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Version notes:

9/5/02

No, I'm not lazy. I just no longer play DAoC, so I no longer have any new material to post. As far as PvP goes, that server is nothing more than "who can gank who most often". Since there are no real built-in penalties to PvP'ing, there are also no real rules to it. It's nothing like I had hoped, so the last gasp effort I had to keep enjoying DAoC failed.

I do have 1 more addition to the unbalanced group section, sent in by Chris Humphrey (Chris.Humphrey@vitas.com).

As a final note, I have contacted Paul Ross, who has agreed to copy over my 3 guides (Grouping, ranger, and hunter) so that they are not deleted when my stay at the University of delaware comes to an end. They can now be found at

http://www.englishbob.net/daoc/guidename.blahblah

where guidename.blahblah is the name and extension of the file.

5/9/02

To anyone wondering, no, PvP beta applications haven't been approved yet, so I still get to sit here. I have decided, however, that once the PvP server goes live, rather than do a PvP grouping guide, I will just do a PvP etiquette guide in general. I will make sure to do some homework before spouting off moral ethics; trust me not to just start making up holier-than-thou rules that everyone should follow on the PvP server. Even I realize some guys will be going there just to grief :).

To anyone currently using this grouping guide, or my ranger or hunter ones, on their own website: if you are interested in linking/parsing/copying/whatevering to my PvP one as well once I have it, just keep your eyes on classesofcamelot.com's Files Section once the PvP server goes live, and make sure to send me an email asking for permission before taking it.

4/25/02

The PvP server recently started accepting signups for beta... which means we can expect to see it live in, oh, say, a year or so ;P. However, I will be doing SOMETHING (I don't know what yet) to this guide to accomodate the new server once I've experienced it firsthand. Once I do, I'll give this document a fresh new version number :). And since no one at all has said to me that removing the unbalanced groups section would be a wise use of space, I'll leave it in for now.

3/26/02

1.4 - on advisement from a concerned source, I am putting in a section for acronyms that you will most likely see in any sort of grouping environment (whether the acronyms are directly group-related or not). Also, I am giving serious consideration to removing the "Special Unbalanced Groups" Section, as even though it is useful, that info is probably best suited to a class-specific strat guide somewhere, not general grouping. Tell me what you think.

3/18/02

1.3 - After dying to a situation that is painfully easy to avoid, I have decided to put in a section that details a few thing you should know about grouping in general, not so much as combat-specific, but just in general terms. It's not a big section yet, but I can picture it growing.

3/7/02

1.2 - I finished the section on basic fights... and added another section involving one of the touchiest subjects of all... loot. I used to think this guide's backbone was section II, but now I'd say its a tie between II and VI.

1.0 - It has gotten to my attention that anytime I make a modification to this document, I realize that this is in fact so huge that even I forget where that change was made 2 days later. So at this time (2/7/02), I hereby dub this document to be version 1.0.

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I. WHY TO GROUP
II. GETTING A GROUP OR MORE MEMBERS FOR AN EXISTING ONE/ETIQUITTE
III. BEING IN A GROUP
IV. GROUP COMBAT
V. THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW
VI. LOOT!
VII. A COMMON BONUS MISCONCEPTION
VIII. SPECIAL UNBALANCED GROUPS
IX. ACRONYMS/SHORTCUTS

SEVERE, MAJOR, ULTIMATE disclaimer:

This is a guide to both grouping strategies AND grouping etiquette. It is in NO WAY a "this is how you should play". A lot of what I say about grouping etiquette is designed to generate and maintain an environment where groups are friendly and encouraged, to the point where not only guild members can find groups post-25 (which seems to be the current case, sadly). If you do NOT want to follow what I say here, then by all means, don't. However, if you throw what is said here to the wind, and THEN wonder why you haven't been in a group since level 15 when you got 4 people killed 6 times, told off 3 large guilds, and moaned about not getting enough loot so you took every bow that dropped for your 2nd level 1 alt ranger, don't come running back to me asking why.

But since it is YOU paying for YOUR account, and not anyone else, play how you see fit.

I - Why to group

Simple enough. Large groups can handle the defeating of tougher opponents. This has obvious PvP benefits, but those of good solo classes may be stuck with the mentality "I can get great exp soloing, why should I share the kill in a group?".

The answer is in the numbers. Let's assume you are soloing, and can kill a mob for X experience. Now lets assume you are in a group of 2, and can kill a mob of 2X experience, but that exp gets divided between you and a groupmate. Ok, no difference here (aside from the probability of less downtime). But when you hit larger numbers, You'll see a difference. Let's now say you can take a mob 2 levels above you, which gives 4X experience (if you have 2 mobs, and one is 1 level higher, the higher one gives 2X experience until about 20), with a group of 4. Again, no big difference... however, most good groups of THREE can take the same mob. Going up, I also have seen groups of 6 killing things 4 levels above them. Can you see the EXP benefit yet?

Even post 20, when the mobs start giving the square root of 2X as much exp per level rather than 2X each, good large groups can still kill stuff high enough to not only make grouping worth it, but REALLY worth it.

With the current EXP settings, grouping is MOST efficient if the lowest member in your group cons no lower than high blue to the highest member of your group. Keep that in mind.

Do note that you will LIKELY be seeing less coin loot per experience point in a group as you would solo. Grouping is for mass EXP gain, not money (although you will also find that you need to group to be able to hunt in areas with large amounts of dropped equipment)

For the remainder of this guide, I will assume all group members have
a) a brain
b) at least 1 hand on the keyboard 95% of the time
c) lag of less than 4000

Violating any of the 3 rules here will probably cause said group member to be more of a liability than an asset (unless the guy is lagging BUT has a pet that is still active, but even then...). What to do with that situation? I will discuss in the etiquette section.

II - GETTING A GROUP OR MORE MEMBERS FOR AN EXISTING ONE

This, more than the other 2 sections, is the biggie to this guide (even though section 3 is larger in a text sense). SOOOOOOO many people have been spoiled/turned off/rejected/or otherwise have been adversely affected by EQ's grouping that they don't take advantage of the way DAoC has grouping set up. People, if you haven't read this on the Classes of Camelot homepage/FAQ/forums/anywhere else at least 2038947520837540823 times now, this IS NOT EQ!

First off, the only /broadcast channels are inside of towns, or the guild chat channel. There is no zone-wide shouts of "lvl 24 druid LFG at tower" spammed every 20 seconds, nor SHOULD there be people running up to groups and saying "can I join" as fast as they can hit shift-up.

This is the issue to me though... people still run around to groups asking to be let in, and they are accepted. Why? because the group leaders are too lazy to turn on the "looking for more members" flag, or else the players are too lazy to turn on the "looking for group" flag. These 2 flags are the IDEAL way to find groups. Assuming people remembered to use these, then finding a group nearby AND near your level is a simple button-click away. No spam, no searching, and no irate people telling you "WTF won't you group with me for? I asked 2398475 times!". You can just say "Is my LFG tag on? No. Go away".

People, use these features and use them well. If your group CAN TAKE (not is in NEED of, just can take) more members in a reasonable manner, then turn your looking for members flag on. Having a group of 5 killing mobs 3 levels above you is nothing compared to having a group of 8 taking mobs 5 levels above you.

Having said that, I need to explain the "looking for members" tag. When turning it on, you have the choice of "looking for tank, healer, mage, or rogue" (rogues are either the high-output thieves or archer classes). If you CAN TAKE more members, but will most successfully do with a certain class, then just turn on that specific flag. Only members of that type will see you are looking for members. Do NOT wait to turn it on until you are in need of such a class; best to get backup members ASAP, rather than risk they won't be on when you actually need them.

Similarly, to all you group leaders out there, look at the available LFG players BEFORE turning your flag on. If there is already someone out there you can take, take 'em. If the players are too lazy to turn on the LFG themselves, then they don't deserve to be contacted anyway, and you won't have to worry about it, but if they have turned on the flag, they are actively looking for a group, and deserve consideration.

Exceptions to "kind" (aka flagging yourself) grouping you can do without PO'ing everyone:

A) Quest mob.

If there is a group hunting in an area with a quest mob you need to get, don't bother turning on flags, just walk up to the guys and say "hey, I'm after mob XXX, can I join you just long enough to get him?" As of yet, I have never heard of anyone being turned down for this simple request; just make sure, once you get the mob, you THEN ask the group if they would like you to stick around. If they say they are good without you, then be gracious and bow out, and go continue your quest.

