Grouping 101:  How to make friends and get lotsa lewt

Some people would say that grouping is the heart of EverQuest.  Even though it is possible for many players to play solo for much of their EQ experience, nobody would deny that grouping is a large part of the game.  What is grouping about?  What are you expected to do as part of a group?

The first thing your group must decide is if you're a sit-at-home group, or a roaming group.  Sit-at-home's tend to do better, and become the norm after level 15-20 or so, unless you're doing a dungeon adventure (LDON).  Basically, the group finds a spot, and everyone with the exception of one player (the "puller", who is not necessarily the "tank" but can be) stays there, while the puller goes and finds things, gets their attention, and brings them back to be slaughtered.

Roles

There are a great many "roles" in a group, and some classes fit strongly in one particular niche (e.g., wizard = non-tanking damage dealer), while some can fill in on a variety of roles, though usually not as well as a specialist (druids can be damage dealers, healers/buffers, or primitive crowd control).  Know your role(s).  If your class doesn't make your role obvious, see what the group needs that you can fulfill.  If in doubt, ask the group for advice.

As of late 2008, the group leader can designate some roles by right-clicking on party members' bars in the Group window (or via the /grouproles command).  Doing so is mostly just informative, but it does affect what mercenaries (hired NPCs) do if there are any in the group.  Designating someone as the Main Assist will also cause their target to get a special target ring so it's easier to spot.  (That used to require the leader to have acquired a special skill and to be in a group of three or more, but now it's available to all.)

Puller

You go find things for the group to kill, and draw them back to the group.  A puller has to have the mental ability to navigate.  There are paladins you have to lead everywhere, but they can tank like no one's business.  A puller, on the other hand, can't afford to get lost on his way back to the group.  Lost often means dead and could mean a nasty Corpse Recovery.

The point of pulling is that it lets you fight the mobs in a place of your choosing, e.g. to reduce the chance of other mobs getting involved, or to stay close to a zone line in case the group decides to run away.  Classwise, it helps if the puller has ways to control the number of creatures being pulled, or can pull at a distance.  Characters that can mezz/pacify mobs to reduce the chances of pulling too many include bards, paladins, clerics, and enchanters.  Rangers and druids can also pacify in outdoor zones, and monks at middle levels and higher can also pacify one mob at a time.  Sometimes a puller will work with the crowd controller, where the CC person pacifies one mob, then the puller engages another.  Other pullers can split up an overpull by feigning death; those classes include monks, shadowknights, and necromancers (though since necros have low hit points, they aren't often called upon to pull).

Another useful skill for pulling is tracking, which lets you see what creatures (and players, also) are near the tracker, and what direction they are in.  Tracking classes include rangers at level 1, and at higher levels druids and bards.  The most skilled trackers are rangers, who can sort the tracking list by distance, rather than seeing the results sorted by spawn order in the zone.

Tank

You've got time to bleed.  It's your job.  The "main tank" (often called MT) is the person designated to soak up most of the damage the mob deals out.  The MT is expected to "hold aggro", that is, keep the mob mad enough that it mostly doesn't attack anyone else (like the healers or other casters).  A tank can also be puller, but in a fast group having a separate puller speeds things up even more.  If the MT is not the puller, the MT needs to be able to do lots of damage quickly or have other skills (such as Taunt) to draw the mob's attention off the puller once the puller brings it to the group.

The classic tanks are warrior, shadowknight, and paladin.  Other classes can make do in a pinch, and at lower levels the bard, ranger, monk, beastlord, and rogue can make do better than most others.

Main Assist

Usually abbreviated "MA", your job is to pick the target that everyone is supposed to gang up on.  Everyone else then targets you (using the F# key to target you as a group member) and uses /assist to shift their attention to your target.  This is a lot better than having people trying to click on a seething mass of mobs trying to pick out the same one.

The MA should know the abilities of the mobs where the group is hunting, in order to evaluate which ones pose the greatest threat and should thus (usually) be killed first.  At higher levels you should know which mobs are immune to mesmerize or charm or whatever your group is using for crowd control (see below).  Often the MA is also either the MT (so he can target something, beat on it a bit to make sure he's got aggro, then everyone else joins in) or the puller (so everyone can target the mob as he's bringing it in).  It's even possible for the same character to fill all three roles (puller, MA, MT).

Secondary Tank and Secondary Assist

In larger groups (especially raids), these are backups for the Main Tank and Main Assist in case they go down or miss something.  A raid might even assign Third or even Fourth Tanks; often these addition tanks are assigned to off-tanking (see crowd control, below) while waiting to see if they will be pressed into service.

Non-tank damage dealer

Also called "DPS" (for damage per second), this role can be filled by most characters in one form or another.  You DOT the mob, nuke it, beat it with a stick, sic your pet on it, poke it in the back with pointy things, make it a pin cushion.  Once you get into the teens, and especially the 20s, most classes can no longer stand up to the pounding of a dark blue con mob, but some can dish out enormous damage.

Snarer

Druids, rangers, bards, necromancers, shadowknights, and mid-level wizards (Area Effect spell at level 27) can "snare" their targets.  Lacking those classes, you can get it rooted by others, but snare is better.  At around 20% health many mobs will turn to run.  This can be bad, especially if they run past other mobs who decide to investigate the commotion.  With snare, your victim turns to run but is then too slow to actually move, meaning everyone gets to pound the target for free.  (Root also keeps it from moving, but rooted mobs will still attack, while snared runners do not.)

