Look Before You Llama!: A Legions:OD Awareness Campaign

Look Before You Llama.jpg
Note: For those lazy people who don't like reading lots, jump down for the general message that is lower in the post.
If there's one thing that I get sick of in pugs it's people constantly confusing the hell out of newbloods by first saying "OMG Never Ever Llama", and then "Why the *DANCE* Didn't You Grab the Flag to Stop Them Capping. You Were Next to It!"

The fact is, whether we like to admit it or not, there is a time when Llamaing is a good thing.
In a Competitive Match this also exists. Imagine the enemy capper has gotten past your defenders and is outrunning your chasers. You look around, and can tell no teammate could get there before the capper does. However, you've just been hanging around in the enemy base. Now, is a good time to llama. Chances are, if their defense is any good, you won't get very far, but it's merely a delaying tactic to bide your teammates some time.
If you know you'll die if you try to ski off with the flag, it's often a good idea to toss it out of the base for a teammate to pick up. (usually in the nearest bowl). Grabbing at the last minute to prevent a cap like this is known as an E-Grab (emergency grab).
Now, if in a similar situation you've looked and you have a capper on your team coming in at high speed it get's tricky. If you're not sure whether he'll get there in time, grab, if you know he will, but aren't sure if he'll get out at high health, make a judgement call (if he's far enough away, you might be able to toss it out closer to him, so he doesn't have to enter the base and the enemy fire, however don't toss it past him so he has to do a u-turn. That just Mucks things up).

In non-competitive play where there is little efficient defense and you can make it back to your base after a llama, there's also times when llamaing is acceptable, but there is a condition. Look Before You Llama!

LAZY PEOPLE JUMP TO HERE.

With that Long Paragraph over, I launch the "Look Before You Llama!" Campaign.
The basic idea is that provided you don't interfere with a player doing a proper high speed route (that doesn't just mean grabbing a moment before him. Remember, if they're moving a lot faster than you, they can often go almost two lengths of the map in the time it takes you to do one). There a few good signs that you shouldn't grab.
  1. is that there's about 5 proficient defense hanging around killing anyone who gets close moving slowly (in such a situation you'd be better off attacking them, to distract them while a high speed capper comes through).
  2. is that you can actually see if you look around a teammate flying at the flagstand very fast.
  3. and this is an important one, is if you see someone who you know tends to do proper routes spamming the "I'm Capturing the Flag" button. Most cappers will either do this when they start a route or (and this is more sensible) when they are a few seconds away from grabbing. In those situations keep an eye out, and if they look like they're about to die (critical health before grabbing), then grab anyway, but if they've got a fair amount of health and a lot of speed, stay away from it and shoot the defenders to help him get through.
The Look Before You Llama! campaign isn't just about when Not to grab though, Oh No.
It's also about knowing when To llama. As I mentioned above (but I'm compressing here), if the enemy team is about to cap, and only you can stop them from capping by grabbing the flag first, then DO IT. If some guy gets pissed off at you for doing that, tell him it's an e-grab and he needs to learn tactics.
 

Disci

Old man
llama2b26w.jpg
 

MJ1284

Member
MJ approves this guide!

While I don't hate llamaing itself, I hate people who do it wrong.. which is 95% of people who play on Public games.
 
Now, the only problem I see is getting the message out to the general game population.
If only there was a section in the patcher like the announcement section that included "Recent tutorials/tips"
 

DeadPixel

Member
Wasn't ctf originally made for people to get the flag and return it to their base? The whole OD'ing at the flag business is just and add on isn't it? New people play everyday and get the flag but people rage at them, I don't see what they are doing wrong. This hasn't got much to do with this thread but tbh I think llama'ing is something you can do.
 

Disci

Old man
Wasn't ctf originally made for people to get the flag and return it to their base? The whole OD'ing at the flag business is just and add on isn't it? New people play everyday and get the flag but people rage at them, I don't see what they are doing wrong. This hasn't got much to do with this thread but tbh I think llama'ing is something you can do.

This is true, but the thing is that it's not that effective in the long run. Teaching people how to improve rather than stick to what they think is right is the main goal. If they are able to pull of llama grab and caps, then the other team must look at the mirror when looking for who is guilty for that. Also if you're running OD/long routes and never get a chance to grab due the llamas, you might want to change the way you're playing the game and try more midfielding or even LO stuff. Goal still remains the same with or without a hordes of llamas - cap more than enemy and win the map.
 

Disci

Old man
Oh, I just noticed something that is not right in my previous post. Should've said, "This is true, but the thing is that it's not that effective in the long run. Teaching people how to improve rather than stick to what they think is good/the only way to do it, is the main goal.
 
Bumping this after it's mention in Legions OverLive.

Quick mention, guys, if you want to add things, say them.
Also, get out and tell people about it.
 

eldermimmmi

Member
Really good education for the noobs here ^^.
But I doubt that this will help much because most of those noobs who just llama don't want to get better. They just want to play and have some fun and they don't care about tactics and teamplay. Moreover it isn't likely that they read the forums.
Anyway, this would be helpful thread if one of the nups noticed it....
 

trinium

Private Tester
unfortunately 80% of the llamaing i see is done by regulars / regs on smurf accounts being complete douche bags :< and until this community is able to shake down those highschool egos by growing outwards w/ more servers and a bigger player base i dont see anything changing .
 
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