Mêlée all the Way! [MatW] 2018 : friday 9th Feb. - sunday 11th Feb. Hello my fellow Arkadians, Mêlée-fans, and backstabbers, It's time to announce that MatW is coming to Arkadia this winter! For those who are unfamiliar with Mêlée all the Way!: It's a free team-hunting event where ranged weapons are not allowed. It's fun, it's cool to take down the big mobs with swords only, it's chaotic at times, it's ... let's see for youself with these links: 2017 (Caly), 2017 (Ark), 2016, and 2015. I'm always doing things a little bit different then previous editions. The two major changes this time are: 1. One free MANTA K-TT (L) for all who want one. You can get one each hunt; a hunt ends when I repair all my gear, and make a new line in my blog (see sig below). It can happen that we go to another location and hunt another mob in the same 'hunt'. Next hunt you can get one new MANTA K-TT (L) again. 2. You can win a prize!, one full TT Castorian Pioneer EnBlade-5 (L) and two full TT Dominax Original Garter Adjusted (L)'s. These are for the hunter who looted the item with the highest TT value, and post a pic of it here before wednesday 14th. The five sessions are: 1) Friday evening with "Heavy Mêlée" 2) Saturday midday with "TT-Mêlée" 3) Saturday evening with "Katsuichi Krazy!" 4) Sunday midday with "Hey you, Lokabhu!" and 5) Sunday evening with "Free for all". See the end of this post for more details. General Information, I will ... 1) ... start at different times, lasting also different hours. See further below for what time each day. 2) ... make a team "Arkadia Mêlée all the Way 2018!" where everyone* who wants to can join me. As long as one uses a mêlée weapons that's fine by me, ie. it's a public 'free event'. * One day is more geared towards beginners, another for the pro's. 3) ... hunt only using mêlée, not even a tagging-weapon if that can be avoided. Only I will use some kind of tagger, in case the mobs we are hunting are too agressive, or when needed otherwise. 4) ... hunt on Planet Arkadia and in the Underground. 5) ... do my best so that you can win the following: a) Fun! b) Friends! c) Mêlée skills and unlocks! d) New level in Mêlée-prostandings! e) New Mêlée weapons! f) The prize for looting the highest TT-item! 6) ... hunt and global on as many creatures as possible. The event-rules are not too complicated: 1) Every-one is invited. Have fun and invite your friends to share the fun. One day is more suitable for those with no or little mêlée skills, others for those with more. 2) Team-rules will be set to 'Damage, stack share' and the equal sharing of items is a must. However, hunters who fight with a free MANTA K-TT (L) are excluded from the itemshare. Last time on Calypso included many MindForce chips such as Corrosive Attack Nanochip V (L), Kinetic Attack Nanochip VII (L), Synchronization Chip XIV, Cryogenic Attack Nanochip VIII (L), and one sword: Omegaton Saturn (L). 3) Your skills and gear don't matter, it's cool wether you use a MAKO FAL-1 from the TT, or an über weapon, tier 8.x with enhancers, Trauma Amp and stuff. (Again, depending on the day) 4) Only use mêlée weapons, shooting is a capital offense! 6) To try to get globals from as many Arkadian creatures as possible. We can't always global, but with a bit of pride I can say that we can HOF (on Caly)! 7) When there's no-body to hunt with me I'll open a nice bottle of beer and pretend to have friends. I noticed that things can be unclear while talking ingame about the Hours Mêlée all the Way! Therefore I've now included a ... Frequently Asked Questions: Q: What is MatW? A: Mêlée all the Way! That's my motto, and the name of this event. Q: When is the starttime? A: That depends on the day. See further below for more details. Q: I can only use a TT-blade, can I still join? A: Yes you can! Dmg/sec is not important because the loot-distribution is set to 'Damage, stack share'. That means that when you do only 1% of the dmg, you'll get only 1% of the stackables. In fact, friday is specially for those who can only use (or want to) TT-Mêlée! Q: What can I win in this event? A: Not much. It's not an event with a big prize at the end, it's an event to have fun and hunt with other mêlée-fans in a team. Mêlée all the Way! is about coming together as