The first in today's series of articles; next will be the weekly Colony Wars report from Cervantes server.
The date: 8 September 2007.
The time: 1pm-onwards.
The place: Gamefrog at Metrowalk in Ortigas, National Capital Region [NCR], the Philippines.
The event: one-half of the NCR leg of Liberty's Wrath, the Philippine National Granado Espada PvP Tournament.
I made it to Gamefrog a little past 1pm and found the placed all decorated for the occasion with lots of GE posters, and this really nice banner:
I had never intended to actually join the tournament, because I'm an absolute greenhorn when it comes to PvP combat - except for the duels with DeSanggria, I had never even *tried* PvP, much less done it in a competitive or tournament style.
But suddenly I found myself being drafted to join a team - the Council-Hampas Lupa group, composed of several members of Council faction from Carracci. A second team from Carracci called themselves Renaissance, while the third team was from Pachelbel server and fought under the name LXG.
Council-Hampas Lupa team.
Renaissance team.
LXG team.
The rules were laid out as follows.
Since there were only three teams at the venue, the organizers decided to expedite the tournament: one team would automatically get a bye and advance to the second round, while the other two would immediately engage in battle. The winner would advance to the second round and meet the team that drew the bye.
The team that won the second-round match would then be declared venue champion and go on to battle the champion of the other venue, Warzone2020 in Vito Cruz, Manila, to determine who would become the NCR representative to the Liberty's Wrath national finals during the Commercial Launch party on 15 September at One Esplanade.
For the gameplay itself: all contenders were provided with premade accounts on the GE Test Server. Each account contained six characters: the five stock classes, plus Emilia the Sage. All were at Veteran status. Teams were given a limited budget of 50,000 vis, refreshed after each match, to buy consumable items such as potions, buff items, bullets, and so on.
All accounts were provided with most of the gear needed to engage in battle, such as high-level armors and weapons.
I have to say "most" because when I logged in and looked at the arsenal, one type of weapon had been omitted: pistols. Which meant that Fighters could use neither Heaven or Hell or Advance Garde; and that Musketeers could use neither Freestyle Shot nor Double Gun Shot.
[That did strike me as odd.]
Teams were not allowed to sell or trade their equipment or consumables, and any team caught doing so would be disqualified from the tournament.
Play would commence at the City of Auch, and once logged in to the PvP rooms there was only one map for the fight: the Liberty Colosseum. This map not only had lots of space for ten teams of three members each to duke it out; it also boasted several colonies. Taking possession of a colony would grant its owners special bonuses during combat.
GMs were on hand to oversee the matches.
We drew lots to see who would get the bye; team LXG got it, and the two Carracci teams, Council Hampas-Lupa and Renaissance, got ready to rumble.
I couldn't help it, I had to take this picture of my temporary team:
Woot for a Veteran team composed of Scout, Fighter and Wizard!
I was asked to be Squad Leader for my side. Unfortunately, our team was demolished rather quickly, and the only reason the combat lasted about 3 minutes was because one member, a Musketeer, managed to elude her pursuers for a minute or so. Still, team Renaissance had the victory, and would then go on to face team LXG in the second round of tournament play.
Once the second match rolled around, LXG, too, fell prey to the combined strength of the Renaissance members - and so Renaissance were proclaimed Gamefrog champions!
The triumphant team Renaissance, all wearing their new GE caps.
Under the rules of the tournament, they had to wait for the Warzone2020 champion to be decided - and when it was decided, Renaissance found themselves pitted against the Pachelbel team PinoyAllStars. In the end, it was Renaissance who fell, and PinoyAllStars were declared the NCR champions, as well as the regional representative to the National Finals.
***
During the lulls of the event, the organizers gave away GE pens, buttons, posters, and Open Beta installers.
A film crew from the soon-to-be-live cable show Pinoy Gamers were also at the venue to get footage for their pilot episode. They interviewed the organizers, the venue champion Renaissance after their second victory...and me, as an afterthought, haha. ^^
Once again I was sort of the odd person out: the only female GE player at Gamefrog, and the only representative from Cervantes server.
[DeSanggria later told me that 2 teams from CARNAGE faction had showed up at Warzone2020, and had been defeated by the PinoyAllStars.]
***
The regional legs of the tournament are to continue throughout the rest of the week, and on 15 September the regional champions are to face each other in the National Finals.
I'm looking forward to EVERYTHING that's going to happen on that Saturday!
***
For more photos from Gamefrog, please visit this Photobucket album: Liberty's Wrath NCR.
For DeSanggria's report from Warzone2020, please visit this entry: The tournament of surprises.
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