B) "99%"

If you are 2 kills away from leveling, and you happen upon a group, ask them "Hey I am SOOOO close to leveling, can I just kill 2 things with you?" Again, this doesn't require tagging yourself, and most decent members of humanity will accept you for this purpose as long as you need no more than 5 kills to level. Again, after getting your level, ask if they would like to keep you, if they say they are good, then disband, and go find a trainer to spend your new points on. (Note here, this shouldn't happen too often. Most classes can solo mobs of a respectable enough level safely to get 1% of the remaining EXP in any level. The Rogue classes, though, sometimes find that to be difficult if they are heavily specc'ed in stealth)

C) Invasion

If you are out in the frontier lands getting exp, and you hear there are other realmers nearby, and as it happens so are other guys from YOUR realm, then don't bother with LFG's, just ask the other guys if they are going to go fend the invaders. If they say yes, ask to join them; unless you have previously proven yourself to be a TOTAL BONEHEAD, there is no reason they won't accept you to help fight the invaders. After the invasion has been stopped (or you end up back and your bind point), then ask if they are after exp and can still use you. Again, if not, just bow out graciously.

D) Lifesaver

This is rather rare, but it happens. If you come upon a group in peril, and manage to save them (translation: save the healer so they can all be rezzed), you just bought yourself instant credibility. If you want, you can now ask to group with them.

E) The pickup

Sometimes, there are large groups preparing to depart from an area where broadcast IS allowed. They will broadcast "we are going to location XXX to hunt YYY, anyone wanna come?". By all means, if you want to join them, do so. However, to avoid broadcast spam, only broadcast grouping messages if you already both have a group AND a plan. That way, if no one responds, you don't have to sit there spamming and spamming, you can just say "ok, no one else is here, lets move out". Do not just start using /b because you want to start a group.

Ok, so you have your LFM tag on, and someone contacts you (either walking up or via a /tell). Does that mean you have to accept them, from what I've said so far?

You are NOT required to group if you don't want to (what I'm mostly saying is, unless you are feeling anti-social, there is NO reason you should not want to). But there are always cases of course.

First off, if the person is a known idiot, then you do not have to group with them. In fact, you can be quite blunt about it. "Sorry, but I have heard of your exploits; the last group you joined, you got them all slaughtered while you sprinted away to safety, not even attempting to save your healer to resuscitate your group. Until you prove yourself otherwise, we don't wish that kind of teamwork". They may get mad, but the aggravation of having them tell you off is far outweighed by the aggravation of having them be in your group for a long period of time. (note: everyone makes mistakes. Unless the guy is a repeat offender, you may wanna ask him first why he got his group killed; for all you know, he may have just been getting kicked by his ISP)

Second, the LFG window at the present time does seem to give out group info for a range of levels far greater than it should. Level 41 guys are still seeing level 20 guys in that box... rule of thumb: when deciding to add someone, if he is green to the HIGHEST member of your group, and there aren't any other special circumstances, then you >CAN< turn him down. (Not have to, but can) Although honestly, said people shouldn't be asking to be let into your group in the first place. (It never hurts to have your highest group member be the leader for just this purpose)

Third, if you have any outstanding RP reasons not to group (like the guy is a member of a guild your guild hates), then go ahead and turn him down... and then tell him what you think of his guild ;P.

Lastly, if the guy asking to group will obviously be of no help, then you can turn him down too. If your group is 7 wizards and an infiltrator asks to join, you can tell him that you have no way he can be effective in the current setting. Just make sure you say it nice enough so that he realizes that if the circumstances were different, you would say yes, and indeed, if he asks later and you can use him, you take him.

That's for the groups, what about individuals?

If you want to group, ALWAYS have your LFG tag on. Not indicating you want to group is telling the world "I am not interested in grouping", for all intents and purposes.

Don't ask people way higher than you to group. If you are 20 and you are asking a group of 30's, it's obvious all you want is to be in the group as they hunt the EXACT same things they already are, so that you get loads of easy exp. This is quite rude; before asking someone if you can join their group, ask yourself "can I make a substantial contribution to the fights?". In the above example, the only class I can think where a 20 would help a 30 is if the 20 is a healer type, AND fully specc'ed in healing. Although with the current curves, this isn't even that good as it once was; so in short, there is no direct EXP reason to ask members way above you, if your contribution isn't enough to allow them to fight harder mobs.

Ask them WHERE they are hunting before asking to join. Nothing is worse than getting accepted to a group, running for half an hour to get there, and then realizing they are hunting a mob you do NOT want to kill for faction reasons.

Also, if you are an individual looking for grouping, AND you are a member of a guild, go ahead and ask them first in the /guild chat channel. "Hey I just got on and am looking for some EXP, anyone need me?". While this is annoying if done in broadcasting and in general, the only real major in-game function of the guild chat channels are arranging fights anyway (be it realm defense, EXP gaining, quest hunting, or whatever), so might as well use the channel for it's purpose. Just make sure you only ask 1 or 2 times, otherwise you may get everyone mad and they remove you from the guild ;P (Yes, I know the guild channel is also used to discuss homework, taxes, and the Diamondbacks winning the Series in 7, but for in-game purposes, it is for organization, so go ahead and use it as such).

Lastly, make sure you are willing to follow the group leader. If you join a group, it will already have a plan of what it wants to do. They may only be in an area because they are after a specific drop from a mob, and as soon as they get it, they will be heading to the frontier lands to invade a fort. If you are not willing to follow the leader in his decision, make that clear before accepting an invite. "I'll help ya take down those mobs to get your guys that equipment, but I'm gonna take off once you get them all, ok?". NOT saying this first WILL get you in the group, because the leader may think you are willing to follow him later, but once you just "drop" because you don't want to join the frontier assault, the leader may or may not be unhappy with that, and remember it in the future if you ask to group again.

(note: if you know the leaders plan and THEN he decides to change it on the fly, you are naturally allowed to bow out. Heck, make the exit speech classy and you may have a guaranteed group in the future ;P)

Now, to end this section, let me finish what I started saying in section I. What to do about group liabilities?

1) A brainless member

This depends on what being "brainless" is defined as. If the guy is making a concerted effort to be a good groupmate, but making key errors (nuking too much too early in the fight, for example), then just simply tell him how he can improve his contribution to the group in a kind way. Like, tell the mage not to let the nukes fly until 20 seconds into the fight, so that he doesn't over-aggro. Unless the guy is a jerk, he will try to follow the suggestion you make, if for no other reason than it will serve his self-interest as much as everyone else's (no one wants to chain-die, after all).

If being brainless, however, means he is acting in a manner that is putting the group at risk, and he IS aware of the dangers of what he is doing, then the situation differs slightly. Obviously, the person won't be pulling dangerous stuff unless he thinks "the group can handle it" (or again, is a total jerk). Tell him that what he is doing/pulling is not the best choice. If he then says "but we aren't having trouble yet", then say "yes, but we ARE having too much downtime/too much kiting needed/too much running/whatever else the reason is for the bad grouping policy. If this kicks some sense into him ("oh, you know your right, a 4-minute sit after every fight IS too much"...), then problem solved, he should fall back into reason. If he does NOT change his ways, then the option of what to do falls from you to the whole group: ask everyone else "are we having fun with this?". If you are suffering huge downtime, BUT everyone is having fun with such intense battles/possibility of rare loot/whatever, then you might as well just continue the current course. You are paying for a game to have fun, after all. But, if the rest of your group (with the leaders vote being counted of course) thinks that the member is being a willful liability, tell him to get lost. "Sir, we can be getting faster EXP without your contributions, and the fights are far too close for us to be enjoying. Please change your strategy or leave". He won't have much choice now; either he changes, or he leaves/gets kicked by leader. Just make sure you have exercised your other options before kicking someone out of a group... and make sure that this bad experience doesn't affect your choice to group with OTHER people in the future.

2) Has 1 hand on the keyboard 95% of the time.

This question may sound like a gray area, seeing as some people are uncomfortable with telling people to go away just because they are having some RL issues causing them to be AFK often. However, that should not be the case.

We will assume that the person being afk often is because of a RL reason serious enough to condone said action (even if they are just grabbing a soda every 20 seconds, they will claim their brother is breaking stuff, so there is no real way to tell the true motive).

What you should do first is offer to let the person out of the group in a kind manner, along with an offer to reinvite them. "You are obviously having some issues at your house that need a lot of attention; why don't you log out, take care of whatever, and when you get back we will reinvite you". If the person knows that the RL thing is going to take a lot of attention, AND they know you will be happy to take them back when they return, this is usually the best solution for all, and results in no hostilities.

Ok, so you said that, and the reply is "No, I'm good". The next question is, can they help your group, even if they are afk?