mêlée-hunters. (What you can win when you loot the item with the highest TT-value will be announced later. Don't expect too much though). Q: Why can't I use a tagger? A: Because that's why. When I started this game - 13 years ago now - I said to myself to only use mêlée-weapons. I made the mistake to buy a Sollomate Opalo when that item was introduced, yet I still hunt ~90% mêlée only. Tagging is for wossies who are afraid they can get hurt. Q: Do you need a healer? A: Needed = no. Welcome = yes. Everyone is entitled to take care of his/her own health. That includes armour, and combat fap. If you want to, you can join as a healer, but it will be entirely on your own cost. I will not set a healers share in the team rules. Q: What is the estimated cost to join? A: That depends entirely on yourself ofcourse, what weapon will you use and how long will you join the hunt? To give you an idea, hunting for one hour with the MAKO FAL-TT (L) at constant slashing: 33 attacks/min * 60 = 1980 attacks/hour ; 2,65 PEC/use /100 = 0,0265 PED/ use ; 1980 * 0,0265 = 52,47 PED. Last year I spended, including defense-costs, a little over 2350 PED, and on Calypso about 1925 PED. Q: Where do I apply? or where can I buy a ticket? A: The event is free for all, hunting all over Planet Arkadia. Therefor you don't have to apply and don't have to buy a ticket. It's nice if you leave a note that you want to of course! During the hunts I'll try to spam Ark.chat regularily what we are hunting and give the coords. You can also add me ingame, look for Bregi Ardorj-Njarr. Q: You have such a difficult name! How should I call you? A: Ardorj, that's not too difficult when you try it a few times haha. Ard for sure is oké too. 1. Friday 9th February : Heavy Mêlée Let's start with a blast (blow!) and take the heaviest mêlée weapon you can use! Start: 18:30 MA-Time. End: ~22:00 MA-Time. Meeting place: Celeste Quarry Special rule: As much dmg/sec as you can handle. 2. Saturday 10th February : TT-Mêlée This time is for those with little or no mêlée skills to try it out. A good team can, even with only simple TT-weapons, take down quite some strong mobs. Think like Nusul, Hadraada, Wombana. Start: 14:00 MA-Time. End: 16:30 MA-Time Meeting place: Celeste Outpost Special rule: Use the Mêlée weapons from the TT only! Feel free to use one from a different planet if you want. (max 5.0 dmg/sec) 3. Saturday 10th February : Katsuichi Krazy! Katsuichi was my old sword of choice. And I know that many part-time mêlée hunters have one or two of these. So let's go old skool and be krazy with the Katsuichi, Dagger of Doom & Despair, Castorian Survival EnBlade-7, Thorifoid Battle Club, Dominax Cobra and other non-SIB weapons! (ie. the old weapons that are maxed-out at level 100). Start: 17:30 MA-Time. End: ??? when I go to bed ??? Meeting place: Celeste Quarry Special rule: Only old skool weapons (no SIB) allowed! 4. Sunday 11th February : Hey you, Lokabhu! This time it's for those who have hunted with mêlée before, but aren't a pro yet. So we'll use many's favorite Philosopher's Sword, or similar. That means try to keep it below 42.0 dmg/sec. Start: 12:00 MA-Time. End: 16:00 MA-Time Meeting place: Aakas Special Rule: Hunt with your Philo, Lokabhu, similar weapon or lower. 5. Sunday 11th February : Free for all This day it won't matter what kind of weapon and outfit you use. Use your TT-blade or your super-duper club. Start: 17:30 MA-Time. End: 22:30 MA-Time Meeting place: Celeste Quarry Special rule: let's end the MatW good! And just like last time ... things are subject to change! Sharpen your blades! Loves, Ardorj
Man sounds interesting , but remind us, February is a long time away. Mayebe you should do a test MATW this saturday... say around 18h -19h hint hint
I now have added a small prize to win for the one who loots the item with the highest TT-value, and posts a picture of it here in this thread before wednesday 14 february. It isn't anything grant, but I think it's always nice to win a little something: one Castorian Pioneer EnBlade-5 (L) and two Dominax Original Garter Adjusted (L)'s, all at full TT
Bump for the greatest Mêlée Event of Arkadia if I might say so myself! First session will start in a little over a week: friday 9th at 18:30 with Heavy Mêlée!
