Weeks wrote:
TimmerB123 wrote:
The_Celestial_Warrior wrote:
Keep in mind that the 3-2 system also help add balance to GOWK/Zannah.
Umm, not really.
Sure - it is harder to get 3 point wins playing with GOWK/Zannah - but that doesn't mean people won't play them.
And since people will play them, then even if
you are smart enough NOT to play them - you may well have to FACE them.
When you used to face GOWK, you would systematically eliminate the support and then continuously chip away at GOWK and get the win (pre-3/2 system). Now if you face GOWK/Zannah, you have a difficult decision: you can recklessly dive straight for them, knowing you'll need to sink a ridiculously high number of hits to kill them in time, causing you to lose more often than before. Or proceed as before and get punished by the 2 point win.
I'm more concerned about opponents playing them and not allowing ME a 3 point win.
You have to think about what each faction can do against them. Seps have poggle bombs and lancer coupled with really good shooting and sids lightning in their meta squads so they can win easy over SSM
mandos have crack shot crusaders to combine fire and get straight through
Most sith pieces either do a lot of damage per hit or have direct damage.
A lot of NR pieces have a direct damage power
Rebels have speed and do lots of damage in big piles. They could beat SSM before and they still can
Imperials either have Lord Vader ignore it completely or shoot from inside a ysalamiri field and win
Old republics master vandar makes gowk/zannah spend 2 force to reroll so he alone can beat them. If you don't run him just Bastilla alone kills CEs and brings her squads damage up high enough to kill them
Vong ignore the rerolls so they dont care, its basically just parry vs them
Republic has incredible speed, they just outrun/outlast till they die. Or they cam swarm them and pick them apart.
Each faction has it's own way to beat SSM. Is it annoying? Yes. Also remember offensive teams have been in the forefront in top tier meta for a long time. SSM brings an actual counter to the autokill of pieces by some strategies.
Yes, every faction has tools to get past SSM, and every faction can win against SSM. I am more concerned about the TIME it takes to implement these strategies.
For example - you would need to have Ganner force push GOWK 6 times. You'd need some time to get into position to set that up as well. You're talking 8 rounds here, and most likely Ganner will be dead before you can pull that off. Obviously you'd be attacking as well - so some of that damage goes through, maybe it only takes 6 rounds, or 5 rounds. Well that is still way too long to concentrate on 1 character, you'll lose that game or get a 2 point win at best.
Really good counters to GOWK just aren't viable vs the rest of the field now
One great squad that wastes GOWK and did well 3 years ago in the Regionals was run by James W (Jew3) - it was rebel double push 4. It was nasty, but it gets annihilated by any fast, mobile, or shooter heavy squad. Stealth and Blue tore it to pieces at Kokomo regionals 2009.
JonnyB's gungan artillerist squad took 2nd at Chicago Regionals 2009, beating all other GOWK squads, but couldn't compete with Reeikan's Speedy Smuggler Cannon.
My point is that direct damage heavy squads can't compete in the meta right now. Sure there are some top meta squads that have SOME minor form of direct damage, but you can't rely on it to take out a character with SSM.
I played quite a bit with Poggle Bombs last year, and they rarely even blew up. They certainly weren't my main offensive power. They were far more valuable as a defensive shield to protect my commanders and my lancer from other lancers or yodabuck. Unless GOWK runs into the middle of a bunch of bombs like a moron, you're not going to be able to blow him up.
Anyway - I've said my piece, no point in belaboring it. I feel like I can beat SSM - not a problem. Beating it in time to finish games, in a meta where that is already often difficult to do (SSM aside), is the issue.