A lil problem with HOs and something intereseting i found on the brooker

[madha]

<DIV>So i get callled to be MT in RE so i head over and we got a  well balanced grp one of each subclass.  </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>  SO the Ho's are a flying i love grps that use HOs btw. And im getting anoyed cause the caster, i think, advances mine and i get a prompt to either use my sheild or a non encounter based AOE fleglin twist, little fist symbol thats not for buffs cant remember. Now this is a awsome nuke when it goes off but no way in hell am i useing a AOE around none argo stuff and my sheild bash has what a 15 sec reuse, so id like a shortened sheild spell less damage no stun i dont realy care, or more arts i can use in this situation, now there might be some arts that i could use but arnt flashing wich brings me to my next problem.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>   We get a HO prompt a big one were 4 people need to do something and i know the symbol wants me to cast a buff but nothing flashes at all,,now i cast anyway so no big deal  but seems a little off to me.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Last thing on the brooker at lvl 38 i found a orange spell that uses Faith as a ability and callled Doom something, some kind of encounter aoe dot that slows target.. Now if it was a adept i migh have thought it came from the tomb of night but it was app3, so crafted..  WAs this a new spell that we dont auto get as a app1?</DIV> <DIV> </DIV>

[SunT]

<P>Doom Strike is part of the new expansion.  It is a boomer AOE with a long reset.</P> <P>The two HO symbols are the 'fist', which goes to shield, and the 'arm' that is the ward or heal I think.</P> <P>I have not seen either of them flash since last patch.</P> <P> </P>

[SanJ]

<P>I have had wonderful success with HOs.  Rarely, do I group and not use at least 3 man HO sequences while always striving for the 4 man HOs.  You can create some uber buffs with HOs and inflict large amounts of damage while likewise conserving mana.  </P> <P>However, HOs are not always the easiest thing to explain or utilize with an untrained group.</P> <P>The first step is to become familiar with all the HO buttons in your own class.  This is a rather easy step to accomplish by simply right clicking your attacks/wards/heals on the hotkey bars and choosing examine.  You will quickly note the icons associated with spells and abilities in the examine window are the same icons used to start, advance and complete HOs.</P> <P>I am by no means an HO expert, but I fancy myself as knowledgeable in this area and use them daily!  I am complimented at least every other day on my efficiency and usage of HOs in our group--but I do have to explain things (coordinate) them early on sometimes.  Most people are more then happy to have you coordinate an HO event, especially when they see how easy and successful they are.  I tend to stick with the same one for several encounters to make sure the whole group has them down well.</P> <P>I'll do the following:</P> <P>/g stop pressing specials for a few minutes and let's try a nice 3 man HO to save our power<BR>/g scout class please start the HO event <BR>/g I'm taunting now to push the HO to the mage<BR>/g The mage needs a lightning strike to open the combat wheel for the 3 man HO (buddy calls it the chicken leg in teamspeak .. haha)<BR>/g everyone work hard to complete your step in the 3 man HO before the timer stops<BR>(upon success)<BR>/g Great work all!!!  Let's try another one</P> <P>Note: typing a 100 words a minute helps, but if you can't macro some of that if need be <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />  You'll be happy you did!</P> <P>blue icons - fighters, yellow icons - healers, red icons - mages, green icons - scouts</P> <P>In a full group it's usually best to have the scout class start an HO.  As a fighter, you should make the next decision on how to advance the HO to the combat wheel.  If you taunt, the potential exists for a mage to be part of a 3 man HO that includes fighter, scout and mage.  If you kick (kick, charge, vengence) you pass the HO along to the healer class for a 3 man HO that includes fighter, scout and healer.  This is one of the most basic ways to quickly control 3 man HOs and choose the 3 group member classes you want to participate.</P> <P>Typically, I switch up between pushing to the mage and pushing to the healer to make everyone feel important in the group (and to get a nice variety of buffs!)  However, it's often wise to leave the healer out of the HO chain so they can focus exclusively on keeping the tank alive <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />  If health is prime, I will pass an HO along to the healer for even more buffs on the group.</P> <P>The trick is to trio with a fighter, scout, mage or fighter, scout, wiz and practice until it's old school technology.  You saw me mention teamspeak earlier which makes this process easier, but it's not necessarily.  I can pick up an add group member and have them 3 man and 4 man HO'ing in minutes when they've barely done solo HOs.</P> <P>The less known feature of HOs is that scouts have the ability to "flip" or "change" the combat wheel!  However, there is a twist you should be aware of early.</P> <P>We all know that as a lower level pally, the "flexed arm" icon is a slow caster and takes awhile to regen (divine inspiration).  A good scout will recognize this and "flip" the HO wheel to a different sequence of events that will still allow chain HOs with no downtime.  The twist comes into play when the combat wheel is open.  If  you study the bottom right corner of the combat wheel a green coin object is present.  This represents the ability of the scout to "flip" or change the HO.  The scout may elect to flip or change the HO at any time between the HO countdown to zero or (the important part) until any group member completes one of the icons on the combat wheel.  If a group member does their thing before the scout can flip the combat wheel it's locked and may not be changed.  Likewise, the scout flipping the HO wheel will not always get a new sequence of events--it is random.  If the coin is not present on the bottom right side of the combat wheel, it is already too late for the scout to flip the events or the scout has already flipped the events and you are stuck with the current HO options only.</P> <P>Things to note as a Pally:</P> <P>If your group consists of NO mages - do not taunt to advance the scout started HO or it will advance to a mage sequence to complete.  There is a chance the scout could bail you out if this happens, but it is random.  Instead of choosing a taunt to advance, kick instead to include the healer.</P> <P>If your group consists of NO healers (heaven forbid), do not kick to advance the scout started HO or it will advance to a healer sequence to complete.</P> <P>If either of the events above happen and the scout is having no luck flipping the wheel, start a new HO as quickly as possible.</P> <P>If you are in a duo situation, the fighter should start the HO and allow the other class to advance the wheel to ensure two man HOs always work with the fighter and other class.</P> <P>There are many HO events that do NOT include the fighter that have nice effects and bonuses.  If you are in a good group, step aside from time to time and allow for some of the no-fighter-included 3 man HOs to receive maximum buff benefits.</P> <P>I hope this helps a little.</P> <P>I banged out two or three 4 man HOs with a group of buddies (our ALTs) at level 14-16 that allowed us to have 0 downtime on scarecrows in antonica with only 4 total group members, one of which had never done HOs before that day.  We could often complete four consecutive HOs on a scarecrow with full power through death and use very little mana.  They were laughing at me because I got flustered if we only had a 2 person HO event like that was some kind of failure <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></P> <P>Thanks,</P> <P>Kalen</P>

