I played a couple of ranked matches just now, and lost them all.

First, it was one of those matches where blowtorches are the only damage weapon you have. There are probably people who like it, but for me, it's slow and tedious, becaus everybody is just hitting each other with blowtorches, scraping off one or two dozen points off each other, over and over and over again. They're repetitive and last forever. This one was particularly bad because the weapon crates only fell just before the other player's turn started.

For the next match, my entire team started off at the bottom of a hill, and were all blown away immediately.

Then there was a match with just grenades and bazooka's, on a single vertical piece of land. I was at the bottom, under a large overhang that was impossible to shoot around, while my enemy was on top of that overhang, able to score hit after hit when the wind blew my way.

Finally I got into a total wormage match. Why this is available in ranked matches is beyond me. Total wormage is fun with friends due to the chaos you can cause with unlimited weaponry. But in ranked matches, it's about winning. And you can guarantee a win by playing the concrete donkey every single time. Whoever gets to go first, wins, because you'll always take out at least one enemy worm with the donkey. Your opponent will do the same, but because you started means you'll end up with the final worm left alive in the end. So there's no excitement about the match: as soon as you know who begins in the first round, that person will be the one who wins the match, because he'll win the first round, lose the second, then win the third.

Oh, to top it off, I got two disconnecters, too. My rank dropped roughly 160 points.

I hate days like these. :p

... ouch. :p

Domovoi - feel free to add me to your Friends List. My details are in my sig. I like to play the game properly, so you won't get any idiocy with me.

Finally I got into a total wormage match. Why this is available in ranked matches is beyond me. Total wormage is fun with friends due to the chaos you can cause with unlimited weaponry. But in ranked matches, it's about winning. And you can guarantee a win by playing the concrete donkey every single time....

Yeah...the donkey is great fun, but quite cheap. Probably not great for ranked matches.

Yeah...the donkey is great fun, but quite cheap. Probably not great for ranked matches.

i experienced the wrath of the concrete donke yesterday and if u ask me is the biggest pile of sh*t ever to 'grace' a worms game, please get rid of it team17! The old lady is silly and rude enough for me thanks.

The COncrete Donkey has been in every Worms game since Worms: The Directors Cut in 1997 and has performed more or less the same function. It's designed to be a super-rare weapon, which it is if you don't play Full Wormage.

On the DS version, ranked games use a random scheme and combined with the random natural/supernatural disasters and all the other randomness that was already in the game, the result of the majority of ranked games has little to do with skill. Funnily enough, if you pick "Random Match", you can vote for the scheme and other game settings, so it's less random.

The COncrete Donkey has been in every Worms game since Worms: The Directors Cut in 1997 and has performed more or less the same function. It's designed to be a super-rare weapon, which it is if you don't play Full Wormage.

I see. Bring back the mortar? i say that was fun.

If they do decide to bring it back (and it won't be in this game as downloadable weapons aren't happening) they should bring back the original Mortar - the Grenade Launcher. That was actually useful.

Man, I just had a blowtorch match. We both ran out of blowtorches and sat at the highest point we could get to until we both died. When the next round was going in the same direction, I just surrendered. Probably wasted an hour on that. :/

BlowTorch matches are pretty pointless.

Ugh, and I just experienced a crash in online play! I was in a WWI level, I suppose, and one of the biplanes dropped a bomb, then everything froze and the music played like a broken record. I waited about two minutes, but nothing happened, so I reset the DS. :(

I've had two problems online. One is with the PSP version just stopping afetr the map is generated. I can stills croll and bring up the pause menu (and thus quit) but the game didn't continue. Most bizarre.

The other problem has been with the DS version's connection dropping, which I've chalked up to my wireless router.

Man, I just had a blowtorch match. We both ran out of blowtorches and sat at the highest point we could get to until we both died. When the next round was going in the same direction, I just surrendered. Probably wasted an hour on that. :/

I've now had several blowtorch matches, and they all ended up in no weapons whatsoever for either team. The weapon drops stop as well, so it's impossible to finish the game, and it's just a matter of who is going to surrender first.

Why did you put this in the game, team17? Why did you add a game mode in ranked matches where it's impossible to win?

I was amazed at the online mode at first, but now that I've played a reasonable number of matches, I realise how broken it is, solely because of full wormage and blowtorch matches. Shame.

I was amazed at the online mode at first, but now that I've played a reasonable number of matches, I realise how broken it is, solely because of full wormage and blowtorch matches. Shame.
I wouldn't say solely. Infinite ropes games are way too common, and it's often too generous with jetpacks and teleports as well. Also, there are too many cheap deaths due to unpredictable water level changes and earthquakes.

I just started wi-fi play today (I wanted to finish the single player portion of my medal cabinet first), and I gotta say, while occasionally there are some okay matches, most of 'em are pretty bad, and all of them have something that I hate. It's still reasonably fun, but it could have been a LOT better.

How does friendlist mode work? Is there some way to decide on settings? I think tomorrow, I'm either going to try and get in on some friendlist matches or some random matches, as mentioned above.

The COncrete Donkey has been in every Worms game since Worms: The Directors Cut in 1997 and has performed more or less the same function. It's designed to be a super-rare weapon, which it is if you don't play Full Wormage.

I played a 'Shopper' match last night and the Donkey came out 5-6 times -- crappy way to lose but oh well...

The majority of complaints here seem to be not about the game itself, but the people who play it. The people choosing Total Wormage or BlowTorch Matches all the time. Team17 sadly cannot fix people's heads (it would be so much easier if they could!),

The majority of complaints here seem to be not about the game itself, but the people who play it. The people choosing Total Wormage or BlowTorch Matches all the time. Team17 sadly cannot fix people's heads (it would be so much easier if they could!),

They're not chosen, you get a random type of match in ranked mode. It's just that total wormage and blowtorch shouldn't be in ranked mode, because the first one isn't about skill and the second one is impossible to win.

Oh dear. I didn't realise that (mostly because all of my games have been against Friends).

I have had a very positive experience w/ the ranked matches, and I'm surprised that alot of people here haven't...

Yes, there's too much rope, and jetpack, but sometimes there is not enough--or perhaps enough to use strategically.

I think that the occasional quitter and the occasional bad mode (total wormage, or blowtorches) are few and far between between the different other modes (including the BnG + Homing missile and 2 Clusters)...

-- but, now for the criticism... --

WHY is there a blowtorches only mode? Really now, I see no point to this mode AT LEAST without something like Prod or even better Fire Punch.... And it's even worse in caves, when you cannot push your opponent off, and weapon drops (seem?) are even rarer...

But, cheezy players seem to be few and far between among the 20+ matches I've already played... But I also have the DS version--perhaps this makes a difference?

The COncrete Donkey has been in every Worms game since Worms: The Directors Cut in 1997 and has performed more or less the same function.
What about in W:OW and WXBLA?

Worms Open Warfare was, in many respects, a remake of the original Worms and therefore doesn't count.

I've not had many ranked games, and none of them have had blowtorches only so I've been lucky, I guess.

Had one of close combat on the Two Peaks generated map, we both had to think on that one :D