A fledgling guide to Teaming

Ok I am trying to put together a quick guide to teaming. This is what I have so far. Any input would be appreciated.

Guide to Teaming.

Ok the following is information that I have picked up whilst reading various posts around the web. As far as I can tell there are 5 jobs in a good team. They are as follows.

The Jobs/Classes.

Healer
Puller
Tank
Crowd controller
Damage Dealer

For each of these jobs there are a couple of suitable character classes. The most suitable class for each job may change as you level up. For example Enforcers make great tanks, but Engineer bots are far better at higher levels.

I will just list the abilities that I believe each job requires rather than actual classes.

Healer - Individual Heals, Heal over time (Don’t forget to zone after casting), Team heal
Tank - Good defence and lots of Hit Points, aggro attraction
Crowd Control - Roots, slows, charms
Damage dealer - High damage guns or nukes
Puller - Fast

Ok once you have assembled your team take sometime to sit down and talk, don’t just rush straight off and start killing because you will probably just start dying.

The Talking

The most important thing you need to do is assign a Leader, this is the guy that will make all the decisions. More importantly make sure you are ready to do what he says.

Assign job roles and familiarise Character Classes /Roles with Names. This is very important especially for the Doc. Eg an enforcer on 1/2 health isn't as needy as an NT on 3/4 health.

Ask how long everyone is playing for. This will have a big impact on where you hunt.

Decide where to hunt. Note the nearest save terminal. Arrange a meeting point halfway between the hunting ground and reclaim terminal, if necessary.

Talk tactics, eg does the puller call the targets or does the Leader, what do we do if we pull a train, what happens of we get adds.

Check stock levels, stims, med kits, rechargers, bullets. A good team can easily end up spending twice as much time hunting as they thought and nothing ruins a role more than running out of one of the essentials.

Tactics

More Info on its way


Useful Notes.

Docs really appreciate humidifiers.
Enforcers really like casting the life saving MONGO. If they run out of nano then recharge em.

I grouped with an MA once that insisted on tanking because they had 3300 AC, when I only had 3150. Even when I told them I had 5kHP they still thought they should tank.

/me laughs

A tank that cannot hold aggro is a doc killer.

I of course, stopped mongoing and let things get rough, but alas, no avail, couldn't change their mind - because inevitably aggro kept coming on me anyway, because I hit way harder than anything in the group. I was going to pull out my old 117 hammer and put that on, but I decided that would be in poor taste.

I prefer a group where something like this happens:
Before a mission....
NT: Damn, I only have 15 Health Treatment Kits. I have to go get some more.
Me: You're not going to need them.
...
(end of mission, an hour or more later)
NT: Hmm, 15 health kits left.
Me: I told you that you wouldn't need them.

Show me an MA that can do that.

As an aside, an engineer bot cannot hold aggro either, unless you are talking slayers. I feel much better when the mobs are hitting me, even IF I am in more danger of dying, simply because I know they are not on anyone else.

Actually, level for level bots probably aren't better tanks. It's just that every engineer gets stupidly buffed so that they can create a slayer or somesuch many times higher than themselves.

If these guys had to work off their own ability like we do then their pets would be rubbish tanks - I easily outdamage engineer pets near my own level (orange / light red), which makes them useless as tanks, just complicated, noisy pulling machines.

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Originally posted by Cyberbane

For each of these jobs there are a couple of suitable character classes. The most suitable class for each job may change as you level up. For example Enforcers make great tanks, but Engineer bots are far better at higher levels.

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Maybe if you are looking at an outdoor playfield and you put a wall of pets up in front of the people but as a general rule I avoid mission teams with pets, unless I know the pet owner and know them to properly control and direct the pet. I've also found the high level (demon+) MP pet to be better behaved than the comparable Engi pet. Crat pets (expecially charmed MOBs) I avoid like the plague in missions.

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Healer - Individual Heals, Heal over time (Don’t forget to zone after casting), Team heal
Tank - Good defence and lots of Hit Points, aggro attraction
Crowd Control - Roots, slows, charms
Damage dealer - High damage guns or nukes
Puller - Fast

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Comments directed to mission teaming, not outdoors. Puller does not have to be fast. A team with the Enforcer as (1) puller (2) tank (3) biggest consistent damage dealer (4) aggro manager is just the best I've participated in. Worst (and pet peeve) includes NTs who have to use their biggest baddest nukes all the time and get aggro'd non stop and doc's who insist on shooting and hold the aggro (or break a calm or root) because they are not aggro down enough to not shoot the blasted gun. Again, I'm talking mission teams, and missions 190+

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Ok once you have assembled your team take sometime to sit down and talk, don’t just rush straight off and start killing because you will probably just start dying.