Crowd control

The enchanter's specialty, crowd control (CC) is the art of delaying extra mobs from causing trouble while the party concentrates on killing a single target.  If you have a good crowd controller you can let the puller bring back extra mobs, and you can deal with "adds" (mobs that are passing by and decide to join the combat).  CC can be done by charming, mezzing, rooting, snare/fearing, engaging the mobs with pets or yourself (if you're a tank, hence this is called "off-tanking"), getting them mad at you and running around while they try to catch you (called "kiting"), whatever, but the idea is that the fight will go better if your group can concentrate its firepower on one target at a time.  Bards are also considered to be a good crowd control class.

Healer

People bleed.  Healers make them better.  Most healers also "buff".  Clerics are the best healers, but several other classes can do in a pinch, including druids, shamans, and necromancers.  Healers need to learn how quickly the tanks take damage from the particular mobs you're fighting, so they know when a fast heal is needed vs. having the time for a more mana-efficient larger spell.  Healers may also be called upon for curing poison and other DOTs.

One important point for healers to keep in mind is that, in general, they should not heal the puller during a pull, especially if the puller is using Feign Death to shake off excess mobs.  Once the puller has aggro, any heal cast on the puller will generate aggro against the healer, and this can lead to all the mobs suddenly deciding to charge into camp.

Buffer

Buffers contribute more indirectly to the cause.  Enchanters may personally do less than 1% of the group's damage, but their Haste spells on the tanks, and mana regen spells on the nukers, mean their effective contribution probably approaches half the damage the group is doing.  The cleric's AC/HP buffs make the tank last longer, and make the enchanter a better crowd controller too, as they can take a few hits now.  Most casters have at least a few buffs.  Shamans can load a person down with buffs, and are in high demand because of it.

Debuffer

What buffers do to players, debuffers anti-do to mobs.  Enchanters, along with that nice 70% or so haste, have a 70% or so slow, which means the mob swings one-third as often.  Shamans, bards, and beastlords can also slow mobs down.  Debuffers may also dispel buffs that the mobs have on themselves.  Snare is technically a debuff but is important enough to get its own section above.

Supply sergeant

The mage has a special skill most other classes don't have in any quantity: the ability to summon lots of odds and ends the group can find useful.  Bandages, arrows, throwing knives, levitation rings, food, water, items for vision and invisibility, weapons/armor to give to pets, caster focus wear...  Back in the day, a mage might outfit an entire group for a corpse recovery, but now that's not required since you keep your gear when you die.  A few other classes can summon food and drink, and a few miscellaneous items.

Looter

Some groups don't care about coins or "vendor trash" (loot that's only good to sell to NPCs for cash), but most people are happy to get a share of the treasure.  Some groups use "free for all" looting, where anyone who cares to can loot mobs, but this can be a problem for some.  (The puller is already heading out for more prey and doesn't want to stop to loot, or the monk is concerned about ruining his AC by picking up too much weight, or the wizard or cleric wants to stay seated to meditate.)  So some groups designate a "main looter" (ML), who collects all the cash and items, handles /random rolls for handing out any special items that drop, and at the end of the session sells off the vendor trash (preferably with high charisma to get the best prices) and splits the cash.  (See also the main FAQ for a discussion about the evils of /autosplit.)

Any class can be main looter, but it helps if you're not also the puller, and you don't mind the weight.  Having weight-reducing bags helps.  Other plusses are the ability to "gate" (if not hunting near a merchant for selling off) and enough charisma items to get CHA up to at least 104, which is enough to get the best prices if your faction with the merchant is indifferent or better.

If you're the ML, be sure you've done "/lootnodrop always", which says you always have to confirm looting No Trade items.  (The command is /lootnodrop even though the term No Drop was changed.)  Otherwise you may unwittingly loot an item and be unable to give it to whoever is selected to win it.  This is especially true in an LDON "collect" mission, where the items you're sent to collect are No Trade and thus the looter might be tempted to disable the confirmation windows.  Looting augmentation items by mistake is not good.  (Been there, done that.  Oops.)

There are other roles, but that gets the major ones.

Classes

Here are the roles that each class generally plays in groups, and also some remarks about how the classes do solo.

Bard

Primary roles: buffs, puller, melee damage.  Secondary roles: vary based on the situation and group, but often includes crowd control.  The bard is one of the best solo classes in the game, especially at higher levels.  They can, to some degree, do anything that any other class can do, save for porting and rezzing, but as they're generalists, they don't necessarily excel at any one task.  In groups, bards primarily buff the entire group, using their lines of health regeneration, mana regeneration, damage shield, and Haste songs.  A bard can move faster than any other class in the game and his songs, with rare exceptions, don't use any mana, so he'll often be called upon to pull (the first Lull song, at level 8, will work all the way to level 60).  With Dual Wield skill and plate armor, the bard is a reasonable tank at lower levels and can provide passable melee damage throughout his career.  At level 15 the bard gains the ability to mesmerize his foes as well (and at level 27, charm) and thus can provide crowd control.

The skilled bard will quickly learn how to "twist"; that is, to chain-cast songs so that more than one is active at once by stopping them quickly after casting and starting the next one.  Most groups expect a bard to be able to twist three songs, but a great bard can twist four or, if lag permits, five.  (Claims of twisting more songs than that usually include activated items that play songs, which most bards will say don't count.)  Much of the challenge of playing a bard comes in learning to twist and, more important, learning which songs to twist when.  The addition of the /melody command eases this effort, automating the twisting of up to four songs.  While manually twisting allows for more control, and a great bard will certainly do so in tense situations, a good melody setup can do wonders to relieve the intense strain on tendons which has sidelined many a bard.