If they are in your group as a buffer and a down-time reducing healer only, then the answer may be yes. If your group can function equally well during fights with them standing or sitting, AND their sitting still contributes significantly to your group (read: buffs or songs), then go ahead and let them sit. Just make sure they know that if a bad spawn comes along, you guys have to run, and he is afk, you will not be trying to save him.

Also, if their major contribution is a pet (which of course can function regardless of what the master is doing), and said pet is still a good contribution, then just go ahead and let them stay too. Again, same as above, let them know you will not be trying to save them in the case of a terrible pull.

But if it is the case they are only helpful if they are at the keyboard, AND they have turned down the offer to disband them and reinvite them later when they are less preoccupied, then you are justified in saying "Sir, we need to be able to count on your assistance when defeating our foes. If we cannot, then we must ask you to leave". If he raises a big stink over this, think of it this way: by sitting on his rectum while you were only 1/2 finished a fight, all he is doing is leeching EXP and loot. Who's the guy who you should be making a stink over? All his being mad is proves he falls under the "jerk" category, as he is getting something for nothing and is mad if you try and stop it.

(Please note this all was for chronic AFK'ers. If someone just says "brb phone", gets it, comes back, and doesn't leave again, then just sit down for a few. Patience is a virtue)

3) Has a lag of 4000

In the case where a group member is active, trying to help, and NOT afk, but is having such terrible lag that he cannot quickly react to battle conditions, most decent humans don't have the heart to tell them to take a hike; which I think is admirable, I wouldn't either. But they are still hurting the group with this... so what can you do?

First, ask them if this is a constant problem. If it is, then you gotta ask yourself "he can pay for a monthly game, but can't afford a good connection?". This may not be his fault; he may just not have availability of anything better in his area. Honestly though, ask him also how well he does solo. If he says he keeps dying because of lag, then I'd be frank in saying that perhaps he should suspend his account until he can improve his connection. Cable and DSL are spreading rapidly, as are alternatives like Satellite connections, or even just good 'ol 56K on ISP's other than AOHell can work. Unless he lives in Lower Jabip, it shouldn't be too long till he can get a better setup.

But 99% of the time, he will say that this is NOT a frequent occurrence, he's just having trouble tonight. First, ask him to reconnect, maybe under a different access number, if possible. If that clears it up, great. If not, then at THIS point you can refer to the "afk" section as to how to deal with him. Is he still contributing fairly, even with lag? If not, then say "You are an excellent groupmate, but your lag is becoming dangerous to both you and us. Why don't you check back tomorrow, if your connection has cleared up, we will be happy to take you back"

4) the jerks of the world

Alright, jerks exist. You are going to be dealing with them at some point, no matter what you do. Even if you have never grouped with anyone outside of your roommate in your life, you will be confronted by a jerk at some point. Don't panic, and whatever you do, don't be insulting (jerks have a habit of taking an insult and reporting it I have found). Luckily, Mythic seems to be a LOT more stringent on CS and handling jerks than *cough* EQ *cough*, so you don't need to feel "pwned" by "d00dz" who want you to conform to them.

Let me define jerk real fast:
a) someone who does NOT care about the welfare of the group
b) someone who wants to use the group to their own ends without a fair contribution (read: leech)
c) someone so high and mighty with themselves they feel you should be following THEM
d) someone who, although they are contributing well to the group, is acting in such a way that you and the other groupmates would rather be gaining exp at a slower rate than be grouped with the jerk.

This is an "any of the above", not an "all of the above"

(IMPORTANT: the objective to dealing with a jerk is to get them to GO AWAY. It is NOT to show you are better than them, anger them, or anything else. If your goal is to try and prove you are better than the jerk, then you aren't much better than the jerk yourself. If you wish to RP a large argument, fine, that sounds entertaining :). Just make sure nothing you say can be misconstrued to anything but in-game, in-character chatter, since logfiles will definitely be running throughout these next situations).

case 1) they want IN your group.

If someone walks up to you and asks to group without their LFG tag on, this is a good indication of how much they care about being formal. Even if their preferred method of getting groups IS to walk up to existing ones, they should at least have the decency to turn on the flag. If not, just tell them "You don't have your LFG tag on". They may have just forgotten, which is ok, but if you get some response like "I don't turn that on, no one ever uses it anyway", then just say "well WE do, and we only take members who use the LFG system as well". If they decide to blow a nut over this, just log their tirade and tell them "I just got every line of what you think of us in a log file, and if you do not desist immediately, will be happy to email it to Mythic". Ok, so they now hate you. So? Odds are, jerks will end up hating you no matter what anyway. And quite often, this line gets them to leave in a HURRY. If not, just follow up on your promise... and keep the log running.

Or they could say "sorry, I just logged on, and forgot to set it up". Ok, fair enough, I forget at times too, not helped any by the fact that the LFG auto-sets to "off" if you zone. (I kept telling Mythic to put a LFG icon on the group mini-window so people won't forget, but oh well). In this case, just go ahead and invite them... if they turn out to be a jerk anyway, that's what the next section is for ;P)

case 2) they ARE in your group.

So you are grouped with a jerk. You want him OUT. You tell him, using one of the above methods (to make sure you are being diplomatic about it). He protests. What do you do?

Step 1: start your logfile. Step 2: disband him.

Ok, so now he's out. But what if...

It's already clear by this point you don't want him near you, and yet he is going to be a "jerk", and not leave well enough alone. Jerks have several known methods of "extracting revenge", here are a few, and what to do:

a) he won't go away

This is an easy one. Obviously your logfile is running, so everything that happens will be gathered. If he just stands there and tells you off, just keep telling him to go away and that you are logging him. If he spams your channel instead, then just have everyone in the group turn off their /says, /emotes, and /sends. Unless he is in your guild, he just lost the way to pester your chatbox.

If instead he decides to leech by attacking mobs you pull, Mythic has VERY strong rules on this. Just keep the logfile (which will be including both the attacks he makes AND your repeated attempts to tell him to go away), and tell him you will be contacting a CSR. If this gets him to leave, great, job done. If not, then follow up on your promise to forward the stuff to Mythic (and have your other groupmates do so too). You may find out that not only has he stopped bothering you, he won't be bothering ANYONE again for a while...

b) he threatens to ruin you in-game

No one is stupid enough to threaten you in RL (usually, but that is a Police matter), but quite often some jerk will threaten to go around major cities and broadcast how much garbage you are. Ok, and? Most jerks aren't in large guilds they can use to dispense propaganda. On the other hand, odds are high with a large group, YOUR guys are in a position to make sure everyone in your guilds knows about this jerk, and to avoid him in the future. Your guilds are also likely to be in a position to be in locations where, if he does show up in your capital city spouting /b's, your guys can immediately show the rest of the PC's what's really going on.

And if he is in a guild? Simple. Take your logfile and email it to the GUILD LEADERS showing that the guy is the jerk, not your group. All of his credibility will be lost, and he may even lose his guild (ahh, those who deserve what's coming to them...)

Worst case scenario: he is in a large guild, AND the large guild backs him up? You may wish to change servers at this point. While you may not like the idea of being "chased out" of your server by jerks, think of it this way: is a whole guild of jerk supporters in your server and in YOUR REALM going to make PvP at all fun for your realm? Doubtful. Even if you don't leave that server, odds are with jerks that bad, you will be finding your forts and relics falling anyway... or at the very least, you are going to have many jerkish encounters in the future. Just get out to a more "friendly" location.

Or even more notorious, delete your char and join the same server on a different realm. See if you can take some sweet revenge by finding him in PvP, knocking him off, dancing on his corpse, and then camping his grave. Mythic has said that gravecamping is NOT against the rules, and dancing happens so often that if it were to be banned 50% of the player base would moan. So as long as you can torment a PvP opponent, might as well make it someone who deserves it.

c) Harassment

This is a favorite... he will make a bunch of new characters (and maybe get 2 friends to do so as well), who do nothing but log on, tell you off, log out before they can be reported, log on as someone else, etc. Again, you've got logs on your side. Mythic is MUCH better at this than EQ. After even one day of this treatment, the jerk and any friends he managed to convince to do this are going to find themselves with a nice suspension at the LEAST. It may very well be the case that they find themselves without an account, nor with the ability to be allowed to create new ones. Jerk taken care of :)

III - BEING IN A GROUP

Ok, so now you're in a group. What is your role? What can your group handle? What are basic strategies?

Let me begin THIS section by saying: everything I am going to detail is PvE based. Seeing as PC's are humans, and therefore very capable of changing their plans at any given moment, trying to detail PvP is pointless. The good news is, if you get to be a high level via PvE, then you are well set for PvP too, so may as well tell you how to get there, not how to be there.

