[GM Notes] Interview with Armin, an Adventurer with Finesse!

GM Notes Jul 16, 2024, 21:38 (UTC) Interview with Armin, an Adventurer with Finesse!

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Dishing Out Damage!

Greetings, Adventurers!

We are back with a legendary adventurer from North America!

GM Polly here! For the release of the new Arena of Solare season, we are bringing you an all-new interview, one which I am sure will knock you off your chair!🤭We started this series in 2023, a series that is meant to honor those among us who have had significant impact on the game or have excelled in particular areas of the game, and letting them tell you all about their exploits. Our last interview with Zethiann took us down memory lane as we reminisced about the last 8 years of Black Desert. Today, we bring you the fourth episode of 2024! Today's interviewee is someone who excels in a very particular field: Arena of Solare!
Let's find out more from this heralded adventurer, Armin, an adventurer with a wealth of experience when it comes to both avoiding damage and dealing it!

GM Polly

Hello, I am GM Polly, and today we have a very special guest! Would you please care to introduce yourself to our readers? 😊

Armin

Hi, my name's Armin. I am also known by my Twitch name, ArminTF. I play Ninja as my primary class and [was ranked #1 overall the previous season] on the North American AoS server. I've been playing consistently for about 4 years now since late 2019 when I picked Ninja as my first class, and have loved pvping since.

GM Polly

That is quite the résumé! Why did you decide on Ninja? What's made you keep with it?

Armin

I've always been into the 'fast, but vulnerable' character archetype in every game I've played previously. When I started BDO, Ninja automatically appealed to me due to the name, but what really made me decide on playing him was the character graph showing him having 0 defense but a high affinity with control, evasion, and attack.

Armin

Since then, the class ended up turning into... my ideal form of balance, I suppose? I've always been a fan of characters in games having a form of give and take with their gameplay. It creates a fun loop of mechanically intensive challenges, --something I always look forward to-- while also keeping me really engaged and enjoying my time despite the frustrations of difficulty.

Armin

Through the good times and the bad times, after about a year of dedication, I spent so much time on the class that even when something new came out that appealed to me, I just couldn't give up on him. Even now while I try new classes out for fun, Ninja will still always be my main to me.

GM Polly

I can agree with that; I like high-risk, high-reward type playstyles. It just makes the gameplay feel more rewarding.

Armin

Yea, exactly.

GM Polly

So, you're pretty succuessful in AoS, clearly 😏. What would you say are the top 3 most important things to consider in order to be successful in AoS?

Armin

1. What's my role with the team comp I've been given, and the team comp I'll be fighting.
If you know your role, you will automatically perform better in the game. The easiest way to a loss is not understanding the correct role for yourself in a certain scenario, or getting lost in the middle of the game and not executing your role properly. Am I the damage, the engage, etc. If you always keep that in mind, you can even win the harder games you run into.

Armin

2. Take your time and don't rush things during the game.

There's a reason games are 3 minutes long. If anyone has watched a decent amount of my games or has played with me a lot, they'll know I always will play a slow and steady game, especially once it reaches a 2v3 scenario. It pushes your opponent to be willing to take more risks, and gives you and your teammates time to relax and wait for them to make a mistake. While not always the case, but valid most of the time: the longer a game goes with you in control of the tempo, the higher your chances of winning.

Armin

3. Always pay attention to where your teammates are, what they're doing, and what kind of state they're in during the game.

This is arguably the hardest advice out of the three, the most unrealistic for most people, but probably the one that will help the most in terms of winning more games. If you can maintain a constant awareness of your teammates rather then just focusing on your own game, you'll be able to react/predict enemy plays much faster, while also being able to react/predict to your teammates plays much faster. My teammate isn't on my mini map, but I know he's in the enemy spawn with 2 enemies missing? Oh no I need to go help him immediately. My teammate's are in a 2v2 while I'm in a 1v1 on the side? If I immediately run to my team I can make it a 3v2 and maybe get a catch in that small window.

Armin

AoS is a game mode based on split decisions. If you're faster then your opponent, then you'll usually have the upper hand.

GM Polly

This is definitely good advice from what I have experienced playing AoS. And yea, speaking on the third point, it is really hard to analyze everything in front of you sometimes while also playing your own game 😵

GM Polly

A lot of these points touch on very nuanced aspects that makes AoS different than your ordinary PvP; how do you like the PvP in AoS compared to other instances of PvP, like open-world, AoA, GvG, etc.?

