At a crossroads in my game(another ramble)

[Enemy]

i play for a team here and yes it has gotten easy for us when we play at the field but then we always have team practice against the local am team that helps us alot!! i find its fun to just go out shoot a little and tell the newer guys what to do and help them finish the game for you!! its great to see them all happy after you help them take the side! being the most experieced on the field doesnt have to be taxing just lay back play hard but rarely be actually playing kinda thing!

[tyrion2323]

paintball is a wreck where i live. me and a few friends have been playing for years. all of sudden myschool is alive with hundreds of ignorant m98 pricks, "im better than you". i hear that every day. gosh, its annoying. there isnt one indoor place to play when half the year its 0 degrees. the nearest field is ok but often older kids slip in and ruin it for the new kids. ahhhhh, i hope it gets better. good luck with the team. when i first sad to my friends, "lets get a team together." the whole was either pissed that i didnt ask them to be on my team or were begging me. good luck.

Mag - you're in VT, right? Where in VT are you?

[929RR-MAN]

Maybe try getting a team together for scenarios. There are five of us that are pretty hardcore into woods/scenario ball. That is our team and we work well together and when other friends want to come along for the day or if they want to get more into paintball then they can be a part of our team if they choose. There really isn't no size limitations on our team, so everyone is happy and the more that come play on our team, the more damage that can be done. Some days we only have the five of us, somedays we have ten or twelve. Its also a lot of fun showing the new guys how to work together as a team while playing paintball, usually they catch on quick and then it gets real fun. I would hate to see anyone get out of paintball (or get bored of PB) because they have exceeded the playing level of most players around them. At least if you go back to woodsball, you know that no matter how good you are, you can't stop the noobie that has a rental pro carb hiding in the brush waiting for his first ever "mark" on someone or if you want more action, follow the sound of a big firefight.
Or you can do what Beavereater did--buy a pump and really test your skills. I hope everthing turns out for you, but try spending more time in the woods, it may be more fun in the end.
(no, i'm not anti speedball or tourney type play, their just not my cup of tea,,also, look around for woodsball tourneys, 5-10 man types, i've seen them advertised up here in Minnesota before)

[68magOwner]

I feel ya, locally, there is basicially a "generation" or players/teams per say, who, I am a part of that are all gettting more serious and playing bigger and bigger tournaments, with many leaving for nationals. Now, dont get me wrong, i love tournament paintball, but, i cant even remember the last time i played when it wasnt a tournament or a practice, it would be great for one day, all of the normal tourney players to snag a rental, mix up teams and just play without caring who wins or practicing this or that aspect. Just "get back to our roots" for a day. I for one would LOVE a tournament league that was just relaxed, only allowed rentals or pumps, with low entry/paint costs, with just small prizes, just like a break for everyone.

[shartley]

[SAW]

My main goal in any game is simply to better myself. The actual objectives come next.

[mcdkid]

punkncat, i notice your in GA too. i work at Paintball Atlanta and play with the Blackhearts, we are moving paintball atlanta and will have 4 hour scenarios every month. your welcome to come, and its just 10 bucks anyway. its really for people like you, that might wana try it, and also a tryout/practice for our team. it will be only experienced Blackheats reffing so no bad new ref. pm me if you wnan know more.

[mag88888]

tyrion-im in essex junction, i remember you saying you were too.

[alooney11]

treat paintball as an end in and of itself.

[Jeffy-CanCon]

The best and strongest aspect of paintball is that it can be played in so many different ways.
I've found that the key is to find people who want to play the same way as you do. Same style, same frequency, same intensity. If you find those guys, you are golden.

If you are not really into tourneys, you should look at joining or forming a scenario team (as 929RR-MAN described). Experienced guys who play for fun rather than for prizes - sound good?

punkncat, you mentioned handicapping yourself to play with the less-experienced. I presume that means you've already tried hopperball, pumpguns or stockguns? On the rare occasion that I play with rental players, I use a stockgun.

[punkncat]

punkncat, you mentioned handicapping yourself to play with the less-experienced. I presume that means you've already tried hopperball, pumpguns or stockguns? On the rare occasion that I play with rental players, I use a stockgun.

I almost always play hopperball anyway. I figure if you can't get a few other players with 200 shots, you need not be on the field. Also play variations....less dominant hand, no walking the trigger, and I always play with a Revi....

[can'tthink of1]

Try pump, I've heard that livens up playing.

[kurama]

Most of the teams I've been on were too worked up about winning every time, no matter what. While I am a good player, especially considering I haven't played much more than a year, I am out to be honest and have a good time. I really don't care if I win, and I wouldn't go so low as to wipe like teammates would. A friend and I ditched the teams we were on and went back to the basics- Pumps. After a month of 100% pump (we went 2x a week, then 4x during xmas break since it was so cheap) we had a blast. We decided to get back into the speedball scene, so we freshened up our skills by playing against a few Am/Nov players we knew and "learnt the game the hard way". We got new markers to further the "new beginning" feeling we had, even though we went to markers the same value. We agreed to get Emags, but I found an unbeatable deal on a Freak Factory impulse and while I hate SP, it shoots great. His Emag should be coming by next week, and he's been shooting his ecocker until now. We decided to "scout" for players without necessaily holding a tryout. It turned out that two of our friends were unexpectedly amazing players. One shoots an A5 and is an amazingly insane frontman, and the other shoots a pirahhna, and makes a great front/mid player, and they're quite deadly combined. My friend and I figured we wouldn't pressure them to join us, or to get an expensive marker, so we politely asked and they were unsure. We played some 5v5's against a team who was there, and picked up a walk-on guy, who was awesome too, but he's now in Iraq. Once we got used to eachother's playing methods and established everything, we were pretty much unstoppable. Similar patterns have shown, but we still suck at 3v3's, and there's almost no local 5v5 tourneys for young-guns. Now, the guy with the pirahhna has a new marker that I don't know of (he wants it to be a surprise next time we go, but I'm guessing it's a B2k4/PDS. The guy with the A5 is still deciding on what he wants, but he's the kind of person who becomes serious with something and must get the absolute best. We'll see how good we truely are since how we've been playing is hard to tell if we are good or not. While we're playing against some amazing players, playing an entire day against the same team allows for one to memorize their weaknesses. We have fun, and that's all that counts to me. We're playing in some of the local summertime tourneys, but we'll probably suck since the friend who started this team with me will be in Wisconsin most of the summer. He's making 500$ for it though... We're trying some new players out, and finding amazing players. The problem is that they're all frontmen! One backman can't handle the stress, randomness, and the cost of paint for an entire summer's worth of tourneys! So, I guess I was in a crossroad, and I've begun walking the path I've chosen. Paintball's a game, it won't kill you to loose a match or two, so long as you have fun doing so.