Add some spikes, for the Session 1 Heavy Mêlée, to your club. Buy at the TT, for Session 2 TT-Mêlée, enough MANTA K-TT (L) knives to last hours. Dust off, for Session 3 Katsuichi Krazy, your pre-SIB powerfist. Wet your, for Session 4 Hey you, Lokabhu, your new Ancient Greece and Aakas daggers. Oil and coil, for Session 5 Free for all, your whip. See ya in tha pit!
The first session on friday evening might start later, or maybe I'll have to postpone it, due to personal issues. [EDIT] Nothing much to worry about. It will start in time, or just a moment later. See ya in the pit tonight!
The first Session is over! I was overwelmed by all those who wanted a free Manta to hunt with. We split into two teams, with Sub-Zero as the teamcaptain of Team #2. He went with them for Nusul first and then into the Underground for Wombana. I took my Castorian Combat Mace Mk. II and went with Team #1 to the Huons and got two nice globals. Later, when most of the Manta's were broken, we merced into one team again and continued with Huons. But this time they had nothing nice for us. Next we went to Songkra Valley for the Mutated Beladoth & Otorugi. Loot was bad at first, but we voted to try a few more and got two globals. In the end it didn't help much, because I still ended with 80% return. Some more teammembers left, and because the others weren't using as big a weapon as I did, I changed to using the Aakas Fire Dagger. We started with Wombanaas, but they looted awful. Last mob on the night was Navi, with a few minies. The next Session will start soon: TT-Mêlée! and later tonight Katsuichi Krazy!
Like previous years, I'm writing a blog of my own experience of the Mêlée all the Way. As always, in this thread it's more about story-telling and in my hunting-blog (see sig) it's about the numbers. The "Special Loot" I note in this summary is only what I've looted. And before I forget: thanks to all who joined and hope to see you next time! 01. Friday 19:05 for Huon I began about half an hour earlier with a pre-MatW hunt with Sub-Zero on Huons. He joined me on one of the first editions and just couldn't wait to get started. We killed a few Huons and then went back to Celeste Quarry. I was, as I've mentioned earlier, overwelmed by how many liked to join the MatW. As it happens about 2/3rd came to the "free Manta" call. There were so many in fact that we had to split into two groups. Sub-Zero became the teamcaptian of the second group and went on a Nusul group (his group had most of the free Manta-hunters), and I went back to the Huons with my group. We got two fine globals, wich made the first hunt into a profit! [spoiler alert] and the last hunt right away too! [/spoiler alert]. Weapon: Castorian Combat Mace Mk. II with Melee Trauma Amplifier VI Armour: Musca Adjusted Special Loot: Global (61, 166) ; Combat Mask Argentina (F) ; Combat Mask Bosnia and Herzegovina (M) Return: 110% 02. Friday 20:50 for Huon After the free Manta's has broken down we merged into one team and hunted the Huons again. Because why change a winning formulae? No such luck unfortuatly this time and we stopped soon. Weapon: Castorian Combat Mace Mk. II with Melee Trauma Amplifier VI Armour: Musca Adjusted Special Loot: Nothing Return: 85% 03. Friday 21:15 for Mutated Beladoth & Mutated Otorugi We took a trip to Songkra Valley for some Mutated Hunting. They were quite strong and we had to proceed with caution, even while we were with eight. It was a good hunt with two small globals scored. Weapon: Castorian Combat Mace Mk. II with Melee Trauma Amplifier VI Armour: Viceroy, Skullcandy with Armor Plating Mark.5B Special Loot: Global (75, 63) Return: 80% 04. Friday 22:30 for Wombana All good things, or semi-good, come to an end and so did the Mutated hunt. About half of the teammembers left, and because the remainer had smaller weapons, I downgraded as well. Sub-Zero's team hunted these too in the beginning and he wanted to return to them. We quickly left, because they were dry as bone. Weapon: Aakas Fire Dagger with Melee Trauma Amplifier I Armour: None Special Loot: Nothing Return: 62% 05. Friday 22:55 for Navi We stayed in the Underground and went for a step tougher in the form of the cool Navi. They were nice to us, one of the best return-wise this MatW in fact, but we had to stop because I had to get up early again saturday. Who knows what the might have in store for us? I know that Navi can loot fairly well and that also makes it a mob that I very much like to hunt. I don't hunt them a lot however, and as a concequence still have to complete Stage 2. Weapon: Aakas Fire Dagger with Melee Trauma Amplifier I Armour: None Special Loot: Nothing Return: 90%
