Everquest II – Grouping Guide

Everquest II - Grouping Guide

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Everquest II Grouping Guide (www.everquest2.com)
Contact E-mail: Nghtmrfaqs@gmail.com
Written by: Nghtmr9999
Version 1.0.0

----------[Table of Contents]----------
Section 1 - Group Basics.........................(grou)
Section 2 - How to find a group..................(find)
Section 3 - Class Roles..........................(clas)
Section 4 - The People to Avoid..................(avoi)
Section 5 - Helpful Macros.......................(macr)
Section 6 - Version History......................(vers)
Section 7 - Special Thanks.......................(spec)
Section 8 - Copyright Info/Contact Info..........(copy)

----------[Introduction]----------

Hello once again. My name is Nghtmr9999, and this is my third guide I have
written for this wonderful MMORPG. You will learn good grouping manners, how
to function in groups, and how to spot potential problem players. This guide
focuses a bit more on instance grouping rather than quest grouping.



A plus to grouping is making friends. You group with somebody, and you become
good friends with them. Lets say this friend is a priest. So... if you need
a priest for a group, you have somebody to ask! And he has a warrior friend
that he can ask to group as well. Becoming good friends with people might
result in discounted items (maybe sometimes free), or possibly he will
help you out on a high level alt. It pays to be nice doesn't it? =)

Now, on with the guide!

----------[Section 1 - Group Basics]----------(grou)

A group can have up to six people in this game. From quest grinding, to
instance running, there are some classes that groups just MUST have.

With that out of the way, a good group should contain...

Tank (ex: guardian)
Off-Tank (ex: monk)
Crowd Control (ex: conjuror)
Caster (ex: wizard, warlock)
DPS (scout)
Priest

Feel free to vary this basic group structure as needed for your specific
instance/quest needs. Also, e-mail me with any more good 6-person groups, and
I will put it in the guide (if I get enough, i'll make a new section for it).



Taken from my Everquest II Guide...

(Buffing)

Before the group even begins anything, everybody who has a buff should cast it
on the party. The more powerful buffs should be casted on the tank. Bards
have good buffs, along with priests. If you have a buff that increases your
attack damage, HP, or whatever, be sure to cast these too.

(Pulling)

This is how you get a monster to your group 95% of the time. Pulling involves
pulling a monster with an arrow, or a long distance magic spell. In some cases
this can also involve you going right up to the monster, attacking it, then
running back to your group before you die. A heavy armored warrior make the
best tanks. However, a mage can pull with a spell, then a warrior can take
the hate.

At first, only pull one or two heroics at a time, so you can see what your
group can handle, and what it can't. Just don't think you are some invincible
tank that will never die. Everybody has a limit on how many mobs they can
handle at once.

Once you can handle 2 heroic mobs, start pulling 3 at a time, and maybe even
4 at a time. Just be sure the hate is on you, and not the priest. Another
point is to check the level of the mob you are pulling. (You, a level 30 VS
2 level 40 heroic mobs) who would win? Pull mobs at or around your level. A
safe level range for heroics would be any level below yours, to about 2-3
levels above.

(Tanking)

Tanking. If you are a heavy armored warrior, this is your job. All you have
to do is take all the melee and magical attacks (sounds fun, huh?) Never fear
because if you have a priest in your group (please tell me you didn't forget
to get one) you will be fine. Just be sure you're the one taking all the
damage, and not your groupmates. 

Warriors get lots of hate spells to use on enemies. Be sure to use them. When
soloing, you have no need for hate. So just focus on keeping yourself alive.
Once you get low on health, spam your attacks and try to take the enemy down.
If you get REALLY low on health; run.

(Healing)

Healing... it well.... erm.... does what it says it does. Heal. Keep your
groupmates alive. You do that, they're happy, and you're happy. If you don't
heal them, they get mad, they see if they can find another priest to replace
you with, then they KICK YA! So be sure to heal, and everything will be fine.

Soloing is a different story. First of all, priests wear light armor. Meaning
they take a lot of damage when get hit. So what I would suggest is to pull
one or two enemies that are white or below non-heroic, or one yellow
non-heroic.

