So, philosophical question, because I’m of the mind “run to and run back and then rest where you can see what’s going on”, even if I don’t always do it:
“Run to rez, run back (unless it’s an hour-long melee. Then only run if it’s important.)”How do we help our newbs understand when it’s important and when they can take their time?
Dante was sniggering last weekend because, after teaching The Basics of Line Fighting and expounding on the virtues of the first three Rules and guidelines like “don’t lunge” and “don’t step back”, I proceeded to, in his words, “break them all” when we actually began fighting. Now, like a certain “i before e” maxim, these Rules of Melee and related aphorisms are oversimplifications intended to instill good fundamentals. They are baseline behaviors, things we expect line fighters to prioritize, and they will rarely steer you wrong, but they are not the full picture. Teaching fighters to recognize the exceptions, and how to respond to them, is the business of instruction, practice, and good didactic methods.
With that as our guide, we define the rule here as “if it’s a long melee, walk to rez and back.” The exceptions take some expertise to learn and utilize. Newbies, bless their hearts, aren’t very likely to have that experience.
Therefore, my answer to the question is: run if your commander says so.
… What, you want more?
Fine.
On any battlefield appropriate to 30 minute- or hour-long melee, the rez points are likely to be a little distant. Running to rez and back takes a lot of energy. I only want to run if it will help my team immediately gain or preserve a strategic advantage. So when I die, I am going to ask myself the following questions:
1) Is an objective (for my team or theirs) immediately threatened?
If the fight is pretty stable, with two lines about a meter apart growling at each other and taking occasional pot-shots at hands or feet, and no flag checks anytime soon, then nobody’s really going to miss me. If the line guarding our flag is about to get munched, or if the enemy’s got reinforcements incoming and we don’t, I might want to hurry.
2) If so: can I provide significant assistance to our team in taking/holding that objective?
If our numbers are much greater, my line probably won’t require my prowess in the immediate future, and I can take my time rezzing. On the flip side, if the enemy got into our backfield, and our line is utterly demolished, it’s better to regroup near rez and saunter up together, as a unit, than for me to sprint to rez and back alone. Generally, running is only a good idea when the forces look pretty even, and my presence could be decisive.
A telltale sign: I hear somebody yelling “fall back” or “die slow” near an objective. That’s either my team or the enemy team fighting a delaying action; if it’s the enemy, I want to get in there and kill them all before they can get reinforced. If it’s my team, I want to reinforce as quickly as possible!
3) If so: after running to rez and back, am I going to have enough energy to fight effectively?
Or: do I have the footspeed and cardio to make that rez run and return to the line in a controlled, orderly fashion, and maintain the ability to fight not just for the next pass, but for the rest of the melee? If time’s running out, there’s no reason to take it slow; but sprinting too much, too early can leave you a step behind for the rest of the fight.
It’s fairly rare that one should be running to or from rez in an hour-long melee or similar–which is why I think it’s better to listen for particular orders (and make sure commanders know when and how to give those orders). Of course, the easier solution is to train up cardio …
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