A small guide for leading a parties, and maybe for party members too -------------------------------------------------------------------- Disclaimer: First of all, this help isn't meant to be the only way to lead parties, nor should you listen to anything that is said here if you don't want to. But for those who manage to read it all, it hopefully will atleast give a tip or two. Oh, and also this has zero wiz info, so all the info here is from mortal point of view, hence, it may not even be 100% accurate. There are 3 small chapters in this file, and they are the following: 1) Some info about heartbeats and combat rounds. -Gives basic information about heartbeats, usage of stethoscope and understanding about heartbeats and timing for entering and leaving combat at the right moments. 2) Customizing your combat screen -Gives some tips for how to react quicker in combat and some knowledge about triggers that might prove useful when leading a bigger group against eq monsters. 3) Some general tips -Gives few simple tips which one might want to remember when leading a party or thinking of a career as an eq leader. 1) Some info about heartbeats and combat rounds. ------------------------------------------------ Heart Beat itself ----------------- Here in BatMUD we have a thing called 'heartbeat' or 'HB', which happens once every 3 seconds. The simple way to see them is when essence eye informs how many rounds there are left until a spell is cast, or when melee hits are delivered in combat. From tinker's toolshop you can buy an item called 'stethoscope' which is extremely handy device for leading, or even for just being a member of a party. Just 'apply' it to yourself and you will see 'dunk dunk' message everytime heartbeat happens (3 second interval.) One might ask whats the use for seeing this message, well read ahead then. HB during combat ---------------- First and the most important reason, seeing the heartbeats will make it simpler for spell dodging, because when you flee from combat, you easily see how many rounds you were out of the battle before going back in so you won't be hit by that killing cloud or other nasty spell the monster might have started casting. Counting spells is what every decent leader should learn as fast as possible. HB and Combat ------------- Secondly, going into combat right after the last heartbeat is much more efficient than to just randomly running into the combat, because if you enter right before next heartbeat happens, you most likely will 'lose' one round of combat where you could have gotten a round off from the skill or spell you started using when entering. Also for other party members it gives a lot more time to react and start blasting before the first battle round occurs, also giving them the advantage of getting an extra round before the battle actually starts (first real heartbeat in combat doesn't have melee hits in it). Buy the stethoscope, and try it yourself, you will see what I mean. Ticks ----- Thirdly, the basic tick (nickname tick) happens every 30 seconds, which is ten heartbeats. Knowing when your next tick comes can be very handy when casting longer spells like prots so you will know when you should be in spr set for the tick. Making a trigger that counts those heartbeats until the tick comes and having the number of heartbeats since last tick displayed in a location where you can easily follow them (status bar for Zmud users for example). There are some other nice benefits for using the stethoscope, but with just these three details, I believe you can figure the rest out and learn to love the item, and hopefully carry it with you always. 2) Customizing your combat screen --------------------------------- About customization ------------------- Customizing your combat output to your personal use helps a lot when leading parties and of course even for being a member of a party. There are a million ways to customize it, and I'm sure most have already found the way it works best for them, but here's some stuff you might consider if you haven't done any coloring triggers or such yet. Coloring the keyfactors ----------------------- Making client side triggers for coloring different stuff helps you to remember monster actions better, and to keep a better eye for the outgoing combat with a short glance. For example coloring all spells with different colors according to their damage type helps a bunch to notice what types your party is shooting and what types the monster is blasting, also as said, it will help you to remember the spells monsters cast a lot better. Coloring eq monsters specials is also very much recommended so you can keep track of what just happened with just a quick glance. It will surely take time to make all the spell lites and other triggers, but the next time you see the same spell or special, you can react to it much faster. Customized battle round flag ---------------------------- Battle round flag itself is pretty dull, just a basic line of stars (*****..). It might be helpful to change it a bit with your client to match your needs. For example, having some useful information there like how many combat rounds has it been since the targetted monster casted a spell or used a skill. Or total rounds you have spend in combat without fleeing. There are endless amount of things you could store in that small line that comes every round just with some modifications with the client you use. Also it is very much advised to have 'party status short' come out every round so you can easily keep track of health and spellpoints of your party members. Here are just two examples for what might improve your reaction speed and make the combat more efficient to read. There are million different styles, find the one that helps you most. 3) Some general tips -------------------- Making note of important things ------------------------------- Keeping a note of the areas you explore will make you prowl through them faster. Reminders of syntaxes, spells the monsters cast, and possible prots and tricks you earlier used there and their benefits. Turbos and unexpected tracking ------------------------------- Always be aware that any monster might track, become 'turbo' or with random bad luck, get a very annoying spell like 'self healing'. So after the first encounter, don't just go for a smoke until you are absolutely sure the monster hasn't conjured a special tracking ability or other evil side bonuses. Spellround counting ------------------- Count those spell rounds. Generally monsters always cast spells with same speed and they don't have quick chants. If you have set up a spell round flag to the battle round flag, it will make it easier to dodge the spells that will most likely kill a member or members of your party if they are not in full health. Be wise to know when to dodge, and when to absorb. A few last words ---------------- The better you handle different situations, the more people will join your parties. It will be a pain in the beginning, like nearly everything is, but with trial and error anyone can succeed, and eventually people will notice your capabilities and start joining your parties more frequently. Disclaimer: As I said at the beginning, this help isn't meant to be the only way to lead parties, nor should you listen to anything that is said here if you don't want to. But for those who manage to read it all, it hopefully will at least give you a tip or two. Oh, and also this has zero wiz info, so all the info here is from mortal point of view, hence, it may not even be 100% accurate. Hope you enjoyed, -- Freld the newbie

[ Back to help list ]