Run Optimization and You

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you forgot to add the part about siphoning through 70% (maybe 80% now) of the maps which take 3-4 hours to complete no matter how efficient the team is and that your better off flipping the map in order to optimise run efficiency

This guide is intended for general efficiency tips. Of course, your overall time will be faster on maps like Swadian Castle or Hidden Cave compared to maps like Swadian Bay. But players can still reduce the time it takes even on maps that are generally considered slow. Maps can take longer than necessary due to poor team optimization.

It's not always a good idea to keep placing all the barricades still unbuilt, as having some packed up back-up barricades in case something goes wrong is almost never a bad idea.

That is true. But you should not have 10 barricades lying on the ground to be shuffled if you can help it. It does depend on the map. Some maps have a narrow area where the barricades will be effective while others have a wider area. It's better to use them before they despawn if you can help it. I know of games where tomes despawned, and those are more important than barricades.

In some situations this can be dangerous for the shielder; especially with the way some people slash (not knowing when to backup/ blocking the shielder from getting back into a safe place). I know that these are things that should be done, but in some situations they are advanced tactics and should be done with caution and more knowledge of how the shielding AND slashing roles both work ( and how they need to work together).
<3

I suppose I should add "do not block the shielders from escaping the sight of ranged Nords." Charging the Nords can be an effective strategy if done at the right time and with the proper number of commandos. In hard mode especially, from waves 1-12 you can usually safely charge near the end of the wave to clear out remaining archers/ranged.

You also forgot to write sth about the good old toming problem, half the team dies for useful stuff, and those few that remain alive just stand around being idle, waiting for hours til finally someone feels like dropping a tome..

This is actually one of the reasons why I started this thread in the first place. Too many players do not react to what the team is doing or what is happening. Chalk it up to poor awareness or being tabbed out. It's a problem that needs to be fixed. Players shouldn't have time to tab out between waves because if you're not preparing for the next one, why save last? It has happened before that the team would die in preparation to tome and the remainder of the players who didn't die would just be standing around. Even worse, a wraith would spawn from the first tome used and the remaining 6 living players all die to the wraith because they don't know how to handle it.

If you join a well-run event (in recent memory, some Tricksters/WS events) there will be a constant stream of toming before waves like Ragnar, Thor, or Odin. Players spawn in, drop their barricades, and die within 10 seconds while those who do not bring in barricades are either saving last, building barricades, or toming. This is how it should be done. All of this is best coordinated on TeamSpeak but even without TS it can be done through in-game chat.