Beastlord

Traditional duty: melee damage output.  Other roles: a variety of things, depending on situation and group lineup.  An excellent soloer, a beastlord is a good DPS class, and has enough hit points to be a good "off-tank" for crowd control.  The beastlord can't wear enough armor to be a reliable primary tank (especially at higher levels), but can step in in a pinch.  He gets some heals, a fair assortment of shaman-type buffs, and with some skill can use his pet for crowd control (because the pet does taunt).  Later in life the beastlord gets slow and haste spells, and a highly-prized line of group mana/HP regeneration buffs popularly referred to as "kitty crack."  A beast even gets some DoTs and weak nukes.  LDoN adventuring has been a boon for beastlords: a single class that can melee, DoT, slow, haste, help heal in a bad spot, off-tank, and even help a bit with crowd control, is very useful for LDoN.

Raid groups tend not to value beastlords as much, since a large raid will always have specialists who are better at the various functions.  Many beastlords solo their way through much of the first 50 levels, which they can do faster than almost any other class.  To develop the full range of skills, mix up how you spend that solo time: do plenty of brute-force soloing (where you and the pet are both meleeing the mob directly) and also spend time playing pet-cleric (safer, slower soloing where the pet does most the work and you stay back healing the pet and DoTing/nuking the mob).

Berserker

Traditional duty: melee damage.  Other roles: snarer, caster interrupt, ghetto slows, backup tank.  A decent solo class, berserkers have moderately good DPS, and get enough HP, AC, and avoidance to be a good off-tank.  They can serve as primary tank against mobs that are stunnable.  As they approach level 70 their DPS improves, rivalling that of rogues.

Berserkers have no mana bar to worry about, but instead fuel their abilities by using up "basic axe components", which are cheaply available from their vendors.  The resulting axes can stun, snare, or "jolt" a mob.  (Like the level 51 ranger spell of that name, jolt reduces the degree to which a mob hates you.)  All share a single 12-second timer, and are short duration, but the absence of a mana bar means they can be used nearly indefinitely as long as supplies hold out (which could mean over 100 hours of continuous use), and all take effect instantly.

Berserkers solo fairly well as long as they can single pull; the key ability is the stun, which should be used constantly on non-casters in order to slow their damage (on casters it may be held in reserve to stop their spells); adds won't be stunned and thus will do full damage.  In groups, stun use can easily overwhelm an unskilled tank's ability to hold aggro; again this is the 'zerker's key contribution, so the 'zerker and tank should find a way to work with this.  The use of stun as an aggro producer allows the berserker to hold aggro fairly well if in the position of main tank.  Berserkers should maximize their defensive skills either by soloing or serving as MT, as they will be thrust into the "punching bag" position with some frequency throughout their career.

Berserkers consider themselves an "unfinished" class; the newest class in the game, it seems to most that they are lacking features which would make them desirable in the higher levels.  Up into the high 50s this isn't an issue for a non raider; the berserker's position as a "medium tank" capable of both high DPS (for a primary tank) and good damage soaking (for a light tank) makes them flexible and enjoyable to play, and the fact that they have a short list of special abilities instead of a spellbook full of options should make them easy to learn and to play, even for a novice EQ player.  If anything, the Berserkers biggest problem is that most players don't know what they can do.

Cleric

Traditional duty: healer/buffer.  Other roles: nuker, especially against undead, and assisting on pulls using lull/soothe/pacify.  For all that they wear plate, they really cannot tank.  As a low level cleric you will spend most of your time with your rear end on the ground, medding back that oh so precious mana.  Pay attention to everyone's hitpoints.  When they get low, heal them.  Learn how much of the "bar" your heals do on each player; it will be different based on gear and class.  Only "top off" people's health during a lull when you have full mana.  And almost never heal the puller while he's pulling, or you'll aggro the mobs and screw up the pull.

Before the fighting starts, cast HP/AC buffs on the main tank (at low levels there may not be a well-defined tank), and anyone else that regularly gets hit.  If you have the mana available for it, cast it on yourself first, then on the other characters that are going to get it.  Then when yours starts fading you know the others are about to lose their buff.

Clerics are also prized for their ability to "rez" (resurrect) people, restoring some experience loss after a death.  Even at lower levels when resurrecting doesn't restore much if any experience, the rez still brings people back to their corpse without having to run back from their bind spot.

Druid

Primary roles: healer, buffer, snarer.  Secondary roles: damage-dealer, crowd control (mostly via root, possibly charm or fear), tracker.  Druids are an odd case as they are not really the best choice for any role, but they are able to fill a wide variety of roles.  So unless a group insists on finding the "perfect" class for what it needs, it can often do well to add a druid.  Druids have quite good healing spells, a variety of buffs (including the ever-popular SOW as low as level 10), snare, melee DPS at low levels and decent spell damage at higher levels, root, tracking, and even a resurrection spell (Incarnate Anew) at level 59.

Since they are so versatile, druids make excellent soloers, but they can always find ways to contribute to a group as well.  They are also one of two classes that can teleport other players to a variety of locations, which can make it a lot easier for everyone to get home when the group is finished, and can also provide a fast exit if a combat is going badly.

