body{ color:white; word-wrap:break-word; } function setHeight() { parent.document.getElementById('walkthroughframe').style.height = ( document['body'].offsetHeight + 25 ) + 'px'; } Everquest II - Grouping Guide *********\*********\********\*********\*********\*********\*********\********* Everquest II Grouping Guide (www.everquest2.com) E-mail: [email protected] Written by: Nghtmr9999 Version 1.0.0 ----------[Table of Contents]---------- Section 1 - Group Basics.........................(grou) Section 2 - How to find a group..................(find) Section 3 - Class Roles..........................(clas) Section 4 - The People to Avoid..................(avoi) Section 5 - Helpful Macros.......................(macr) Section 6 - Version History......................(vers) Section 7 - Special Thanks.......................(spec) Section 8 - Copyright Info/ Info..........(copy) ----------[Introduction]---------- Hello once again. My name is Nghtmr9999, and this is my third guide I have written for this wonderful MMORPG. You will learn good grouping manners, how to function in groups, and how to spot potential problem players. This guide focuses a bit more on instance grouping rather than quest grouping. A plus to grouping is making friends. You group with somebody, and you become good friends with them. Lets say this friend is a priest. So... if you need a priest for a group, you have somebody to ask! And he has a warrior friend that he can ask to group as well. Becoming good friends with people might result in discounted items (maybe sometimes free), or possibly he will help you out on a high level alt. It pays to be nice doesn't it? =) Now, on with the guide! ----------[Section 1 - Group Basics]----------(grou) A group can have up to six people in this game. From quest grinding, to instance running, there are some classes that groups just MUST have. With that out of the way, a good group should contain... Tank (ex: guardian) Off-Tank (ex: monk) Crowd Control (ex: conjuror) Caster (ex: wizard, warlock) DPS (scout) Priest Feel free to vary this basic group structure as needed for your specific instance/quest needs. Also, e-mail me with any more good 6-person groups, and I will put it in the guide (if I get enough, i'll make a new section for it). Taken from my Everquest II Guide... (Buffing) Before the group even begins anything, everybody who has a buff should cast it on the party. The more powerful buffs should be casted on the tank. Bards have good buffs, along with priests. If you have a buff that increases your attack damage, HP, or whatever, be sure to cast these too. (Pulling) This is how you get a monster to your group 95% of the time. Pulling involves pulling a monster with an arrow, or a long distance magic spell. In some cases this can also involve you going right up to the monster, attacking it, then running back to your group before you die. A heavy armored warrior make the best tanks. However, a mage can pull with a spell, then a warrior can take the hate. At first, only pull one or two heroics at a time, so you can see what your group can handle, and what it can't. Just don't think you are some invincible tank that will never die. Everybody has a limit on how many mobs they can handle at once. Once you can handle 2 heroic mobs, start pulling 3 at a time, and maybe even 4 at a time. Just be sure the hate is on you, and not the priest. Another point is to check the level of the mob you are pulling. (You, a level 30 VS 2 level 40 heroic mobs) who would win? Pull mobs at or around your level. A safe level range for heroics would be any level below yours, to about 2-3 levels above. (Tanking) Tanking. If you are a heavy armored warrior, this is your job. All you have to do is take all the melee and magical attacks (sounds fun, huh?) Never fear because if you have a priest in your group (please tell me you didn't forget to get one) you will be fine. Just be sure you're the one taking all the damage, and not your groupmates. Warriors get lots of hate spells to use on enemies. Be sure to use them. When soloing, you have no need for hate. So just focus on keeping yourself alive. Once you get low on health, spam your attacks and try to take the enemy down. If you get REALLY low on health; run. (Healing) Healing... it well.... erm.... does what it says it does. Heal. Keep your groupmates alive. You do that, they're happy, and you're happy. If you don't heal them, they get mad, they see if they can find another priest to replace you with, then they KICK YA! So be sure to heal, and everything will be fine. Soloing is a different story. First of all, priests wear light armor. Meaning they take a lot of damage when get hit. So what I would suggest is to pull one or two enemies that are white or below non-heroic, or one yellow non-heroic. (ing) The agro is now on the main tank. Your job (if you aren't the tank) is to unleash combo after combo to bring the enemy HP as quick as you can. DON'T overdo it though, as this can lead to the enemy beating on you. On my 40-something warlock, when the main tank had