06. Saturday 16:20 for Nusul and Madana The TT-Mêlée hunt was so much of a succes that we had to split into two groups again. I started at Celeste Outpost and because I gave away more Manta's then would fit into one team, we split. This time it was Ryzen who was the leader of team 2. Both teams started with the Nusuls surrounding the Outpost, and there was a bit of chaos as to who belonged where. When the free Manta's were broken we merged into one team again and tried something a little bit tougher. We had some trouble keeping the Madana at bay, and too many kept dying too many times. Weapon: MAKO FAL-TT (L) Armour: None Special Loot: Nothing Return: 70% 07. Saturday 18:45 for Oro After a dinner break it should have been time to the "Katsuichi Krazy". I was all ready for it, but unfortuatly nobody else was. There were some ready to get a free Manta from me, and frankly that's what I've promised so that was what they got. This hunt was one of the most disappointing for me of all the MatW-hunts I've done. Yes, that includes some failed Riptor and Scoria hunts if people care to remember that. First of all one didn't understand the meaning of "Mêlée all the Way", or to put it bluntly "no ranged" and so the first mobs were tagged with a rifle. When I said that rifles were not allowed, he shifted to a rocket launcher. He understood it just in time, because I got close to kicking him from the team. Second, although they said that yes, they would be able to do big Oro's, they did not and so with every new Oro one of them died. And third, wich angers me the most, after only a short time of hunting they were all like "oh whoops, I got smething else to do. tnx & cya!" After this failed hunt I didn't want to try and get a team ready, but deceided to go one a solo hunt - the first solo-hunt during a MatW-event! I went to Khorum Coast for some Mutated Hadraada and Zadul that I almost never ever hunt. They gave me a nice global, and it was also the second of only two of my profitable hunts this weekend. Weapon: RepEdge Battle Axe 2x0 & 1x0 Armour: None Special Loot: Nothing Return: 85% 08. Saturday 20:50 for Kiana I'm glad that shortly after the solo-hunting I got Kain who wanted to hunt with me. So I grabbed my Katsuichi (I had been using that too on the Mutated Hadraada & Zadul) and we met to hunt some Kiana. We had a hard time, him dying quite a few times, but luckely for us we got joined by two more hunters soon enough. We got one small global, yet now we were to strong for these cats, and we changed mob. Weapon: Katsuichi Determination, SGA Edition with Melee Trauma Amplifier IV Armour: Viceroy, Skullcandy Special Loot: Global (54) Return: 83% 09. Saturday 21:55 for Teladon What can a team of five middle class mêlée-hunters hunt? Teladon was the answer! They have lots of HP and don't do too much damage to sent one of us to the revive in one sweep. The loot was a bit down, even though we got two globals, so after a short hour we changed mobs once more. Weapon: Castorian Combat EnBlade-13 Mentor Edition with Melee Trauma Amplifier VI Armour: Viceroy, Skullcandy Special Loot: Global (76, 77) Return: 73% 10. Saturday 22:45 for Scoria Scoria was suggested, even before the Teladon-hunt, but I have bad experience with them so I said to try the Teladon first and if it didn't work, then we would seek out the Scoria. My records now show not even 60% return, but then that's for only two hunts that I've recorded. I didn't enjoy the hunting-aspect again this time too, and the loot was bad as well. Maybe there is some secret to doing good on them or likeing them for some other reason that I don't know about? Weapon: Castorian Combat EnBlade-13 Mentor Edition with Melee Trauma Amplifier VI Armour: Viceroy, Skullcandy Special Loot: Nothing Return: 61%
Sorry for the spamming, but there's the last part of the Summargy Log 11. Saturday 23:15 for Oratan Miner After the Scoria debacle we wanted to try something similair in strenght, but with better loot. I thought of the Oratan Miners, because they had been good to me in the past. Not so this time, despite one global, and we left not too long afterwards. Weapon: Castorian Combat EnBlade-13 Mentor Edition with Melee Trauma Amplifier VI Armour: Viceroy, Skullcandy with Armor Plating Mark.5B Special Loot: Global (88) Return: 67% 12. Saturday 00:10 for Huon This time we tried the Huons, but with only three left: Sub-Zero, Ayusaru and myself. It feels in retrospect that we've been hopping around all evening trying to find that one mob that would be good enough. We got one good global not long after the start and we continued to hunt them for quite some time, but there