If you want to know how hard MMORPGs actually get

[aelvana]

Was just on my Everquest guild's forum and thought I'd paste one of the old strategies we memorized and used for one of the harder events in the game. If one person misses their cue, or slips up in the least, 50+ people would have to start the entire event over. If you thought Ryzom was hard, read on...

Step One: Outline of the script

The script is timed in stages, it is extremely detailed and it requires everyone to be alert at every single moment. It can be broken into stages, 10 to be exact. The basics are: bind outside of Tactics, clear to the first trigger mob, drag first trigger as you clear to the second trigger, kill both triggers within 6 minutes of each other, Tallon Zek and Vallon Zek spawn, Kill tallon zek, clear to Vallon Zek, Kill Vallon Zek all within 20 minutes spawning fake Rallos Zek, clear to engage room quickly prepping and getting ae tl window up, engage fake RZ when he despawns take ae tl, gather outside Tactics (at bind spot) and get AE Lev (FoE preferrably), move into pit to prep area and get buffed, engage Rallos Zek the Warlord and deal with adds, get flag.

hehe, now that you have read that, i will break it down:

Stage 1: Prep and clearing

Everyone must bind outside of Tactics stone, everyone. Raid will be built and we will be fully buffed with: 2 junk buffs first, then mgbs. You need Fire resists and magic for this event. You need clicky effect items , please make sure you have them. Once buffed correctly the raid will begin to clear to the first trigger, at this time there will be 2 to 3 people pulling. During clearing there will never be more then 2 mobs pulled to camp. We will have MA, SPlitter and a designated Knight to deal with adds and splits.

Stage 2: Decorin Berik and Decorin Grunhork (trigger mobs)

We will clear to Decorin Berik and once he is clear, we will begin to move back and clear towards Decorin Grunhork. At this time Crowd Control team (part 1) will begin the task of debuffing and snaring Decorin Berik so that he can be dragged with us. The Crowd Control team will consist of Knight, Knight, Druid , Enchanter, Enchanter, Shaman. Part 1 of the team will be one knight, enchanter + druid and shaman. They will drag the mob behind the raid, snared and mezzed as needed. Once the raid has cleared to Decorin Grunhork, the second part of the Crowd Control team + the druid and shaman will move Decorin Grunhork to the other trigger.

Stage 3: Killing of Triggers and Positioning

Once we have the two triggers secured we will proceed to kill them one at a time. We have 6 minutes to kill both. These mobs will be killed at the far most bottom right of the map (just by Grunhork spawn spot) Once the first trigger dies everyone will be as close to the far right corner as possible as we kill the second. Upon the death of the second Trigger, Tallon Zek will spawn IN THAT HALL, it is important that everyone be in that corner. Vallon Zek Also spawns at the same time, close by.

Stage 4: Tallon Zek

Tallon Zek spawns in the hallway we just cleared by and the one in which we are huddled intothe far right corner (check the map). This Tallon Zek will be tanked by a knight. This knight and the complete heal rot will actually be ready to engage before the death of the second trigger so as to avoid him aggro'ing the raid as a whole. The Knight, once ready (if not already aggro'd) will engage TZ and will be only concerned with maintaining aggro. He will fight tz a fair distance away from the raid (almost centered in the hallway). Once the order to engage is called, this will be a ranged only fight and it will be a paced fight. This means that nuking and archery will be done slowly and steady. Watch for calls to slow down, stop or speed up. Aggro management is the key to this fight, watch and listen for instructions. Note we have 20 minutes once TZ and VZ spawn to kill both. Once TZ dies, everyone will move behind the MA and face the corner they just moved from. Buffing needs to be done quick at this time for anyone who died.

Stage 5: Clearing to Vallon Zek

Clearing to Vallon Zek (may happen before TZ is dead, depending on how that fight goes) will be fast and efficient. About this time we will be expecting respawns. We will need to deal with respawns and with the mobs in VZ's room. The key is to get VZ with as few mobs as possible but fast enough to allow us to defeat him before the 20 minutes expire. The clearing team will need to determine before the trigger mobs are killed how much preclearing will be done. Once VZ is ready to pull, it will be called and Crowd Control needs to be ready to get any and all adds mezzed immediately (Knights will need to drag aggro on adds till chanters park em).

