droves of innocent
animals and running through the
wilderness is good and all, but there is more to life than soloing in
Aion. Unless you're one of those lovely melee classes that
have earned
the ire of /autoreporthunting , grouping is a part of Aion on your way
up. It provides variety, loot, and helps build cohesiveness
and
understanding of other classes that you'd be clueless about otherwise
until they had a knife
in your back in the Abyss. So without
further
ado, here's your starter kit on how to not ruin parties in Aion!
The Basics
the Mark - Marking enemies in
this is incredibly
important when grouping. Group-type monsters do not go down
quickly,
and focusing your damage is imperative to minimize the amount of extra
healing needed, and allow those who should be taking hits to maintain
the monster's attention on them. Not only can you designate
the order
of killing, but you can throw up an incredibly obvious ZZZ icon to
indicate sleeping secondary mobs so that the gladiator holds off on the
area of effect moves. That probably won't stop him from doing
it
anyway though, but you tried!
Stay at your optimal range
- Most area of effect spells
from non-boss monsters do not have much of a blast radius.
Melee
classes can haul ass out of most of it if they see a cast bar and don't
think they can stun them out of it. Ranged classes can stand
at a good
distance and still heal or unleash hell without missing a single HP
afterwards. It means a lot to clerics when we can heal an
ability for
100 mp instead of 350 mp.
Go all out! -
DP and big cooldown stigmas are meant to be
used. If you die, you lose your DP anyway, so before things
go to
hell, try and save it with your big damage and recovery
moves.
Dropping on monster on a 3-4 pull of group mobs in 15 seconds can make
it a manageable experience. So pop that Empyrean Armor,
Templars, and
don't be shy with the Flash of Recovery, Clerics. If we don't
do our
jobs, we all fall!
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/75416">
Sometimes, a strategic retreat is necessary. Please don't
fall off the edge of Sky Temple doing this.
Be aware - In
most group areas of Aion, patrols are wide
and respawns are fast. You need to keep moving and watch your
back,
and call out approaching targets before they jump the guy in
robes.
Voice chat isn't always an option, so try marking them or jumping like
a retard in front of the healer so he realizes something is wrong
instead of staring blankly at the health bars.
Be respectful - Clear
up your loot rules before you begin.
When people start rolling on random greens and someone loses out on
something they really wanted, things go to hell fast. Don't
be a drama
queen. Pass.
Eat a meal! - Most
casters will automatically place their
buffs and chants with no warning, but very few people use food or
drink. It's cheap and effective. One white weapon
dropping will
supply you with enough money for weeks of beneficial
goodness. If you
don't want to level cooking, the broker will still be cheaper than the
NPC goods most of the time.
More Specifically
Inescapable
Judgement -
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style="border: 0px solid ; float: right; width: 200px;"
alt="Kill as quickly as you can, waiting sucks!"
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/75415">
As cool of a skill
it is, as
tempting as it may be, if the mob is not ranged you should try and save
this. Every time I'm in the middle of a massive brawl and I
see an
angry fire elemental run at me, only to see a Samus-style laser whip
grab the guy and pull him back into the melee, I smile. I
cheer.
Hell, I congratulate him on the coolest saving move ever. The
actual
utility of it is the fact that most monsters will select a new target
and immediately use a special attack, and Inescapable Judgement will
break channels where as Provoke will not.
Sleeping targets need hate too!
- Crowd Control in this
builds a lot of hate. Healing an encounter for 45 seconds
builds even
more hate. Unleashing that monster upon the healer is a bad
idea, so
if you feel you have the situation under control, taunt that sleeping
fool. This goes for you too, gladiators! Better you
get hit than the
cleric!
Save your stuns - The
area of effect attacks in this game
are generally quite nasty. If you know a monster type has
them,
stopping them can speed up pulls and prevent people from sitting on
their ass resting for too long. There are no damage meters in
this
game, so relax and don't think you have to earn your spot in the group
by mashing those chains as fast as possible (you actually do less
damage doing this!)
Rest efficiently
-
I know you might have 800 Odella Powder
on you, but you don't have to chug it. When a monster dies,
take a
knee while you see what the tank's next move is. If the tank
can take
a special attack and be perfectly fine, take a seat as a
healer.
Don't be the guy that holds up the party. If a boss encounter
is going
to run for a while, use your Mana Treatment as you lose mana and not
when you're totally out of mana. Once it's down and you're
out, good
luck with that offense of yours.
Don't rush! - A
rogue add or patrol jumping in can cause a
horrible wipe. Take it easy. Pull everything in
your path, and not
just the ones not hugging the furthest wall. Get creative
with your
route and follow it. Remember that while you can jump and
glide past
some things... you might land in some others, and some people might not
land at all in some dungeons. Make sure everyone is on the
same page
before you try something different.
There's one last thing--talk to people. If you have no idea
where
the quest mobs are, or why the hell we're standing around this Ice Claw
Flag's corpse for, ask. Grouping is all about communication
and having
a good time. It's okay to screw up, but learn from your
mistakes and
do your best. A good reputation for grouping can get you
invites to
Rifting and Fortress sieges!
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