was not much else to get from them. At least not by us. Weapon: Castorian Combat EnBlade-13 Mentor Edition with Melee Trauma Amplifier VI Armour: Musca Adjusted Special Loot: Global (164) ; Combat Mask Belarus (F) Return: 71% 13. Sunday 13:20 for Nusul I wish I've started writing earlier, or that I've taken short notes at least during all the MatW hectic. Sunday I wanted to start with not too strong weapons yet better then TT-knives. I had been spamming Ark.Chat again too much about the free Manta, and there was a large crowd gathering to get one. Therefore we split up in two groups, with Ryzen leading Team #2. He stayed to hunt the small Nusul around Celeste Outpost (his team consisted of only those hunting with a free Manta), I went with my team (with Alami and R4 1M 31 that used weapons similair to mine and two others with a free Manta) to Machinery Plant for the big Nusul. Ryzen and two others from his team joined us when the free TT-knives were broken. We stayed on them a little longer, but even though the loot wasn't bad, it wasn't good either and we wanted to try something else. Weapon: Lokabhu Electrifier Sword with Melee Trauma Amplifier I & Leoi Shock Dagger Armour: None Special Loot: Nothing Return: 80% 14. Sunday 14:55 for Zadul There was a bit of a change in teammembers, as is most often the case after a change of mob, and we thought to hunt the small Zadul first to see how it would go. If it would be too easy, we would have gone to the big Zadul, but these were just fine. Nothing special, but I enjoyed it quite a bit. Weapon: Leoi Shock Dagger & Ozpyn RSB S1X1 Armour: None Special Loot: Global (22) Return: 86% 15. Sunday 18:50 for Kadra After a pizza-dinner-break it was time to take out the big toys. I wanted to try out my Shagadi that I'm trying to maxe-out (see by Mêlée Hunting Blog), and although it doesn't have as much dmg/sec as my Castorian Mace Mk. II would have (I think?), it was good hunting with this sword and I used it all to the end of this evening. For a start I was joined by two socmates from the NBK Miredia and IvoL for a hunt of Kadra. We started out at the wrong TP and ran all the way from Sanctuary Cove to Storm's Keep where they roam. Alami joined shortly after the start. And we got our first 'true' item this hunt! Yeah, a pistol for me wich Mireida got to keep. Weapon: Shagadi Disintegration Sword with Melee Trauma Amplifier VI Armour: Viceroy, Skullcandy Special Loot: Global (51, 52) ; Piron PLP-27 (L) Return: 83% 15. Sunday 20:10 for Otorugi We weren't quite too happy with the Kadra (although I must say that I found it an enjoyable hunt), and because we wanted to hunt something similair I suggested the Otorugi. I think this is a very good mob to hunt (but my log says otherwise, it's not all sunshine). Not long after the start we got a Global containing a Combat Mask Argentina (F) that Mireida wanted to have very badly. So it doesn't have to be said that she also got it! We stayed on the Otorugi for almost two hours, yet three globals later we couldn't find anything near the first global - and also again no item to speak of. Yes, this was a good hunt. Weapon: Shagadi Disintegration Sword with Melee Trauma Amplifier VI Armour: Viceroy, Skullcandy Special Loot: Global (138, 70, 50, 57) ; Combat Mask Israel (M) Return: 85% 16. Sunday 22:10 for Mutated Hadraada & Mutated Zadul & Mutated Nusul All good things come to an end, and so did the Otorugi-hunt too. I was left alone with only Alami and suggested the Mutated mobs at Khorum Coast. Unfortuatly they were a bit too strong for him so he got send back to revival. They had nothing nice for us in store, and so I had to end this Mêlée all the Way without a big fat HOF, but a silent nothing instead. Weapon: Shagadi Disintegration Sword with Melee Trauma Amplifier VI Armour: Gremlin Special Loot: Nothing Return: 69% Conclusion My first impression is that this had not been the best MatW Edition. That's one thing that is to be cautious of after one that has been very good as Caly-17 was. Even with that in mind, there hadn't been many rememberable hunts. No big Globals or HOFs. No good items. No full and powerfull team to take down something like Kamaldons. I want to learn from my mistakes and adjust the set-up accordingly. On Calypso I got a few PMs from people asking me outside of the TT-hunt if this was the time for the free give-aways. So this time I thought why not give them a change to get one from the first to the last hunt? And now I had at other times half or more of the team filled with the free-bladers. Don't get me wrong, I do want to give them a change and feeling for the Way of the Blade, but when I want