Druids have an impressive array of DOT spells (damage over time), which are great for soloing but can be an inefficient use of mana in a group.  If your group is killing things very quickly, say in 30 seconds or less per mob, you'll do better casting a direct damage spell rather than getting less than half the effect from a DOT.

Enchanter

Primary jobs: crowd control and buffs; also slows and DPS.  Enchanters have several lines of spells to control enemies: they can mesmerize, stun, charm, and lull.  Dangerous areas with lots of enemy traffic, groups that don't have a skilled puller, and groups fighting tough mobs will benefit from, if not require, the enchanter.  Enchanters can control groups of enemies while the rest of the party focuses on one at a time (this is, where applicable, the most efficient way to plow through enemies).  They can slow and lessen the attacks of those enemies, skills that move from convenient to essential as one levels up.  Their buffs include the best haste for melee attacks and excellent regeneration spells for mana.  Enchanter charm, which works on all types of mobs (except some special rare cases or at the highest levels), is a powerful tool when the player is trained in its use.  The best enchanter pays very close attention to his party's surroundings and incoming enemies.

Magician

Primary role: damage (via spells and pets).  Secondary role: supply sergeant.  (No other class is nearly as good for supplies, but most players don't know just how much equipment a good mage can summon, or already have focus items and the like, so mages tend not to be called upon for it.)  In a good group, you send in the pet, keep a damage shield on the tank (mages cast the biggest DS at most levels), nuke enough to keep yourself at half mana until the overpull comes, and watch the xp flow in.  Where mages shine is with an imperfect group.  The pet is a good off-tank because they will stop attacking instantly if the mob is mezzed.  The right pet can root if you don't have a snarer; stun if you are in a spot with lots of enemy casters; or do lots of damage if all else is going well.  Of course, those are all different pets; choosing the right one for the right situation is the mark of a skilled mage.

Mages can summon "mod rods", which let casters convert HP into mana.  Before you start fighting, prep the group with mod rods, pet weapons and armor, bandages, throwing items for the puller, levitation or water-breathing items, or anything else they want.  Mages also get a spell to teleport a group member to them from anywhere else in the zone, key to getting late arrivals into the group in a hostile world, or retrieving groupmates who have feigned death at an awkward spot.  (Such maneuvers got simpler in mid-2005, as new people can be invited into the group at a distance.  Previously, the group leader had to wait at the zone line to invite new arrivals into the group so they could then be summoned.)

One problem is that the mage is only about the third best DPS class at the high level.  Their additional utility is not as great as, for example, a beastlord.  Pets can also be problematic to control; and if there is a pet and a PC in melee range, the PC will always be beat on.

Monk

Primary roles: puller, melee damage.  Secondary role: off-tank.  Monks make excellent pullers because of their ability to Feign Death, which they can use to get excess mobs to turn around and go back.  They also have a line of combat disciplines that let them briefly lull single mobs so they won't aggro when a nearby mob is pulled.  At low- to mid-levels, monks can be pressed into service as main tanks; they have few tools for retaining aggro other than just doing melee damage, but they dish out that damage in quite credible quantities.  They can also heal themselves for 25% of their HP once per six minutes.  At the highest levels the so-called "monk nerf" makes itself felt, wherein monk armor class becomes less effective and a monk tank is too likely to die if a mob gets just a few hits in a row before the healers can react.

Because monks can feign death (though this is harder to do against a group of spellcasting mobs, because a spell begun before the feign will break the feign when the spell lands), they can sometimes afford to continue fighting past the point where other classes would have to flee.  If a group gets into trouble, the monk may be able to gain aggro enough to give the others time to escape, and then feign death to watch and report when the coast is clear.

Necromancer

A necromancer is a powerhouse of flexibility, offering a bit of everything but buffing.  An INT caster with minor healing capabilities, significant DPS, a powerful pet, mezzing for CC, FD for pulling, and even a version of resurrection, a necromancer can find a role in almost any group.  The necro pet is a significant melee force capable of real DPS and off tanking, or even main tanking in a group without melee PCs.  If possible, outfit the pet with mage summoned armor/weapons.  Positioning it to attack from the rear will increase its damage output by about 15%.

Necros have "lich" spells that damage themselves while adding massively to their mana regen; combined with spells which transfer hit points from their prey to themselves, it means they usually have more mana available than they know what to do with.  In a group which can provide them with HP regen on top of that, a necromancer can really turn on the heat.  Necros also have very good DOTs, which work well in groups taking on mobs that take some time to kill, but not in a fast killing group, and some Direct Damage spells that aren't very mana efficient, but don't need to be in the face of their massive mana regen rates.

Necromancers have a snare line that, sadly, includes a DOT, so it can be less flexible than other snares that won't break mez.  Still, for stopping runners or on prey you know you aren't going to mez, it's much better than no snare at all, and the damage does add up.  The necros also themselves have a mez; it's relatively short compared to other mezzes, but is still useful for keeping one or possibly two extra mobs under control.

Necromancer healing reduces their own HP while healing their target, so this is generally used only in emergencies.  But by using other spells that heal themselves at the expense of mobs, a well-buffed necro can function as main healer for a duo or small group doing relatively easy work.  This is one of the rare cases where a necro may be better off with an enchanter mana regen buff instead of using their own Lich line; they'll have less mana flow, but will get the full benefit of their HP flow to pass on to the tanks.

