Best Fighters: 2020 Edition

Jovolo

Good day all!!

We're heading into the new year with 2020 behind us, and it's that time of year where we look back and reflect upon what happened. Now I haven't played at all since February so I missed out on practically the entire year but you all know how much these forums mean to me, so let's begin.

Who has impressed you the most in each class throughout the year, and please throw in some honourable mentions if there's anybody you feel deserves an acknowledgement alongside your current #1!

Airlord:

Alchemist:
Apostate:

Bard:

Blademaster:

Depthswalker:

Dragon:

Druid:

Earthlord:

Firelord:

Infernal:

Jester:

Magi:

Monk:
Occultist:

Paladin:

Priest:
Psion:
Runewarden:

Sentinel:

Serpent:

Shaman:

Sylvan:

Waterlord:

Let's hear your take.

Archaeon

Airlord:

Alchemist:
Apostate:

Bard:

Blademaster:

Depthswalker:

Dragon:

Druid:

Earthlord:

Firelord:

Infernal:

Jester:

Magi:

Monk:
Occultist:

Paladin:

Priest:
Psion:
Runewarden:

Sentinel:

Serpent: Arness

Shaman:

Sylvan:

Waterlord:

Let's hear your take.

     

Jovolo

I have heard of Arness. Pretty impressed with them too from what I've been told. Can confidently say they've been the best Serpent in 2020 at least even if it is just by default of there being nobody else that can compete with them.

That's all you have to say tho, not even included yourself? Damn!

Saonji

Jovolo said:

impressed is a strong word to use here.

Apostate: Mizik's nerded the hardest on Apostate.

Bard: Still probably Dunn, although Nephiny's made strides with it the past few months.

Infernal: Mizik's probably tested it the most in actual fights, as well. Lots of people picked it up to get on the new-class-fotm train, but nobody took off.

Jester: I dunno about 'impressed' but pretty sure Archaeon's the only one that plays this horrible class.

Monk: This past year? Probably Namino, he's nerded the most on it, and been the most consistent.
Occultist: Another rework-fotm-reroll train, where most people didn't do much with the class. I'd guess Penwize actually fought the most with it, outside of groups.

Paladin: Umm... Archaeon? Or Atalkez. Archaeon's used it the most.

Priest: Seragorn without question.
Psion: Penwize without question. Atalkez used it for a bit, too.
Runewarden:

Sentinel: Lyrin's the only one who really stands out.

Serpent:

Shaman:

--Meh category--

Any Elemental, Alchemist, Dragon: Literally nothing that can be done on any of these classes, that would qualify as 'impressive' because the classes are horribly straightforward, with little in the way of innovation being possible.

Blademaster: Maybe Atalkez, in the Nameless tournament. Maybe when brokenstar is feasible vs super artied people, this class might become decent again.

Depthswalker: The fact that all the noteworthy people who played this class, gave it up for something else, should speak to how meh it is.

Druid/Sylvan: Does anyone even play either of these two classes competently?

Magi: Most people gave this up too, if we're talking about duels and such. Maybe when their kill routes get addressed next classlead round (if they do), then we might see more people playing it.

Let's hear your take.

                         
2020 was a pretty meh year for PvP standouts, tbqh. Lots of things have made classlead rounds suuuuuuuper slow. We're still on classleads from July.

Archaeon

Amranu for shaman.

Archaeon

Airlord: anyone that can count to six

Alchemist: sub - @Eryl form - Mili
Apostate: @Mizik

Bard: @Nephiny

Blademaster: @Shirszae

Depthswalker: lol

Dragon: @Penwize

Druid: Miriew

Earthlord: @Atalkez

Firelord: 

Infernal: snb @Dalran

Jester: @Farrah

Magi: lol

Monk: tek @Namino
Occultist: @Katalyst

Paladin: won't rate

Priest: @Tesha
Psion: @Penwize
Runewarden: 2h @Proficy

Sentinel: @Lyrin

Serpent:     @Fen                            

Shaman:  @Amranu

Sylvan: silver bean

Waterlord: @Trendric

      

Farrah

Do people actually think magi is bad? I am not convinced.

