Basic Instance Stategy
Credit GreenRose of Dath'Remar
The Basics:
Group roles:
Main Tank (dedicated to keeping aggro - switches targets frequently)
Main Healer (qv)
Main Assist (chooses targets to put down - tactical commander - also acts as Off-Tank) (Off-Tank: protect the squishies, gets aggro from any new mobs joining the fight)
DPS (damage per second), AOE (area of effect) and CC (Crowd Control) - Mage, Warlock, Hunter or Rogue - these guys should be targetting whoever the MA is targetting. Use an Assist macro. Only use AOE and Crowd Control when Leader says OK.
Additional Jobs:
Puller - qv (see below)
Leader/Strategist
use of AOE/CC or not in this battle
coord different skills (ie sheep that one; cosh this one; kill that one first) - usually assigns icons to the targets
when to move on (have the healer's recovered mana and had a chance to loot )
usually is guide (which way... what's coming up)
Rezzer - qv.
Backup Healer - switch to healing if main healer has a prob. Needs to preserve mana until it is needed!
Strategies Each Instance Party Should Have:
Pull and BadPull: We try to 'pull' one or two 'mobs' (individual enemies) so we can deal with them without getting aggro from other mobs. The puller should always pull from a spot far enough away from the party to protect them from a bad pull, and only drag the mob back to the party if the pull is 'good'. The party should be standing on a neutral spot, not the site of the previous mob, to avoid any risk of a new spawn getting involved. Some pullers can 'dump' a bad pull and try again (feign death/vanish/...). Less ideal ones die and get rezzed. But that still better than a wipe. Pullers may also need to do scouting.
NB: the party must NOT get involved until someone (sometimes the puller, sometimes the leader) decides the pull is good - sometimes you have to let the puller die. Make an agreement upfront!
WipePrevention: Every party should have a known wipe prevention plan. When a wipe is inevitable, the leader should announce it. This tells the wipepreventer to take action, and every one else to make sure that happens. Example wipe prevention strategies:
Druid Rebirth;
Rogue/Hunter with Engineering (Vanish/Feign Death);
Shamen Reincarnation;
Warlock Soulstone + a rezzer;
Paladin Divine Intervention + a rezzer;
rezzer dumps aggro and backs off, hoping the mobs will leave them alone
[NBB: the best wipe prevention strategies don't need you to act just before the wipe happens: if you are dependant on rapid and timely action, the wipe-preventer should have a macro set up: there often isn't much time between the leader's call, and too late.]
Manners:
Don't run arround getting aggro - wait for the leader to move forward and pick target. People getting extra mobs involved is the #1 reason for getting kicked out of parties.
Keep aggro off the healer! Stay in the healer's line of sight!
Why not to loot during battle: It distracts everyone else.
Most groups allow you to use NEED for any item you would equip and use - and GREED for things you would sell. Because many items are BoP, don't NEED things you can't use: it scares your teammates and will get you kicked out of the party. If you want to NEED something and it isn't quite clear, ask your teammates first.
If you buff people, you are responsible to redo the buffs when they expire. Its OK if you have to ask for a rest break to do it. (Idea: as a Pallie, I cast a 5min buff on myself, and then on all the party members. When mine goes down, I know I have to redo all of theirs.)
If an additional baddie joins the fight, announce "Add" - short for additional. Some parties use "pat" for patrol.
If you are a squishie and get attacked, announce "on me" and cope with it - BUT DON'T RUN. Running makes it harder for the party to react to the mob, and risks you getting out of line of sight, or even getting more aggro from other mobs. See also "dying with dignity".
On death and wipes:
When about to die, DONT just RUN - that makes lots of things go wrong, and can turn a death into a wipe. Getting to a good place to be rezed is good. Running in circles around your squishies is OK. Whatever you do, dont run away from your healer, or towards other mobs. In fact, unless you are very sure about what you are doing, just DONT RUN. Die with a lil dignity.
You should always grab some attention (say "HEAL" or "h"; and remember to try a healing potion.
