Trying to give PvP a chance

Hey there guys and gals. As the subject reads, I'm attempting to give PvP a chance. Been playing the game for almost three years and had only ever done PvE before.

I won a costume contest on a blaster, and a dom who was in BB wanted to see it. I went there and showed him, then he asked if I wanted to fight. I figured what the hell, and went for it. And I enjoyed it. He had a brute and a MM there with him, and they all took turns fighting me one on one. I lost spectacularly to the brute and MM, but beat the dom every time. It was good fun.

Eventually we moved on to RV as we were all lvl 50, and wanted to go at it with all our powers. After a fight or two a stalker showed up, and he didn't want to play by the one on one fights we'd been having. I didn't mind, and I understand that's going to happen in an open PvP zone, especially when I'm the only hero in the zone. He beat me, then again, and again, and then some more, but he just wouldn't let me fight with the dom and brute. So we called it a night, and I left.

Today, I went to Sirens Call to hunt toxic tarantula's for the badge. Again there's a stalker in the zone and he wants to fight. I figure, I'm in the zone, and if I try to hide from him, he'd just hunt me down anyway. So we start to fight, and as soon as he gets low on health, he runs away. I don't feel like waiting around for him to heal up, and then assassin strike me, so I start to leave.

He complained that it wasn't fun because I was flying. I told him I'd turn off flying if he turned off stealth. Eventually he agreed, we met and started to fight again. Again when he got low on health, he hits stealth and runs. I wait for a minute to see if maybe I just lost track of him, and he says in broadcast that he must have DCed. I'm doubtful, but hey, it -could- have happened. I tell him I'm still there and will wait. Seconds later, assassin strike, and another quick attack, and I fall down dead. At that point, I left the zone.

Now don't get me wrong, if I die in PvP, I've got no problem with that, it's not like it really affects my toon with debt or anything, just costs me inps to trade in for wakies, or a trip to the hospital. Some one beats me, good for them. I'm new to this area of the game, and I know nothing about building for PvP. I don't expect to win every time(Or any really ;p ).

Really I'm just asking, should I just avoid the PvP zones, and only stick to arena PvP until I get a better grasp on the PvP system? Or should I just avoid the PvP zones when there are stalkers in them? Heh

You will learn the fastest if you can get some experienced players to take you to arena and basically show you the "tricks" to PvP, I say tricks as that is mostly what distinguishes players from each other when PvP got nerfd... Theres plenty ways to play against stalkers without them effecting you much... The main thing you will have to get used to is always expecting to be hit by a stalker, if you don't have your 'Oh Crap' powers or some inspies on hand ready to counter their alpha strike then get into a situation where it would be very difficult for them.

Whatever anyone tells you, there is no fair play in a PvP zone... use whatever you can to come out on top.

You can learn from getting beaten over and over again in a PvP zone, it just takes a bit longer as you have to find out on your own how best to counter certain situations.

Stalkers are the simplest AT in the game to counter - simply keep moving at all times and your risk of being AS'd is cut dramatically. Speaking of movement, that's the first thing a new PvPer needs to be aware of: move. All the time. Don't stop moving, ever. Moving constantly makes it more difficult for a Stalker or other stealth-based AT (Bane, Night Widow) to land hits against you, and it makes it more difficult for most melee ATs to deliver their damage consistently.

Another thing you need to realize when you go into PvP is that if you want to do well, you need to do everything in your power to win. Move around, use inspirations, use any power that's appropriate for the situation. When people whine at you because you do these things, ignore them. They only consider someone good if they play within their own limited ruleset (which they like because it increases their chances of winning out of the gate) and are incapable of playing at a higher level. A good player will use any of the resources available to them and will learn counters for tactics used against them (for example, if you're tired of Stalkers, just don't stop moving - very rarely will a Stalker be able to AS a moving target). The reason you were having issues with a Stalker is because you agreed to rules that very much favored the Stalker - you stopped moving and essentially let him beat on you in melee range, where his attacks are strongest. As a ranged character, you need to keep moving and do everything you can to stay out of melee range with a Stalker or Brute because you have less resistance and lower hit points and you will die.

Okay, this was pretty much what I expected, and am glad for that.

Thanks for the advice, and I'll certainly remember it. One of the biggest things was I thought it was common practice to not use insperations at all in a PvP fight. Since that's not the case, I'll definitely not let that hold me back in the future.

'bout stalkers:

movement and breaking line of sight constantly.

i've dueled a lot of these baddo stalkers that run around freedom RV, and i've never gotten AS'd by any of them in a duel (not the case with people like Void, who was ASing me through a ******* hurricane).

what i'm trying to say is: most stalkers in this game are really really bad, so the "stalker's are bad for the game" excuse doesn't apply after the AS nerf.