Also, it is VERY possible for 1 person to fill a couple roles. Just make sure that even if you are so capable, you make sure to choose ONE of these roles to be your primary function in any given group.

A) What is your role?

Depending on your class AND your specialization, you will have a role in the group. Since specialization seems to be the most important to your role, I shall divide up this section based on that, rather than class. You'll see what I mean.

i) Melee defense

This is a person who has 1 major role in a group. Take abuse. These members are of the type high hitpoints, high defense. They can ALWAYS be seen in the top level armor of their realm, and can usually be seen with large 2-h weaponry or a 1-h weapon and a shield. Training usually involves a good amount of shield (for the shield carriers), or parry for the 2-h'ers.

Most common moves: Guard, protect, intercept, engage, and Combat styles that draw aggro or stun.
Best choices: Hero, Warrior, Armsman, Paladin, Thane
Other good choices: Blademaster, Champion, Berserker, Mercenary, Skald

(side note: although healing class and related types can quite often wear high armor and have fair HP's, you do NOT want those classes being beaten on in groups. So I won't list them here).

ii) Melee offense

This is a person who can dish out large amounts of up-close whoop-@$$. He also can take more physical abuse than mages and healers, but only if absolutely necessary (read: either the melee defense guy is in trouble, or you don't have one). They can usually be found dual wielding or holding 2-handed weaponry, and normally be found in the 2nd top type of armor for your realm. Training usually involves high weapon skill and high Dual wield for the dual-ers, and high weapon skill and Large weapon skill for the 2-h'ers. Damage adder spells go a long way with these guys.

Most common moves: Any move that causes great pain OR passes OFF the aggro, as well as styles that debuff or cause bleeding.
Best choices: Blademaster, Berserker, Mercenary, Nightshade, Shadowblade, Infiltrator, Skald.
Other good choices: Hero, warrior, Armsman, ranger, friar, paladin, warrior, thane, hunter.

(for the same reason as the melee defense, I won't list the healer-types here)

iii) Debuffer

This is a person who takes the stats of enemies and drops them through the floor. Nicely enough, debuffs in this game are not only worth it, but WELL worth it. Taking physical abuse is not mandatory, since most debuffs don't do enough actual damage to aggro the mob. Training involves anything that allows a character to use a debuff. In there original form, debuffs were way too powerful... Mythic then nerfed them, and made them way too weak. Now they have been somewhat strengthened again... ahh, the never ending saga of balance. Nonetheless, debuffs are currently useful.

Most common moves: any spell (or sometimes combat style) that can seriously reduce the efficiency of an opponent.
Best choices: Any player who both has debuffs AND has trained well in them. Generally, debuff casters and Champions.
Other good choices: Any player who has debuffs but has not been specializing too much in them, or rogues willing to spend lots of money on debuffing poisons.

iv) Mezzer/Stunner/Rooter

This is a person that, no matter how they do it, is designed to temporarily take a mob OUT of a fight until later when you can deal with it. Said person needs to realize, once the mob breaks the spell the mezzer/rooter/stunner will be the first target that gets charged; luckily since (most often) little or no damage was done with the mez/root/snare, a lone hit from another person will get the mob of the caster. Translation: ability to take physical abuse not really required.

Most common moves: Mez/root/stun (gee, didn't see that coming)
Best choices: Basically, the longer you can keep the mob mezzed/rooted/stunned, the better you are for this role.
Other good choices: Oddly enough, any MELEE class that is capable of a fair stunning combat style can take the "other good choice" role. However, make sure said melee class can handle the extra aggro when that stun breaks after only a few seconds.

v) Buffer

This is a person that can improve the stats of your party members. Just as debuffing is very valuable, so is buffing. Said person will have to have at LEAST a 50%/level training rate in their BUFFING line of spells, with the more training the better. Also, most buffers have a heal spell of some kind; even though that spell isn't good enough for in-combat use (normally), it is VERY useful in reducing downtime. Taking abuse is NOT a must for this role, although most people in this role also contribute to the group in more than just this way.

Most common moves: Improving the stats of party members and decreasing downtime.
Best choices: Any "healer" type who specs high in buffing, Paladins (have a nice AF buff AND damage add chant)
Other good choices: Any "healer" type who specs low in buffing, Runemasters (Rune of Pain is nice for Skald-less groups).

vi) Healer

This is a person who will be responsible for keeping group members alive DURING a fight by keeping their HP high. Said member MUST ABSOLUTELY be able to take a few hits, as healing your friends makes mobs very angry at YOU. Luckily, most healers can wear decent armor. Training includes high spec in your Healing line, at least 66% of your level. As for once the mob is mad at you, trust your groupmates to be able to drag it off, as everyone but the buffer and Debuffer has a way to do that.

Most common moves: Healing, group-heal, regen, cure poison/disease.
Best choices: Any healer type who specs at least 66% in heal, the higher the better.
Other good choices: Any healer who specs from 50% in healing up; Paladins (that regen chant is enough to get the nod as "other" good choice)

vii) Magic Offense

This is a person who does large amounts of damage (often the greatest raw potential in his realm) using Magical forces. He can usually, therefore, NOT take lots of physical abuse, just for the reason that if he could do huge damage AND take huge damage, he'd be invincible. Training includes a lot of points in a line of spells that do damage, be they instant-hit Direct Damage (DD) or poisonous/disease Damage over Time (DoT) spells.

Most common moves: doing lots of damage via interesting looking graphic effects.
Best choices: any casting class with at least 66% of his level training in a spell line that deals high damage.
Other good choices: any casting class that has 50% of his level training in a spell line that does damage.

viii) Pet offense

This is a caster who controls an NPC to help him do his work. Said caster can both do good damage with his own spells, but lets his pet do a good deal as well. Training includes enough points into the PET line so that he always has access to a pet of a level high enough to be a significant force in combat.

Most common moves: "Pet, go attack that mob"
Best choices: Spiritmaster, Theurgist, Cabalist, Enchanter
Other good choices: Hunter, druid, or any class that has a pet but does NOT rely on it for significant damage output.

ix) Archer

This is a player who can use a bow to do almost as much damage to a mob as a Melee Offense guy can with his weapon. Training includes an ALMOST MAXIMUM rating on their bow. They usually only have marginally more HP than a mage, but they can also be found in studded (or the realm equivalent) armor type. They are known for interrupting caster's chants by hitting them with their bow, which just about nullifies any caster's arsenal.

Most common moves: *Plunk*
Best choices: Scout, Ranger, Hunter
Other good choices: Armsmen trained in X-bow's fare well in this spot.

So far, these are the only primary choices I have seen.

Notice the lack of Bardic classes? That is because their songs fall under a variety of the listed roles. In fact, they can usually fill a couple roles at once (buffer and 1 other, depending on their realm). However, they are always a good choice for downtime reduction and large-transit, in addition to filling a role as a buffer. Any group with a song-type class will be all the better for it, and 2 song classes are even better (but you might wanna stop at 2 bards per 8 person group in every realm but Hibernia).

B) What can your group handle?

Ok, this is gonna come as a surprise to everyone, but I think I actually have a formula for a GUIDELINE of mobs you can fight. Obviously, circumstances can change this at any time, so do NOT come complaining to me that you read this, did just what it said, and got slaughtered. Just use this as a base to make a more informed judgment.

To keep good balance, try not to have more than 3 of the same specialization of member in a group. Although having numerous of 1 type can be very effective under some circumstances, it is also disastrous in others. So I assume for this you aren't 7 melee defenders and a Pet Offense; balance is a necessity.

Exercise some brains when using these numbers. True, you may end up with "able to pull 15 blues" under some circumstances, but more often than not that will just result in a heap of corpses. Try to never have more than 6 mobs your level, 5 oranges, 3 reds, or 2 purples for a group of 8 (this is excluding Multi-groups, which I describe later.) On the other extreme, no more than 8 blues or 12 greens.

Keep similar levels. Not only does it make calculations easier, but if your healer is 15 levels below you, they may not be able to actually be able to help you beat something 10% higher.

NPC casters are bad. Unless your group has members capable of interrupting opponents spellcasting, you want to fight these with caution, no matter what their level.

Also, these numbers are designed for EFFICIENT group hunting. It is designed to not only have you kill stuff, but also spend minimal time on your rectum afterwards (assuming no bards; if you do have a bard, their songs can get you back on your feet in 30 seconds flat).

Hitting purples under any circumstance can be a pain. Try not to let a mob get to be more than 30% higher than the top level guy in your group.

If a member is filling the role of "Other good choice", then whatever I tell you to add to your list of possible pulls, multiply that by 80%. Like, if the Blademaster happens to be your Melee Defense guy cause he is the only melee guy you have, rather than add 1 equal level mob, add one mob of 80% the Blademaster's level.

