12-29-2004, 01:50 AM
(This post was last modified: 12-29-2004, 01:53 AM by Bob the Beholder.)
So my uber-mage of supreme magery has hit level 18. I'm now getting Elite quests, which I'm not about to solo, and plenty of quests that I'm too low level to do alone. So I have to party. This is not something that should be a problem, should it? Well it kind of is...
For example, the last party I was in, we were trying to do a quest on Fenris Ilse in Silverpine. It's the one where you find a talking head, go to where his body is, and then find a hidden niche in Fenris Keep.
So, first off, we had no tank. I'm used to this by now, though. I'm not sure if it's just the Undead territories (Tirisfal and Silverpine, so far), but there are no warriors. None. All of the random spam you see involves some group looking for a warrior. Mages, Priests, Warlocks? EVERYWHERE. But no Warriors. Really, I've had parties of nothing but mages. And every party I've ever been in has had at least two.
A Warlock's voidwalker could suffice, if the warlocks would bother to use them. They can command minions, yeah? 'Cause most Warlocks I've seen so far, they just fight the enemies, and ithe Voidwalker just kind of stands off to the side, humping a corner, or showing great interest in the native dirt quality.
So, tangent completed, this party consisted of two mages, a warlock, and a priest. But the priest spent the whole time in Ambermill for some reason.
Anyway, we wander in there, get horribly disorganized, wake up lots and lots of Rot Hides, die a lot, come back, and eventually wander in on Thule Ravenclaw, the boss of that place, who is 7 levels higher than any character there, and surrounced by guards. Yeah... I'm all, "NO! NO! STAY OUT OF THERE!" And they're all, "Come one, let's take 'em!" (Even though it's more like "coem no!1 les tak em!'"--except not that bad) So we die more, and more, and more... eventually the people listen to me and stay out of there. I'm not exactly doing well here either--I'm completely lost, and trying not to wake up any more monsters than necessary. But at least I have some sort of idea where we're going, and am trying to stay with the group.
Seriously, these people were about to resort to asking the 'General' channel where the niche is, when I just opened up the quest log and read where it said "southwest tower."
As to the second point there, there was no coordination. After we clear a room, and start healing up, I'd be all, "Okay, next let's go this way, through this door I'm facing." (Naturally, I'd walk up to the door to emphasize. Although now I think that it would be easier to just use east or north or whatever.) They'd be all, "Sure, okay." But when everybody gets up, I'd go off in the direction I'd indicated, they'd go off in another direction, I'd rush back to them, and we'd get swarmed by two rooms worth of mobs.
(Of course, the biggest problem I had there is where they all implied that it was my fault.)
So, after a while, we get a tank... sort of. A better tank than any of the rest of the party, at least. A Hunter with a pet.
So we go through there--much better progress. Still can't seem to pull less than two Rot Hides at a time in the close quarters, but they're weak anyway (If they were more spread out, I could solo the place, except for Thule).
So we're trying to find this niche, and the scenario I went over above happens again (two different directions...). I woke up a Rot Hide, they woke up two Rot Hides, so I rush to the middle of the three, Frost Nova, then try to get to a safe distance (not happening in that tiny, mob-packed place).
After a few seconds, the Frost Nova runs out, and the one I woke up continues chasing me.... so I run. Because, of course, I have no Frost Nova, and polymorph doesn't affect undead. I start basically running back and forth through the party, like a chicken with its head cut off, doing a very Zim-esque "Raaaah! Aaaaah! Aaaaaaa! Aaaaaa!" So, whoever wants to (Hunter? Hunter's Pet? ANYBODY!?) could pull aggro off of me with a couple of swipes, leaving me to, you know, actually help... nobody does. I continue running. Luckily, before I die, the two Rot Hides they were attacking finally died, so that they deemed it timely to save me. (With about 15 hp left.)
So, uhhh, whining aside, I need to befriend the next Warrior I see, and then set up a Macro that says something along the lines of, "Hey! You with the high hp! GET THIS GUY OFFA ME OR I WILL CRUMPLE YOUR PUNY MORTAL SOUL!" except without that last part.
