Arena Of Honor - House Stark - last match of the season?

It has been quite an eventful week for us at HOH, there were so many small events going on at the same time. It seems we were working around the clock just to get them all done and still have time to relax and have some fun. Sometimes we have no event going on and it's just doing the daily tasks and we are done, and sometimes there are so many happening that we feel like we are drowning in them. We could sure use some balance in our world and an even spread of the events we have to participate in.

Every Sunday (except when we have CCS or KVK) the arena opens up and the warriors from all across the realm gather around to fight in the famous arena of Westeros. There are four AOH matches in four different time slots. Each player can have up to three event tickets to enter the arena. They can use all three on the same day or save some for the next event. We usually play the last slot of the day, it's the time that works best for all of us in the team. It's not always a wise decision for us, why you ask? Well, it's because this time slot is the favorite of some of the big whales in our realm, and more than often we come across them on the battlefield and then our task becomes much more challenging and nearly impossible.

Before I tell you all about our battle in the arena, I need you to understand how this all works. In this event, six of the major houses of Westeros fight in a series of bloody battles and power games, the desire for power is their main goal and nothing can stop them. Each of the brave warriors that enters the arena will be assigned to one of 6 houses (House Tyrell, House Greyjoy, House Baratheon, House Stark, House Lannister, and House Targaryen) where they will team up and fight in the arena, a total of 10 people assemble to make one team. Together they will fight, they will give everything they have to the team(YOLO?) and always have victory on their mind. What rank they will take this time is not yet known, but they will fight to the best of their abilities, and may the odds be ever in their favor.

Few hours left till the match started and my team and I were getting ready. Neik, one of our leaders was going around camp checking our gear and making sure we were ready for what we were about to face. In the back of his eye, he saw Lord Ruki, the other event leader and he went over to him. Is there something going on that they need to discuss or did he want to confer with him about the plan they made for today? Hmm… by the look on their face, it was the latter. Phew… I got nervous for a second, no harm in going over the plan again...right? We were all heading to the starting point and we were wondering who our opponents would be, will we get someone we could actually fight against and have an actual chance or will we once more get big whales who would win every fight and achieving a top spot would be nothing but a dream? The battlefield was quiet moments before the battle began, but not for long, soon it would get hectic and chaotic and loud…very loud. The buildings were ready, and everything was in place. At the clan base, each team was making last-minute preparations, and there were excitement vibes all around the battlefield.

Okay, it's go time. Everyone get ready and remain focused!!

And so it began, countless lines of troops were seen racing to capture the Strongholds and the house. Some raced to the Strongholds and one brave soul raced to take the house. This task is super important, if you don't own your house, you can't attack certain buildings like the Catapults, and that can be costly (point-wise and maybe even the rakings). The rest were sending troops to reinforce. We were off to a good start as were the rest of the clans; after the capture, we had to switch the Strongholds into something else. In case you forgot, the choices are: troop type camp (Inf, Cav, or Spear) or Trading camp (gives points). The choice rests on our team leaders, Ruki and Neik decided it was best if we go with Cavalry this time (last match they chose Infs). They made this decision after checking our enemy's frontline (so we could counter them) and also on what was inside the building already. I was wondering if they made the right decision. I guess I will have to wait and see how the match continues and what its outcome will be. Sometimes the leader makes the right decision and sometimes he makes the wrong one. But no matter what the outcome is, the burden falls on their shoulders and it can get pretty heavy. Who said being a leader is easy…huh?

The match started as expected, the hard part (sometimes, not always) came much later when the altars opened and of course the City Of Glory. We took all the Strongholds, both lines had already been opened at this point, and our clan house, and so did the other clans on their side. The Altars were starting to open up, but not all open at the same time. These special buildings play an important role in this event, there are several of them and each one gives a different buff or points. If your goal is to get more points, then what you are looking for is the Altar of the Maiden. If you are aiming to buff your troops as well, then the Altar of the Warrior is what you need to capture. And maybe, just maybe, you can go for all of them, can't hurt ..right? The more the merrier they say 😜. As soon as they opened we raced to take them, Neik appointed a scout to keep an eye on them, in case our enemies scout us to see if they can attack an Altar, trying to get our points or claim a buff for themselves. Neik sent troops out to make sure we took every Altar available got reports from our scout when we were scouted. Both he and Ruki were very hands-on in this match, they wanted the best possible outcome for our team. 

Sept of the Seven, an impressive structure, crafted by the best builders, is a round structure surrounded by 7 statues and water running below it, in the middle of it there is a special seven-pointed star, pointing to each statue. This was the place of worship in the Faith of the Seven. This location gives the faction that occupies it a 100% increase in healing speed, which can be very helpful and save a lot of speedups. When the timer showed it was time to attack, Neik ordered a deployment to launch an attack and take it, and so it was done. We had the Sept and some reinforcements were also sent, just in case an enemy will attempt to take it from us. Neik didn't want to risk it, we were doing well so far, and believe it or not, we were 1^st!! I know…I was shocked myself. It has been a while since we were ranked so high, I'm not sure we will keep it, but we will try our best. I wouldn't mind finishing in the 2^nd spot either, I'm not greedy.