Armin

I like all forms of PVP honestly, whether it's AoS, open-world, GVG's etc. I've spent most of my time on BDO doing PVP, and it doesn't make much of a difference for me at the end of the day; as long as there's content to be found, I'm usually willing to go and join in! 🙂

GM Polly

I see, I see! So, we all know that, in certain forms of PvP, certain classes excel in some areas while other classes excel in other areas. When it comes to AoS, are there any specific classes that you find the most challenging to play/win against? Or maybe even certain classes only when piloted by certain players?

Armin

Awakening Drakania and Awakening Nova would probably be the hardest classes for me to win against in AoS right now. Awakening Drakania gives me a lot of problems while not offering me a lot of solutions. It doesn't really matter who the player piloting it is usually; if it's even a remotely decent player, I'll usually have to be really scared because of how strong the class is. Awakening Nova on the other hand doesn't have as big of a player base, so fortunately I don't have to worry about it as much, but in the same vein, it gives me a lot of problems while not offering a lot of solutions either. Especially when it comes to its 10 second Super Armor buff, it can run me down really hard.

Armin

Outside of these two classes, while there are some still extremely strong classes I'd like to mention like Awakening Valkyrie, there simply isn't enough people playing them on the NA server for me to usually worry about them. It's something I more so worry about when swapping to EU typically.

GM Polly

I really dislike playing against Nova myself 😭 But the reasons for it probably stem from me being bad 😎

GM Polly

Now, team composition definitely matters a lot, but the maps in AoS can also have their sway in which team has the advantage after the teams are finalized. Which map is your favorite?

Armin

Oluns is hands down my favorite map just because it offers the most amount of balance for every class to be on an even playing floor, while not being too big to make it hard for certain classes to get around.

GM Polly

That's my favorite too 😮 I also just like its simplicity; no gimmicks or anything like that. It is very straight up.

GM Polly

Last question! What changes would you make to Arena of Solare to make it better?

Armin

The changes I'd love to see be included would be:

A map selection system, and a spectator mode for AoS custom games. This way, we can have competitive tournaments set up to be streamed with proper map pick ban systems, just like other games out there.

Armin

And, finally, the removal of Sail crystals and Negotiation crystals from the AoS gear selection screen. All resist % crystals were the biggest mistake Pearl Abyss made with AoS as it took over the meta completely in terms of strength, allowing players to easily hit 73 or even 77% all resist, a very popular build and the one most people ran last season of AoS. I think the old system of being forced to choose which resist crystal you wanted gave a lot more diversity for the player to choose. Alongside that, it was more enjoyable to fight against in comparison to now, where you are basically rolling a dice hoping not to land on a 1/2 chance of whether my opponent will resist my stun, float, or knockdown since I have to run ignore grab resist crystals and cannot build for the other ones without sacrificing too much power.

Armin

As the Rank 1 Overall player [in Season 3], I used these crystals alongside roughly 80% of the top 100 player base to achieve a high ranking. Players who were weaker than us had a massive disadvantage fighting into us. Aggregiously high resist percentages like this actually tend to help the more experienced player in PVP, rather than the newer player. I can confidently say that if it wasn't for these resist crystals, I would've had a harder time achieving the rank I did in season 3. Out of Season 1 where I achieved Rank 1, and Season 3, I had a much easier time in Season 3 purely due to the fact of all resist crystals.

GM Polly

I have too felt the sadness of my CC getting resisted recently 😭 I agree, though, regarding the selection of crystals being more 'give and take', resulting in a more diversified field of opinions on what crystals appeal to different players, their playstyles, and played class.

GM Polly

Well, Armin, do you have any last words you'd like to add?

Armin

I'm starting some new series on my Youtube channel to track my progress as I learn new classes and push for higher gearscore. If you're interested, please feel free to check it out. Also, if you are ever looking for any advice, feel free to hop by my Twitch channel and ask any questions! I've gained a lot of experience through the years and I stream specifically because I enjoy answering questions and talking with all of you, so by all means, don't be embarrassed thinking a question might be dumb or anything. A lot of people tend to be afraid to ask stuff regarding PVP, especially when they're new and starting out, but we all start somewhere the same way I did.

GM Polly

I'll be around to ask questions soon hehe!

GM Polly

Thank you for your time, Armin!

A big thank you to everyone who enjoyed reading the interview,
and special thanks to Armin, who was willing to talk with us!
To all those who are out there right now, take the time to take in the scenery, whether it be in BDO or outside and appreciate what you have!

Take care, everyone, and see you in the next interview!

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