FAQ 2008-11-01: Grouping 101 [part 2 of 2]

(Available on the web as http://www.icynic.com/~don/EQ/grouping101.htm)

Group Tactics

Here are some assorted comments about how groups tend to operate.

Camps

As mentioned earlier, most groups will be "stay at home" groups, where most
of the group stays in one place (so the casters can sit and meditate to
regain mana, etc.) while the puller goes out and brings mobs back to be
killed. Depending on how efficient the group is at killing stuff, the
puller may have to roam a bit. Sometimes, though, a group is able to take
on a single "camp" (or two camps near each other), i.e., a place where the
same or similar mobs will reappear. The best way to do this is known as
"breaking the camp", and works as follows.

Suppose there's an area with five mobs standing around in it. Often that
means that the mobs there are "static"; they'll reappear in the same place
a certain length of time after you kill them. So if you somehow manage to
kill all five at roughly the same time, they'll all reappear at about the
same time. What you want to do is pull just one or two of them, kill those,
then pull another, kill it, and so on. If you can spread out the times at
which the mobs die, then the times when they reappear will also be spread
out, so when they come back they'll come back as only 1-2 at a time and your
group can kill them without worrying about the other mobs getting involved
(since the other mobs haven't reappeared yet). You may even be able to move
the group into the middle of the mobs' spawn area and just wait for them to
start coming back. You can sometimes "break a camp" hunting solo, but it's
a lot easier for a group.

Even if you're a roaming group (e.g., in an LDON adventure), you'll use many
of the same tactics as a sit-at-home group. In particular, there will often
be places where the group pauses (and the casters sit and meditate) while the
puller moves forward to draw a mob back to be killed. When an area is down
to only one or two mobs remaining, the group leader might tell everyone to
rush them, moving into the area to kill the last mobs rather than making the
puller bring them back. The casters can then med in the newly claimed area
while the puller again scouts ahead.

Melee tactics

Okay, so a mob is brought into camp. Maybe there are extra mobs, but the
crowd controller has mezzed or rooted them. Let's say the MA and MT are
the same person, so he picks a target to concentrate on. Everyone else
should WAIT, at least at higher levels. (At low levels, even up into the
40s, you can often get away with having everyone just pile onto the MA's
target and start bashing/nuking/etc.) This gives the MT time to get aggro
so the mob doesn't keep chasing the puller, and doesn't decide to start
smacking that nasty rogue who just backstabbed it, or whatever. Let the
MT do his job, which is to absorb the mob's attacks.

So, the MT goes up to the mob and starts smacking it, plus doing anything
else he can to build up aggro. (Certain spells are very good for generating
aggro, and a good tank knows these tools.) He also tries to position
himself so the mob is facing away from any of the casters' pets. When
the MT says to attack, everyone else joins in (except casters need to
judge when to fire off their high-damage spells, to make sure they don't
steal aggro away from the tank). If the MT has positioned it right, the
pets will be attacking the mob's back; all other melees should likewise
try to stand behind the mob. This is because mobs, like player characters,
sometimes parry, block, or riposte attacks, but those abilities apply only
against attacks coming from in front of the mob. So, by attacking from
behind, you not only do better damage (because more attacks get through),
you also avoid getting hit by a riposte. When a mob melees for several
hundred damage, a few ripostes will leave you substantially low on health,
requiring healers to focus on more than just the MT/MA. This is crucial
when fighting a mob that can "enrage", since while enraged it automatically
ripostes ALL melee attacks except those from behind. (When it enrages,
the MT should stop attacking, except for passive damage such as a damage
shield, until the mob is no longer enraged.)

At the higher levels, some mobs have the ability to "rampage", which is a
special attack directed at the first person on the mob's "rampage list",
not counting whoever the mob is currently fighting. The rampage list is
separate from the aggro list (also called the "hate list"); the aggro list
changes order based on how much damage each player has done, what spells
have been cast (including healing other players on the aggro list), and
various other factors. In general, the mob will try to attack whoever's at
the top of its aggro list. The rampage list, however, stays in the same
order, with each player getting added as they aggro the mob. Some groups say
the ST (secondary tank) should aim to be the second person to get aggro after
the MT, since the ST (being a tank) is prepared to take the rampage damage.
But this can lead to trouble if the MT falls and the ST has to step up as
the replacement MT, leaving somebody else (probably a soft, squishy cleric)
to take the brunt of the next rampage. Experienced raiders recommend having
a separate tank assigned to head the rampage list.

