Ryzom

Things have changed significantly since I first started in this game back in the first open beta, and one of the things that has changed are the tactics employed in groups.

Back in the day (as it were) the best group tactics I saw was for the melee warriors to form a line, wedge or box formation with the healers behind so the mobs couldn't get to them. A circular formation was also very good for areas with mobs attacking from all sides. This way, the healers could get on with healing without worrying too much about getting hit by mobs, and the fighters could fight without worrying about their healers getting whacked. The main reason for the healers to be so close to the fight was so they could benefit from their own bomb heals, although this has changed now that bombs don't affect the caster.

What I would be interested to know is what are the tactics people currently employ when fighting in groups. Are they the same as I described above, or do people prefer to keep their healers at a safe range from the actual combat?

What are your thoughts on effective group tactics in the game as it stands at the moment?

I haven't seen many healers use a group heal (I presume this is what a bomb heal is). My experience as a frontline tank, is that taunt is very important. You have to keep on top of the aggro. Anything adds to the fight they have to be made to aggro me, the tank, at the front. I will pull two and three mobs onto me, rather than see a healer/mage start to battle. So I would say rather than strictly worrying about group positions, more emphasis should be placed on tanks with good enough taunt skills. I've tried to use the shielding skill at times, but it seems precarious to use, and a good taunt will shield someone much better by taking the aggro off them, rather than you taking *some* of the damage. I suppose it pans out like many other MMORPG's, keep the aggro on the tank, heal the tank, keep a mob taunted to prevent the nukers from getting any aggro.

I like the refined tactic of Blitzkrieg. Send the easily killed infantry(casters) in first and the tanks (melee) after them. Erm, it never works cuz they all are slaughtered. But hey its fun

My excellent tactic is to send everyone in to fight then go afk.

Another one that works well (that my guild can attest to) is to let the group get 2 or 3 more aggros than they were expecting and then accidentally nuke something completly different to join in the fun!

Nah - this game is still pretty basic. Tank pulls, tank takes aggro and keeps it with taunts, casters nuke, healers heal tank and, if theyre lucky, mages.

Doesn't need to be and isn't any more complex than that. Hopefully that'll change at higher levels but if it doesn't and you want more tactics, your out of luck (or playing the wrong game).

Actually, i'll amend that. Casters can do more fun stuff, but casting stun is hardly 'tactical'. CC with fear etc etc. Thing is though, your group players either know what theyre doing or they dont, none of it is tactics that are made up as general rules....for example your bomb theory is useful if more than 1 meleer is taking damage at once, but if not why is your healer wasting hp/sap bombing? If they wern't bombing, perhaps they wouldn't need to be in range of their own bomb heals =P

You get the point, its fluid.