(Supporting)

The agro is now on the main tank. Your job (if you aren't the tank) is to
unleash combo after combo to bring the enemy HP as quick as you can. DON'T
overdo it though, as this can lead to the enemy beating on you. On my
40-something warlock, when the main tank had agro, i usually counted to 5
before i started unleashing my spells. This gave the tank plenty of time to
get the monsters really mad at him, and not anybody else. ALWAYS REMEMBER TO
ASSIST!

(Running)

So you miscalulated, and you need an escape route. If you are deep in a
dungeon well, you're pretty much SOL. Gone. Finished. Dead. I say this
because most dungeons have heroics  and having about 15 of them chase after 
you doesn't work out so well in the end. Maybe you're lucky and some group 
behind you killed them all, or the enemies didn't spawn yet. Whatever the 
case may be, a try could never hurt.

If you are a priest, you should try to get to a safe place, because they
can revive everybody, then you can get on your way once again.


And some more useful info taken from my EQII Guide...


DONT - Loot items you don't need.
This is a biggie. You will often be fighting named monsters which drops
very, very good items. The high level group x4 monsters. Warriors can wear
the heaviest armor. But if you can't, DO NOT roll for it. The only exception
is if this warrior doesn't need the item, then you can loot it.

If it's the other way around, and you truly DO need the item, say something
like "I need" or "need" or "can i have?" Most people (if they havent rolled
already) will listen and pass on the item. 

DO - Set loot in parties to lotto
This way, no matter what item is picked up, everybody has a chance of winning.
Lotto is the only EVEN way to roll for items. No matter what your level is, no
matter what race you are, no matter what class you are, no matter how good or
bad you play, you have an EVEN chance to win. This creates fewer arguments
and makes a better group.

DONT - Forget to change the options
The default is FREE FOR ALL; unless you change it in your options. If you do
forget however, the other players will remind you to change it. If you still
don't change it, they may just leave the group entirely.

DONT get mad at priests who let you die (unless they wern't doing anything)
If you die when a priest isn't healing you, don't go "..." or "WTF? Why wern't
you healing me?" or "You ran out of mana?" If you die, it's because the other
people wern't doing their jobs, or the monsters were too tough for the group
to handle. Another reason is you did a bad job with agro and the priest had
to waste mana keeping himself alive.

----------[Section 2 - How to find a group]----------(find)

Now, the very first thing to do is to grab a drink and a snack. Yes, you
read this correctly. Your group might spend a good few hours together and
you want to be prepared don't you? =P

Next, type /lfg in the chat window. This LFG (looking for group) flags you.
You can also check your guild, and do a /lfg  in zone chat.
Hopefully, someone will whisper you something along the lines of "hey, want
to join us? we're doing " or "Want to quest with us? we
have a great priest."

Now... why group? Well, you might want to group to make questing go by easier,
you need help with a really tough quest, or you are doing an instance that
requires a group. Maybe you're just killing mobs for fun, or you want to
make friends.

Or, you are fighting a group x2, x3, or x4 monster, or going into a raid
dungeon, each group MUST have a tank, healer, and good DPS classes. The raid
leader may assign you to a certain task (ex: taking care of monsters the
boss summons)

Also, you could be one of those kind-hearted level 70 players who run other
lower players through instances. Sometimes higher level players run
guildmates through areas, or help them with quests. If you need an instance
run, or quest help, ask your guild. The worst thing they can say is "no"
right?

----------[Section 3 - Class Roles]----------(clas)

Warriors: These people are what some refer to as "meat shields." They take
the bulk of the damage, keeping it off his fellow groupmates. Warriors should
know how to pull, and keep hate on them. Pull the mob back so scouts can get
behind them and unleash the full potential of their attacks. Also, make a
macro along the lines of "Now pulling %t" so the group knows to get ready
for a group of monsters. These guys may also be named tanks.

Off-Tanks: People like monks who assist the tank. They can deal a good deal
of damage, but do be careful with your damage. You don't have the heavy
armor like the tank does. Have an /assist macro and use it so you target the
same thing the warrior does.

Mages: The class that wears the lightest armor in the game. The job of a mage
class is to DPS the crap out of the mob. HOWEVER, you must be careful with
the damage, because you might pull agro off the warrior. And... you don't
last as long as a warrior does with tough monsters pounding on you.
Illusionists should daze one of the monsters, using a macro along the lines 
of "Dazing %t no touch!"