agro, i usually counted to 5 before i started unleashing my spells. This gave the tank plenty of time to get the monsters really mad at him, and not anybody else. ALWAYS TO ASSIST! (Running) So you miscalulated, and you need an escape route. If you are deep in a dungeon well, you're pretty much SOL. Gone. Finished. Dead. I say this because most dungeons have heroics and having about 15 of them chase after you doesn't work out so well in the end. Maybe you're lucky and some group behind you killed them all, or the enemies didn't spawn yet. Whatever the case may be, a try could never hurt. If you are a priest, you should try to get to a safe place, because they can revive everybody, then you can get on your way once again. And some more useful info taken from my EQII Guide... DONT - Loot items you don't need. This is a biggie. You will often be fighting named monsters which drops very, very good items. The high level group x4 monsters. Warriors can wear the heaviest armor. But if you can't, DO NOT roll for it. The only exception is if this warrior doesn't need the item, then you can loot it. If it's the other way around, and you truly DO need the item, say something like "I need" or "need" or "can i have?" Most people (if they havent rolled already) will listen and on the item. DO - Set loot in parties to lotto This way, no matter what item is picked up, everybody has a chance of winning. Lotto is the only EVEN way to roll for items. No matter what your level is, no matter what race you are, no matter what class you are, no matter how good or bad you play, you have an EVEN chance to win. This creates fewer arguments and makes a better group. DONT - Forget to change the options The default is FREE FOR ALL; unless you change it in your options. If you do forget however, the other players will remind you to change it. If you still don't change it, they may just leave the group entirely. DONT get mad at priests who let you die (unless they wern't doing anything) If you die when a priest isn't healing you, don't go "..." or "WTF? Why wern't you healing me?" or "You ran out of mana?" If you die, it's because the other people wern't doing their jobs, or the monsters were too tough for the group to handle. Another reason is you did a bad job with agro and the priest had to waste mana keeping himself alive. ----------[Section 2 - How to find a group]----------(find) Now, the very first thing to do is to grab a drink and a snack. Yes, you read this correctly. Your group might spend a good few hours together and you want to be prepared don't you? =P Next, type /lfg in the chat window. This LFG (looking for group) flags you. You can also check your guild, and do a /lfg in zone chat. Hopefully, someone will whisper you something along the lines of "hey, want to us? we're doing " or "Want to quest with us? we have a great priest." Now... why group? Well, you might want to group to make questing go by easier, you need help with a really tough quest, or you are doing an instance that requires a group. Maybe you're just killing mobs for fun, or you want to make friends. Or, you are fighting a group x2, x3, or x4 monster, or going into a raid dungeon, each group MUST have a tank, healer, and good DPS classes. The raid leader may assign you to a certain task (ex: taking care of monsters the boss summons) Also, you could be one of those kind-hearted level 70 players who run other lower players through instances. Sometimes higher level players run guildmates through areas, or help them with quests. If you need an instance run, or quest help, ask your guild. The worst thing they can say is "no" right? ----------[Section 3 - Class Roles]----------(clas) Warriors: These people are what some refer to as "meat shields." They take the bulk of the damage, keeping it off his fellow groupmates. Warriors should know how to pull, and keep hate on them. Pull the mob back so scouts can get behind them and unleash the full potential of their attacks. Also, make a macro along the lines of "Now pulling %t" so the group knows to get ready for a group of monsters. These guys may also be named tanks. Off-Tanks: People like monks who assist the tank. They can deal a good deal of damage, but do be careful with your damage. You don't have the heavy armor like the tank does. Have an /assist macro and use it so you target the same thing the warrior does. Mages: The class that wears the lightest armor in the game. The job of a mage class is to DPS the crap out of the mob. HOWEVER, you must be careful with the damage, because you might pull agro off the warrior. And... you don't last as long as a warrior does with tough monsters pounding on you. Illusionists should daze one of the monsters, using a macro along the lines of "Dazing %t no touch!" Priests: The most adored class in the game in my opinion. These are the nice fellows keeping the group alive. Typically the ideal situation is to kill the mobs before your priest(s) run out of mana. Keep these people alive! Now if you are a priest, your most important job is to heal the tank (and