Archaeon

Nope but no one plays it for 1v1

Jovolo

The topic is not which classes are good, it's which fighters are good. Apparently no one has played Magi enough to be acknowledged, gap in the market!

Saonji

Archaeon said:

Airlord, Alchemist, 2h Knight: anyone that can count to six*

*- Alchemist sometimes has a much bigger struggle of counting to eight, instead.

Archaeon

That's like.... more

Mizik

Airlord: Emiya

Alchemist: Eryl
Apostate: Mizik/Dunn

Bard: Nephiny

Blademaster: Dunn

Depthswalker: Penwize

Dragon: Armali

Druid: Emiya

Earthlord: Atalkez

Firelord: Mizik/Dunn/Taryius

Infernal: Mizik/Dunn/Taryius/Proficy (2H Infernal is intense with these two)

Jester: N/A

Magi: N/A

Monk: Namino/Seragorn
Occultist: Akia crushed me last fight

Paladin: Archaeon

Priest: N/A
Psion: Penwize
Runewarden: 

Sentinel: Lyrin/Vothaec looking promising!

Serpent: Santar

Shaman: Amranu/Dunn

Sylvan: Sylvaeben

Waterlord: Trendric dunks on me like every time, but more to do with my stock curing.

Let's hear your take.

Dunn and I brainstorm/script together a lot so our fighting styles are pretty similar. I will say I haven't seen anyone play Blademaster like me, yet.

@Farrah missing from this list is weird. Probably the best player in whatever class she's on at the moment.

Kog

It's kind of cool seeing Cyrenian names showing up on this list.

Dalran

Archaeon said:

Airlord: anyone that can count to six

Alchemist: sub - @Eryl form - Mili
Apostate: @Mizik

Bard: @Nephiny

Blademaster: @Shirszae

Depthswalker: lol

Dragon: @Penwize

Druid: Miriew

Earthlord: @Atalkez

Firelord: 

Infernal: snb @Dalran

Jester: @Farrah

Magi: lol

Monk: tek @Namino
Occultist: @Katalyst

Paladin: won't rate

Priest: @Tesha
Psion: @Penwize
Runewarden: 2h @Proficy

Sentinel: @Lyrin

Serpent:     @Fen                            

Shaman:  @Amranu

Sylvan: silver bean

Waterlord: @Trendric

      

I uhhh have never had infernal as a class.

Shirszae

I am fairly sure he is trolling if for no other reason than putting me as best blademaster. 

Archaeon

some of them are serious some of them are not

i'll leave the determination up to u

Archaeon

remember when these threads used to be constantly bumped and full of shitposting

Estinien

Ur here, the shit pule is full 🔥🔥🔥

Jovolo

Archaeon said:

remember when these threads used to be constantly bumped and full of shitposting

This is what I'm referring to when I say the combat scene is weaker now. There's no personality, no character, no passion. People just don't have the same level of charisma as the fighters of last decade and nor do they have the ingenuity and fear factor that comes with it. 

Combat scene has been in freefall for years and no one stepped forward to save it. Maybe that'll change, it's up to you guys

Colden

I dunno. The entire forum seems dead, really. In comparison to other game forums, this one is so inactive. You can almost hear crickets. I'd rather people rage at each other. They'd, at least, be displaying passion.

Mizik

Natural progression with the interactivity of Discord. They're both resources, one is just naturally more immediate. 

Sobriquet

Jovolo said:

Archaeon said:

remember when these threads used to be constantly bumped and full of shitposting

This is what I'm referring to when I say the combat scene is weaker now. There's no personality, no character, no passion. People just don't have the same level of charisma as the fighters of last decade and nor do they have the ingenuity and fear factor that comes with it. 

Combat scene has been in freefall for years and no one stepped forward to save it. Maybe that'll change, it's up to you guys

I disagree, that seems to be pure nostalgia. We have some great fighters, great raiders and great players. But things change and move on, doesn't mean its any worse than before in that respect. 