Lastly, only count someone once. If the Blademaster is acting as both the melee offense AND defense guy, pick one or the other to count him as.

Enough qualifiers for you? Good, lets get to the numbers :)

i) Melee Defense:

Since this guy is basically expected to take abuse, he can be considered to handle any equal-conning mob for as long as your group needs him to. So add 1 equal-leveled mob for every primary melee-defense member.

ii) Melee Offense:

This guy solos by doing more damage than he takes to a mob in melee, and since Mythic has basically set it so that people can have a 50/50 chance against an equal-con mob (give or take equipment condition, etc.), you can add 1 equal-level mob per Melee offense guy.

iii) Debuffer

This guy can take tougher opponents and bring them down to your guys' level. Given the current state of debuffs, I am going to consider a debuffer to be able to take any mob that he can keep debuffed and increase it's level by 10%. This number, though, may change in future developments.

iv) Mezzer

Anyone who can stop a mob from beating on you is good for group life-insurance. However, mezzers can really only safely (read: with great % success) stop orange con mobs, with a fair (but not total) success against reds, and purples are just too risky. So for every mezzer, add 1 mob of level 10% higher than the mezzer.

v) Buffer

This guy is nice to have, as he makes all your other guys more effective; true, concentration limits just HOW much he can cast, but smart buffers know who can use which buffs best. Buffs do work best with people actually giving and taking physical abuse though; so for every physical-damage member that can be buffed, multiply the mob HE can handle by about 10%.

vi) Healer

Most people can handle mobs equal to themselves in groups by themselves (mostly, not always of course). Healers are there to keep people alive though, and since most people will need this when fighting higher con mobs, take EVERY mob currently in your "can be pulled" pool and multiply it's level by 10% for 1 healer in your group, 15% if you have 2, and 20% if you have 3... up to a max of 3.

vii) Magic Offense

Damage is the only way to actually kill a mob, and these guys are usually best at dealing it out. However, attacking mobs high above you on the level chain results in less damage and more often being resisted. So for every mage, add 1 mob of equal level to the "can be pulled" pool.

viii) Pet Offense

Pets are almost as good as mezzes for holding off additional pulls while you deal with other mobs; the only difference is, once a pet dies, getting the mob off the guy who summoned the pet in the first place is tough. However, good pets can last a fair amount of time, and pet classes can generally heal their pet often. Add 1 mob of equal level for each pet class.

ix) Archer

This is the only class that sort of depends on the mob you are pulling... For every archer you can either add 1 mob of 90% the archers level, or one archer/caster mob of 10% MORE than the archer's level. But if this is too confusing, then just assume 1 mob of equal level for the number crunching.

Example: you have 1 lvl 20 melee offense guy, 1 lvl 19 melee defender, 2 lvl 21 healers, a lvl 20 buffer (likely to be a Bardic type), a lvl 21 debuffer, a lvl 20 nuker, and a lvl 19 archer.

First, do the addition. You can have 2 level 19 mobs (archer and melee defense) and 2 level 20 mobs (nuker and melee offense).

Next, multiply. Lets assume your debuffer can keep 2 mobs debuffed, for arguments sake, make those the 2 level 20's. (total so far: 19, 19, 23, 23)

Now the buffer. Lets say he keeps the 2 tanks and the archer buffed (which is the 2 19's and a 23)... buffing the mage's HP is nice for the mage, but doesn't help his output any, so he doesn't count here. (total so far: 21, 21, 25, 23)

Down the line, next is the 2 healers. Take all the mobs and add 15% (total so far: 24, 24, 27, 27) (note: 27 is 30% more than the top level guy, so that one will go no higher)

This is your target. You are looking for groups of 4 of levels 24, 24, 27, 27. Of these, since you have an archer and 1 other ranged person, be it the melee offense or melee defense guy for casting-interruption purposes, 2 of them can be casters (which I recommend to be the 2 lowest level mobs, as if they DO get a spell off, it will HURT).

Ok, so its pretty darn hard to find groups like this. Maybe you want smaller groups of tougher, or larger groups of easy?

If you want a larger group, then take 10% off of the levels of the mobs, then average them together. This will make the above example (22, 22, 24, 24, 23) for a group of 5 mobs.

Smaller group? Add 10% and remove the HIGHEST con. This would be: (26, 26, 30). Note: this puts you over the "3 red/2 purple" max I described above, as well as the 30% rule. However, once you get down past the raw number calculation for your group, this is allowed. Nonetheless, exercise caution with this. I recommend only letting trained group leaders decide if hunting like this should be tried, until you gain some insight yourself. And also, make sure that level 30 is the first mob you take care of (usually).

And a word on Multi-grouping... I really can't say much on this from experience, but I have seen it pulled off. The requirements are: You all be in a guild so you can chat across groups, and there are LOADS of you. Basically, 12, 16, or more PC's divide themselves up into as big a groups as they can with the healers being equally divided, and they go around finding lone, VERY VERY high monsters to slaughter. This works, and is quite beneficial; it's also hard to get that many people together without scheduling it in advance. So take the opportunity to do this whenever possible, but leave the organization and orders to an established guild leader.

C) What are some basic strategies?

So you got a group, and know your targets. What are the basic strategies?

Well, first off, read part A). that gives you the most rudimentary idea of what you will be doing as your primary role. However, most people do more than just sitting around, filling their primary role.

What should YOU do? Follow these priorities, starting with A:

A) Save the healer.

If a pull turns REAL bad, and you know retreat is not an option, then your task is to make sure the healer gets out alive so he can resurrect your group afterwards. Not only is this a selfless act, but if you are all going to die anyway, might as well only lose 1/2 exp and no CON by saving the rezzer. Even in less severe cases, if your group wins a fight but the healer falls, and you have no other healers, you just lost any way to bring them back. So priority one in 95% of fights: save the healer.

Primary method to do so: Mez/snare/root the mob attacking the healer, or heal the healer.
Other methods to do so: Guard, Protect, Intercept, Engage (sometimes), Aggro drawing combat styles, debuff the dangerous mobs, or as a last ditch effort, blow your MOST POWERFUL attacks to try and get the mob on YOU, even to the point of suicide. Doesn't matter if those are AoE and gets the attention of other mobs; by now your healer has fled safely.

B) Save the nuker.

The nukers are most likely going to be the most damaging members of your group, so keeping them healthy will lead to a quicker demise of whatever is attacking you. The only reason this rates lower than save the healer is because nukers can't bring themselves back (and a healer can save a nuker a lot easier than a nuker can save a healer).

Primary method to do so: Heal the nuker.
Other methods to do so: mez/snare/root/ and everything else you used to save the healer.

C) Minimize Your Encounters.

If you have mezzers/stunners/rooters, then it's always a good idea to fight as few of the mobs at once as possible. You will still get group bonuses as long as they all come at the same time; may as well make the battles individualized.

Primary method to do so: Mez anyone, or root/snare enemy melee types. Make sure NO ONE is doing anything else to the targets; any spell that does damage will break the mez/snare/root (note: you can safely debuff said mobs. How cruel ;P)
Other methods to do so: Have several tanks chain-stun some mobs to the point of them not getting off many attacks.

D) Minimize Damage to your group.

This is the level of priority, all other things being equal, of when you should debuff the monsters. Note that for A and B you probably already have, but if not, do it now. I hope I don't have to detail the primary method of how to debuff :)

E) Keep your guys alive

If your healer and mage are ok, but are also elsewhere busy and your melee offense guy is getting beat on, try and take the hits for him. Even if you aren't designed to take abuse, a rogue with 400 hp who takes 100 damage a hit is a better choice than a tank who only takes 70 damage a hit but is down to 50 hp's. Your healers shouldn't be out of the loop too long, so you only need to stand in for 1 or 2 hits in most circumstances.

Primary method to do so: Doing more damage than the guy getting beaten on, aggro drawing combat styles, have the guy in peril use aggro passing combat styles or just stop attacking altogether.
Other methods to do so: See other methods to save the nuker.

F) Destroy the nuker.

Just as your nukers are most likely your group's most powerful members, so are the enemy casters. Killing them first will go a long way to your longevity. And the ease with which most nukers fall means NPC healers (of which I have found VERY FEW) will have little time to heal them back up.

Primary method to do so: Archer classes (they might even be able to kill the casters without taking a hit)
Other methods to do so: Any class capable of interrupting enemy spell casting long enough to draw them into melee, where their spell's won't be brought to bear. (This assumes you are pulling mobs from a camp. If you are just running around killing random mobs, then just a hearty round of physical abuse will win the day with nukers).

