled?

[kKagari.6804]

Its always a good time if you generally want to improve your skills. But know that ranked generally requires you to abandon your freedom of build diversity, and you may receive much vitriol for playing ineffective builds.

[Ziggityzog.7389]

Ranked isn't worth the time of day. Even on off seasons the trash players aka pve reward hunters, bots, afks, trolls/toxic players and match manipulators ruin ranked. During the season it's even worse and anet doesn't fix it they just promote a toxic environment with basement trolls that should be banned and such from the cheater board manipulation. Unranked is where the fun is. Even ranked has horrible pugs. least in unranked you know you may need to carry hard.

[Jeknar.6184]

Only do it if you need the rewards... Otherwise stay on unranked where you are having fun.

[Gandalf.1537]

Well that's just it, I heard is one of the ways to get ascended armor, but from the sound of it, I am glad I asked, looks like i'll stick with unranked. :)

[Ashyri.5426]

Ranked can be much more fun. Also sticking to unranked, you won't improve your map awareness, your strategies, your place in team fights, etc bcz unranked hardly makes sense. As you climb up the divisions ladder, you'll start to see and understand a more advanced gameplay that either doesn't exist or it's lost into the mess of an unranked match. Rewards are better, ofcz.

About toxicity: just block them, the other issues are harder to deal with yourself but they don't happen so often.

The fun worths it!

[Griever.8150]

> @Gandalf.1537 said:

> Ranked games. I have been having fun lately with playing unranked games. So is it a good time to join ranked? Or will I get face rolled?

 

You improve much faster when playing ranked but yeah like others said the main caveat is being forced into playing what's meta but the games are more fun in my opinion as people tend to focus a lot more on objectives in ranked games (most of the time anyway -_-) than in unranked where its kind of a free for all and everyone just fight on roads and stuff.

[ArthurDent.9538]

Inherently there is nothing different between ranked and unranked other than no spirit watch and no queuing with more than one friend. People have a tendency to take it more seriously and get more upset if you do something they don't like but if you have reasonably thick skin none of that matters. People will want you to play meta builds, but you don't really need to, it just may reduce your rank, which there is nothing wrong with being low ranked, you should in theory just be matched against other low rank players. Unfortunately bronze tier is apparently relatively toxic with lots of people that afk, I don't really have any first hand experience though so maybe it isn't too bad. While the season is active, the rewards are straight up better than they are in unranked so the only reason not to do it is if the toxicity is too much, or you are stuck in a tier where there are so many afk'ers that most of the games are determined by whoever doesn't have an afk wins. I can say if you reach platinum the toxicity is generally pretty mild with only occasional trash talk.

[paShadoWn.5723]

My first time ranked i got demolished and called "l2p noob" for a good reason. My climb from bronze to silver was one hell of a torture. So it is rank or fun in my opinion.

[Azure The Heartless.3261]

> @ArthurDent.9538 said:

> Inherently there is nothing different between ranked and unranked other than no spirit watch and no queuing with more than one friend. People have a tendency to take it more seriously and get more upset if you do something they don't like but if you have reasonably thick skin none of that matters. People will want you to play meta builds, but you don't really need to, it just may reduce your rank, which there is nothing wrong with being low ranked, you should in theory just be matched against other low rank players. Unfortunately bronze tier is apparently relatively toxic with lots of people that afk, I don't really have any first hand experience though so maybe it isn't too bad. While the season is active, the rewards are straight up better than they are in unranked so the only reason not to do it is if the toxicity is too much, or you are stuck in a tier where there are so many afk'ers that most of the games are determined by whoever doesn't have an afk wins. I can say if you reach platinum the toxicity is generally pretty mild with only occasional trash talk.

 

This. Once you step out of bronze you generally have a better time, with less toxicity the higher you go. It is generally bad players that have bad attitudes, though some outliers exist. Placing out of bronze into gold/plat is even better.

 

Make sure you know what you're doing, then step into ranked. Unranked wont vanish the moment you do, and if you need a break from people yelling at you to do your job while they clearly cannot do theirs, you can always hop back in to decompress and actually enjoy the game.

 

[Ashyri.5426]

Some said you'll be "forced to play meta" for ranked like it's a bad thing, but honestly, it isn't for a beginner. Starting PvP can be overwhelming. There's already too much going on and a weak build or the lack of a clear role won't help you: there's the map rotation, the maps mechanics, the classes interactions, the team fights, the 1v1... Also a starter won't probably know their class role in the fight as they should and it will give you a vastly tested, coherent build to a specific role your class is good at and that your team will be expecting you to play. Both you and your team knowing someone's role in the fight is a big deal!

Let's say for instance you love your PvE chronotank and just like that bring it to mid fight giving everyone alacrity and boons to be turned into Condi by an enemy necro... please don't.

Ofcz later you can make whatever build you want, but starting with your class meta (not the same as a meta class) is highly recommend.

[Gandalf.1537]

You know what, I did it, I played 3 ranked games. First 2 we lost, but 3rd was fun as heck. I got 9 kills, we won, I was on top, and at the end I got a ascended weapon chest. I was quite happy. So I guess it was worth it, and I am glad I gave it a go. Now the season has started, I am going to have to give it a run. :)

[Lain.5179]

> @Gandalf.1537 said:

> You know what, I did it, I played 3 ranked games. First 2 we lost, but 3rd was fun as heck. I got 9 kills, we won, I was on top, and at the end I got a ascended weapon chest. I was quite happy. So I guess it was worth it, and I am glad I gave it a go. Now the season has started, I am going to have to give it a run. :)

 

If you want to get more serious I can recommend Sindreners stream. He always discusses his thought process during a game. Anyways, gl hf!

 

[Alehin.3746]

Find a build that you enjoy and go for it, but be ready to adapt it to certain situations. Have fun!

[lightningz.1465]

I'm fairly new to PVP myself, season 8 was my first season in PVP and it was hard to begin with but after awhile and I get used to it, it actually a very fun experience. I'm not a good player by all means, but I can offer you some suggestions that probably can be useful as starter:

- Grow a thick skin, this is my mentality when I enter ranked season, you will encounter a lot of toxic and salty players and you will make a lot of mistake as new player, but don't let the toxicity discourages you from getting better.

- Stick to one class and probably one build that you comfortable with. I made mistake tried different class and build when I first enter ranked and it affects my performance, started in silver 3 and drop to silver 1 due to this, but after I focus on getting better mechanically on one class I mange to climb and end at mid gold. You can try and learn different class and their mechanics after you are getting used to to your class mechanic.

- Have fun and enjoy the prize, this like it or not is the reason why people do ranked or getting title if you are more hardcore. PVP ranked can offer a lot of good stuffs in terms of gold and and other valuable items. So it's all win-win, no reason to not do ranked.

 

GLHF!