Hotkeys and communication

There are several hotkeys that are particularly useful for grouping. The
/assist hotkey is discussed in some detail in the main FAQ. Another handy
one is /follow. (You might want your /follow hotkey to include a /gsay or
/tell that lets your target know you're auto-following them. That way they
can be more careful at corners to make sure you don't get stuck facing a
wall or something.)

Though you can target group members (or yourself) by clicking on their hit
point bars in the group window, you may find it easier to use the F1-F6 keys
(F1 targets yourself, F2-F6 targets party members in the order listed in the
window). Pressing the F# key again toggles between the player and the
player's summoned or charmed pet, if any.

If you're the puller, you should have a hotkey that tells the group when
you're bringing in a fresh mob. It can be as simple as "/g INC! %T", or it
can be more colorful, as in "/g %T is following me home, can I keep %O?"
(Just remember that people will be seeing it a lot, so make sure it's not
too painfully cute on the 100th viewing!)

Some casters use hotkeys to announce their spells and targets, but too many
such messages can drown out the important stuff. Be tolerant of different
styles, but don't be shy about speaking up if the "spell spam" is causing
problems. Some of the more important spells that people might announce are
slow-casting heals (so the target knows the heal is coming, and so other
healers know not to duplicate healing on the same target), mesmerization
(to warn people not to wake the target by attacking it), and evacuation
(when a wizard or druid is about to teleport the entire party out of the
area so the group just needs to stay close and hold out a few seconds more).

Speaking of evacs, this is just one example of an ability that you might
want to communicate to your group in advance, especially if some of the
people in the group might not be familiar with your class. Not everyone
knows that druids/wizards can evacuate a group, and this lack of knowledge
can lead to needless deaths if someone tries to run away from a bad battle
instead of sticking it out while the evac is cast. Knowing that a monk can
feign death and can also heal 25% of his own hit points occasionally might
save some of the healer's mana for other uses. Your groupmates might not
know that your berserker can snare, or that your mage can summon gear to
equip their pets, etc. Don't treat everyone else as if they're idiots, of
course, but do be sure they know what you can do. An easy way to do this
is just to ask, e.g., "Does anyone need summoned pet gear? bandages?" or
as some initial groundwork, "Don't heal me unless I fall below 40% hits" or
"If I call EVAC you've got about 10 seconds to tell me to stop the port."

Communication during and after battles is also important. If an extra mob
joins the battle, some people might not notice it at first, so it's good if
someone tells the group about it. If a mob runs away and you're not able to
do anything about it, do "/g runner" so maybe someone else will manage to
snare or root it. (And failing that, at least the group is warned that the
runner might result in more mobs headed your way soon.) If you get mezzed
or rooted, see if you can spare the keystrokes to let the group know so they
can adapt. If you're dotted (poisoned, etc.) and it's important that you
get cured instead of letting it run its course, speak up! Conversely, once
the battle is over, if the mobs were capable of poison or disease, healers
should ask the group whether anyone is dotted and needs to be cured.

Mana reports

Sometimes you will see the tank or puller ask "Mana?" or "mr?" He wants to
know how much mana the casters have remaining, so he knows not to bring in too
many mobs. As of late 2008, you can see the mana bars of your group, so
the question is asked more often in raids, though you might still ask in case
you and and caster have different ideas of how much is enough to make if safe.
Indeed, some players appreciate it if the number is accompanied by a general
indication of readiness: /g 70 gtg, or /g 50 just don't pull the whole zone.

Each person has their own style. Some report in bubbles (70% is 3.5),
others may roleplay it a bit. (A troll shaman with 3 bubbles might say,
"Meez gotz 3 mugs of sparklies left.")

Groups will vary as to how often they ask about and/or report mana. If
you're getting big pulls so some casters are grinding through their mana,
it may be good to report every time the puller is going out to get more
munchies, to make sure he knows how many mobs the group is prepared to deal
with in one pull. In other groups, the pace can be steady enough that mana
is hovering between 40-80% most of the time, and you'll only want to warn
at 20-30%, or announce when you're at full mana so they know you need stuff
brought in faster because they are not pushing you at all. Some casters
will tell the puller to assume they've got enough mana unless they say
otherwise, but even so, if the group goes through an unusually tough battle
and you haven't seen them mention how they're doing, it's wise to check.
Be watchful for the shorthands "lom" and "oom" (low on mana, out of mana).