G) Appropriately divide aggro.

Your melee defense members should be taking the hits, hands down. Assuming you have the other 5 higher priorities taken care of, you should be working on having the tanks take the hits.

Primary methods to do so: Combat styles that draw aggro to tanks.
Other methods to do so: Protect, Guard, Intercept, High Output combat styles.

H) Kill fast, kill often.

If your group is in no trouble (read: all other priorities are taken care of), then you may as well reduce your downtime as much as possible by unloading as much pain as you can as fast as you can, without endangering any of the other priorities (don't let your mages mass-cast, as that will quickly put you in situation B). The faster mobs die, the less they can attack you, the less downtime you have, the faster you can go kill again. And with a bard in the group, that will be fast indeed.

IV. GROUP COMBAT

Ok, you have a group, and want to fight stuff. From the above sections, you know what to fight, and your guys know their priorities, but rarely do mobs come up to you and say "prepare to deal with situation E) of Mousemaster's guide!". How do (should) fights go normally?

There are 3 parts to this:

Part 1: In-between/looking for fights.

Otherwise known as "downtime" or "why aren't we killing anything yet", this is the time when you are not currently fighting anything. It can be either because you have just come off a fight and are recovering, or are ready to fight and are awaiting a target.

WHAT TO DO:

First, make sure everyone is ready to fight. This means that everyone is either at full health, mana, and is not afk; OR they have said "go ahead and pull" at some point. When that happens, then the puller can go out and look for a target(s) to grab. While the puller is doing this, the other group members should stay in a semi-tight huddle looking in different directions to make sure no other mobs are already approaching the group. If there are, make sure someone tells the puller this before he finds a target... even if the mob stops before reaching you, better to be safe than sorry, and you can (and normally should) deal with the one that wandered near you before finding others.

Part 2: Incoming!

Otherwise known as "I hope you guys are ready" or "Here comes another 15 of them", this is the point at which a mob has been pulled and is approaching your group. What to do now depends on a few cases...

WHAT TO DO:

Case 1: Single pull

In the case of a lone mob, just have your debuffers do their thing, and let it approach your group. Go then to Part 3 of this section. (If it happens to be a lone-caster, you can also let your ranged fighters let loose with whatever they have until it stops trying in vain to cast).

Case 2: Multi-pull, all tanks

In this case, you have a few mobs all charging you at once. Handle this depending on whether or not you have mezzers/stunners/rooters...

-With mezzers/stunners/rooters:

Have the guy mez, stun, or root all the mobs approaching your party (at a fair distance), save for the highest level one. Once the highest level is dead, then re-root/stun/mez all of them except for the next highest one. Repeat as necessary.

-Without mezzers/stunners/rooters:

Assign 1 mob to each tank, have each tank hit his mob ONCE, then have all the tanks concentrate on one mob. One mob can have more than one tank assigned to it, but no tank should be responsible for grabbing the aggro of more than 1 mob. The first monster you should concentrate on after splitting the aggro is the one capable of doing the most damage (which isn't always the strongest one, depending on procs and such). Once he falls, go after the next most damaging one, and keep going down the line.

Case 3: Multi-pull, ranged mobs included.

Again, handle this based on whether you have mezzers or stunners. Rooters, however, wont work against casters and archers.

-With mezzers/stunners:

mez or stun all the ranged mobs from a distance, finish the tank mobs first, then let the ranged mobs break one at a time and deal with them, either by challenging them to a war of ranged combat, or charging their location, whichever is safer.

-Without mezzers/stunners:

What on earth are you doing pulling groups of ranged mobs without crowd control?!?! Oh well...

Have the tanks each take 1 swing at the enemy tanks to grab aggro, then have EVERYONE charge the ranged mobs and finish them ASAP... ranged mobs in general die faster than tank ones, so unless they are a much higher level, you should be able to swat them quickly. Make sure you have taken out all the ranged mobs (or at least taken away their ranged ability by closing to melee) before dealing with enemy tanks.

Part 3: Close quarters

Also known as "Get him off me" or "HHHHEEEEELLLLLPPPPPPPPP", this is the point at which all combatants are in close range, and are duking it out. Swords are swinging, spells are flying, and everyone is lagging. Here's what you do: (and btw, if any of the emergency priorities come up as is stated in section IIIC, take care of them first).

-Concentrate your attack

Assign all tanks, casters, archers, and everyone else to hit the same target to kill it ASAP. Monsters take penalties to defense the more people are attacking it, and the less monsters attacking your group, the better.

-Stun the opponent

Have anyone capable of pulling off a stun do it early, and do it often. Nothing is more fun than watching mobs get beat on and them not being able to fight back.

-Keep your eyes out

It's a good idea to surround the target while fighting it so that you can still see in all given directions for the possibility of additional monsters finding your little skirmish and joining in. Or you can all stand on the same side and use the ~ key to rotate your camera if you really want.

-Listen to your leader

If the group leader calls "RUN", then everyone should just run. It saves the confusion of a second-guess. Anyone capable of stunning opponents should do so before the retreat; or if no one can, have the best aggro-grabbers (or the guys currently with aggro anyway) stay behind to save the rest of you (and especially save the rezzer of your group).

-Know what you are doing (or make sure no one else does anyway)

If you are unsure if a mob is a good idea to pull, don't know what a type of mob is capable of, or anything else that might be dangerous in even the most remote way, ask your group about it. Hopefully someone will know the answer to your question... if not, get a poll of everyone if they think something is a good idea. At least if they all say yes, it's not your fault if the fight goes south.

-Check your ego at the door

No one knows everything... someone may be just starting the game, or may be a veteran who is just now trying a new class. IOW, mistakes will happen, and occasionally, people will make bad decisions that get other people killed. Don't blow a fuse when this happens; unless it was intentional, then it was just a mistake (duh). After everyone gets regrouped, calmly explain to the mistake-maker what happened, listen to his side of the story, and make sure a repeat doesn't happen in the future (for whatever reason). If, AFTER you have heard his side of the story AND you have calmly explained to him what should be avoided he gets on the defensive, go ahead and refer to the "jerk" section of this guide. Or if he makes the same mistake again (with no other circumstances coming into effect), then refer to the "brainless" section of this guide.

V - THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

Ok, in addition to combat strategies, there are a few tidbits that are very useful (and potentially life saving) that everyone who has ever been in a group should know. I am going to subdivide it into class-specific, and general things.

-- HEALERS

1) Don't overheal out of combat.

- To all you healers out there... if you are just coming out of a fight, and your entire group (including yourself) is out of mana... don't heal your groupmates. If you all just sit down, odds are your mana AND their life will fill up at about the same time (more so if you have bards singing regen songs). So don't bother healing that last little sliver of health for your group if you know everyone is going to be sitting on their rear for the next minute gaining mana anyway... otherwise, they will have to wait even LONGER on your mana. However, if everyone's mana fills up and people are still missing health, then go ahead and top their bars off.

-- CASTERS

1) Casters have staves too...

- There is code in this game that says the more people you have swinging at a monster, the greater the chance to hit everyone has. As many of you have probably also noticed, healers and casters don't do a lot of melee damage. The combination of these factors leads to this conclusion: to ALL CASTERS: if you are not in any danger of getting aggro from a mob, AND you are not busy with spells, then run in and start swinging with your tank-mates. It will make their job easier, even if only a little.

-- TANKS

1) lag = bad, hotkeys = good.

- All tanks know that they should have hotkeys set up to pull off their combat styles...however, what most tanks (and any Rangers, Shadowblades, or anyone who tanks swings) should also know is that there is a command called /assist that automatically makes you target the same monster as the person you are /assisting. For example, if Joe is attacking a green slime, and you /assist Joe, you will now be attacking the same slime. Whenever you enter a group, it is good practice to set up an /assist hotkey, where you are /assisting the puller. That way, whenever he pulls, you can immediately target his monster without accidentally hitting the wrong guy due to low FPS, lag, or whatnot.

-- EVERYONE

1) When you leave a group, make sure you LEAVE a group.

- If you are leaving a group, before you run ANYWHERE away from them, disband yourself. More than once I've died in a dungeon because someone was leaving, but didn't disband, and so when he ran by an aggro mob, the aggro mob's friends came for us instead of following him to the exit. This = bad. Group leaders, if someone is leaving and doesn't disband themselves, make sure you disband them to avoid this situation. BaF code doesn't care how far away you are from your group.

2) Don't be indecisive.