others who gain hate). And if needed, bring people back to life if they die. You should make a "low on mana" macro and a "out of mana" macro Scouts: Ahhh yes, the DPSers. The people who will be unloading massive amounts of damage upon the enemies. Like the mages, wait for the warrior to gain hate before bringing mobs down. Most of the scout's attacks require them to be behind the enemy, or on the side of them. Before entering combat, stealth, so you can open with a stealth attack. Be sure to make an /assist macro, so you target the same monster as the tank does. ----------[Section 4 - The People to Avoid]----------(avoi) Unfortunately, there will always be people who just annoy you. If it appears you have come across one of these people listed below, they should be kicked. And if they continue to bother you, just ignore them. Here are some of those people to keep an eye out for. "Hate Generator" - The scout that just dpses the snot out of the mob. Thats the cause. The effect? Agro on him, so priest has to waste mana healing him. The effect of that is the priest generates agro on that mob. So now... the priest has a monster on him, and has to waste mana healing himself. Which, can finally lead to the priest dying, which leads to the group dying. "Bailer" - The person who ditches you if the group dies. Or the person who goes AFK for long periods of time, leaving the group very, very underpowered. Can be quite annoying, espically if its a warrior or priest. Leads you to wasting time finding a replacement, waiting for him/her to get there, then go all the way back to the entrance to meet up. "Scouter" - Somebody who goes ahead and checks the monster situation, checks if a named is up, or see if there are people up ahead. This may result in mobs being pulled to an unprepared group, or seperation from your groupmate. "Mr. Bossy" One who tells you exactly what spells to cast, how to play your class (when you already know how to) the "proper" way. "Begger" - The guy who begs for items because an alt of his needs it, or his guild needs it, his friend needs it, etc. Says please a lot. "Stealer" - These people should go straight on ignore with no mercy. They roll need on every single item that drops. Or they roll need on an amazingly rare item, then use their teleport to go back to the city, then leave the group. Feel free to e-mail me with any additional people to avoid. ----------[Section 5 - Helpful Macros]----------(macr) I will now list some helpful grouping/raiding macros. I will use the symbols below to show which macros are most helpful to which class. | T - Tank | OT - Off Tank | M - Mage | P - Priest | S - Scout | | A - Make in macros | C - PvP Combat | All - All classes | /assist (Assists tank) [OT, M, S] /g pulling %t (Sends to group, "Pulling ) [T] [A] /g low on mana (Sends to group, "Low on mana" [M, P] [A] /g out of mana (Sends to group, "Out of mana" [M, P] [A] /ooc Level LFG (Sends to out of character "Level LFG") [T, OT, M, P, S] [A] /g Enemy on me (Sends to group, "Enemy on me") [P] [A] /g %t spotted, a %r (Sends to group, " spotted, a [All] [C] /g Dazing %t DO NOT TOUCH (Sends to group, Dazing DO NOT TOUCH [M] ----------[Section 6 - Version History]----------(vers) V1.0.0 - Guide Written ----------[Section 7 - Special Thanks]----------(spec) SoE - For making this game. All the sites that are currently hosting my guide. And a very special thanks to you, for reading my guide. ----------[Section 8 - Copyright Info/ Info]----------(copy) The following sites have my permission to publish my guide GameFAQS Gamespot This may be not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal, private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly without advance written permission. Use of this guide on any other web site or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright. All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their respective trademark and copyright holders. Copyright 2007 - Nghtmr9999 DO E-mail me about... -Incorrect Information -Questions about hosting my guide -Websites using this guide that aren't listed above -Suggestions to make my guide better -Missing Information -Concerns about my guide (anything inappropriate) -Spelling/Grammar Errors -Broken links (Shortcuts on contents don't match the corresponding section) -Information in this guide that breaks any copyright -If my guide forces your browser to scroll horizontally (space at end of line) DO NOT E-mail me about... -SPAM -Personal Questions, like my full name, address, etc. -Begging for items/coin. Sorry, I just don't give away huge sums of money. -Asking for GM rights/powers. (I'm just not a GM) -Viruses. I have excellent virus software. So don't waste your time. -Attachments. I wont open them from you. So once again don't try. Repeated violations of the above will result in your e-mail address getting blocked. Well, thats it. I hope you enjoyed reading this guide. Now.... GO! Go to the world of Norrath and get a group. Meet new people; make friends. 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