We were working well as a united group, synchronized and well-timed. It came as no surprise to us; the core of our group had been fighting together for many years, and the rest had been with us for a while as well. I think the key element of a team's success is how well they know each other, how well they get along, and how well they work together towards a common goal. Another important element is leadership; skilled leadership is crucial to the team's success and well-functioning. From tactical skills and battle planning to connecting with your team and making them trust your leadership, follow you into the battlefield, and entrust you with their lives. That takes a special person, not everyone can be a leader, let alone a great leader.

City of Glory is an amazing site to be held, when they talk about the world's wonders, they mean this one. It is located at the center of the map, which makes it a tad bit difficult for enemies to reach it. In all my travels and battling all over Westeros, I've never seen a more breathtaking place. The beautiful white snow landscape brings out the colors of the castle and makes the blood stand out in the white canvas of snow. The status in each corner, who were made by the best sculptures in the realm, a true work of art. And before I forget to tell you the most important detail about this structure: there was a giant blue ice dragon on top of it, a real live dragon. No, I'm not making this up, I swear!! on the rooftop, a real live blue-colored dragon is breathing blue ice fire on any misguided soul who crosses its path. Holding the city can be very important (could be game-changing, but there were some cases when a faction won without holding it), it is a huge source of points, and the faction that holds it can gain 20% of the other faction's points.

The City opened up for the taking and arrows of deployments started making their way to it. House Greyjoy was the one who captured it and their troops were making their way in to reinforce. They were determined to keep it no matter what and they were ready to give it their all. I was looking at our camp and there were no preparations to take the city, I was wondering why. We were ranked 1^st before it opened up and if we don't take it, we will surely lose 1^st place. Is our leadership aware of that? And if so are they ok with it? Should I go and ask or just wait to hear from them? Well, if you knew me, you would know I'm not a very patient person (working on it :D) so I went and asked. Neik and Ruki already scouted the City and after looking at the report they made the educated decision not to go for it.

" We are not going for the city today. We took a look at the troops inside it and after analyzing our ability to take it and hold it, we came to the conclusion that we wouldn’t be able to and we would lose many troops and have to waste a large amount of rss and speedups. So, we will keep the buildings we do have, take others that will open up soon, and also try and take altars from the other factions. I think we can hold on to the 2^nd place and I think it will be more realistic for us. So, keep doing what you have done so far, and let's have FUN!!

Neik told us all after he and Ruki were done discussing it. Well, that answers my question I guess. 😂I was hoping we could take 1st place, it has been a while since we finished 1st in the Arena. But I guess it's not possible this time, not without costing us a lot. House Greyjoy was doing well today, the gap in points was growing bigger, and I was wondering if anyone would challenge them and take the 1st place from them. Can anyone rise to the challenge and do it? We weren't going to, so if anyone would do it, it would be the other factions.

The mining site opened up and it needed to be taken, so I took the initiative and sent my best deployment there and I was successful in doing so. I told the leadership and they sent troops my way to reinforce and fasten the time needed to gain all the points. That way those troops will be done fast and they can be useful in other locations. We all do our part in this battle, and I wanted to do my best to ensure my team gets the best outcome possible. Sometimes it works and sometimes we don't get the outcome we aim for despite our best efforts. Our goal is always to rant at the top 3 spots. These spots grant us ranking points and they bring benefits with them, like coins for the shop and troop stats, which is always a good thing to have. 😜

For the rest of the time that we had left, we focused on defending our buildings and trying to take other locations from the other factions. We wanted to get as many points as we possibly could to secure our 2^nd spot. As I told you earlier, the 1^st spot was already taken by House Greyjoy, the fact that they held the City for so long gave them a huge advantage, the City grants them 10% of the other factions points. So, I'm sure you can imagine the gap has only grown bigger. We reached the point in the match where our 2^nd spot was already secured and we could chill for the short time we had left. We worked hard and it paid off in the end.

The results were final were in, House Greyjoy won the title, and they were the Arena champions. We (House Stark) took 2^nd place and House Baratheon was in 3^rd place. It was an interesting match for us, we were missing our strongest rally leader (Tardis) and we managed to get 2^nd place despite that fact. We were all wondering if the fact that Tardis were absent came as an advantage or a disadvantage. I'll try to explain what I mean, having Tardis would give us a strong rally leader to hold the City and that could have given us a chance at 1^st place. But, there is also the fact that if we had Tardis in our team, it could have matched us with stronger accounts and that could have resulted in a much more difficult match and I'm not sure we could have ended up 2^nd like we did today.

The dust had already settled on the battlefield, and everyone was already back at their bases. There were big celebrations at Camp Greyjoy after their well-deserved win today. We celebrated as well, with good food and drinks, and we were happy with the outcome of today's match. The 2^nd season has ended and the 3^rd season should start soon with more battles and more challenges to overcome. What will the next season look like? Will there be changes or will the rules stay the same? Will the rewards change or will they stay the same? All valid questions, who will be answered soon enough, stay tuned!!