Don't release on death. While bound, you share in rewards after battle, and its easier for the rezer to see where your body is. And if the wipe prevention strat is needed, they might need what you can see.
On Healing:
In general, shut up and let the healer do their job. They are watching your health bars all the time, and know about your situation. Asking for healing is a waste of everyone's time. The healer's first priority is to prevent a wipe, and if that means a few people have to die, well, you'll get rezzed soon.
Exception1: Hunters (Feign Death) and Warlocks (Life Tap): unless you make sure they know when you are using these, and hence health dropping is OK, healers may ignore you unless you ask for healing. Sort it out with them at the start of the run.
Exception2: Healer: If main healer needs to draw the secondary healers attention, they should ask for a heal - secondaries may be busy in battle, and not notice they have more pressing duties!
If your healer is doing damage rather than healing, they are playing a DPS role: have someone else be the healer. (I have been in parties with a ShadowForm priest was DPS, and the Holy Pallie the primary healer.)
If you know first aid, let the healer know, and in between battles be responsible for your own healing: that will help them recover mana faster, so they won't have to slow the party down as much.
If you are a secondary healer, (a) heal the main healer whenever they are hurt: if they heal themselves, they get more aggro, and we don't want that (b) if you need to chime in, heal the squishies, and leave the tank to the main healer. That way you won't both heal the same person. Good to let the main healer (and the rest of the party) know you have switched to healing duties - as a Pallie, I am often a secondary healer, and have a macro hotkeyed to say "GreenRose is switching to healing duties".
See our FREE Guide to healing here - Beginner's Guide to Healing.
On pets and minions:
Pets and minion make useful damage dealers, but they can't manage aggro intelligently, so using them to tank is inefficient. They usually don't have very good armour, and so will either die often, or use up a lot of healing resources. Make a decision for your party whether you will keep them alive or not. Also decide whether they should get buffed.
The ideal role for pets and minions is "off-tanking": doing damage to whoever the main assist of the party is targetting, but staying available to intercept any mobs that threated the squishies.
If you collect any raw meat, give it to the hunter for the pet: she'll appreciate it.
A pet or minion can be used to pull, on the basis that if it is a bad pull you will let them die, and only pull back to the party if it is a good pull.
There are also things like water elementals, which are a temporary minion: they only last a limited period, and healing them is usually a waste of time.
Class Roles
What to expect from others:
While people want to be individuals, in general, they will have chosen class and specialisation to reflect the role they want to play. BUT BEWARE: some people are stupid.
Druids
The Druid specialisations lead to quite different strengths. Feral is a Warrior / Rogue hybrid, Restoration is a Priest hybrid and Balanced is a ranged spell DPS. So Druids aren't Druids.
A Restoration Druid makes a great party healer - the others are better as backup healers than the primary.
Treat a Feral druid as a melee damage dealer, and a Balanced as a mage.
Some Druids have Rebirth, which is a great wipe-preventer.
Hunters
If she wont keep the pet on passive, kick her out. Out of control pets cause wipes.
They are the BEST pullers possible, but most do not know how to use their skills that way: teach 'em. (Nothing draws less aggro than rank 1 Arcane Shot, they have great range, pets are there to sacrifice, and they have Disengage / Feign Death)
Hunters have a minimum range: if you get attacked and start to back away (hence drawing closer to the hunter), you might make it impossible for her to help you...
Get 'em to make a macro for Feign Death that uses chat - it might prevent the healer having a heart attack
A Hunter with engineering can Feign Death, and then raise the party when the bad guys go away - not a bad wipe-preventer.
Mages
Sheep
Don't break the sheep - it annoys some mages out of all proportion. And train your mage to sheep targets of opportunity during the battle if they don't start by sheeping one.
When the sheep is broken, the mob will beeline for the mage: try to break it with enough damage to take the aggro.
The act of sheeping will aggro nearby mobs who will beeline for the mage. This is a common pulling tactic. In any sort of serious battle, this tactic leads to a dead mage unless the whole party is actively helping them.
Mages are your firepower - think of an old fashioned cannon: you need to protect 'em, but if you do, wow.