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So true, so true. Also, if you you have been designated a specific role by the group, don't whine about it and constantly beg ... "CAN MY UBER PET TANK?" "I CAN PULL FASTER LET ME PULL." blah blah blah.

If you have a non-traditional role, accept it or find another group. For example, my 117 Enforcer is used to taking the lead on things. Sometimes though she's neither the biggest nor baddest in the group and plays a support role, emergency or trade-off mongo, don't mongo at all cause the pets need to hold the aggro ... that's not a role she is used to but accepts gladly because it makes the team work better.

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Check stock levels, stims, med kits, rechargers, bullets. A good team can easily end up spending twice as much time hunting as they thought and nothing ruins a role more than running out of one of the essentials.

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Please please please. And don't be a cheapskate. On my doc I grouped with a soldier Level 100+ who every few minutes sat down and said "fill my nano." After about the 100th time the team started giving him a hard time. His reply was paraphrased, that it was too much trouble to go shopping. :::scribble, name added to do not team with list:::


Under the heading of how to team and play well with others: Don't ding and run. How ungodly rude. Everyone understands emergencies and that someone has to boogie sometimes. But to be going along with no forewarning, mid-mission, and suddenly say "Ding, gotta go, bye." is unforgivably rude.

What about being like "Alright yall im 10K from lvl and im tired, after i ding im hitten the sack." Is that still an arse thing to do?

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I avoid mission teams with pets, unless I know the pet owner and know them to properly control and direct the pet.

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Start pulling to the pet in the exit room. Clean all peripheral rooms before moving in. The pet is ok if he doesn't move. :)

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Puller does not have to be fast.

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Fixer or NT can do great job pulling a single mob out of 4.

Everything else was very well pointed. :)

Basic recommendations : be sure that your group knows your macro. I usually target once the mob and make a /macro INC >>> %t <<<, I then ask rdy? if everyone is ok then I pull and send 3 or 4 /macro INC >>> %t <<<.

I also have my crowd-controller make a nano that says %t CALMED DON'T HIT.

Have an agreement on evacuation macro can be ok too. :)

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Originally posted by BoltGrinder
What about being like "Alright yall im 10K from lvl and im tired, after i ding im hitten the sack." Is that still an arse thing to do?

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Fine if you're hunting outdoors, but not cool if you're doing team missions in BS.

Gummizluv, you reminded me of another thing that that MA did wrong.

When they pulled, they didn't call the pulls. And then they complained that someone was attacking it before they were.

WRONG.

My usual method for pulling is:

target mob
brawl/start attack
>>%t<< is going to die

Note that the call of the pull came AFTER I hit it. That way, I'm sure that I'm the first one to hit it and it at least is on me to start with.

Pulling to entrance room is okay for cleaning out the peripheral rooms, i.e. mobs that are close to doors in the main room that can add on at any time. But I'm a big fan of systematically cleaning after that -- unless of course you're doing a REALLY hard mission.

Yes indeed cleaning is the usual good method. Pulling the whole dungeon to exit is long and dangerous for the puller.
Moving slowly in and setting camp in a large room where pets can move, while the puller brbings friend from 2-3 rooms ahead is the best method imho. Lesser adds too.

Please be sure to ask frequently if everyone is rdy before pulling. People do have to rebuff / recast pet pretty often. You don't want to pull while your doc is OON (ou of nano ?) and your MP has no pet.

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Originally posted by BGumble
Actually, level for level bots probably aren't better tanks. It's just that every engineer gets stupidly buffed so that they can create a slayer or somesuch many times higher than themselves.

If these guys had to work off their own ability like we do then their pets would be rubbish tanks - I easily outdamage engineer pets near my own level (orange / light red), which makes them useless as tanks, just complicated, noisy pulling machines.

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they have ONE really good use if they tank :)
they are dispensable unlike me!

Ohh and if they doc have time when teaming.. debuff the adds, really make a difference.

In the soldiers defense Gracie, if he needs to renano during fights it's cause he's using his mirror shield. And once it's used he can't renano until the 2 minute debuff wears off. And soldiers get real paranoid when their nano bar is empty ;), we don't like begining fights without enough nano to mirror again, even if we can't cause of the debuff, chances are into the fight it'll wear off and we'll be able to mirror if neccesary, IF we have enough nano :D. Then again I use nano first aid kits to fill my bar once I've mirrored ;), some people are just dicks.

What annoys me during hunts is people who jostle the pullers elbo so to speak. People who are whining to go faster, who get jitterey cause you've paused for a sec so the pull can spread a bit to avoid adds. These people are inevitably people who've never pulled before in their life and haven't clue one about how aggro works.

