I offer no apologies either but unlike Jamie I do the late climb because I have learned that if I climb early I end up with a lot of people on my “naughty list” and end up spending way too much time and ISO giving them the ol’ heave-ho.
My play style is aggressive mostly because I find “standard” PvP boring since I am fighting the same OML/PHX over and over again (with the occasional random switch up of OML/SS or BSS or OML/flavor of the week 4*). While I understand the importance of baking and respect those committed to that practice, to me it seems more like a game of tea and biscuits than “proper competition”(whatever that means):
“Good morning Mr. Stank I noticed you are worth 65 points would you happen to have your defenses fortified at the moment?”
“No, Ms. Peppermint, my troops are currently out at the moment. If you wouldn’t mind waiting another hour or so until they return, I’ll be sure to be worth a full 75 points for your trouble.”
“Why certainly Mr. Stank, please do carry on and send word once you’re ready for me to knock upon your door.”
“Why I do say, Ms. Peppermint, I certainly look forward to you knocking on my door. I’ll be sure to have a nice juicy treat ready for your visit.”
“As I the same, Mr. Stank, as I the same.”
But unfortunately baking is not my cup of tea.
Rather I prefer to color my PvP experience in the blood and tears of my “enemies” (not in RL mind you) and challenge rivals to duels which often leads me to hitting people quite a few times. Outside of special cases, I don’t usually keep count but I am pretty sure it goes well over two. And believe you me, I have earned the ire of many a player and have made my share of “enemies” which has pretty much guaranteed that I won’t be getting T1 ever but it’s a price I’m willing to pay for my fun.
I figure considering my playstyle I have to be willing to take as much as I give and I will tell you one of the most fun moments I had playing PvP was a 2.5 hour play session between me and a group of snipers who were trying to keep me from reaching 1300. Most reasonable players would have just shielded around 1200 but that day I was feeling especially feisty and was up for the challenge so I went toe to toe with them until finally they gave up or had some RL obligations and crossed on over 1300 for that sweet sweet final progression reward. Good times!
Nowadays, as I previously stated I just do the late climb to save everyone including myself from the shenanigans that ensues when I get hit but I am always down for a game of chicken (a retal war to 1300 with only an hour left on the clock) or “Finding Francis” (a la Deadpool).
And of course none of it is personal. I’m aware my antics probably come at the expense of someone else’s frustration but as the people of the Americas often say “Don’t hate the player, hate the game” or “No odies al jugador, odia al juego”. Versus is after all competition and I find it curious people feel the need to moralize it in some way.
Sure I understand why people in alliances and truces might apologize for friendly fire since you have an agreement not to hit each other but why a person with ostensibly no such agreements feels that way is beyond me. If you play a game of chess and win, do you suddenly feel bad for your opponent? If you crush a friend in Street Fighter repeatedly do you suddenly sympathize with their frustration? Sure you might go easier on them but in my opinion you are not “respecting” them and eventually the game grows boring and you make it a point not to play SF with them anymore.
But through the wonders of MMR, for better or worse, I am constantly matched with players around my level. Furthermore, due to the changes to MMR and my late climbing, I no longer see CCs very often (maybe once every two or three events?). And if I lose a match, heaven forbid, then I feel compelled to seek out the same player to “get my points back” (just a friendly tip if you happen to notice I wiped on your team. Fight will in all likelihood be coming around again for another try).
With all that said, I am not a complete monster (at least not yet). Usually I only hit those that I have a history with. If I happen to hit someone “new” and they retal, no sweat. If they go for the double tap then it’s on like bacon on Sunday morning which means they get put on Fight’s ok to hit list (but Fight didn’t you hit them first? shhh). If I get double tapped by some random dude they get put on the naughty list. And if I am triple tapped then next event and probably the rest of the season is about “Finding Francis” hehe. Hey, a merc’s gotta do what a merc’s gotta do.
Usually Finding Francis doesn’t go on for too long since I lose interest and am not one to hold a grudge. But it certainly makes for more interesting PvP experiences!
Anyhoo, my whole point is this is just a game. There are different play styles and no “right way” to play. If you want to bake, then bake, snipe then snipe, enforce then enforce, not play then don’t play. I don’t see the point of trying to moralize the decision making of a match 3 game competition. Play as you will. The big dude in the sky will not strike you down for double tapping someone. He may however, send cascades of doom your way for not helping to stop that burglar because you were too busy playing a mobile phone game to do some real good in the world. But just do you.
And once again I have said too much! Happy playing everybody!!