Group advice

[Raxen]

Hello,I've been playing for a while, but only solo. I want to start grouping, so I'm looking for some advice on how to avoid some newbie mistakes.I'm a level 24 Berzerker.Thanks.

[Zaknafiend]

Fire off your taunt, group taunt, and group attacks as soon as they refresh. Seems simple but you wouldn't belive how long it was before I started doing it regularly. As far as groups, I never join a group that doesn't have a healer, make sure you ask because they never tell you <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[Gastrocnemi]

<P>Another tip, if there is a scout class in the group make sure and do them a favor by turing the mob away from the group.  Scouts have alot of rear/side attacks and it prevents them from bringing further aggro to the group by attracting other mobs.</P> <P>Since I haven't played a tank for a long time, I'm sure others will be able to give you better advice on how to turn mobs.</P>

[Crowflight]

<P>Since you will probably be tanking for the group you will want to make sure your single and encounter taunts are at least Adept level to help you keep the mobs attention.  At level 25 you will get an ability called 'Rescue' don't forget about it when you really need to distract a mob from your healer or trigger happy dps groupmates in a hurry.  </P> <P>Don't forget to look around during a fight to make sure you are aware of any potential wandering threats to your group and check your groups power level (especially healer) before moving on to the next fight. </P>

[tvies]

<DIV>The biggest mistake I see many of my young zerkers make is pulling too many encounters.  That will kill the group faster than any missed taunt (though they are very important), is an extra encounter in the middle of the group.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Make sure that you spend some time in crowded situations (solo instances / zones) just pulling in a crowd of mobs.  Most of the encounters move in similar ways and just watching them can help you pull.  Best case situation is "body pulling".  This is when you don't use a CA or taunt to get the encounter's attention.  Sometimes when using a taunt or CA you draw attention to yourself and encounters near you will agro...even when you are out of range.  Once you get close enough watch for any change in the behavior (usually they will turn towards you).  Most importantly make sure you know the encounter's agro range.  Named MOBs have a larger agro radius.  This can make pulling encounters near the Named difficult, but possible.</DIV>

[schmee]

<div></div>first thing that tells me someone doesn't have much experience tanking is the very slow pace at which they pull, and the sloppiness of their pulls. next comes an inability to target quickly (or at all), and finally the complete inability to taunt. as suggested above, get your taunts maxed to whatever you can afford, but even more important use them all the time and frequently - if a monk 3 levels lower than you is getting taunt all the time then you're not doing your job. your job in a group is not to cause damage, it is to acquire and hold taunt so the healer doesn't need to throw their heals on other members of the group (healers have long recast timers in between their heals and if they are having to throw their heals on other members, it means it will be many second before they can heal you again). a healer will ideally want to target you at the beginning of a group and never have to change targets until the group is over. ideally anyway. go defensive - make sure you use a sword and board, don't show up to a group with your offensive stances, and dual weilding. you should always have the best mitigation shield on you, along with the highest DPS rated priamry single weild weapon on you so you have thebest possible mitigation you can have - most zerkers know this, but don't forget that everyone can see what buffs you're using, and they'll know if you're using the wrong stance. learn how to body(prox) pull if you haven't already. don't just fling arrows at something to pull it - especially true in dungeons you're not familiar with as often there will be a group around the corner you didn't know was there that will come along with your target when you pull it. make a macro that tells the group you're pulling and use it whenever you bring a pull - at least until your group is familiar with your pattern of pulling. never assume that the group knows you're pulling. also doing this gives you the chance to run off a bad pull. know where rescue is on your hotbar and be ready to use it. put interference and stuff on your healer. keep the pace up - don't worry about looting and stuff, let the guys in dresses behind you deal with that. pull, pull, pull. groups will be much happier if they have to tell you to slow down, than if they have to quietly wonder why you're not pulling very fast and therefore, whether they should log and save their vitality for a real experience group. basically if you're healer's power bar is full, you're probably pulling too slow - although sometimes this can't be avoided. give your healer a challenge, they like that. <div></div><p>Message Edited by schmee on <span class=date_text>10-14-2006</span> <span class=time_text>12:44 PM</span>

[joebyrdw]

<DIV>Everything said above it right on the money. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Always remember yours and everyone else's job. Your job is to keep the group alive. The healers job is to keep you alive. Scouts and mages job is to kill the mob. If you are doing your job correctly you will be the first to die should something go wrong.  </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Don't be afraid to be a [expletive haxx0red by Raijinn], take charge of the group and let them know how things are gonna run. New scouts and mages love to try pulling with they're biggest attacks. It is very difficult to pull mobs off a scout that just hit a mob for 1300 damage in the first hit even with master taunts. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Also I try to save rescue for the healer, and use my other taunts for the damage dealers. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Oh when you get Insolent gibe be very mindful of your surroundings it seems to have a huge effect radius. (Learned that one lastnight the hard way)</DIV>