Oh, and people who stop to open chests while the rest of the group has continued on and is fighting the next mob. Those people tick me off >:(

Or pullers who don't understand that if you fight a mob in a room, all the mobs in adjacent rooms are potential adds. It's much better to pull said mob to a previous room which has had all the rooms around it cleared already. Or pullers who don't know how to single out a lone mob from the rooms with 2 or 3. Yes it's hard to do, and it doesn't always work, but it can be done. I have maby a 50/50 succes ratio for pulling singles from multiple mob rooms, I don't get much practice pulling tho ;) soldiers are mediocre enough that any enforcer does a better job.

I agree with the comment that Ding'ng and then ferking off is outrageously rude. If you are tired then just go, especially in missions. I will always stay and at least finish the mission. Sometimes if say 4 out of 6 peeps have dinged since we started then I will stay till the other 2 have aswell, sometimes I end up playing till 3 -4 in the morning rather than let down team mates, If I am tried I leave, I dont wait till I ding. I know I get p!ssed off when others do it, Karma man Karma.

I dont think dinging an leaving is rude, not in all circumstances anyhow.

If I'm joining a mission for experience then XP is my reward for my services. In general I leave when its time to go to bed but if that happens to be close to a level or close to the end of the mission I might stay to get it finished.

If I'm helping someone with a mission they need to get done or the mission is way out in the middle of nowhere then its a bit different.

So long as you tell people how long you have then it's up to them if they want to take you along.

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Originally posted by BoltGrinder
What about being like "Alright yall im 10K from lvl and im tired, after i ding im hitten the sack." Is that still an arse thing to do?

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When you get into the upper levels and it is taking you 8 mil or more xp to lvl, that is a perfectly acceptable thing to do. I am 151 and it takes me over 12 mil to lvl now. I have to play most of the day to make just one lvl. After I ding, I will finish the mission I am in, but then I am done.

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I am 151 and it takes me over 12 mil to lvl now.

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ouch.

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What annoys me during hunts is people who jostle the pullers elbo so to speak. People who are whining to go faster, who get jitterey cause you've paused for a sec so the pull can spread a bit to avoid adds. These people are inevitably people who've never pulled before in their life and haven't clue one about how aggro works.

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Or even worse, get someone who insists on running around, and you see them go on and off your radar. I'm looking for more mobs, they say. Sorry, that's >>MY<< job.

Do you guys usually lead your team through the mission? I'm of the mind that I should always be in the lead. I usually hang back until the group is gathered and be sure not to run too far ahead of them at any time -- so they are ready to hit the next pull as soon as I do.

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Originally posted by Sredni

Oh, and people who stop to open chests while the rest of the group has continued on and is fighting the next mob. Those people tick me off >:(

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yeah lol :)= I HATE THAT.. i rather want them to pull adds or whatever... but not fighting because they wanna loot thats just low.

Was in a group the other day where the doc left due to it.. :) warned me first... and left.....

And i always leave when i have to.. if i just dinged.. i just dinged.. i know its a multiplayer game but i am not cancelling RL stuff so i can help someone i only know in a virtuel world.. bit it can seem rude to "ding leave" :|

I let anyone tank that wants to with the codition that once they lose agro I take over. What they dont realize is that once I take over, I take over hehehehe, meaning I keep agro from that point on :p

I'm with Yaz on that one. I'm happy for anyone to tank, I can always get it and keep it if needed.

The trouble is when you get a puller who doesnt understand about pulling single mobs (assuming a dark red mission).

If the mission is easy I like the lets all pile into the next room and squish whatever is there as quickly as possible routine, if the mission is very hard for the team level then pulling to a safe room where the team is gathered is good. If we are doing that method I often like to have someone I trust pull the mobs to me where I hope to pull them with a high damage opening or if not I hit mongo. Just saves me doing all the work, I especially hate working out where to go next. Just drag me a mob I can get the attention of and dont make me think too hard :)

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Originally posted by Sredni
In the soldiers defense Gracie, if he needs to renano during fights it's cause he's using his mirror shield. And once it's used he can't renano until the 2 minute debuff wears off....Then again I use nano first aid kits to fill my bar once I've mirrored , some people are just dicks.

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Actually in all fairness the sodier should be smart enough to use nano first aid shots (they work while nano skills are debuffed). I'm actually able to chain mongo and pretty much never sit down just by using basic nano first aid shots. Ageed on the dick part.

Tankings also a problem when theres 3+ forcers in a mission, many a time Bgumble and i have faught over tanking by mongoing back and forth because we want to tank =) But then someone (usually me) screws up and gets beat down by some reds that got pulled from other rooms by accident....but that still doesnt keep me from stealing his agg from just beating the ever loving heck out of mobs =) Get a new beam Bg! =P