Grouping questions

[rgilliam]

Hello everyone,

I'm new to Ryzom - still on the island. I'm loving it so far, seems like an absolutely wonderful game.

So, on to my questions. I grouped for the first time last night. I found two other people and we went to do the red blades #1 and #2 quests. It seemed very...chaotic. We died, a lot. I'm one of those who comes from WoW. I'm used to things like pulling, tanking, aggro management, healing etc. This just seemed to be a situation where one of us would pull with a spell, then 4 of them would come up, and they'd go nuts attacking all of us and we'd die. We tried different strategies and it always ended up the same. We were finally able to do the quest when the person playing the healer (~25 def magic) decided to switch to melee (~45 melee skill). Then it was easy, but only because he could kill all of them usually before they killed one of us. Myself and the other person in the group both had melee/magic skills around 20-25.

So, I guess I was just wondering if someone could take some time to explain how group dynamics usually work. Is it typically this chaotic? Or, are the terms and strategies I learned in WoW applicable and used in some form?

Also, how does loot typically work in groups? There doesn't seem to be any system for loot distribution, just a free-for-all type environment.

Anyway, any and all help is eagerly awaited and very much appreciated!

Thanks.

[talismar]

The tribe members are linked so you attack one and they all come running. To my knowledge all tribes are this way. On the main land some creatures (like messabs and crays) are social - attack one next to another and they both will come fight you; some creatures could careless that your slaughtering their kin and will ignore the fight.

Group mechanics are similar (pulling, tanking, ect) but there are some differences. Aggro management isn't based purely on damage/heals; position also plays a part - If the critter goes after the healer, the tank can often take agro back by physically putting themselves between the critter and healer. I am also told that the quicker melee attacks tend to keep the critters attention.

There is no system setup for group looting. Best is to agree on the division of loot before hand. In some boss hunts my spouse has been on that are of mixed guilds, the parts are split equally between the members; That way everyone gets something even if its not what they really need/want.

[katriell]

I am also told that the quicker melee attacks tend to keep the critters attention.

They also have a liking for low-level dual-wielders.

[thlau]

The tribe members are linked so you attack one and they all come running. To my knowledge all tribes are this way.

Most of the time you are right, if you attack one, they all come after you, but the distance between the tribe member you attack and the other tribe members plays a role too. If they are too far from the action, they won't come and support their comrades.

[fiach]

It really comes down to the fighters taunt skill in a situation like that.

There is no way to advise you except maybe to always try to kill the tribe members that are furthest from others, first. Pull them away with Taunt or edge up to them until the see you, but only one sees you.

Dont use AoE on "Social" mobs as they are called.

Spam heal on the melee person, so they can kill with relative impunity and hold the aggro with Taunt.

Fear is a handy spell to thin out the aggressors.

What we normall do is form a skirmish line at the back of healers and nukers.

Send melee in to pull the mobs and hold aggro as the healers and nukers do their work.

Regarding loot, well melee usually pick it up and at the end or if someone leaves early, the loot gets distributed evenly. Its down to trust really.

Welcome to Ryzom

[gillest]

Further experience on the Island may give you a better idea about grouping: I am thinking more particularly about the Kirosta boos which u need a good team to kill.

Island is not the best place for grouping as mobs are too easy and xp in group are really reduced.
The mainlands are completely different and group strategy comes in much more often: main reason is mobs are much stronger and three tanks might not do the trick without a proper healer or nuker for high dmg.

Tanks have also a very good group skill: taunt which allow you to take the mob away from the healer: some mobs have a real taste for healers

[cygnus]

When attacking a new group a good tactic is to always leave one player away from the action. especially when you know it will be a multiple attack. This way, when you die, which is usual the first time, you have someone near to rez the group.

You then have a little more knowledge of how difficult the situation is going to be. You may need to form a larger group, re-evaluate your roles etc.

It's all part of the learning curve. Different tactics work in different situations. What works well for one fight may well be totally inappropriate for another which is why its always good to have more than one skill. The adapatable fighter group will win over a group with strict set roles.

Oh and above all, everyone should have some form of healing capability.

Chaos can also be great fun. Some of my best encounters have been in a large group where no-one knows quite what they are doing and as you are being attacked from all sides there is little time to assign roles etc

[cloudy97]

Fights are generally a bit more chaotic than World of Warcraft, but the usual setup with tank, healer, nuker works pretty well here too.

[kayak]

from what i hear mobs interact with each other more here than in WoW so you can be happily killing some herbivore when an agro mob runs over to munch on something nearby then turning it's attention on you. this happens alot and it part of the game making it more fun and exciting to play.

other things to make the game more 'fun' is that some mobs migrate. so an area that seems safe can in a matter of mins be agro infestation. this can particularly be a problem on treks. the leader may see a gap in agro but as the group passes through agro moves and a team can find itself in very sticky situations.


a few things to be aware of:

it can be very tricky to hold agro of more than 2 mobs especially if your healers/elementalists are close to your tank. so stand back a bit. let the tank take the agro and use circular to hold it.

keeping the tank alive is probably the most important thing but many of you will know this from other mmo's, second most important person is the main healer, if they run out of sap/hp then so will the tank run out hp.

watch out for those players with pns too. Psycho Nuker Syndrome is a reall problem and can be the death of many a team. it is often ammusing to watch (not so ammusing when it hapens to you) the healer run out of sap, tank then dies yet the nuker still blasts away shouting
'heal, heal. guys i'm dead. oh so are you'
so if your a nuker don't forget to look at the team stats every so often throw a few cross heals every so often. i know it splits your xp but less xp is better than dp. a good nuker isn't somone who does the most damage, a good nuker is one that knows when to and more importantly when not to nuke.

hopefully a few helpfull tips

[iwojimmy]

Multiple attacking mobs - including bandits/tribespeople - will try to distribute themselves amongst your party.. so if your tank has one on him, the rest will look for anyone helping the tank ( healers) or attacking their friends (nukers) or just whoever is closest. The tank has to override this opponent teamwork by focusing the enemy as individuals upon himself either by hurting them or using Taunt.

on the island, Healing is a very difficult skill.. the healing power and amps you have available are weak, your teammates hitpoints are low, but your opponents also die quickly.. with the result that in-combat healing is pretty much a waste of time on RoS.

Once you get a few levels under your belt, and some decent equipment, the tanks can stand in the line of combat, and the mages can do some reasonable damage - at high personal cost thus requiring maintenance themselves - and the healers come into their own.

Healing is the most demanding of the combat functions.. tanks set their atacks on auto-cycle, and chat away or go get coffee, and mages just spam their favourite damage spell, but healers have to watch the team, and provide the right healing to the right people, in time to keep the party alive. Constantly changing targets and spell.

With elemental magic having the highest damage output, a party may use a single melee as a tank, but you cant comfortably work with only a single healer - for sustainabillity you need 2 healers that can replenish each others sap etc.
By the same token, if you have enough time, a team of a tank and 2 healers can kill anything that doesnt kill them outright (providing the tank can hit it )


Loot management is purely voluntary. i have seen loot rosters made, and teams where each member looted until they were full, and various agreements reached. At higher levels loot is less of a concern (for me anyway) so you get people who forego looting when in a team or only loot to encourage respawns.