Pick Up Groups Guide
Originally Published by Kyo Yuy
4. GOOD COMMUNICATION IN A PICK UP GROUP
4a. PICKING A LEADER
In Player versus Environment (PvE) situations, before the mission or quest
starts, it's a good idea to decide who will be leading the party and choosing
where to go. If possible, you should pick someone who has done the mission or
quest before. Otherwise, the tank of the party should lead, because, in the
event of an ambush, he/she will take the brunt of the damage.
Oftentimes, one of the members of the party will head out front and 'nominate
him/herself' as the party leader. If this is the case, the best idea is to
follow him/her and hope that the person knows what he/she is doing. The bottom
line in a PUG is that you and your fellow party members all have a common goal:
to finish the mission or quest. Therefore, you should try your best to minimize
conflicts and get the job done as quickly and efficiently as possible. MAKE
SURE, however, to tell this self-appointed leader not to engage the enemy
first if the person is a caster. Otherwise, it may spell disaster for him/her
and for your team.
4b. MINIMIZING QUARRELS AND DISPUTES
When being in a PUG, it's important to realize that you are accepting all the
advantages and disadvantages of being in a PUG. Most of the time, you and the
other party members of the PUG are chiefly concerned with finishing the
mission successfully. Because of this, you must be willing to tolerate your
fellow party members, whether they are elitists, newbies, newbie bashers, or
generic flamers.
That being said, you must do your best to minimize conflict and get the mission
over with as effectively as possible. Here are some tips in minimizing
conflict:
1) Don't challenge newbie bashers. - I know the old saying, "We were
all newbies once." Still, getting in between a newbie basher and
the victim will generally not solve the problem, especially in a PUG.
When dealing with an argument between a newbie basher and their
victim, it's best to try to just break them up. Say something like,
"Stop arguing, you can leave the party once the mission is over."
Remember: The goal is to complete the mission, not to argue about the
ethics of neophyte treatment.
2) Control your temper when dealing with 'newbies.' - As a prolific
PUG user, I know that there are times when some party members can be
useless, and even detrimental at times. Calmly tell them what they're
doing wrong, and ask them to listen to you at least for the duration
of the mission. If that doesn't work, then all you can do is bear
with it until the mission ends or you die. Do NOT flame the user -
the person won't listen, and he/she may be so enraged that the person
will lure an entire horde of monsters into attacking the rest of the
party, which would spell certain doom.
3) Do not act like the know-it-all. - Constantly berating people on
every little mistake they're making will get you nowhere. Calling
your whole team "n00b" is an even worse idea, especially if the point
is to get them to listen to you. If you absolutely cannot tolerate
your group, leave the mission area and find a new PUG.
The bottom line is that you just want to complete the mission. Do what it takes
to complete the mission, and don't start unnecessary conflicts with people you
really don't know.
4c. COMBAT FORMATION
When engaging the enemy, the designated tank(s) should go in first, with the
casters in the back and the healers even farther back. If you are the leader
of the group but you are a caster, you should back up and ask the warrior to
head in if you see an enemy ahead.
*** THIS IS IMPORTANT *** - The healer should stay AS FAR AWAY FROM THE COMBAT
AREA AS POSSIBLE. In fact, since the healer's main job is to keep everyone
alive, he/she really shouldn't be fighting. This is especially true for Monk
primaries, who are particularly vulnerable to attack but are not very powerful
attackers themselves. The designated healer should only be close enough to
heal other players.
*** ALSO IMPORTANT *** - Other party members should try to refrain from running
away at all times. When they run, not only do they significantly increase the
damage dealt to them, they also put the healer at risk for being attacked: the
enemy AI has a knack for attacking casters and weaker players. Remember, a good
healer will know to Resurrect you, and having a 15% death penalty is better
than losing your healer for the duration of the mission. The only time you
should run is when you're being overwhelmed, and you have some way of reviving
a designated healer.
4d. BEING A HEALER/TAKING CARE OF THE HEALER
AS A HEALER, your job is to keep everyone alive and healthy. Obviously, this
is easier said than done. In basic situations, it's easy to say that you should
heal whoever is receiving the biggest beating. However, when your party is in
a difficult battle and all members are getting wounded, choices become
harder. Generally, in this situation, it's best to heal the Warrior first,
because he/she usually has the biggest resistance to damage. If it looks like
one of your party members has to die because you can't heal fast enough, pick
one of the casters. Although they do more damage, they also take more damage,
and the primary goal in a difficult battle is to survive to the end. If it
looks like your party is losing, tell them to back out and heal the guys that
are closest to dying. Running gives your teammates time to recover Energy,
which will increase the odds of victory in a second fight.
*** BEWARE THE AOE HEALING *** - AoE Healing, or Area of Effect Healing,
involves spells which heal EVERY CREATURE near you, friendly or non-friendly.
When fighting a group of ranged enemies, you may be able to use AOE Healing on
your casters. However, if the enemy is melee and ganging up on your teammates,
DO NOT USE AOE HEALING UNLESS YOU HAVE NO OTHER CHOICE. AoE Healing in this
situation, unless used VERY CAREFULLY, will end up healing the enemy, and may
cause a battle of attrition that leads to YOUR party losing because your party
typically relies on Energy to do damage, which it will not have after a long,
drawn out battle.
TAKING CARE OF THE HEALER is of paramount importance. A good healer keeps you
and your party alive, and it can often mean the difference between succeeding
and failing a mission. That being said, you need to trust your healer to keep
you alive through a battle, which means you should not run away from battle if
your HP is starting to approach 0. Oftentimes, the healer has to make tough
decisions about when and whom to heal, so you just have to hope he/she makes
the right decisions and heals you when your HP is close to critical. If you're
sure that the healer is doing NO healing whatsoever, a good way to get them to
do their job is to run away and let the monsters gang up on him/her so that
they die, then use Resurrection Signet or some other spell to revive them. If
your healer simply will not heal, or he/she is not doing a good job as a
healer, it may be best to just quit the mission altogether, because the mission
will usually get harder as it progresses.
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