- In someone in the group asks a question about what the group wants to do, NEVER say "I don't know, what does everyone else think?". This leads to nothing more than a half-hour discussion of who thinks what is a good idea, and nothing at all gets done. If you think a proposition is a good idea, say "Sure, but what does everyone else think?" or "I don't think that's a good idea, but I'll follow ya anyway". At least this way you have made your vote clear. Or if you REALLY don't wanna choose, at least defer your vote... "I'm not sure, but I'll do whatever XXX thinks", so that everyone knows your vote will be the same as XXX's. Democracy works in this game, so long as no one abstains.

3) Those coins aren't going anywhere.

- When you kill a monster, and there are goods lying on the ground to be picked up, make SURE you can get to them without grabbing the aggro of another mob, unless you are ready to deal with it. Loot lasts on the ground for 10 minutes, and rushing to get 2sp isn't going to outweigh the 2gp it takes to get your CON back.

VI - LOOT!

Welcome to the touchiest topic in the world. You can ruin groups, you can make yourself look like a total idiot, you can get scores of people killed. All of that can be fixed by later proving you have gotten better. But if people tack the tag "loothog" on your character, get ready to be shunned for life. Welcome to the materialistic tendencies of humanity...

I would like to first say that loot is not as vital to your life as it is in many other games. If you have a yellow-conning piece of equipment on right now, and you then put on an orange-con dropped item, the difference will not be great. Don't think that you missing an item is going to ruin your game, leave that mentality at the DiabloII/EQ doorstep. And now on to the section...

In addition to experience, some monsters drop items as well. The thing with grouping is, you are killing monsters stronger than you are, and therefore are most likely getting items that are considerably powerful compared to your group. While this opportunity to strengthen your party is welcome, it also leads to the "who gets what" problem.

I would like to remind EVERYONE OUT THERE that this game is a REALM VS REALM oriented game. It is NOT an EQ, "I want to see if I can be more uber than everyone else" race. Therefore, just because you got an item via random distribution, doesn't mean you should keep it. It should be put to use as it will most benefit your REALM as a whole.

Does it mean you HAVE to give it up? No, nothing on the planet can force you to relinquish your item. However, failing to do so in certain circumstances can earn you the title of "loothog", and all the impossibilities of getting a group that go along with said title.

To be fair about this fact, most groups have a "need before greed" rule about items: if someone in the group you are hunting with needs an item, and the person you are CURRENTLY PLAYING does not have any use for it, then you are to hand the item over to the person who can use it. NBG is the simplest and fairest way of doing loot-distribution, and I support it wholeheartedly as such.

Make sure that, when entering a group that has the potential to find items, you learn whether or not said group is following a NBG policy, or you put yourself at risk for being tagged "loothog". If they say they are just going full-autosplit, then just take any items you get in stride, and ones you miss, ask if you can have them, and if you are told no, just take that in stride too.

Exactly how does NBG work? Items get handed out like this, in order of priority:

1) A current group member can use it on his current person.

-Groups will give any dropped item to the person currently in the group who needs it the most. Said person will immediately equip it and use it for the remainder of the group, unless something better happens to come along.

-In the event that multiple people in a group need the item immediately, most groups are rational enough to come to a civilized conclusion as to who gets it (with whoever doesn't get it having the promise of getting the next one). In the rare event that this does not happen, the most common form of a "true" random distribution between needy parties is to kill 1 more mob and play a game of guess-the-copper. Basically, before the mob is killed, the people in question say that they either think the number of the auto-split copper pieces will be above or below 50. Whoever is right on the next mob coin-split wins.

-The person who receives the item should then, in all fairness, offer what he had been using up to that point to the rest of the group, to see if anyone else can use it. If so, give it over (you should be happy with what you have now, after all). If no one wants the old item, then you can save it for a friend/alt.

2) A currently playing member NOT in your group can use it... aka, guild-asset.

-In this situation, when no current group members are in need of an item, someone from one of the represented guilds will say "hey, XXX from our guild really wants one of those, can he have it?". XXX is then immediately contacted and told to come get his stuff.

-Again, if multiple outside members can benefit from an item, their representatives in the group decide among themselves who gets it, be it friendly banter or guess-the-copper.

-People being represented should actually be able to use the item NOW... asking to take a level 40 bow for a level 10 guildmate is just poor form. Don't do it.

-If no guildmates can use it, you can also offer to take it for an online RL friend at this point.

3) A currently non-playing member in the group can use it.

-If no one at all currently online can use an item, but one of the groupers has an alternate character (or "alt" for short) that can make use of it, then that person is next in line to receive the item.

-The reason I rate this below #2 is because, in the theme of trying to help your REALM as a whole, you must realize this: if you give the item to another active member not in your group, both he and you can fight evil at the same time, he with his new item. If the item goes to an alt, then either you OR your alt can fight, but not both at once.

-Again, the alt being represented should be able to use the item NOW, not 20 levels from now.

-RL friends who are offline can be represented at this step too.

4) Any guild member can use it anywhere.

-If it gets down this far in the loot-scale (which is insanely rare), then what usually happens is a guild member says that person XXX, who isn't online right now, can use the item, so he's taking it for guild use. Even if the item got autoed to you, if you are down this far in the check, that means you have no real use for it in any way, so handing it over is no big loss.

-Guilds rule any MMORPG, and for good reason... if they didn't, it wouldn't be MM. If you think this is unfair, I don't see why, as you already have admitted to not needing the item anyway. If it peeves you THAT bad, then just go join a guild yourself, so that you get a chance to be on the flipside of the coin... don't tell me you wouldn't like one day to log in and be told that your guild has an item waiting for you, which is more than worth the coin you'd get from selling any given item.

5) No one anywhere can use it.

-hehe :)

-Either your entire realm is well equipped by the time this drops, or it is drastically underpowered. That is not to say this doesn't happen... sometimes drops just suck. In this event, whoever got it autoed to them just keeps it for selling purposes. It may suck, but it usually has a fair selling price. Usually.

VII - A COMMON BONUS MISCONCEPTION

Ok, I need to define the bonuses real fast, so that people don't pull more than they have to.

These are the bonuses, to my knowledge:

A) Camp bonus

This is a bonus for risking life and limb. Basically, instead of pulling mobs out of a camp point and dealing with them, you rush INTO their camp spot and fight on their home ground. At least, I think this is right... the camp bonus is still a mystery to many, and I have seen a few explanations, all of which are not totally accurate. Even this one needs some work, but I believe it to be basically correct; as I have never seen a camp bonus for yanking a mob more than 10 steps away from its spawning/wandering radius.

B) <no name> bonus

This is a bonus for killing a monster that has NOT been killed in a while. The longer the monster lives, the more exp it gives... similarly, killing the same mob over and over may cause it to give LESS exp than normal. Also, this sometimes applies to whole areas... if there is a hill with 5 ants, and you leave 4 but kill 1 over and over, the other 4 aren't going to ever see a bonus either.

C) Group bonus

This is for taking on mobs that are either grouped together by default, or aren't grouped but come via BaF code anyway (for a description on BaF, see the classesofcamelot.com FAQ). The more mobs at once, the higher % of the mobs normal exp you get as a bonus.

This is NOT a bonus:

If someone pulls a mob, that mob comes ALONE, and then you pull another mob while dealing with the first, you do NOT get any bonus for this. Only if the additional mobs come of their own will, and not as a result of being individually pulled, will you get bonuses for groups. So there is ABSOLUTELY NO REASON to ever pull more than 1 mob at a time; if more want to come, let them, but don't get them yourself.

Some people like to chain-pull, which in a nutshell means the melee-defense guy goes and grabs another mob before the first is dead. This is only a valid strat if your group is packing Bardic classes.... basically, what chain-pulling translates to is that your group needs 0 downtime between pulls. If someone in your group is chainpulling, but you can only handle "5 or 6" mobs before needing a quick rest, then said chainpulling is not efficient, you should just go back into killing 1 set of spawns at a time. Only if you can continuously pull and pull and pull, and only need to rest if a fight went bad should you be chainpulling.

VIII. SPECIAL UNBALANCED GROUPS

There are a few group combinations that work quite well, even while being thoroughly imbalanced. I only know a few; if people reading this have had success with what is not listed here, please email the address at the bottom of the page, with both group makeup, ideal mob targets AND strategy to pull it off. I will investigate, and if found to be accurate, will post the new group-style here, as well as credit to the first submitter (text only signature please, as this is a .txt file :)

This section is rather long, and since I have no real way to organize it, it may be a chore to read through. Rather than wasting an hour skimming it, just look next to the name of each heading to see if your class falls into it, and if not, just skip it.

i) Death by range (archers, nukers, and 1 bard, optional debuffer)

IDEAL GROUP:

6-7 Characters capable of doing huge damage at range. This is mostly archers and nukers. 1 bard if all archers or nukers, 2 bards if a mix of both.
OPTIONAL: if you have 6 archers and a lone bard, you can also fill slot #8 with a debuffer

IDEAL TARGETS:

Archer or caster type mobs... although if done properly, any targets will work. Said targets can be up to a high red con of your group's top member, although stay near high-orange/low-red unless you have a large group.