Priests: The most adored class in the game in my opinion. These are the nice
fellows keeping the group alive. Typically the ideal situation is to kill
the mobs before your priest(s) run out of mana. Keep these people alive! Now
if you are a priest, your most important job is to heal the tank (and others
who gain hate). And if needed, bring people back to life if they die. You
should make a "low on mana" macro and a "out of mana" macro

Scouts: Ahhh yes, the DPSers. The people who will be unloading massive amounts
of damage upon the enemies. Like the mages, wait for the warrior to gain hate
before bringing mobs down. Most of the scout's attacks require them to be
behind the enemy, or on the side of them. Before entering combat, stealth, so
you can open with a stealth attack. Be sure to make an /assist macro, so you
target the same monster as the tank does.

----------[Section 4 - The People to Avoid]----------(avoi)

Unfortunately, there will always be people who just annoy you. If it appears
you have come across one of these people listed below, they should be kicked.
And if they continue to bother you, just ignore them. Here are some of those
people to keep an eye out for.

"Hate Generator" - The scout that just dpses the snot out of the mob. Thats
the cause. The effect? Agro on him, so priest has to waste mana healing him.
The effect of that is the priest generates agro on that mob. So now... the
priest has a monster on him, and has to waste mana healing himself. Which, can
finally lead to the priest dying, which leads to the group dying.

"Bailer" - The person who ditches you if the group dies. Or the person who
goes AFK for long periods of time, leaving the group very, very underpowered.
Can be quite annoying, espically if its a warrior or priest. Leads you to
wasting time finding a replacement, waiting for him/her to get there, then
go all the way back to the entrance to meet up.

"Scouter" - Somebody who goes ahead and checks the monster situation, checks
if a named is up, or see if there are people up ahead. This may result in
mobs being pulled to an unprepared group, or seperation from your groupmate.

"Mr. Bossy"  One who tells you exactly what spells to cast, how to play your
class (when you already know how to) the "proper" way.

"Begger" - The guy who begs for items because an alt of his needs it, or his
guild needs it, his friend needs it, etc. Says please a lot.

"Stealer" - These people should go straight on ignore with no mercy. They
roll need on every single item that drops. Or they roll need on an amazingly
rare item, then use their teleport to go back to the city, then leave the
group.


Feel free to e-mail me with any additional people to avoid.

----------[Section 5 - Helpful Macros]----------(macr)

I will now list some helpful grouping/raiding macros. I will use the symbols
below to show which macros are most helpful to which class.

| T - Tank | OT - Off Tank | M - Mage | P - Priest | S - Scout |
| A - Make in macros | C - PvP Combat | All - All classes |

/assist (Assists tank) [OT, M, S]
/g pulling %t (Sends to group, "Pulling ) [T] [A]
/g low on mana (Sends to group, "Low on mana" [M, P] [A]
/g out of mana (Sends to group, "Out of mana" [M, P] [A]
/ooc Level   LFG (Sends to out of character
 "Level   LFG") [T, OT, M, P, S] [A]
/g Enemy on me (Sends to group, "Enemy on me") [P] [A]
/g %t spotted, a %r (Sends to group, " spotted, a  [All] [C]
/g Dazing %t DO NOT TOUCH (Sends to group, Dazing  DO NOT TOUCH [M]


----------[Section 6 - Version History]----------(vers)


V1.0.0 - Guide Written


----------[Section 7 - Special Thanks]----------(spec)

SoE - For making this game.

All the sites that are currently hosting my guide.

And a very special thanks to you, for reading my guide.

----------[Section 8 - Copyright Info/Contact Info]----------(copy)

The following sites have my permission to publish my guide
GameFAQS
Gamespot


This may be not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal, 
private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed 
publicly without advance written permission. Use of this guide on any other 
web site or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a 
violation of copyright.

All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their 
respective trademark and copyright holders.

Copyright 2007 - Nghtmr9999

DO E-mail me about...
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DO NOT E-mail me about...
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Repeated violations of the above will result in your e-mail address getting
blocked.

Well, thats it. I hope you enjoyed reading this guide.



Now.... GO! Go to the world of Norrath and get a group. Meet new people; make
friends. Enjoy life.

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