Buff reports

Similar to mana reports, the casters may occasionally query the group to
see if anyone needs fresh buffs. E.g., the puller might want SOW, or the
tank might want a HP/AC buff or a damage shield (DS). When these spells
run out, the casters need to know so they can cast them again. Sometimes
a meleer might not notice that a spell is gone, so it can help to have the
caster ask occasionally. Given that the current user interface lets the
buffed person see how much time is left on each buff, it's easy to check
and report back, e.g., "DS gone, strength still has 2 minutes left."

As of 2008, you can view buffs on PCs by targetting them (if you expand the
bottom part of the target window), so casters and group leaders sometimes just
check the group's buffs directly instead of asking. But it's still more
efficient if each player reports on his own buffs.

If you can spare the mana for it, a handy technique is to cast your buffs
on yourself first, then on the others. That way, you can check the timers
on your own buffs to see whether you'll need to refresh them soon. Another
useful aid is to set up a audio trigger that fires off on the "spell has worn
off" messages.

The Math

In general, grouping means there's more experience being handed out. If
two players the same level form a group and kill something, each player
gets 60% of the experience. Since two players can kill things about twice
as fast as if they were both soloing, this is a good bonus. Three players
get 43% each, four players 40%, five players 36%, and adding a sixth player
everyone continues to get 36% of the experience for each mob.

If players are different levels, the higher levels get proportionally more
of the experience (but need more experience for each new level, so they
generally advance more slowly than their lower-level groupmates). The limit
is a difference of 1/3: If the lowest level in the group is less than 2/3
of the highest level (rounded down), then the lowbie won't get experience.
E.g., a level 25 grouped with a level 38 is okay, but a level 25 with a
level 39 generally won't get any xp.

Forming a Group

Often, you'll be forming a group from people who are already present. To
do so, just target one of them and press ctrl-I to invite them. They'll
get a message telling them to click FOLLOW or DISBAND in their group window.
(They can also type ctrl-I to accept the invitation or ctrl-D to decline.)
Once the group forms, the person who extended the invitation is the leader,
and is the only one who can invite additional people. In the rare event
that the leader isn't able to invite someone (e.g., because the leader died
and is running back from his bind spot), he can use "/makeleader so-and-so"
to make so-and-so be party leader.

As of mid-2005, it is no longer necessary to target people in order to invite
them into your group; indeed, they can even be in different zones. Just type
"/invite so-and-so". Of course, if the person IS present, targetting them
may be easier than typing their name.

If you don't have all the people you need for the group, you can try looking
for more via the LFG (looking for group) tool, which by default is opened by
typing ctrl-L. Conversely, if you don't want to spend the effort looking for
a group but would be interested in joining one, you can list yourself in the
LFG tool, or just type "/lfg on", so that others can see you in their LFG
windows; then go off and solo or do tradeskills or whatever and see if
anyone sends you a tell.

If the group has three or more members, then whoever is group leader will,
by default, have a portion of their share of the party's experience go
toward "Leadership Experience". Type L to open the Leadership Abilities
window and see your current status. Leadership xp is sort of like Alternate
Advancement (AA), in that the points diverted into LXP can be used to buy
special abilities that are available only when you are the leader of a
group of three or more people (including yourself). As of late 2006, the
leader can opt to have some of his diverted xp apply toward another group
member acquiring leadership xp; this lets the group use the current leader's
extra abilities while grooming future leaders.

Mercenaries

Mercenaries are special NPCs that players can hire in PoK or in home cities.
Each player can have only one at a time. You pay a large amount to hire
one, and a smaller upkeep cost every 15 minutes. You can "suspend" the
merc to avoid paying him, but there's a five minute cooldown timer before you
can bring him back. The mercenary is part of your group, taking a share of
the experience (but not of the loot) and potentially activating Leadership
Abilities. Currently mercenaries are either tanks or healers. A rogue
and berserker, for example, might have trouble taking on most targets as a
duo, but can do quite well if they add a healer merc and a tank merc.

The rank of the mercenary (Apprentice I-V, Journeyman, etc.) determines both
the skillfulness of the merc and also how likely it is to panic and run if
facing too many foes. (Foes that are snared, mezzed, or otherwise under
control are less likely to cause panic.) The hiring and upkeep costs are
based on the rank and on the owner's level; mercs are always the same level
as their owners.

Mercenaries are a recent addition to the game as of this writing, so the full
range of uses and etiquette of including them in larger groups has yet to be
worked out.


[End of part 2 of 2]