STRATEGY:

Have all the archers line up a critical shot, and have the group leader call "FIRE!". (If this confuses you, see my ranger guide as to what a firing-line critical shot is). Have your archers continue firing arrows while your mages then jump in blasting their most insane spells. In the meantime, the bards are singing endurance and mana songs. The end result is that the mob dies before it reaches you, and your group should still have full END and almost full mana, meaning you have no downtime.

If you have no archers at all, then have all bolt-spell capable mages stand at maximum range and blast their bolts all at once instead.

ii) Phalanx (melee'rs of all types, 1 bard, optional healer, optional mezzer)

IDEAL GROUP:

7 melee offense/defense members
1 bard
Optional: replace 1 melee member with a healer if taking on much higher level mobs
Optional: replace 1 melee member with a mezzer if taking on multiple melee targets (do NOT take both options at once)

IDEAL TARGETS:

Anyone or any group that is not in a position to bring in large numbers of unwanted reinforcements. Said targets can be of any level, but if there is no healer or mezzer available for the options, then try and stick with mobs conning high red to the highest level member for large groups, low red for smaller ones.

STRATEGY:

Diablo2 fans love this one. All of the melee members rush a target, the shield toting ones take turns stunning it, the melee offense guys dish out their hardest hitting styles, the bard sings the END song, and the mezzer/healer does his thing if applicable. Bard takes care of healing the 1 or 2 hits you should have suffered during the battle, and you immediately find a new target. Only downtime comes when bard runs out of healing juice (which in a good group will take a pretty long time).

This group has the potential for lots of fun variations... for example, you can have the optional mezzer mez the target before you all charge, then you all surround the target, leader calls FIRE, and you all smack it with your most powerful style at once :).

iii) Assassinate (Rogue + archer)

IDEAL GROUP:

1 Archer class
1 Rogue class

The 2 must be REAL GOOD FRIENDS, be almost identical level, and have a VERY efficient method of communication.

IDEAL TARGETS:

Any solo target of con Orange, although caster mobs are best suited to receiving this punishment.

STRATEGY:

Stealthed rogue sneaks in behind target. Archer lines up critical shot. Archer fires critical shot, but before it connects, rogue backstabs and chains the target. Archer fires additional arrows until defeated. The best way to communicate this is to have the archer type GO! 1/2 second before he releases arrow, giving rogue enough time to react before arrow lands. It takes a good deal of effort (and mobs that don't like to wander), but its pretty fun to pull off, and downtime is just the sit to regain endurance... unless there was missing involved, it should take longer to recharge the END used than the HP lost.

iv) Legion (as many Pet Offense classes as possible)
submitted by Brian Rocheleau < Bryan.Rocheleau@misawa.af.mil >

IDEAL GROUP:

as many pet classes as possible :)

Other classes can be added to this group, but not many will be of real use; the pets will be doing the damage and holding the aggro. So most additional classes will be supporting ones, like bards, buffers, or healers.

IDEAL TARGETS:

Anything. The more pets you have, the higher the target can con, and whole groups of 7 pet classes and 1 guy to help with mana regen can handle groups of purples with little risk.

STRATEGY:

Every pet guy summons a pet, and everyone sends the pet at a target. If anyone's pet dies, he summons a new one and sends it in again. Mobs should never aggro anything but the pets, meaking the pet class guys life easy.

v) Punching bag, small scale
submitted by Chris Humphrey

IDEAL GROUP:

1 pet offense
1-3 healers
1 of any support type class (I.E. buffer, debuffer, mezzer) (optional)

IDEAL TARGETS:

Small groups of mobs that con high orange to low red to the pet offense guy.

STRATEGY:

The Pet Offense guy gives his pet a damage shield and sends him into a target group of mobs. After grabbing some aggro, he calls his pet back, but stops him a small distance away from the group (but well clear of the monster spawn area). The pet rotates which mobs he's smacking on, while the healers keep him from dying. The pet's damage shield does the rest.

IX. ACRONYMS (and other things you won't see in English class)

Since we cannot transmit voice over the game at this time, and few people have Roger Wilco running in the background, we are forced to communicate via typing. In key situations, the speed with which you type can spell victory or defeat... and not everyone can type as fast as I do (note I didn't include the word "accurately" ;P).

Some people shorten commonly used phrases into acronym form to make life easier... and sometimes, these phrases fall on deaf ears, as no one else knows what they mean. This section is going to be used to describe said acronyms... right now it's just general grouping ones, although I will appreciate feedback as to any realm-specific ones as well. OR even just more general ones. You can never have a strategy-file too large, now can you? ;P. Besides, I'm tired, and can't think of them all now anyway.

add: Additional mob.
- More monsters than you first though you were going to fight have entered the fray. Be ready for group v group combat.

AoE: Area of Effect.
- Used to describe any skill that, rather than just affect a target, affects a whole group of things near a target too.

alt: Alternate character.
- Another character played by one of the members of your group. Most often seen when deciding who gets what dropped item.

d00d: You don't wanna know.
- Yes, those are 2 zero's in that word. Basically, this is a term used to describe people whose definition of "fun" in this game is to prove they are better than other people. Said people also have the stereotype of talking either without vowels, or replacing numbers for vowels. If anyone ever  r0x0rz y0ur b0x0rz d0wn 2 y0ur s0x0rz, I suggest finding a different spot to hunt, as they are obviously too 1337 for you.

end: Endurance.
- That little green bar that lets you sprint and use combat styles.

gtg: 1) Good to go.
- This group member has completed his necessary downtime and is ready to fight again.
gtg: 2) Got to go.
- This group member needs to leave. Use the context or the timing to determine which of the 2 gtg's is being used... or just tell the guy to start using rfp to avoid confusion.

hlp: Help.
- Possibly the stupidest acronym in history, as it only takes 1 extra letter to spell the word, but it means someone needs you to assist them quick. Pat, can I buy a Vowel?

inc: Incoming.
- There is a monster heading for the group. Be ready for it.

loa: Low on All.
- All of their bars are getting low. This one usually precedes the acronyms wtf and noob, as in "WTF didn't you mez the add for you noob?!?!?!".

loe/los: Low on Endurance/Stamina.
- Their green bar is getting low... soon they cannot sprint or use styles.

lom/lop: Low on Mana/Power.
- Their Yellow bar is low, soon they can no longer cast spells.

mez: Mermerize.
- Generically used to refer to a mob that has been efectively taken out of a fight, be it cause it's waiting it's turn to be assassinated, or your group  needed 15 extra seconds to run for it's life.

nbg: Need Before Greed.
- A style of dividing group loot. See the looting section for details.

noob/newb: 1) Newbie.
- A player who is new to the game of DAoC and still learning the ropes.
noob: 2) New Character.
- A player who has played DAoC before but is playing a new character that is still a rather low level.

ooe: Out Of Endurance.
- Their little green bar is empty. They can no longer sprint or pull combat styles.

oom/oop: Out of Mana/Power.
- Their yellow bar is gone. No more magic for them.

PB: Point-blank.
- Usually seen with AoE, this refers to a skill where Ground Zero is the person using the skill.

proc: Produced Effect.
- while attacking, sometimes a weapon or special ability will cause an additional effect (like, your flame sword might slash your opponent THEN shoot off a fireball. The fireball is the proc).

pow: Power.
- The yellow bar used for casting spells.

PK: Player-killed.
- You just got decimated by another human being, rather than a computer controlled monster. The upside is you usually don't lose exp for this, the downside is you get to watch a troll dance on you for an hour.

rdy: Ready
- See gtg 1)

rfp: Ready for pull
- See gtg 1)

rtg: Ready to go
- See gtg 1)

toon: Any given character.
- Rather than type in "character" or "player" or even the shorter "PC", some people think they are playing Warner Bros. characters in this game, so they call them toons. I guess kobolds look enough like Smurfs to validate this (and many are named after them anyway).

I will update this guide as necessary, so long as I have the time to (read: I am on campus doing other programming projects anyway ;P)

This document is MINE. (c) See? See that symbol? I, Adam Walter, wrote it. Trevor Moore, headmaster of the Classes of Camelot site where it will be posted, will vouch for this. If anyone else would like to use all or part of it, you must contact ME at mmaster@udel.edu to ask permission. Of course, feedback to the above address is always welcomed, whether you like my guide or think it is missing something important.