to hunt something relatively big with one of the largest swords that I can handle, then it's no fun to be held back by those who don't have the TPs and die within two hits. I don't have a suitable and satisfactory solution yet, but I think that I'm going back to the original idea of only giving away free TT-blades for the TT-hunting session. This time I gave away close to 50, and at 9 PED each that's a little bit too much for poor me to do to be honest. And maybe I'll get a Chopper too, so that I can take them with me when they don't have the TP of where I want to hunt. What had happened to the TP-runs we used to do as noobs?! The other thing I'm considering is that I've broken it up in five Sessions, each with it's own little set of sub-rules, yet I have the impression that I'm the only one who's truely following those. I'm thinking of merging the "Heavy Mêlée", "Hey you, Lokabhu" and "Free for all" into one simple "Take what you can use" (different dates and times remaining). Only on Caly I've seen some hunting with Katsuichi or other Old-Skool Mêlée, but most don't understand what I mean by it, I think? For now I want to keep the "Katsuichi Krazy" as it is. Last year I did the Mêlée all the Way on Calypso during the summer to get some attention to it at other planets, and hopefully to get them over to Arkadia. Many joined on Caly, but I think scant few of those who didn't already knew about it flew over to Ark this time. I've heard some talk of ideas about doing a MatW on Cyrene or other planets as well. I'm not sure where or when the next edition will take place, but I can say that Caly in the summer is good possibility. Last of it: thanks to all who joined me, and let me hear your thoughts too!
Thanks for all the fun in MatW this year Ardorj. Things I noticed during our time in this MatW. It was a lot of fun, but the DPS was quite unbalanced at times, so people did either too much dps or too little. Maybe set a limit of minimum dps? That way people can choose to downscale to match close to that dps. Although while I did get the "free" team, and we Maybe, you can make a team on forum 48h or so before the actual MatW start. In the first post you can ask that ppl sign in their full in-game name, to guarantee a spot. In order to get full team. We need a good list of mobs to hunt before we start to hunt. We wasted quite a bit of time at times, picking a mob to hunt. I agree that this MatW loot wise wasn't very interesting, but that's just part of EU you win some you lose some. Next time I would be very much interested in doing some mobs on cyrene, mainly the new Spider bots, they have high hp but low dmg.
Thanks, and also for all the comments, wich I shall adress one at a time here. Like I mentioned above, I want to cut down on the number of TT-knives I've given away. By doing so I will 'remove' some with too little dps from the team. I've wanted to enforce a rule of minimum or maximum dps in the past for one or more sessions, but I've always ran into the following problems with that: PM from player A: "Hey! I want to join the melee team. My sword is too big and it's the only one I got. Can I pls join?!" PM from player B: "Hey! I want to join the melee team. I got a Falx, is that good? I can't use anything else. Can I pls join?!" I can try next time to too more strict with a min/max dps. Perhaps more experienced players will join if I do that? I've never done anything like that and honestly don't know if it'll work. I'll think of something. The mob picking is also something of a challenge for me. For one I would love to cut back the chosing time too, where I say 'we go for Huons!'. On the other hand I've done so during previous MatW's, and then I've gotten some resistance from people who didn't liked my chose. It's a fine line between being a team leader and a team dictator. Saying 'we go for Huons! All agree?' would be better? I have all the Ark mobs in a Excel-sheet that I used to search in for a suitable mob. I don't know yet how, but I'll try to make it more excessable for myself (and with locations too). I'll keep Cyrene in the back of my head! Oh, and as a personal note to know how much to desposit next time: Weapon decay: 3485 Armour+fap decay: 86 Other decay: 4 Total decay: 3576 Total loot: 2914 Return: 81,5%
No problem mate. I will do the same. Maybe since it became more popular, and if trend continues. Make from the start one team for "low lvl melee" and one for "bigger lvl melee". Most experienced melee users can get around 40 dps, and aakas/dehera around 50-ish dps. So somewhere around that limit for the "bigger lvl team". For the lower lvl team could be "Falx" or similar dps.
