Tactics/ Class Responsibilities

[Avari]

I found this article and thought it was a good reminder of how we should play when grouped. Could be a must read for new members. It was long so the rest is in the 2nd post.

This article has been published by PlanetWarcraft and the original version can be found here.


At higher levels, the most important way for a character to earn experience in World of Warcraft is to venture into elite dungeons. These dungeons offer quite a challenge and usually require a skilled party of five members to complete. I say, "skilled party" because most of the time merely having five players in a party will not assure your success in an elite dungeon. For a group to be truly successful they need to follow proper tactics and etiquette. This article is far from being everything there is to know on the subject, but hopefully these few tips and hints will help you become a more successful party member in the future.

Ethics
Loot can break up even the strongest of group bonds. Greed can be an evil, evil monster that will spell disaster for the unity of an adventuring group. No matter what your personal preferences are, set up your party's looting system before going into a dungeon. My suggestion is to use the saying, "need before greed." The in-game, "round-robin" system of looting can be used strictly in an elite dungeon, but when used alone, it is much less valuable to players. Many of the outstanding items found in WoW will be termed "bind on pickup." These items will bind to the player who loots them and cannot be traded to other players. If a party sticks to "round-robin" looting exclusively a great sword might end up being wasted on a priest, while a sweet robe might find itself being looted by a warrior. "Need before greed" is the system that I have found works best, and is as follows…

Most of the standard looting is set on round- robin. Money is automatically divided here so, that is something you will never have to give a second thought to. Any items that are white or gray in color, are usually are kept by the looter. White and gray items are often only worth the vendor money that they collect, but if a player in your party does happen to need a white or gray item that you collect, it would be wise to give him/her the item. Green, blue, and other colored items, however, are more valuable and should not be merely round- robin looted in this system. If a player can use the item, he should be the one to get the item. If more than one player in the group can use the item, then the command, "/random 100" is used and the computer rolls a "dice". The highest dice roll wins the item. Players who cannot use the item are excluded from the roll. Sounds obvious, but to many newbs who only know Diablo 2 style greed, this is NOT a common sense idea. Here is a quick example and then I will move on… There is a party with a mage, a priest, a warrior, a paladin, and a rogue. With this make-up there are two mail wearers, two cloth wearers, and one leather wearer. The rogue would get any good leather drops while the priest and mage would roll for cloth drops and the paladin and warrior would roll for mail drops. Lets say a nice staff drops, then the priest and mage (being the only two who use staves) would roll for the staff. However, the priest CAN use a staff, but prefers a mace…..need before greed dictates that the mage gets the staff without roll. Ok, it is easy enough and obvious to most so lets move on.

Party Tactics
Each character class will have its own specific roll in a party who is adventuring into an elite dungeon. Your role will often depend on the makeup of your group and so examining your fellow party members is key to success in a dungeon. The following are specific jobs I have witnessed in the beta that a class can perform to increase the effectiveness of their party.

Warlock
Warlocks are outstanding to have in a long, and dangerous dungeon where success of the party is in question. Warlocks are great to have around because they can create two very important items for their party members; soulstones, and health stones. At the very least a warlock should give one soulstone to the character(s) in your party that can resurrect. (Priest, Paladin, Shaman) This way, if your entire party is wiped out, then your soulstone can resurrect the player(s) that can bring the rest of the party back to life. Health stones are like free health potions except they have the added bonus that their cooldown timers work independently of potions. A warrior in trouble can often use a health stone and then follow it with a healing potion to completely restore his health. These two items alone can make having a Warlock in your party essential.

Warlocks also have great buffs, and curses. Bring out your (probably little used) imp and have him cast his buffs on the party. A couple hundred hit points more for casters means a lot and Warriors and Paladins will never complain as well. Also, going to travel to an underwater temple? You better bring a warlock who can cast, "breathe water." Just as important as the buffs a Warlock can offer are the curses he can place on a mob. Elite dungeons have elite mobs, and any advantage your party can get over an elite enemy is most welcome. So those are my suggestions for a warlock in the party; you should buff, curse, make items, and leave the damage and the tanking mostly to other players. Never use a voidwalker, or succubus in an elite dungeon please!

Warrior
My friend, your job is to tank. Big shock, I know, but as a warrior you were made to take damage. With that in mind…. use a shield. If you are partial to a two-handed weapon while soloing then that's great, but it is worth it to use a one-hander for elite dungeons. Equipping a shield can double your life- span. Often you will want to be in defensive stance as the tank of a group….and as such there are a great many useful shield skills to use in defensive stance. Defensive stance also offers you more armor and the most important warrior skill, "taunt."

