Does limited paint really = more skill?

[Kevin Winter]

This seems to be one of those assumed truth in paintball - the less paint you use, the more skillful you have to be, with some characterising airball games as spray and pray and less skillful.
But IS it true?
I suspect it is - but only in mixed games - you need a lot of skill to wield a pump or magfed marker in a game against people shooting 10bps. But playing against people with the same kit, I think it requires no extra skill - and may even lessen your skill levels. Sure you have to develop your accuracy - but, with less paint coming back at you, you end up being able to get away with little mistakes like hanging out too long when firing, timing moves, running between bunkers. I'd say that being able to snap out of a bunker in amongst a 10bps stream coming at you, and hitting someone with those one or two balls, is maybe even more skillful than doing the same knowing that the opposition will only fire 1 or 2 back in the same time.
Thoughts?

 

[PBWill]

depends really: if you have got the paint to use, the same amount as your opposition, but you choose not to use it, i dont think that proves your more skillful. however, if you dont have as much paint as your opposition, and you get him, that is more skillful becuase you have to place your shots, were as if you have more paint, you dont need to be as careful

Will

 

[Tom]

Different skills
If they need to be quantified then you would have to allocate a value to each, add them all up and see which type of player ends up with the most overall
If they can play both limited and unlimited then they are the most skilled

When limiting the definition to limited paint and shooting ropes it does not identify the appropriate skill
The purpose of shooting a rope of paint may not be to eliminate a player but to deny an area, keep people on the defensive. Someone doing this needs to be aware of what is going on around them.
If shooting a rope of paint for an elimination it does not require a skill, you need a fast finger or be able to get the marker to take over, and are using accuracy by firepower
The limited paint skill would be to know when to shoot and when not to, you can't deny an area by volume but could by timing. If you have the attention, reactions and timing then your presence could deny the area or put the opposition in the position of deciding whether to risk a move or not

We did an effective comparison of this at the weekend in the paintfest kill house. We had a round robin 5 man tournament with paint limited to one pod. Though limited in paint for the venue it was a lot of paint. We had diversity in players, guns, tactics
The winners were not the teams or those shooting quantities of paint but the 5 man scratch team, of which only 2 knew each other. One of the guys came from the same team as 2 of the 5 man teams who both lost in the first round.
They won through movement, domination and communication. Not quantity of paint
This does not make limited or unlimited paint more or less skilled. It was not how much paint they fired but their other skills - shooting before being shot and hitting the target

The point of more skills for a limited paint player are more attributable to the thought that they must have more skills to have the guts to do it, or are fools

Another factor is that someone must be so much 'better' then everyone else to handicap themselves

I have often played firing low amounts of paint. This does not make me better then the next person. It just means I shoot less or enjoy using my pumps, pistols etc

 

[Sanchez]

No such thing as spray and pray! You should know where you are shooting as you come off the break, and you should know where you shooting while in your primary bunker, aswel as knowing the shots when moving to your secondary.
You dont always have to be shooting at someone, you could be holding a lane that cuts off that part of the field, to stop them moving up the field and getting shots on you.
So i would say NO, as your snake guy is probably, depending on the field, going to shoot alot less paint as he knows his shots in each part of the snake, rather than a back player who could dump 8 pots trying to hold some lanes.

Just my opinion.

 

[jack-amo]

All paintball is limited paint. We are limited by how much we can carry

Seriously though, what this means is that the "alternative" skillset that comes from limited paint events is still present when paint is "unlimited" and fans of the PBA webcast will know that players getting down to their last pod or even picking paint off the floor is not an uncommon occurrence. When that happens, players do have to pick shots more carefully and play a more "ammo conscious" game.

I'd say, as already pointed out, limiting paint puts more emphasis on some skills but at the same time reduces or even nullifies the need for others. As Kevin has already pointed out timing moves, tight play and snapping become far less important when the level of pressure put on you is reduced.

Laning and gun battling have become a fundamental part of the game. Without them, players would be able to make big moves with far more ease. But big moves alone are not impressive. Big moves are only so spectacular because they are so difficult to make with that amount of paint flying through the air.

I would argue, therefore, that limiting paint does not equal greater skill and in fact reduces the required skillset needed to play paintball.

 

[Adam Turner]

Im a 'noob' so take what i say whatever way you want to take it.

I would say the ability to snap out and pop a target within a split second is more impressive then firing a rope of 10 balls and hitting the target (obviously due to ability to change up whilst firing)

But the posistional play is also spectacular to watch. Watching a well thought out and well excecuted team move is amazing to watch. So when you say Most Skilled. i think it would go down to personal opinion rather then generic rules

ITS A TEAM GAME, SO TEAMWORK SURELY RATES MOST SKILLFUL TRAIT ?

 

[Impling]

I a

All paintball is limited paint. We are limited by how much we can carry

Seriously though, what this means is that the "alternative" skillset that comes from limited paint events is still present when paint is "unlimited" and fans of the PBA webcast will know that players getting down to their last pod or even picking paint off the floor is not an uncommon occurrence. When that happens, players do have to pick shots more carefully and play a more "ammo conscious" game.

I'd say, as already pointed out, limiting paint puts more emphasis on some skills but at the same time reduces or even nullifies the need for others. As Kevin has already pointed out timing moves, tight play and snapping become far less important when the level of pressure put on you is reduced.

Laning and gun battling have become a fundamental part of the game. Without them, players would be able to make big moves with far more ease. But big moves alone are not impressive. Big moves are only so spectacular because they are so difficult to make with that amount of paint flying through the air.

I would argue, therefore, that limiting paint does not equal greater skill and in fact reduces the required skillset needed to play paintball.

Agreed, to this the amount of paint that you use doesn't mean you have a certain skill level, Also different formats of paintball use different amounts of paint. woods-ball to Speedball or Formula 5. So I agree with all the above comments