MULTIPLE GROUP GUIDELINES Coordinating multiple groups is not easy. In fact, it's quite difficult given the tools we have available in-game. This document is intended to help people understand some of the important concepts around multiple group events. STRUCTURE Typically, multiple group events have a leader. For simplification, it should be a single person which inquiries and statements go through. It's VERY important to follow the instructions of the event leader in all circumstances. It is often best to not do ANYTHING unless (a) the raid leader tells you to do something, or (b) your group leader tells you to do something. If you have questions, it's typical to ask your group leader first via /group, and let them answer. This minimizes the number of questions the event leader gets, and keeps them from getting overwhelmed. Any invitations to a multiple group event should ALWAYS go through the event leader. The event leader should announce to the group when people have been invited, and which group they should join. GAME CONFIGURATION To make multiple group events effective, you need to configure several things on your EQ client: * Turn off particle effects * Turn off other people's hits * Turn off other people's misses * Turn off your misses Optional, but recommended: * Turn off bard song messages * Turn off PC spell messages If you are finding that NPCs are spamming you with spells, you can turn off NPC spell messages as well (good for mobs with AE spells that are exceptionally verbose, such as Tentacle Terrors in the Plane of Fear). COMMUNICATION The best communication channel for multiple group events are as follows, in order of preference: * Guildchat Guildchat is perfect for communication in events that involve the majority of the guild. If there are participants in the raid that are NOT part of your guild, you should NOT use this form of communication. If the majority of the guild is not present, make sure using guildchat is sanctioned by your guild leader. * OOC /ooc is great when it's a coordinated raid where everyone in the zone is participating in the raid. This is typical for Fear and Hate raids, and often times Air raids as well. It is NOT good for dragon raids, since you will be spamming the rest of the zone unnecessarily. Use it very sparingly in these circumstances. * Say /say works quite well for situations where the groups are close to one another. This requires that everyone pay CLOSE attention to what's happening, since the text can sometimes be easily lost in the action. In order for /say to be effective, you MUST have certain filters configured properly (see the section on game configuration). * Shout /shout should only be used in situations where /ooc is used. /shout should only be used in extreme situations to convey VERY important information. Typically, only the raid leader should use /shout. * Group /group speak should be used liberally to communicate to your group members. Often times, it's best to just use /say, unless the information is superfluous to others. For example, if the event leaders are asking for group status, you would typically report via /group to your group leader, who would then report group status to the event leader via the "accepted" mode of communication. ASSISTING There should always be a single /assist person. This person should be knowledgeable about the creatures (i.e., which to attack first, when to taunt before attacking, etc.). In addition, it's critical that the /assist person pick targets QUICKLY, and auto-attack. /assist is useless unless the /assist person is auto-attacking. Often times, it's advisable to have a secondary /assist person declared, so that if the primary goes linkdead or dies, people know ahead of time who to assist. Event leaders should IMMEDIATELY announce a change in /assist person, and declare the new secondary if possible. The /assist person should NOT be responsible for pulling mobs off casters. A secondary person should have this responsibility, since any change in target by the /assist person WILL lead to problems. If the /assist person needs to switch targets, they MUST announce to everyone that they have RETARGETED, so that everyone can re-assist them. If a creature is mesmerised, DO NOT automatically attack it. Observe the /assist person, since they will pick the target. Taunters should then start taunting the creature, and those casters that have debuffs should start casting them (i.e., malosi, snare, etc.). DO NOT ever just attack. Keep hitting your /assist button until the /assist person attacks. GENERAL If you ever find yourself in a situation where you are lost, teleported to some strange place, or don't know what to do, STOP. DO NOT MOVE. Sit down if you have to. Ask your group what the course of action should be. The group leader will assist you if necessary. ALWAYS be sure to look around to see if anything is aggro on you before returning to the group. If you are in a dangerous situation, keep in mind that you should NEVERY, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, jeopardize the rest of the group. Die in place if you have to (make sure to get a /location). It's often much faster to recover one person than to have to do mass corpse retrieval for lots of people. This is especially true for events that have level 49 or higher clerics. A level 49 clerical resurrection restores almost all of your lost xp. Often times, there is a staging area that creatures are pulled to. It is extremely important that you DO NOT move from this location. In addition, you should stay as close and as compact as possible. This is extremely important in events that require kiting many creatures at once, such as the Plane of Fear. If you see creatures coming to your location, DO NOT start casting on them until they are inside the "perimeter" of your staging area. If your event has a "pull group", please recognize the sacrifice they may be making, and be kind to them. If they request buffs, please buff them immediately so they can resume their task of pulling for all the participants in the event. Typically group leaders should be the ONLY people that loot creatures. They should announce via the accepted mode of communication any special loot that the mob has. This is especially true during planar raids. Keep in mind that clerics often times have a great deal of expense with materials for some of their buffs. Often times, the money collected during an event will go to the clerics to cover the cost of these materials. If at any time your event leader or your group leader tells you to camp, do so IMMEDIATELY. Do not hesitate. This is especially true for clerics. If a creature is close to a structure or plant, BE SURE to IMMEDIATELY stop casting and attacking; back up. Wait for the creature to move away from the structure before resuming the assault. If you don't do this, you risk having the creature self-destruct or die inside the structure so that it's impossible to loot. When more than one group is killing a single creature, it's important to not use DOTs. If a creature is killed by a DOT, there is a small chance the corpse will disappear upon death. Also, if it becomes necessary to change targets, a DOTed creature can no longer be mesmerized. v1.0 Sorilea Speardancer, Emerald Templars, Quellious Server