Preparing for an Online Tournament

June 3, 2007 · Filed Under General, LIVE 2007, Online, Gaming, Ragnarok, RF Online

Now that the official season for Level Up LIVE 2007 is underway for the online game titles of Level Up, a lot of teams, guilds and individuals are probably preparing for this. Here’s some tips and advice on how to make the most out of these preparations and hopefully, get you and your team to the path of victory

1. KNOW WHICH ROAD TO TAKE

The first, and perhaps, the most important part of the planning is to decide on which road to take to reach the finals. Of course, this is assumed that you already have a goal (yep, goals are important). If you are the head guildmaster, then you have to gather your generals and plan accordingly. For example, in RPC, you have to decide if your guild (or specific factions) will either go for the Agit siege or the wild card.

Once you’ve decided, you have to map out the specific pathways and plans on how to get there. For instance, if its Agit siege, you can breakdown your target points (hence, your target maps) on a weekly and monthly basis. It’s important that someone writes down these plans during the meeting so you have a record and can committ to specifics.

2. COMMUNICATIONS

Communications is key to any organization. If you can, gather the leaders of your group and your allies at least 2x a month and then plan. If geographics or schedules conflict, there’s always Yahoo Messenger conference or you can even set meetings inside the game. Sometimes, events scheduled by us (such as RF’s City Under Siege) are a good excuse for you and your allies/leaders to setup a meeting and then question the GMs or the leaders about mechanics or some exploits. I suggest that you also make a database (private, if you value account secrecy) of your allies’ GdMs and leaders. Note their cellphone numbers, YMs, emails. A good way to make announcements is in your guild site, forum or blog (although discussing details of your campaign strategy online may mean “leaks” to the opposition). Just be careful about “spies”. Yep, your enemies will send people to sniff out your plans. A good way to “test out” and smoke out a spy is this: if you suspect one, two or three spies - tell each of them 3 “lies” (for example, you are going to “attack an agit” and give each one a different location). When information about this leaks out to the enemy (they “know” that you are attacking Payon kunwari), you then know WHO THE MOLE is.

3. FORGE ALLIANCES

Sometimes, even skiled players and masterful tactiticians are not enough. Often, you will need the numbers to win in a big tournament like RPC or RF’s NEST. The only way that you can get it is to win allies to your cause. Negotiation skills are crucial here. It’s important that you show your potential allies, the values that you and them will put in the table of war. Show them how they can contribute to the battles and give them a vision (you can also tell them how you will split the spoils of war) and they will be more than eager to join you. They will be more obliged if they know exactly what they will do and how valuable they are in the campaign. Will they be the prime defenders? attackers? Each group or sub-group must have mission-criticals goals which all connect to the “master plan”

This will take some meetings and talks to pull off. But once you do, and you get the strong guilds to support you, you will have an edge in your server and in the tournament. A lot of people are already doing this for Ragnarok since the server merge has greatly changed the political landscape not just of the game but of the entire tournament season.

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I hope these tips and advice can help you in your campaign. Best of luck to your team and guild!

May there never be lag during your battles!

How about you? How do you prepare for the tournaments? Care to share?

Strength and Honor!

GM T

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One Response to “Preparing for an Online Tournament”

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