[SanJ]

<DIV>I forgot to mention in my last post that as you level the Paladin tree, many options will exist for the flexed arm icon.  One specific HO has a yellow spike icon in the middle that means they should be completed in clockwise order.  If you cast before another group member completes their HO event, it will NOT count nor will it stick in the HO cycle.  Unfortunately, at least one HO event calls for our flexed arm as the last sequence in the HO event.  Of course we already know Divine Inspiration can take some time (missing the HO), so use something like one of your fast cast wards (Demonstration of Faith or an upgrade to that).  The ward casts very quickly and will save the HO.  Even if I see the person before me has NOT completed their HO event, I will wait literally until the counter is at 0 and about to fail, and launch DOF on myself anyway.  You'll be surprised to see how many times you land the HO anyway because the person in front of you was casting at the last second.  Blessed Aid (healing yourself or another) will also count towards the flexed arm icon.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>The four man HO I've participated in most starts with the combat wheel open asking for the fighter "boot" icon (kick, charge, vengence).  If you miss the first kick, quickly say in group .. missed kick, hold off on specials so the scout can flip the combat wheel in five seconds.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>The scout, as long as no one hits a special on the combat wheel, can wait until the count down timer is almost gone and still successfully flip the wheel.  I have NEVER seen the wheel on a four man HO pick a different four man HO.  It has ALWAYS been the same HO event (but with a brand new 10 second timer to complete)  This method will allow the recast timer on the boot to become available again and provide a second chance on that four man HO.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>The fun four man HO calls for fighter boot, scout cloak, wiz lightning and healer hammer icons (Ancient Demise)</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Good luck!</DIV> <DIV>Kalen</DIV>

[SanJ]

<DIV>The best study of three man HOs is located at:</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><A href="http://eq2.ogaming.com/db/list/heroic_3.php" target=_blank>http://eq2.ogaming.com/db/list/heroic_3.php</A></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Thanks,</DIV> <DIV>Kalen</DIV>

[MeridianR]

Awesome info on HO's... Personally not enough people use them when we  I group, and when I try to explain it, well lets just say its not worth it then. Though when I am with my guild, and with using TS, it becomes very easy to pull these off... Not only does HO'ing conserve power in a group without a power regen toon, but it also can substitute for a 3rd DPS in a full group. <div></div>

[Vaelorn]

<P>I know that when I took my rogue through betrayal to Freeport at level 17, I grouped with a level 17 Wood Elf crusader who was also betraying, and the two of us with low level quested equipment from Qeynos were able to duo kill all 5 of the named ^^ mobs for betrayal, mainly because of Luck's Bite.  Sure, we died a few times, and on Glan Mostyn, we *both* died, but we still killed all 5 of the mobs for quest credit, and we did it without any outside help.  Watching that level 17^^ named orc drop 383 health (almost two bubbles!) at the drop of a hat really made me appreciate duo Heroic Opportunities.  :smileywink:</P> <P>It also made me appreciate letting the tank finish all HOs whenever possible so he can get credit for the agro...  :smileyvery-happy:</P>