The Rise of Raven

An Expose' by Shane The Dark

In the beginning, Raven started out as a group with problems, for months they were called a joke for their weapons, maps, and mostly there random players. Only a handful of good clans kept this group from being a total laughing stock. Not too long ago a change came to one of raven’s maps that brought this group back on its feet and contributing to The Fall of SVER, and the DEATH of Valor.

The Problems..

Players: One of the worst problems raven had,was not really their weapons,but their players.The mag slang word “blue dot” is a term for saying a random teammate that hardly helps much, And even though all sides have blue dots, Raven seemed to have the worst.When many played as raven, even though we were with a group, the blue dots were of course a major headache and at times unreliable to push forward aggressively most of the time.

Weapons: Nothing exactly bad about them, there not to powerful but the accuracy made up for it, sadly this did not help some players as some would try to snipe with assault rifles and thus not move up.

Maps: Their maps are not too bad,while we wont go into full detail but they did have the usual problems, the one problem that stood out was “Flores Basin Transfer” their Domination Map.The problem with that map was mainly the letter objectives being bombed constantly since the lack of roofs and made it hard for players to hold the objective, even the raven spawn got hit at times.

The Good..

Players: Even though raven had the worst random players,they still had some very skilled players, these players came together and formed clans, one of these more infamous clans is known as Dark Flock. Dark flock was a clan that was extremely selective in terms of members, but had the skill to turn the tide in most battles.Other than them, there were many smaller clans (STD, PHI,AIR, EFR and O(o come to mind) that can win but have a hard time doing it.

Acquisition: There map was a solid, extremely balanced territory made of roadblocks and the tears of little orphans (just kidding) Though this is one of ravens best maps since getting a bunker down, and keeping it down while moving up is hard to do, (which I will explain that below) This map seems to have many things, since you have to steal a vehicle, get it past like 4 or 3 roadblocks,dodge rockets,get the gate down,and get past the bunkers.This map in my opinion has more defenses then the other acquisition maps.A tad unfair to some, like valors map,but certainly not the monster that is Aralkum Mechanical, but lets move on.

Handymen: Handymen is what I call those who repair with the infamous Raven repair kits, Raven to me has the most, (and the fastest repair kits) and therein lies the reason why Bunkers and the AA are notoriously quick to be repaired.

Requesting A Change..

Raven over time was fed up with being bombed infinitum in their Domination Letters, so some players often complained about it,some even suggested that roofs should be added like what valor and sver possessed. Many were against it, seeing how during that time some people were against ANY changes, some even complained it may turn the map into a unfair advantage to the defenders.Soon after, the theory of it becoming unfair slowly started to faze out as more people started to get frustrated with getting bombed mercilessly.Though the request for roofs increased as time went on, there seemed to be no change in sight.That was until patch 1.07 was announced,with a list showing the many new fixes and things to “Flores Basin” and finally it had their Domination Maps had the roofs every Raven had been asking for.

After Patch. 1.07..

The patch was out and Raven was enjoying their map and the many new things with it. To many other players the map felt balanced and stable, from both the defender and attackers point of view. As the letter objectives were better protected as well as the spawns. Some started to hear of this map being better to protected,so some "contract whores" decided to vet over, though what was unexpected the sheer numbers in the Valor and SVER Exodus were shocking to many.

A Shift in Players..

As Ravens map seemed to grow popular with it having many changes and positive feedback, many players and clans vetted to raven to benefit from Raven new-found dominance.Though this was certainly a sudden shift,a good number of the smaller skilled clans also "piggybacked" over to Raven, leaving their days in Valor and SVER as a thing of the past.


How this affects You,Them, and I..

With the shift of many players, raven number in skilled players increase and became better over the course of a single month.

Raven: With the tweaks done to there maps,and with the skilled and decent players coming in,there main forces are stronger then ever.
Sver: Even though it seemed SVER was historically the owners of the Domination Contracts. there contracts now belonged to Raven for a time, SVER seems to do decently though not close to the force they used to be.
Valor: They seem to have taken this quite badly, only a few handful of elite clans were left standing to keep Valor afloat.It is almost as bad as what Raven was before, some say they are WORSE. While many say SVER has fallen--most agree that Valor is DEAD.

From the Mouth of Ravens..

Raven, now nearly being the top faction, seemed to have throughly surpassed Valor,and maybe soon to encompass SVER.Time will tell how long Raven will reign above all. I asked some Raven Loyalists,the ones who had been with the PMC through the Sunshine and the Rain,on what they though about this Rise to Power.

Aimfix: Raven's Rise to power came with their Domination Map alterations. Many good players follow the balance of power when they see it coming, it's no coincidence that most of the skilled population of MAG shifted to Raven overnight. It's simply Ravens turn to be on top and soon it will shift to Valor or possibly back to SVER, Raven already hosted some very skilled clans before the new map additions and will long after. One has to be honest and admit that the individuality of each PMC has been diluted to "Which PMC is the next big thing"... Followed by the shameless "OK let's Go there"attitude of many.  Dedication is a rarity in MAG and if we were to see a Valor road block put into the recent patch instead of a change to Ravens damage meter, the Shadow War would look much different today.  PMC loyalty is something Raven members are not new to and the transition of skilled players over our way only further increased the power Raven holds today.

melov315: Hmm, I never thought we ever sucked, we just never had the contracts, I didn't think the blue dots were particularly bad and from my experience, we would win at least half the time.  My first run through level 60 was on Raven and no other PMC could compare, at SVER., While I know this sounds corny, I honestly became a bit homesick.

AutumnWindz: There is no reason a couple of roofs should make Raven unbeatable all of a sudden. The truth is, SVER's Domination map never got changed and is still the best, but Valor just got noticeably worse than Raven all of a sudden. The Rise of Raven to the top is good for this game. SVER being on top for 6 months because of obviously overpowered maps has hurt the game more than anything.

Autumnwindz quote was interesting, maybe Valor did suddenly get worse due to exodus making Raven slightly better,or maybe it was a shift in players and skill.

Conclusion..

Either if it was a change in skill,or simply one group getting worse than the other.Raven has now grown stronger and with it's dedicated players supporting Raven threw the Thick and Thin, Raven's new status could stick,for a long while, or could quickluy wain. How long will the Raven Dynasty dominate? Only time will tell.