Soloing a necromancer is simpler; pull single mobs, feign death if necessary to do that, sic the pet on it, DOT it up, and wait for it to die.  With hard targets, snare and fear so your pet doesn't take damage.  Lich and Leech to keep your mana flow up, and just watch the exp flow in.  Only trouble is, this is so powerful that many necromancers eschew grouping entirely, so they don't learn how to group well, and few people have experience grouping with necros at low levels so they aren't eager to invite them at higher levels.

Paladin

Paladins can be a puller (the lull line helps them there, and stun pulling gives them a head start back), and are designed to be a tank.  With heavy armor and lots of hitpoints, plus their own buffs and the ability to heal themselves some, they make good tanks.  Learn to love the "taunt" button.  Depending on what you are fighting and how things are going, you may be spot healing yourself, stunning, or just using your mana for pulling.  Lay on hands is your "fix me now!" key, and is also good when the wizard gets aggro and is folding like wet cardboard.  You can be a pocket healer if necessary, but there are several better alternatives out there.  Still it's better than Mr. Monk can do for others.

In most groups your job will be to go get things for people to kill, attack targets, try to maintain aggro so you bleed the most, and spend your mana reasonably.  (If you're not using any mana you're not using your class to its fullest.)  Note:  Do not just step in and try to take over aggro if you join an existing group with an existing tank.  Figure out which of you will be bleeding the most; the other should generally not taunt, though stunning and other effects that generate aggro are useful.

Paladins eventually gain the ability to resurrect dead characters, though they are never able to restore as much lost experience as a cleric (or even a necromancer) of the same level.

Ranger

Primary roles: melee damage, buffing.  Many secondary roles, including tracking, pulling, snaring, kiting, debuffing, crowd control, tanking, patch healing, and ranged damage.  Rangers are the best at few things, but can fill almost any role needed within a group, just not as efficiently.  Rangers can tank very well into their 50's.  With the right gear and AAs they can tank at higher levels except against top-end foes, but their main function is to pour out damage.  Though they have special skill with bows (most notably the Archery AA at level 59), they generally do more damage in melee, and as they are limited to chain armor many of their spells and AAs (such as Jolt and Weapon Shield) are aimed at aggro reduction and other ways to avoid getting hit.

Rangers can cast several buffs, including several much desired by tanks and other melee, such as damage shields and Attack bonuses.  They also provide movement buffs and, at higher levels, shared invisibility.  They have great tools for pulling in outdoor zones, including Harmony (up to level 40), Harmony of Nature (65), and Tranquility of the Glade (70).  They also have the best tracking in the game, able to sort mobs by level, distance, spawn order, etc.

Along with druids, rangers have the best, longest duration snares in the game, letting them kite any snareable mob very efficiently.  Together with high aggro, low mana cost spells (flame lick, tangling weeds), this makes them great bait in kite groups.  Add in their root spells and rangers do reasonably well at crowd control.  With the semi-recent updates to hybrid healing spells, rangers have the ability to be average patch healers; with the correct AA to boost it, this ability can occasionally save a group wipe.

Rogue

Traditional duty: melee damage.  Other roles: scout, puller, body recovery, last ditch backup tank.  A poor solo class, rogues have moderately good DPS from the front but extremely good DPS from the back.  They don't get enough AC, HP, or avoidance to really serve well as main tanks, and even when (due to good gear and buffs) they CAN serve in that capacity, it sacrifices much of their DPS.  Rogues are highly valued on raids, as they have some of the highest sustainable DPS in the game, and plenty of aggro avoidance to go with it, plus raids find a lot of value in their "other roles".

Rogues have no mana bar, basically functioning off of timers and player skill (positioning, aggro management, etc.).  They have the ability to Hide and to Sneak, as can various other classes and races; however, only rogues can do both at the same time, so they can move while hidden, invisible to both live and undead mobs in a way no other class can be.  At low levels, this combination forces them to move very slowly, but with SOW or AAs at higher levels, they can end up moving fast enough to make very good use of this ability.  At high levels with the Shroud of Stealth (SoS) AA, this ability becomes astonishing, allowing them to literally walk past almost any mob in the game.

The key function of rogues is their "backstab" ability; available on a timer, this is an extra attack that does damage as a multiple of the damage stat of their weapon, making their choice of weapon very important.  The rogue must be behind the mob when hitting Backstab to do this damage, otherwise the extra attack does only normal damage.  (There's an AA that lets rogues do minimal "backstabs" from any angle.)  Backstab also produces lots of aggro, so timing is critical; the rogue must be able to dump aggro to someone else in order to backstab at all, and then must be able to lose aggro afterwards (or not get it in the first place despite the backstab).  A soloing rogue can get only a single backstab per mob by sneaking behind it to start the combat.

This brings us to Evade.  Not technically a separate skill, it's another "rogue only" use of the existing Hide skill; in combat, a successful Evade will significantly reduce aggro.  To do this, you turn off attack, then hide, and hope for the best.  This ability is on a timer of roughly the same length as the Backstab one, and can be used one of two ways.  If you are functioning as "main tank", you evade to get the mob to turn toward someone else just long enough for you to backstab; if someone else is MT, you backstab then immediately Evade if you got the mob's attention.  (A good tank will regain aggro quickly since you aren't doing any more damage till you start attacking again.  Even better, don't evade at all; a really good MT can hold aggro despite your backstabbing!)  Evade is worthless if soloing, though, since you need someone else for the mob to turn toward.

At high levels rogues get the Escape AA, which removes aggro completely.  Combined with SoS, this is a rogue must-have, comparable to the "feign death" ability of other classes in terms of losing aggro (though on a much longer timer) but able to drag corpses while hidden.

