The Fun Is At "B"

I loved Hardpoint in the first game and I love Amped Hardpoint in the second one. Normally, I take the objectives very seriously. If I see we need a hardpoint, I go get it. If I see we have 2, I'll play defense.

However, I've found something very different about TF2, perhaps mostly due to the choke points I was not a big fan of, but I must admit they present something I cannot get enough of. It's almost like when you find that thing you love to do and you get so engaged in it that you lose all track of time, because you are just having so much fun. I enjoy the battles at the "B" hardpoints so much that I don't even care if we win the game or not. Think about the "B" hardpoints on Complex, Forwardbase Kodai, Eden, Exoplanet, Homestead... Heck, all of them quite frankly.

The battles at "B" are epic, especially in the beginning of the game before any titans drop and I just can't get enough of it.

 

It's not silly. I'm sure a lot of people may think like you and wonder the same thing. I think it just depends on what your idea of competition is. For example, if you are an MMA fighter, you might wonder what is so competitive about chess. I think it is the same principle here. If you are someone who just wants to kill more pilots and titans than the other guy, then you would find Attrition and Bounty Hunt very competitive, but you may not get the point of HP or CTF, because you are running around getting the most kills and your team loses. I actually love guys like that, because they just don't get the mode and they are just playing Attrition in the middle of a Hardpoint game. Makes my life that much easier. HP and CTF provide another objective other than just killing. If you are a good killer, it can help you meet that objective if you are actually playing the objective, but if you're just wandering around aimlessly oblivious to the objective and just trying to be the master killer of the universe, it's not going to help your team. I personally find Hardpoint very competitive and I do almost think of it as more of a chess match. A chess match with some epic battles when trying to capture pieces, but still a chess match. It just adds another layer to the game besides just the killing. The people who are the absolute best at hardpoint are the ones who get that it has absolutely nothing to do with K/D ratio. It's all about Assault and Defense, but primarily Defense. If you play Defense every time you have 2 hardpoints, your team is going to win. Just as an example of how it is not about K/D, I once saw a game where the MVP of the winning team had 0 Kills and 12 Deaths. Many might ridicule that guy, but I love Hardpoint, that guy gets it and he is a guy I'd want on my team, because if he can be MVP with that K/D ratio, it tells me he knows exactly what is important in the game of Hardpoint and exactly what is not important in the game of Hardpoint and that's all I need to know.

 

I hope you enjoy HP or CTF if you try them.

The communication is a matter of preference. Could you do better if you are communicating? Maybe. However, I prefer not to. I'm not saying I'm not on a mic with my friends sometimes while playing, because I am. What I am saying is that if we are on mics and in the same game, we NEVER communicate strategy or are looking to help each other out. It is just my personal preference, but I frown upon it for 2 reasons:
1) The nature of Titanfall is strangers against strangers and with the already poor balance that can make lopsided games, if one team is communicating strategy it gives them an unfair advantage, in my opinion, over the other team and is disrespectful to the nature of the game.
2) I want to be the strongest independent player I can possibly be. If I start relying on teammates to cover my back or help get the job done, then when I am in a game and they are not there I am going to be so lost and so weak.

This philosophy has a seriously good payoff. For example, in TF1, one time I hopped on and sent a message to my one friend asking what he was playing and if he minded if I joined him. He said, "Hardpoint, but we are playing against a pro clan and getting destroyed." I joined and it was right at the beginning of a Hardpoint match on Demeter. There were 6 Gen 10s on both sides. You could tell by looking at the names on the other team that at least 4 of them play together all the time. On my team, it was my buddy and a couple guys I've seen the names of before, but never talked to. I was not mic'd up to any of them. My team won and I was the MVP of the winning team and the clan was furious. This could never happen if my focus was not on being the strongest independant player that I can possibly be.

Also, my favorite buddy to play hardpoint with, I have never spoken to with mics. We have only ever chatted and we never ever talk strategy. He was my biggest nemesis in HP in TF1, so I finally got sick of it and sent him a Friend Request. What is funny is that I am the only person who has ever sent him a Friend Request. This made me respect him even more, because now I knew for sure that the whole time he was kicking my butt he was doing it as a strong, independant player just like me. When him and I are in a game together, even if we have 4 brand new players on our team, I don't care who is on the other side, I know we are going to win and we never communicate during the game at all.

My point is communication is not necessary for these modes and it might actually make you stronger if you try to get good at them without doing it. But hey, if you would prefer to communicate, to each his own.

 

Congrats DARK!!! It's a good feeling, huh?

Exactly!

Thanks Getmused! I appreciate it. I'm a lone wolf myself and Hardpoint has always been my favorite mode. Just because we are alone does not me we cannot be strong. A team is only as strong as it's weakest player. I like to make myself so strong that when I get thrown onto any team it is like them getting an extra 2 players, maybe even 2.5 or 3. That way even if my team has weak players they can just go ahead and hop on my shoulders. I'm cool with that. This would also explain the outcome of that game of 6 Gen 10s against 6 Gen 10s in a clan I described above. What that clan didn't realize was that when I joined the team they were facing it was now like it was 7 against 6 or even 8 against 6. I just like to live by the philosophy that I will expect more from myself than anyone else ever could.

 

Exactly right! Everyone wants to be a General, but then they blame the troops when their own plans fail.

Yes, that nervous feeling is great and the mid point car crashes are a beautiful thing.

Excellent analogy DARK!!!

I think both are competitive Getmused. If you use DARK's analogy. Attrition is like football without the end zones. It is still competitive, but it is just who made the most blocks and tackles. In Attrition it is just who got the most kills, but it is extremely competitive. Hardpoint would be more like football with the end zones. You still can block and tackle, but the objective is to get into the end zone and score touchdowns. In Hardpoint, you can still get kills, but the objective is to capture and hold hardpoints. This is also extremely competitive, but it is a different type of competition, because the team with the most kills does not necessarly win in Hardpoint, because that is not the objective. Hope that helps.

 

No problem. Glad if I was able to help. I really appreciated DARK's football analogy, because that really helped to describe it better.