I'd argue a high number isn't good (Destiny)

by Kermit , Raleigh, NC, Thursday, July 09, 2015, 19:15 (3662 days ago) @ Earendil

caveat - I'm biased due to having a low number.

First, can we agree that the ideal situation is where I pick up 5 orbs, and immediately produce 5 orbs, rinse and repeat for the entire match? That scenario, though unrealistic, would produce a net difference of zero orbs. A game where I produce 4 times as many orbs as I pick up is a game in which I could have done even better if I got just picked up more orbs.

So what prevents the ideal situation?

Given that there are more orbs on the field to pick up than we produce (except for FFA and likely ToO), what prevents us from picking them up and using them? Two things:
1. Death. Potential orbs to pick up disappear when you die.
2. Super is full. You can't pick up orbs with a full super.

So, two potential ways to get closer to the ideal are to:
1. Not die until you have picked up as many orbs as possible
2. Use your super as soon as possible.

With this single goal in mind (and it's not the only or best goal, of course) the worst case is to hold unto your super for a while, and then use it in a suicide run at the enemy.

The stat that matters way more would be Orbs produces per minute, and orbs picked up per minute. That would tell you how effective you were at dishing supers and filling back up.

An aside - The net orbs produced will likely always be higher, given that producing orbs is not actually dependent on picking orbs up, given that supers fill up slowly on their own. Also, having produce 5000 more than picked up may not be bad at all, if you've produced 100,000 overall. But if you've produced 90 more than picked up, having only produced 100 total, you might want to reevaluate your game play.

Considering that Korny and I have nearly the same number, I'd say it's not a very meaningful number.