As a tank you are not just to sit there and take damage, you have to also control monster agro. For instance, a mage in your party will most likely catch a good deal of agro with his/her high damage spells, so it is your job to get the mobs off your party and back onto you asap. Use taunt as much as possible to draw agro to yourself. I am also going to suggest that you not pull monsters unless you have a ranged weapon equipped. If a rogue in your party pulls a mob, consider it your job to get that mob off the rogue as soon as humanly possible. My suggestions for the warrior; take the hits, dish out the funk, and keep that monster agro on you and you alone.

Priest
Everyone loves having a Priest in battle, that is…. if he knows what he is doing. I will start by saying, DO NOT use your mana on offensive skills. I played the other day with a priest who had soloed his entire game career and was new to partying. He began encounters with hard- hitting spells that drew agro to him, and depleted his mana. He hardly ever healed any of us and really wasn't any more than a nuisance. Your job as priest in an elite dungeon is to heal, shield and protect yourself. Healing and shielding take enough mana as is, and for a priest to use mana on offensive spells that pale in comparison to mage spells, is down right silly. Yes, this means your job is somewhat indirect, but realize that you are doubling the effectiveness of the group as you heal and shield.

Mage
Your job is three- fold in a party: to polymorph, provide food/water, and to dish the damage. Polymorphing correctly can be a great asset to any party. Polymorphing poorly, however, can spell instant defeat for a group. The key is to keep track of your new sheep. Mobs that are polymorphed will wander around. Your job is to make sure that the sheep does not wander over and agro new mobs. When you see a sheep wandering off, I suggest hitting them with a wand bolt or instant cast spell like fire blast. Once you cast your spell, immediately begin to cast polymorph again. The mob will unpolymorph, run at you and then get re-polymorphed closer to the group. Rinse and repeat until your group is ready to engage that mob.

Food and water are items in the game that cost your party members money, but are free to you the mage. Offer water to mana users and food to warriors. The three or four minutes you take here can speed up the dungeoning tremendously.

Naturally you are also suppose to dish out the crazy damage. My only warning here is to budget your mana and to try and avoid agro. If you have to drink during combat, do so, but I suggest drinking to full before most elite encounters. Wait for the warrior or whoever your tank is to draw some good agro then start in with the spells. If a mob runs at you, use frost nova or cone of cold to slow them down until others can draw the agro back. So in short: sheepify and Sheppard your sheep closely, let the feasts flow, and nuke the crud out of mobs with minimum agro.

[Avari]

Paladin
The Paladin is the character class with which I have the most experience. This is a good thing because the Paladin's role is complex and can vary greatly from party to party. The most overlooked power of the Paladin is cleanse/purify. At low levels this power gets rid of poison, and at higher levels it gets rid of poison, disease and magical effects. Having this skill in your main toolbar can be very helpful. Keeping poison off of party members greatly reduces the effectiveness of many mobs such as spiders and rogues. Canceling magic effects like sleep, and polymorph can also help a party stay at full strength. No, it doesn't do damage, or heal, or buff, but it is essential for any Paladin to be quick when using this spell.

That said, the Paladin is generally a support character in any party but can substitute for a tank when needed. A Paladin does not have taunt, and so when performing the role of the tank in a group it is good to be the one that pulls. Also, if you are the tank in a group, use your salvation seal on casters, to reduce the agro they attract, and use fury seal on yourself to take the mob agro yourself. Fist of Justice stuns an enemy mob and is well used when a caster starts getting agro from a mob.

I have been the main group healer only once in a group and it was difficult. A Paladin are a great supplemental healer but is a poor primary healer. The Paladin Holy Light is a large healing spell with a large mana cost and cast time. After three casts, a Paladin will usually be out of mana. If you do happen to find yourself as the primary healer in a group, get a lot of water from your mage and drink during battle. The only other healing spell available to Paladins is the seal of righteousness. This seal gives the player hit points back with every successful hit on a mob. It is good to cast this spell on rogues, and one-handed warriors because of their quick attack speed. This seal is fairly mana intensive, but is a good substitute for holy light. Don't forget, the Paladin can also resurrect!