One other thing needs to be said about rogues.  They have the ability to "pickpocket" mobs, taking a portion of the cash loot the mob was carrying.  This makes some groups wary of taking rogues, fearing they'll take more than their share of the loot.  At high levels, this doesn't matter much, since the actual cash mobs carry tends to cap out and become unimportant.  But at any level, the simplest solution is to make the rogue be "master looter", responsible for looting all the bodies and then sharing out the loot with everyone.

Shadowknight

Primary roles: tank, melee damage output.  Secondary role: puller.  The shadowknight is very similar to the paladin; both wear heavy armor and have lots of hit points.  However, the shadowknight's spells are designed to produce a lot of damage and to keep his foes hitting him and no one else.  Shadowknights receive lines of hate-generating debuffs and a line of spells that directly generate hate, as well as many of the necromancer life-draining spells and a line of fast-casting direct damage spells.  Combined with the ability to Taunt and to hit very hard with either one- or two-handed weapons, this lets the shadowknight keep the mob focused on him while dishing out a lot of damage.  The shadowknight can also feign death, which can be very useful when a party wipe is unavoidable.  Having someone survive to drag the corpses to a safe area or to call out that the coast is clear can often make recovery easier.

In groups, the shadowknight will sometimes pull, but this is often left to classes more specialized for the purpose.  Mostly, the shadowknight will be using their magics to maintain aggro and will be leading the attacks as the main tank.  In a group with other tanks, the shadowknight often ends up as the main tank because they can hold aggro very well, but this is best discussed with the other melee classes first.

Shaman

Primary roles: healing and buffing, not necessarily in that order.  While their heals lag behind a cleric's, shamans make up for it to some extent by buffing up the group so that damage is done more quickly, and slowing the target so it doesn't do as much damage, reducing the need for heals.  They also have Regen buffs, which provide continual low level healing.  At low levels, while a shaman can buff up every stat, the buffing process is so time and mana consuming as to be a waste of time for all but the hardest targets.  Later, shaman buffs encompass several stats at once, and last longer, so that they become more utilitarian on a day to day basis.  Shamans also get a resurrection spell (Incarnate Anew) at level 59.

In addition to the straightforward roles of buffer/healer/slower, shamans can do light duty as crowd control and off tank, holding a mob's attention while the group kills something else.  At 32, shamans get their pet line, and the pet, when buffed up, rapidly becomes a useful member of the team, capable of substantial damage and even tanking on its own; supporting and directing this pet then becomes a significant part of a shaman's contribution.  At 44, shamans get the first in a torpor line of heals; this line is a very large HOT which simultaneously roots and slows its target.  Used on the shaman himself, this is part of what allows him to fill that "off tank" role; he doesn't need to run and isn't contributing a lot of melee damage anyway.  On other party members this is best used between mobs, although if the MT is capable of holding aggro while slowed, and the majority of DPS is coming from other party members, it can be used as principle heal as well.  At high levels, this line is replaced by a version without the ill effects.  On long lived mobs, shamans can also contribute significant damage output via their DOT lines, but in a fast paced group this won't be worth worrying about.  Finally, shamans have the Cannibalize line, which allows them to trade their HP for mana.  Combined with regen buffs and their Torpor line, this means they can have some of the best mana flow in the game, particularly outdoors when they can do this while on horseback.

An important question for the shaman is which stat buffs are important to which party members.  Stamina buffs add to the HP total, and work for almost anyone.  Melee will generally appreciate a Strength buff, which adds to their damage output.  Dexterity works well on bards (missed notes) and anyone using "proccing" weapons.  Agility is of questionable use, but some "main tanks" swear by it as further reducing the damage they take.

Soloing a shaman involves much the same tools as grouping one:  buffing, healing, slowing, using the pet.  The principle difference is that all kills tend to be slow enough that DOTting is worthwhile, in fact in some cases it is more worthwhile to root the target and stack DOTs on, ignoring melee output entirely.  Another useful trick, though, is for the shaman to "tank" for his pet.  Sitting on horseback with melee off, keeping torpor type heal running on himself continuously, the shaman can take a terrific pounding from a mob, while his pet, positioned behind the mob, does all the damage, perhaps aided by the shaman's DOTs.  The most significant lacks for a shaman in this position are "real" crowd control (root doesn't stop casters) and single pulling tools, and the absence of a snare to stop runners; one possible cure for that is the symbol an Innoruuk shaman can get which provides a clicky snare.

Warrior

Primary role: getting beat up... that's it.  I.e., tank.  The warrior is inherently best at taking blows.  While he has few means to hold the attention of an enemy while his group attacks it, those who cause the warrior to be ignored by the enemy will regret it.  Tanking is based on two things: absorbing an enemy's damage and being the only one to receive that damage.  Paladins and shadowknights are better, overall, at holding an enemy's attention, but the warrior has the best overall makeup for absorbing damage.  The warrior may also be the puller if nobody else in the group is better suited, and is often the Main Assist since he needs to solo the mob a little while to build up aggro before the other players join the fray.