Stage 6: Vallon Zek

Vallon Zek will be tanked by the MT. He procs a decrease in hate on the MT and an increase in hate on all others in AE range. He hits much harder then the regular VZ that spawns in the tower in PoT. He is slowable, but till slowed his ATK is high good healing rot is a must. Once he "dies" he will split into 2 versions of himself, both hit for considerably less, but one is not slowable. The MT will choose a target and the Knight who tanked TZ will take the other. Once these both die, Rallos Zek the fake version will spawn. We will rez and quick buff and refresh fire resist buffs to all.

Stage 7: Moving/Prepping/ engaging Rallos Zek (fake)

Once VZ drops and all are rezzed, we are back on a timer, 20 minutes to be exact, to kil the fake RZ. At this time we will move the raid into the room where VZ spawned, we will move to the bottom right corner on the map. At this time, very quickly, we will ensure everyone has fresh fire resists and all mages have Fire DS'd the raid. As buffs are being done any remaining mobs nearby or in the room will be pulled to ensure they do not add during the fake RZ fight. This will include pulling from the opposite hall we came from. Once we are happy with buffing and clearing we will engage the fake RZ. BUT, at this time, a wizard will cast AE TL. Everyone is to leave this ae tl window up and move it to the side. The AE TL window is VERY important, DO NOT accept or decline it at this time.

Stage 8: Fake Rallos Zek

The main tank will engage and corner fake RZ in the bottom left corner of the room. He AE rampages, he hits fast and hard, but he is slowable. As RZ is pulled the event starts. Adds begin to spawn from the 2 hallways. All crowd control personal (bards, enchanters) will be responsible for trying to control the adds until fake Rz "dies". Shamans and druids will need to watch out for the crowd controllers to make sure they survive. Meanwhile the MT will build agro and call engage on RZ, once engage is called, max melee and kill him fast, at 70% a wizard will recast AE TL, make sure you have this up, it is absolutely important. At 60% fake RZ dies, once he dies, TAKE THE TL. Now one last thing, if you are getting close to dying (30% health) if you are not MT rot, CC or Healing Rot, take your TL out. You are no good to the raid dead.

Stage 9: Prep and Buffing for Rallos Zek the Warlord

Everyone should be outside at their bind now, naked or clothed. If you died, you will immediately disband from your group and group with a necro, enter tactics and get your corpse summoned, rezzes will be done after the event. The key now, if you died, is to get your corpse and get back outside to your bind spot at the Tactics stone. Once everyone is clothed and back in their groups, we will Buff and MOST IMPORTANT, we will MGB Flight of Eagles (or DMF if no druids have MGB up). EVERYONE must be levitated. Once buffing is complete, you will ne instructed to zone into tactics and get ready to move to the pit. Once everyone is inside we will hurry to the pit, and move to the left handside (you will be following your raid leader closely). At this time positioning will be setup. PLEASE NOTE, stage 9 must be done in about 15 minutes from the death of fake RZ. We are on a new 20 minute timer after the death of fake RZ, last thing we need is people to not know their roles and cause delay.

Stage 10: Killing Rallos Zek the Warlord

RZtWL is a difficult fight for a few reasons. First off, he AE Rampages, second he has a fire based dot that does damage and mana drain and lastly he spawns, adds and adds and adds. Positioning will be straightforward and group make ups will be specific (and set at the beginning of the entire event. MT group and cleric groups will have Bards. The AE is a 100 resist check so everyone should have PoS and Mage DS (if possible) to aid in resisting the AE. AE Rampage is cured (as per normal) by melee being at max melee (he has a huge hitbox). Casters will line up behind the clerics and in range of the cleric's bard song (resists). For all those fighting RZtWL the key here is DPS, once the MT calls engage, the key is to maintain your dps without being summoned and killed. Enchanters and Druids will empty the pig pen and CoD/CoT pets and have them ready. Now, the third killer part are the adds. For this we will have one very large kite / Crowd Control team. Paladins and Rangers will be the kite team, they will snare and stun to get aggro then run like scared little girsl with the adds on them AWAY from the raid. 90 seconds after Rallos Zek is damaged mobs will begin to spawn from the corpses in the pit. Adds will spawn in waves every 54 seconds from that point on. Key to winning RZtWL is to keep the adds under control, that will be the duty of the Kite/CC team. If all goes well this team will have many pets and be able to toss them at RZ, if things go well we will have one poor kiter doing laps of the pit running for his collective life trying to keep them occupied while the raid kills RZ.

