Grouping questions

[Morgane]

Hi all. My main toon just hit lvl 30 tonight but he's mostly been soloing, with a few tiny forays into grouping. So I've decided it's time to join a guild and explore more of EQII. The last few nights I've grouped up with some wonderful folks but what i realized is that (duh) group play is a bit different from solo play. It's all about the little things... for instance, hitting the "tab" button to find an enemy target amongst all the toons and bad guys. And were my groupmates speaking english? Hard to say... too many acronyms. LOL I'd like to be a little more knowledgeable before I go knocking on any guild doors. Does anyone know where one can find some sort of "Guide to Grouping"? I'm sure it's here somewhere and I'm just missing it. <img src="/smilies/2786c5c8e1a8be796fb2f726cca5a0fe.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> Thank yew.

[retro_guy]

It might be worth looking at the guardian or fighter forums here, as your role (the tank) is critical to a smooth running group. In my opinion "Tabbing" to find the next mob to target is not the best option as you may "tab through" a mob you do not want to target, and at that exact time a caster fires a spell at them, bringing a mob to the group that you do not want. I prefer playing with tanks who click on the mob they want to target, that way the casters don't bring ads to the group. The thinks I find make a good tank: Turning the mob, so that it's back is toward the group. Pulling fast and keeping things rolling, but watching power of healers, and resting when needed. Good comminucation - make a macro saying "pulling %target (or whatever it is)" Insist on your group mates assisting you, and not targeting mobs directly. Good communication "wait here", "I will pull to here", "follow", "Stay in this corner"etc, it's no fun guessing if your should follow a tank into a room, only to do so and end dead as they wanted to just body pull 1 mob out into the hall. There should be a list or acrynms somewhere on the forums, but the few I use are fairly obvious. AFK - away from keyboard. BRB - be right back Bio - bio break needed Ad / add - unwanted extra creature hitting me OOP / oom - out or power / out of mana GTG - good to go G2G - got to go (I need to leave) KK - OK Pull - attack now Most locations, instance and zones are also talked about by their initials, and these are numerous, that would be a very long list.

[Novusod]

In grouping you need to assist the main tank. Click on the tank's name and and throw your attacks through him. That is all there is to it really.

[Elizabette]

On guilds... There are guilds out there will teach new players. I know on AB of a few that are very good and are more than willing to help out. I am sure each server has them too. Guild groups can be more understanding and forgiving than a regular PUG (pick up group). Just remember a things when looking for a guild: 1. ask questions to the recruiters, 2. Ask questions to the guild members, and 3. make sure you have fun!

[Morgane]

<p>Thanks guys... there is some good info here. The advice and suggestions are much appreciated! <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[Catsy]

<cite>Novusod wrote:</cite><blockquote>In grouping you need to assist the main tank. Click on the tank's name and and throw your attacks through him. That is all there is to it really. </blockquote> This is rarely the best way to assist. In fact, it's not even "assisting", although that's a common misconception. What you're describing is targeting through the tank, and while it's sometimes a good thing to do if the mobs are dying very fast, most of the time you should instead use an assist macro. I have one on my "1" slot on every toon, and all it contains is "/assist someplayersname". I take a moment to change that name to the MT when I join a new group, or to the MA when I'm in raid. There have been extensive debates about assist vs. target through, and while I don't really want to get into it in detail, there's a few very good reasons why tanks should insist that their group members /assist them, and why it's good practice for all players to make an /assist macro. First of all, most tanks must switch targets in order to maintain agro in encounters with more than one target. Some are better at AOE agro than others  (e.g. zerker, SK), but when grouping you need to assume that your tank will do this. If you attack while the tank is switching briefly to another target to taunt it, you could land a big nuke on a mob on which the tank hasn't built up the most agro. Regardless of the agro concerns, the mobs will die much faster if the group's firepower is concentrated on one target rather than spread around the encounter, resulting in less damage to the tank and less required healing. Finally, if you're a healer, /assisting the tank means that you will have the mob targeted, which means that if the tank loses agro and goes after someone else, you can heal whoever is getting wailed on without switching targets. There are times when you'll want to target the tank instead, or switch over to him, but most of the time it's better practice to target through the mob by /assisting the tank.