The warrior, while simple in premise, requires paying attention, both in the short term (picking targets, gaining aggro, switching weapons, perhaps pulling), and over time, as his equipment will need to be upgraded and replaced.  For this, planning is essential:  certain zones are more profitable than others, and some quests are tedious but worth doing (plus, being patient is also crucial for building up one's character, though this is true for all things).  The warrior's most important statistics are always Hit Points and Armor Class, though which is more important can be a matter of some debate; generally, if you seek out gear with good AC, it'll supply good HP as well.  The rich warrior can solo up to the 50's, but most become reliant on groups much earlier, sometimes as early as 20.  Besides, the best warriors, regardless of equipment, wouldn't be the best without solid players to group with.  Building a reputation as a conscientious warrior is the ticket to getting and keeping good groups.

Wizard

Primary role: burst damage.  Secondary roles: minor utility, transport, snare.  The wizard's job is to end fights quickly, and he is the best at it.  He is the best by only a modest margin until the mid 40's, and the other burst-damage classes (nukers) do a good job of catching up over the next 20 levels, but at 65+ the wizard is king.  The road is very, very long.  In a group, the wizard applies mana early by snaring and stunning the enemies, and later in the battle dispenses damage in large doses.  The wizard wants to avoid an enemy's attention, and thus saves his high-damage spells for after the tank has done enough damage to retain aggro.  Ideally, the wizard wants his nuke to leave the mob only a blow or two from dying; if the nuke kills the mob, some of the damage (and hence some of the mana) was wasted.  The efficient wizard pays attention to the behaviors of his different spells in relation to his targets: some mobs resist fire, some resist cold, some resist magic in general.

The wizard, solo, is able to take on groups of mobs rather efficiently, though this skill takes patience to master.  The wizard is also one of only two classes that can teleport other players to a variety of locations.  (Ah, but walking is all the rage and clicking on books is too fashionable to ignore.  Though a wizard with a fast "evac" (transporting the group away from a combat gone sour) can save hours of fashionable walking, sneaking, hiding, running, etc.)

Group Tactics

Here are some assorted comments about how groups tend to operate.

Camps

As mentioned earlier, most groups will be "stay at home" groups, where most of the group stays in one place (so the casters can sit and meditate to regain mana, etc.) while the puller goes out and brings mobs back to be killed.  Depending on how efficient the group is at killing stuff, the puller may have to roam a bit.  Sometimes, though, a group is able to take on a single "camp" (or two camps near each other), i.e., a place where the same or similar mobs will reappear.  The best way to do this is known as "breaking the camp", and works as follows.

Suppose there's an area with five mobs standing around in it.  Often that means that the mobs there are "static"; they'll reappear in the same place a certain length of time after you kill them.  So if you somehow manage to kill all five at roughly the same time, they'll all reappear at about the same time.  What you want to do is pull just one or two of them, kill those, then pull another, kill it, and so on.  If you can spread out the times at which the mobs die, then the times when they reappear will also be spread out, so when they come back they'll come back as only 1-2 at a time and your group can kill them without worrying about the other mobs getting involved (since the other mobs haven't reappeared yet).  You may even be able to move the group into the middle of the mobs' spawn area and just wait for them to start coming back.  You can sometimes "break a camp" hunting solo, but it's a lot easier for a group.

Even if you're a roaming group (e.g., in an LDON adventure), you'll use many of the same tactics as a sit-at-home group.  In particular, there will often be places where the group pauses (and the casters sit and meditate) while the puller moves forward to draw a mob back to be killed.  When an area is down to only one or two mobs remaining, the group leader might tell everyone to rush them, moving into the area to kill the last mobs rather than making the puller bring them back.  The casters can then med in the newly claimed area while the puller again scouts ahead.

Melee tactics

Okay, so a mob is brought into camp.  Maybe there are extra mobs, but the crowd controller has mezzed or rooted them.  Let's say the MA and MT are the same person, so he picks a target to concentrate on.  Everyone else should WAIT, at least at higher levels.  (At low levels, even up into the 40s, you can often get away with having everyone just pile onto the MA's target and start bashing/nuking/etc.)  This gives the MT time to get aggro so the mob doesn't keep chasing the puller, and doesn't decide to start smacking that nasty rogue who just backstabbed it, or whatever.  Let the MT do his job, which is to absorb the mob's attacks.

So, the MT goes up to the mob and starts smacking it, plus doing anything else he can to build up aggro.  (Certain spells are very good for generating aggro, and a good tank knows these tools.)  He also tries to position himself so the mob is facing away from any of the casters' pets.  When the MT says to attack, everyone else joins in (except casters need to judge when to fire off their high-damage spells, to make sure they don't steal aggro away from the tank).  If the MT has positioned it right, the pets will be attacking the mob's back; all other melees should likewise try to stand behind the mob.  This is because mobs, like player characters, sometimes parry, block, or riposte attacks, but those abilities apply only against attacks coming from in front of the mob.  So, by attacking from behind, you not only do better damage (because more attacks get through), you also avoid getting hit by a riposte.  When a mob melees for several hundred damage, a few ripostes will leave you substantially low on health, requiring healers to focus on more than just the MT/MA.  This is crucial when fighting a mob that can "enrage", since while enraged it automatically ripostes ALL melee attacks except those from behind.  (When it enrages, the MT should stop attacking, except for passive damage such as a damage shield, until the mob is no longer enraged.)

At the higher levels, some mobs have the ability to "rampage", which is a special attack directed at the first person on the mob's "rampage list", not counting whoever the mob is currently fighting.  The rampage list is separate from the aggro list (also called the "hate list"); the aggro list changes order based on how much damage each player has done, what spells have been cast (including healing other players on the aggro list), and various other factors.  In general, the mob will try to attack whoever's at the top of its aggro list.  The rampage list, however, stays in the same order, with each player getting added as they aggro the mob.  Some groups say the ST (secondary tank) should aim to be the second person to get aggro after the MT, since the ST (being a tank) is prepared to take the rampage damage.  But this can lead to trouble if the MT falls and the ST has to step up as the replacement MT, leaving somebody else (probably a soft, squishy cleric) to take the brunt of the next rampage.  Experienced raiders recommend having a separate tank assigned to head the rampage list.

