Ragarth:
I played with him before and he plays a no heal sedna. Nilanthi does this as well and it's a terrible idea. He dies a lot because he just doesn't have heal and I have no idea why anyone would bother picking sedna if you're not taking heal, it's just not good. Wether he's a Tier2 player? Depends on the definition again. I'm not taking him to any tournament but then when are those ever going to happen again...
Yah that was a funny game. I'll post the replay once GR is back online..
Besides build choices you could say that Ragarth over-extended through early game and that his allies had trouble adapting to his playstyle.
That seemed like getting used to current gameplay more than anything else to me. Remember, the guy hasn't played for most of a year. His build might even be from the loldays when Sedna didn't need a heal because her High Priests were healing 33% every 8 seconds.
What impressed me about that game was that he adapted while he was playing and spent lategame controlling portals and buying giants, rather than trying to tank. Given how much he fed early and how sloppy I was playing we wouldn't have won without the shift.
I can forgive rusty when it's clear the player has his objectives on straight and can adapt on the fly.
Wip is a moot point since he isn't interested, but his LE seemed strong when I played PUGs against him.
I think part of this, as Kingslet points out, is a question of how you define your tiers.
For me
Tier 1 - consistently brilliant team players who punish all opponent mistakes and have impeccable builds* and strategic objectives
Tier 2 - one or at most two of the above is weaker - not consistent, not good with all teams, doesn't capitalize on opponent errors, non-optimal builds, or unclear grasp of objectives
Tier 3 - weak in two or three areas and not strong enough in the others to balance it out
Tier 4 - weak across the board
Tier 5 - cheats
Tier 6 - MIA
*builds includes skill allocation, cit upgrades, equipment, and item choices
So if a guy is playing a stats build but is always where he needs to be, or has his build order set but isn't punishing to the extent he should I'd say that's Tier 2.
For example - in that game I'd say my build was standard Assassin Oak, and I knew I was going for portals at 8, but I was inconsistent early and kept wasting my exit strategy. I was newbing hard early where Ragarth needed a shield to get out and I spent the mana on a throw-away penitence instead, lol. I kept RTB at inconvenient times for items like teleport scrolls and locks that I should have been stocked up on. Even with the glaring errors I put the game at the lower end of Tier 2 because the build and map control were there.
Meanwhile I'd say Kingslet's continual use of massive self-heals was excellent and unexpected in a UB, and he consistently applied pressure where it was needed. I'd need to have a few more games with him before I called Tier 1, but I'm not sure what I'd improve in his technical play. Team play wasn't all there, but again, it took a while to adapt to an unconventional build on the team.
My point is if we are saying Tier 2 is more restrictive than above then we have to eliminate 90% of that list (and I'd be the first to go, based on that game^^)