Auras also need to be used wisely in the party situation. If you find yourself in a group with mostly casters that use mana, then I would suggest using Wisdom Aura, which regenerates mana. If you are fighting a caster, use Resistance aura. If you are grappling with mobs that are higher in level, I would suggest using Dominance aura, which gives your party an increased attack power. This will decrease your chances of missing when attacking a higher level mob. Devotion aura adds armor to the entire party so I use this aura when we have multiple tanks in the group. Lastly, when you finish with a fight and the members of your group are not injured enough to require a heal or food, turn on Healing aura as you walk to the next battle…. By the time you get there your hit points will be full. So the Paladin in short: heal a little, fight a little, use smart auras, and be quick with the cleanse.

Druid
The Druid is often referred to as the "jack-of-all-trades but master of none." I think this is a fairly fitting description of the character class but the druid does lean one direction. In the party setting you are the buffer/healer.

Most people will want a druid in their group for one reason, "Mark of the Wild." This buff lasts for ½ an hour and adds to a character's magical resistances and stats. Always have it on every member of your group at all times, as it is your ace in the hole! The second buff you as a Druid need to always use is, thorns, which deals damage to an enemy when he strikes someone in your party. Use thorns on anyone in the party that is taking damage as it lasts ten minutes and is free damage dealt to mobs. Fairy Fire should be used to reduce the armor of a mob, but use it after the warrior has gained agro or else the mob will target you!

In terms of healing the druid has three options in general. Rejuvenation slowly gives health to a player over time. This is best used once a player starts taking damage. Often times no other healing will be needed. The second healing option is the straight heal. This is a large heal all at once and takes a casting time and good amount of mana. Use this heal in emergencies or at the end of battle. The third option for healing is the druid spell that both heals instantly and regenerates hit points over time. Regrowth, should be used in the middle of the battle when a player is at half health and you know the battle will last a bit longer. The spell will get the player to full and hopefully keep him there.

So what about shape-shifting you say? I have been there many times and the druid seems to be a very poor substitute for a rogue (cat), or warrior (bear). Although you may be able to get away with this party substitute, in a very difficult dungeon it is much better to have the Druid in caster form. Shape shifting will no doubt get a bit of an overhaul in the future patches but as it stands now, stay away! Use shape shifting as you solo if you like but in a party you are best used for buffs and heals.

In terms of attack spells, the druid has a few good ones, but they just eat up too much mana. If you have a Priest in your group, by all means use a few attack spells. But if you are the group's primary healer, don't bother. Chances are, you will have plenty of damage being dealt by your teammates and you will need all you mana for healing. Druid in short: always buff, be a healer, never shape shift, and use attack spells sparingly.

Rogue
Even though a rogue may get hurt easier than a Warrior or Paladin, and even though he may not do as much damage as a mage with talents, he is a very useful member of any party. Probably the most useful skill that a rogue possesses is, Sap. This skill takes a mob out of combat for 30 seconds. Reducing the number of enemies you have to fight is called "crowd control," and sap is one of the best crowd controlling skills in the game. Sure, mages have polymorph, but then the sheep wanders around. Sap stops a mob in his tracks.

Rogues are also useful in groups for pulling mobs with throwing weapons. If you find yourself in a group with no one to pull mobs, the rogue is a great help. Also, rogues can pick locks on chests for the groups and open lockboxes. Often times a rogue will stealth ahead of a group to see if there are wandering monsters or loose mobs to pull. Rogues also deal quite a bit of damage so it is nice to have one with you in any situation to raise your dps. (Damage per second.) Rogues in short: Sap, pull, stealth, lock pick and stab.

Shaman
I know the least about this class but from what I have experienced, the shaman is the epitome of the support character. He cannot be a primary healer, tank, or caster and yet seems to be a great supportive character in these classes. Totems are the bread and butter of the Shaman and should be used heavily. Shamans can also resurrect so don't be afraid to include one in your group. They have nice attack spells and remind me a bit of a druid. Shamans in short: handy for healing, rezzing, and buffing but do not rely on them.

You Are Ready
Hopefully this lengthy article will give you a sense of what characters do when in a party situation and what party members expect from their teammates. If you have not played the beta, this article hopefully will give you a better sense of how each class plays out in reality. A sweet Night Elf druid may sound good in theory, but if you hate buffing and healing others, it may be time to pick a new class.

[Aeife/Niamb]

Ummm....I think Priestess sounds like a character type that would interest me. I find it very reassuring that WoW seems to favor grouping and have a meaningful role for those of us who like to play support characters.

[Avari]

Niamb I thought for sure you were going to go the opposite of healer. But you are the best healer I know good for you!