Anyway, do higher level players learn how to better go slowly through a dungeon, draw enemies more efficiently, and actually help out their party members? Or will I continue having party members who run willy-nilly through everything, but still pause to ask you how to assign Talent Points? Or am I the one at fault here, for some reason I can't think of?
For example, the last party I was in, we were trying to do a quest on Fenris Ilse in Silverpine. It's the one where you find a talking head, go to where his body is, and then find a hidden niche in Fenris Keep.
So, first off, we had no tank. I'm used to this by now, though. I'm not sure if it's just the Undead territories (Tirisfal and Silverpine, so far), but there are no warriors. None. All of the random spam you see involves some group looking for a warrior. Mages, Priests, Warlocks? EVERYWHERE. But no Warriors. Really, I've had parties of nothing but mages. And every party I've ever been in has had at least two.
A Warlock's voidwalker could suffice, if the warlocks would bother to use them. They can command minions, yeah? 'Cause most Warlocks I've seen so far, they just fight the enemies, and ithe Voidwalker just kind of stands off to the side, humping a corner, or showing great interest in the native dirt quality.
So, tangent completed, this party consisted of two mages, a warlock, and a priest. But the priest spent the whole time in Ambermill for some reason.
Anyway, we wander in there, get horribly disorganized, wake up lots and lots of Rot Hides, die a lot, come back, and eventually wander in on Thule Ravenclaw, the boss of that place, who is 7 levels higher than any character there, and surrounced by guards. Yeah... I'm all, "NO! NO! STAY OUT OF THERE!" And they're all, "Come one, let's take 'em!" (Even though it's more like "coem no!1 les tak em!'"--except not that bad) So we die more, and more, and more... eventually the people listen to me and stay out of there. I'm not exactly doing well here either--I'm completely lost, and trying not to wake up any more monsters than necessary. But at least I have some sort of idea where we're going, and am trying to stay with the group.
Seriously, these people were about to resort to asking the 'General' channel where the niche is, when I just opened up the quest log and read where it said "southwest tower."
As to the second point there, there was no coordination. After we clear a room, and start healing up, I'd be all, "Okay, next let's go this way, through this door I'm facing." (Naturally, I'd walk up to the door to emphasize. Although now I think that it would be easier to just use east or north or whatever.) They'd be all, "Sure, okay." But when everybody gets up, I'd go off in the direction I'd indicated, they'd go off in another direction, I'd rush back to them, and we'd get swarmed by two rooms worth of mobs.
(Of course, the biggest problem I had there is where they all implied that it was my fault.)
So, after a while, we get a tank... sort of. A better tank than any of the rest of the party, at least. A Hunter with a pet.
So we go through there--much better progress. Still can't seem to pull less than two Rot Hides at a time in the close quarters, but they're weak anyway (If they were more spread out, I could solo the place, except for Thule).
So we're trying to find this niche, and the scenario I went over above happens again (two different directions...). I woke up a Rot Hide, they woke up two Rot Hides, so I rush to the middle of the three, Frost Nova, then try to get to a safe distance (not happening in that tiny, mob-packed place).
After a few seconds, the Frost Nova runs out, and the one I woke up continues chasing me.... so I run. Because, of course, I have no Frost Nova, and polymorph doesn't affect undead. I start basically running back and forth through the party, like a chicken with its head cut off, doing a very Zim-esque "Raaaah! Aaaaah! Aaaaaaa! Aaaaaa!" So, whoever wants to (Hunter? Hunter's Pet? ANYBODY!?) could pull aggro off of me with a couple of swipes, leaving me to, you know, actually help... nobody does. I continue running. Luckily, before I die, the two Rot Hides they were attacking finally died, so that they deemed it timely to save me. (With about 15 hp left.)
So, uhhh, whining aside, I need to befriend the next Warrior I see, and then set up a Macro that says something along the lines of, "Hey! You with the high hp! GET THIS GUY OFFA ME OR I WILL CRUMPLE YOUR PUNY MORTAL SOUL!" except without that last part.
Anyway, do higher level players learn how to better go slowly through a dungeon, draw enemies more efficiently, and actually help out their party members? Or will I continue having party members who run willy-nilly through everything, but still pause to ask you how to assign Talent Points? Or am I the one at fault here, for some reason I can't think of?