The Forgotten QuickFights by noremac9 |  |
BATTLEDOME - Everyone's favourite Battledome complaint is, "I can't find any
challengers! Everyone I challenge is always offline, two-player matches are
flawed!" But in reality, this claim has no grounding, save ignorance. That's
right, there's a little known feature called QuickFight,
and it's designed for that exact purpose. Your opponent is guaranteed to be
online, guaranteed to have stats to your liking, and they can even be from a
guild you're feuding with.
Before you can use the QuickFight feature, you need to get there. Just go
to the Battledome page and click on the hyperlink that says "QuickFight". It's
right between "Challenge a Pet" and "Target Pets". Click it, and you're there--surprisingly
simple for such a little-known section of the 'Dome. On the QuickFight page
you'll see a form that should look familiar, if you've ever challenged a pet
anyway. There are several fields to choose from. It shouldn't be a problem figuring
out what you're supposed to enter into them.
Since there are never more than three hundred users in the QuickFight matches
system at one time (actually, the average is about fifty), you are limited in
how strict you can make your statistical requirements. Saying you want to fight
a pet with a maximum of sixty-one HP and a minimum of fifty-nine HP will probably
cause you to either never find an opponent, or have to wait an hour or more
for a pet to match your requirement. Making your limits a little broader is
your only choice, if you want an opponent at least. Somewhere between ten under
and ten over the pet you're entering's stats is usually good. You'll be evenly
matched, with any luck. If you have far more powerful weapons then you do stats,
then put the maximum over your pet's stats that you think you can handle--you
know best.
Of course, a lot of people would rather bypass the whole stat entering process
and just enter a single stat: Level. Since no stat can be over twice that of
level, by entering level you won't end up with a pet with any stat over double
that number. Although the logic in this idea is good, there is a flaw. Lab'
pets usually have very low level and very high stats, so by using the above
method you might end up with a pet much more powerful than your own.
Some people prefer to bypass all the stat fields entirely and press the "Let's
go fight!" button blindly. Although this is a lot easier than entering any of
the fields, it's a bit risky. It's risky because the main people who fight randomly
are veteran Battledomers who know they can put up a good fight with whomever
they're paired with. If you think you're a veteran of the Battledome, you probably
just have an inflated ego. Most of the pets that do this have HP into the two
hundred range or higher; those are the veterans. If you can (or think you can...
beware the ego) take on such pets, blindly fighting might work. The only other
trouble is that lots of newer players don't understand how it works and end
up going in blindly by accident. If you enjoy pummelling pets with five HP,
you must really need an ego boost, but for us more normal battlers, it can be
a problem.
Finally, there's the optional field of fighting a member of a certain guild.
This feature is almost entirely useless, save one purpose. For some reason,
certain guilds like to have inter-guild wars, and wars within their own guild.
An inter-guild war basically means that two guilds set up a war and fight people
from the opposing guild. A war within their own guild pretty much explains itself.
If you're looking for random people from a certain guild during a guild war,
this is the way to go. Other than that, the chances of finding someone from
the guild you want by chance are nearly nothing.
Once you've got everything set up the way you want it, press the fight button.
It will pop a new window open; you must keep it open to find an opponent. You
can browse the site or other sites, but make sure the window is still open.
Be warned: whatever page you're on will be taken to the Battledome once you've
got an opponent.
Using the QuickFights as a way to improve your Battledome technique is one
of the best things any battler can do. Not only are you paired against an opponent
you've never faced before (once or twice I've actually faced someone I know,
but it was a total coincidence) with their own unique strategy, but you'll never
have the same battle twice. One-player fights are much more passive. You know
what to expect and when to expect it. But in the QuickFights, In every battle
you're flying by the seat of your pants (which, with any luck, haven't been
stolen by the pant devil yet), with no idea what your opponent is going to pull
on you next. They might freeze you early, they might freeze you late, and they
might not freeze you at all. You can't find all of their items listed out, and
you won't find any carefully made strategy guides on how to beat them. This
is where you see if a battler is worth their salt-- if they can really hold
their own. Some battlers become terrified as soon as they step into the 'Dome
with an unknown opponent, and most are at least a little scared. After all,
this isn't a friend; it's a stranger. Since they've probably never looked your
pet up, they won't be going by your rules. Saying "Hey, no freezing!" in the
middle of the battle probably won't work very well. If they unleash two water
muffins on the last move, then sorry, it's a little late to shout "No one-use
items!" That's why the QuickFight matches are the best way to improve your strategy,
it's impossible to know what's going to happen next.
You can actually learn just as much from losing a QuickFight as you can from
winning a QuickFight. In fact, I think you learn more. Every time you lose,
think about why. Was it their strategy, or their stats that allowed them to
beat you? Did they have a weapon you've never heard of that helped them? If
so, perhaps you should check into getting one. I know that most of my weaponry
came from fighting pets that used it and beat me. After all, why not let them
buy the item and you see how well it works? Sounds like a good deal to me, if
your ego can withstand a loss (you really need to work on that ego).
Of course, like many things in Neopia, people forget about the fun in it.
QuickFight is one of the best ways to have fun in the Battledome, but some people
can't see it. Whether it is their egos getting in the way (this is your final
warning, the ego will be your fall!), their determination to win, or the fact
that they just forgot it was a game, not enjoying the experience means that
there was no experience. No, I'm not saying that if you don't enjoy every fight
then you shouldn't do it at all. I am saying that it's a good way to have fun,
not just improve your strategy. If you don't, won't or can't have fun, that's
fine, but you're missing out. After all, everything you see on Neopets was designed
with fun in mind, whether you can see it or not.
If you ever see a Cloud Kacheek perusing the QuickFights, that'd be my battling
pet, Niepektori. See you there! Also, feel free to send me a
Neomail anytime, I'll read it and respond (as long as you're not
asking me "What is a good Battledome item for about X price?"). |