We have some cockwombles too, but always have done. 

Andraste

I would say that the group combat scene is as active as it has been in a long time but while duels and arena events seem to be bumbling by at a slow trickle, combat rankings are effectively dead.

Kog

Andraste said:

I would say that the group combat scene is as active as it has been in a long time but while duels and arena events seem to be bumbling by at a slow trickle, combat rankings are effectively dead.

I feel like combat rankings have an IRE-wide issue of being gamed. Get to #1 by picking your fights very carefully then refuse to fight anyone else.

Dueling also doesn't really *change* anything, outside of personal disagreements- though now that I say that, I'd imagine you could get plenty of duels going with like, wrasslefest-style call-outs about an org or specific people?

Jovolo

Andraste said:

I would say that the group combat scene is as active as it has been in a long time but while duels and arena events seem to be bumbling by at a slow trickle, combat rankings are effectively dead.

This is probably a fair assessment, group combat has always been fairly active but I think the game has more competent fighters at the middle level due to increase in script-sharing and automation, and the progressive power creep with so many people walking around with 6k+ hp, which makes group combat more competitive than Tanris throwing himself at level 78 Shallam non coms 12 hours a day.

The 1v1 scene has faltered for a long time coming though and I don't know exactly why that is.

When I say "People just don't have the same level of charisma as the fighters of last decade and nor do they have the ingenuity and fear factor that comes with it." I am being a little tongue-in-cheek but I still agree with the sentiment 100%.

The names that I could reel off who were active fighters 5-10 years ago is a stark contrast to who I last remember playing in 2020. That is absolutely without question, surely, I mean just look at these threads.

Back in my day you'd have at least 3-4 people competing for nearly every single class in the best fighters threads and now it's like four or five names that comprise the entire list. That is not nostalgia, @Sobriquet

Atalkez

If multi class had been a thing it would have been the same back then, too. Tanris or Jarrel or Carmain would have been the best at everything they had access to.

Dochitha

I didn’t play entire 2020. I recently returned, within just days, think I can I agree with @jovolo, 1v1 scene has faltered... that last paragraph breaks my heart.

Jovolo

Atalkez said:

If multi class had been a thing it would have been the same back then, too. Tanris or Jarrel or Carmain would have been the best at everything they had access to.

For sure wouldn't have been, you had multiple people competing just for best knight let alone the rest of the classes, all of whom could be considered top tier. From the people that I remember:

Tynil, Kalvon, Tirac, Mizik, Jarrel, Carmain, Naisar, Vaehl (infernal only), Ellodin... this is an example of how competitive Paladin/Runewarden/Infernal spots were. And I'm almost definitely forgetting a few names too.

There was way more emphasis on the one vs one scene, it was a lot more active and a lot more competitive.

You would not have had 4-5 people dominating the entire class list

Amranu

1v1 scene is what we make of it. I dunno what character Jovolo is playing but I've been duelling pretty much since I got back and I don't think I've seen him.

Saonji

Jovolo said:

You would not have had 4-5 people dominating the entire class list

He's not wrong. Multiclass is quite literally the reason why there's the same person multiple times. Trying to say it wouldn't have been the same back then, is flat out wrong.

Tanris for instance, absolutely would have been better at more, if multiclass was a thing. You only need to look towards Imperian and Aetolia to see evidence of that, where he dominates as like four or five different classes.

otoh it's also not incorrect to say 1v1 scene isn't as big as it used to be. Is there still a bunch doing it? Absolutely. Is there nearly as many? Nope.

Jovolo

It's not wrong, as I explained in my previous post

How would 4-5 people have dominated the entire list when an argument could be made between 7-8 different people for just the Knight classes let alone the rest of the list. By throwing multi-class into the mix you're only increasing the amount of people competing for each class, because people like Tanris wouldn't have been locked as Occultist on their mains. It also means that you'd have those aforementioned people competing for multiple class spots like Tirac, Ellodin, Carmain, etc. on top of others at that time period