Mages will often be oom. Wait for 'em to recharge
Happy to make you conjured water or food if you ask nicely.
Pallies
Don't ask for might/wisdom automatically: Blessing of Salvation is great to reduce aggro, and hence helps the tank do her job, which might be better for the party than Wisdom. Blessing of Light helps heals do more, and so might be better for the Tank than Might.
Remind your pallie to put their aura up after a death - it's easy to forget
Everyone knows the pallies aura is an awesome buff: so why do you try to fight more than 20' from her It's only got a limited range. (Some pallies extend that to 30') For this reason, a healer pallie should stand closer to the front line than a priest would.
Divine Intervention allows a pallie to make someone else invulnerable, at the cost of their life. If you have a second rezzer, this is an OK wipe-prevention strategy. (Only OK because it needs both of them to be alive when the wipe is announced.) If you want to use this, get the Pallie to put it on a macro, so in battle they can just hit a single button.
Good pallies keep multiple sets of gear: healing gear which is +healing and +intellect/spirit; and combat gear which is good AC, and +strength. In healing gear, your pallie is a squishie, and needs to be protected just like a priest. In combat gear, she is much more resiliant, but has nowhere near as much healing power.
Priest
Priests can't take care of you if they are busy defending themselves.
If you have a priest who insists on playing like a tank (running into melee), kick her out of the party - they won't change.
If you have a priest who insists on playing like a mage (expending all mana as fast as possible), try to educate them into saving at least 50% of their mana for when the party needs them - usually when a patrol hits the rear or a pull goes wrong. When the pulls are working nicely, the priest may be bored, but encourage them not to let that translate into wipes.
Ideally, give your priest friends a really nice wand, so they can contribute to the battle without wasting mana.
Rogue
Great main assist
Sap makes a mob stunned, so they dont fight until someone breaks the stun (sort of like sheep but they stay in one place). It has to be done before the mob is in combat, so f you want to use it, give the Rogue time to creep up there and whack one.
Rogues with the right equipment can backstab: its an awesome way to breach a Sap or Sheep (etc): let them do it if they have the gear.
In theory can be an awesome puller because of Vanish, but I'm yet to see one pull well.
Rogue with Engineering can use the Vanish skill and then jumper cables to prevent a wipe.
Shamen
Sometimes best to wade into the battle and do a little "preemptive healing" - don't expect them to play like a priest
If she drops Totems (and she should) stay near them: it's a limited range (about 20 yards) - draw the baddies into range of the totems [NB: Magma Totem has only an 8 yard range]
Shamen can use Reincarnation (once an hour) to prevent a wipe.
Warlock
Remind your 'lock to have rezzer soulstoned - its a great wipe-preventer (With a say a priest and a pallie, SS the pallie since they stay alive longer)
Locks convert health to additional mana, so don't freak if their health drops. Make sure they holla if they need healing (or use a chat marco when they are using Life Tap)
Locks have great DOT spells, but use wisely: they are expensive.
If she won't control the minion, kick her out.
Locks can make a "soulstone" (sometimes called a "ss"). This should be placed on a rezzer, and brings them back to life, and they can raise the rest of the party. Great wipe preventer. They can make one every 30 minutes.
Warrior
Bad warriors want to do DPS. Good warriors manage aggro. If she is just doing DPS, get someone else in the party to tank. Or kick her out. NB. this is why pets and minions are second-rate tanks: they just do damage, and don't actually manage aggro at all.
Don't run from an enemy that is attacking you: call for help, but stand still! Your warrior needs to catch up with the baddie, and while warriors generate threat quite quickly and can Taunt to lure the enemy into attacking them, these actions take a few seconds of uninterrupted fighting to charge up and have an effect, and this is difficult if the Warrior has to chase the enemy down first.
Standing outside melee range helps the Warrior to maintain Aggro. Characters standing out of melee range will not draw aggro until they exceed the threat level of the mob's current target by 30%. Inside melee range, characters draw aggro when they exceed the threat level by only 10%. Make a warrior's job easier and back up a few steps before unleashing your fury. |