This idea had been stewing in my head for a while. When I was a newbie, there was a screenshot fight between hynfaerie (now frozen) and some other then top pet. That was so long ago that the golden butter knife was one of the heavily used weapons. The commentary was either non-existent, or bordering on the blatOver recent years, paranoia about accounts and battlesets has grown to the point where you never really see top pets battle. I am certainly not at the top of the foodchain by any means, but if my estimations are correct, I am probably in the top 100-200 of all battlers. As a result, I end up drawing a lot of fights against pets in that class. Since most top pets don’t even fight two player at all anymore, I figure that this might be the best shot for newer and mid-level battlers to see a top level two player fight from start to finish.
What makes this interesting to me, and may or may not make it interesting to you, is that this isn’t just insanely high damage totals on a screenshot, it’s more about how that point in the battle was arrived at. The kinds of fights I am looking to analyze will be fights between me against other high level fighters, and master-level fighters, with the occasional grand master thrown in. I am also lookin to analyze fights either between grandmasters or the upper tier of master-level, and lastly, I may even do some weaker pets, if it’s a significant event, like the finals of a major two player tournament. To recap, here are the definitions originally put out by the now retired matthewdiver, and later expanded by myself.
Newbie: The bottom of the barrel of course. N00binators are also the bottom of the barrel
Mid-Level: 55 strength to 199, has to have at least 50 hitpoints
High Level: 200 str to 499, idb rating of at least 500, some decent ht-level weapons
Master: 500 boost, 500 hitpoints, top level hidden tower weapons and stronger
Grand Master: 700 boost, idb rating of 3000+, the best money can buy for weapons
At time of writing, I am currently on the upper tier of High-Level battlers, with that 450 strength boost, and more hitpoints than most people in my boost. My set is a little on the weak side for my stats, but is well-rounded enough to put me in with at least a fighting chance against most Master-Level pets as well.
This idea had been sitting in my head for a while, but finally came into action when I went on a string of unbelievably great results, having completely perfect instincts with my tactics, winning a whole lot of fights I had no business winning agianst stronger pets with stronger sets. Even when my tactics weren’t perfect, my luck was impeccable. Included in this run were wins and draws over top name pets I have no business fighting, all highlighted by an upset win over Girofalcon that bordered on “you’ve got to be kidding me” luck. Of course, now that people know I am doing this, perhaps my odds of ever repeating such a run are now very small. I aim to show a wide variety of my fights, not just my brilliant wins. But also my more poorly played wins and draws, my brilliantly fought losses, and even some poorly fought losses as well. Not everyone is at their best all the time of course. I will try to keep a consistent format in terms of showing exactly what I am seeing each round of the fight, what I think my opponent is thinking and what they can see, and also the result complete with screenshot.
I will, much like chess, also analyze each move. Some common notations are as follows:
! à Denotes not only the best move, but one that wasn’t obvious at first glance
? à Denotes a questionable move on the part of the battler
!! à Denotes a completely brilliant unexpected move that will change the outcome.
?? à Denotes a catastrophic blunder that is unexplainably bizzarre and poor
!? à Denotes both a brilliant and questionable move. Also very rare.
I will do my best to be honest in evaluating both myself and my opponent. I must also acknolwedge here, that I have obtained neomail permission from each of my opponents to use these fights in their entirety. They are very gracious for allowing this, and realizing I may not always be 100% approving of their strategy. Keep in mind that not everyone I ask gives me approval, which is kind of sad from the perspective that I inevitably lose some battles where there is a lot to be gained. At the same time I must respect the privacy of my opponents, and therefore be assured that my opponents have signed off by neomail allowing for this.
If you have a fight that is a candidate for my analysis, please make sure it fits the requirements that I am looking for. Make sure to have screenshots of EVERY round, as well as neomail permission from BOTH sides that have fought. I cannot promise that I will analyze it, but I will take your request into consideration. With that said, happy battling.
~sirhatter