Once RZtWL dies, it is imperative that /rs and /gu stays clear, odds are many have died, you will need to be dragged and rezzed fast. Depending on the add situation we will adjust what we do next, this is the ONLY planar projection you can hail and receive a flag while invised, so worst case scenario, the dead will get SOE at bind spot, get invised, run to the pit, drop down and hail the pp then zone back out.

[jdiegel]

This was a newbie crafting mission, right?

[jenuviel]

Now I remember why I left EQ as a level 14 cleric. I tell a lie; five years later and I've still never forgotten why I left EQ. *shudder* As games go, that one was never about relaxation. It was very much a "How much can you take?" kind of game. Everytime you felt like answering "as much as you can give," something (or a train of somethings) would come along and eat your entire level for breakfast and take a little more for desert. Either that, or the downtime would devour your happiness in one bite. Pretty game with lovely cities and the first faction system, but unpleasant enough to keep me away from any Verant product or anything with the letters "E" or "Q" in it for the rest of my life.

"EQ- it's not just a game, it's your life." (40-hour work week included in package; paycheck sold separately).

[neofuzz]

I've seen harder

[baron66]

Kind of reminds me of the invaded town events that happend in Horizons before I had left, where the mobs were so damn powerful there was a total of 10, Yes 10, people that could possibly go toe to toe and not get instantyl killed ( mind you they couldnt solo them).

That really uscked when you couldn't go to x town because y player wasn't on.

[thantos]

Yeah, I remember that. I played a 65 Shaman and got the first ever SLOW to land on Mithaniel Marr too... we found some great enjoyment in the complexity of those events.

I do not see any way to compare the two other than they are MMORPG. While I am done with EQ, I must say...it had immense content, questing, upgrading, exploration and one could solo exclusivly without ever needing a guild.

Areas of non-aggro in nearly every zone allowed an affliction based player to "Kite" or "Quad" depending on class.

Dungeons, Planes, vast swamps and expanses...High levels, low levels... it fit all types of players.

In comparison... SoR is less expansive and losing the interest of those who want to solo or explore...

[aelvana]

I actually loved those raids It was really something to be proud of when you got 50+ people to coordinate to that level for a couple hours. Stressful though? Of course.

EDIT: Thantos, I didn't mean to compare the two, just illustrate how hard these games get

[baldur01]

Glad I never played that game.

[jjm152]

Yeah, I remember that. I played a 65 Shaman and got the first ever SLOW to land on Mithaniel Marr too... we found some great enjoyment in the complexity of those events.

I do not see any way to compare the two other than they are MMORPG. While I am done with EQ, I must say...it had immense content, questing, upgrading, exploration and one could solo exclusivly without ever needing a guild.

Areas of non-aggro in nearly every zone allowed an affliction based player to "Kite" or "Quad" depending on class.

Dungeons, Planes, vast swamps and expanses...High levels, low levels... it fit all types of players.

In comparison... SoR is less expansive and losing the interest of those who want to solo or explore...

EQ was far more difficult (if you were in a raiding guild anyway) than Ryzom is. I don't think anyone is going to debate that.

However, it was also much more rewarding like thanatos says. There was content. I won't even say "more content", because considering Ryzom has "0" content, any content at all would be "more content".

All joking aside, EQ was a vastly more compelling game than Ryzom currently is. Comparing the two in anyone minds except the most bitter ex-EQ player is gunna make Ryzom look bad.

I played EQ for 3 years. I had fun. I eventually got tired of the game... but I can't remember the last game I played for 3 years. Hell I don't think I ever played *any* game for 3 years.

[thantos]

I actually loved those raids It was really something to be proud of when you got 50+ people to coordinate to that level for a couple hours. Stressful though? Of course.

EDIT: Thantos, I didn't mean to compare the two, just illustrate how hard these games get

Yes, I fully understood you, aelvana....

Just wanted to point out, that if EQ had been group only, tactics heavy like the raiding.. they would nevr have survived with such a large customer base. It was the 10 year old who could whack Orcs or the 40 year old who led a guild...it fit all types.

SoR has a long way to go to support all players in a balanced game at the moment.