Hotkeys and communication

There are several hotkeys that are particularly useful for grouping.  The /assist hotkey is discussed in some detail in the main FAQ.  Another handy one is /follow.  (You might want your /follow hotkey to include a /gsay or /tell that lets your target know you're auto-following them.  That way they can be more careful at corners to make sure you don't get stuck facing a wall or something.)

Though you can target group members (or yourself) by clicking on their hit point bars in the group window, you may find it easier to use the F1-F6 keys (F1 targets yourself, F2-F6 targets party members in the order listed in the window).  Pressing the F# key again toggles between the player and the player's summoned or charmed pet, if any.

If you're the puller, you should have a hotkey that tells the group when you're bringing in a fresh mob.  It can be as simple as "/g INC! %T", or it can be more colorful, as in "/g %T is following me home, can I keep %O?"  (Just remember that people will be seeing it a lot, so make sure it's not too painfully cute on the 100th viewing!)

Some casters use hotkeys to announce their spells and targets, but too many such messages can drown out the important stuff.  Be tolerant of different styles, but don't be shy about speaking up if the "spell spam" is causing problems.  Some of the more important spells that people might announce are slow-casting heals (so the target knows the heal is coming, and so other healers know not to duplicate healing on the same target), mesmerization (to warn people not to wake the target by attacking it), and evacuation (when a wizard or druid is about to teleport the entire party out of the area so the group just needs to stay close and hold out a few seconds more).

Speaking of evacs, this is just one example of an ability that you might want to communicate to your group in advance, especially if some of the people in the group might not be familiar with your class. Not everyone knows that druids/wizards can evacuate a group, and this lack of knowledge can lead to needless deaths if someone tries to run away from a bad battle instead of sticking it out while the evac is cast. Knowing that a monk can feign death and can also heal 25% of his own hit points occasionally might save some of the healer's mana for other uses. Your groupmates might not know that your berserker can snare, or that your mage can summon gear to equip their pets, etc. Don't treat everyone else as if they're idiots, of course, but do be sure they know what you can do. An easy way to do this is just to ask, e.g., "Does anyone need summoned pet gear? bandages?" or as some initial groundwork, "Don't heal me unless I fall below 40% hits" or "If I call EVAC you've got about 10 seconds to tell me to stop the port."

Communication during and after battles is also important.  If an extra mob joins the battle, some people might not notice it at first, so it's good if someone tells the group about it.  If a mob runs away and you're not able to do anything about it, do "/g runner" so maybe someone else will manage to snare or root it.  (And failing that, at least the group is warned that the runner might result in more mobs headed your way soon.)  If you get mezzed or rooted, see if you can spare the keystrokes to let the group know so they can adapt.  If you're dotted (poisoned, etc.) and it's important that you get cured instead of letting it run its course, speak up!  Conversely, once the battle is over, if the mobs were capable of poison or disease, healers should ask the group whether anyone is dotted and needs to be cured.

Mana reports

Sometimes you will see the tank or puller ask "Mana?" or "mr?"  He wants to know how much mana the casters have remaining, so he knows not to bring in too many mobs.  As of late 2008, you can see the mana bars of your group, so the question is asked more often in raids, though you might still ask in case you and and caster have different ideas of how much is enough to make if safe.  Indeed, some players appreciate it if the number is accompanied by a general indication of readiness: /g 70 gtg, or /g 50 just don't pull the whole zone.

Each person has their own style.  Some report in bubbles (70% is 3.5), others may roleplay it a bit.  (A troll shaman with 3 bubbles might say, "Meez gotz 3 mugs of sparklies left.")

Groups will vary as to how often they ask about and/or report mana.  If you're getting big pulls so some casters are grinding through their mana, it may be good to report every time the puller is going out to get more munchies, to make sure he knows how many mobs the group is prepared to deal with in one pull.  In other groups, the pace can be steady enough that mana is hovering between 40-80% most of the time, and you'll only want to warn at 20-30%, or announce when you're at full mana so they know you need stuff brought in faster because they are not pushing you at all.  Some casters will tell the puller to assume they've got enough mana unless they say otherwise, but even so, if the group goes through an unusually tough battle and you haven't seen them mention how they're doing, it's wise to check.  Be watchful for the shorthands "lom" and "oom" (low on mana, out of mana).

Buff reports

Similar to mana reports, the casters may occasionally query the group to see if anyone needs fresh buffs.  E.g., the puller might want SOW, or the tank might want a HP/AC buff or a damage shield (DS).  When these spells run out, the casters need to know so they can cast them again.  Sometimes a meleer might not notice that a spell is gone, so it can help to have the caster ask occasionally.  Given that the current user interface lets the buffed person see how much time is left on each buff, it's easy to check and report back, e.g., "DS gone, strength still has 2 minutes left."

As of 2008, you can view buffs on PCs by targetting them (if you expand the bottom part of the target window), so casters and group leaders sometimes just check the group's buffs directly instead of asking.  But it's still more efficient if each player reports on his own buffs.

If you can spare the mana for it, a handy technique is to cast your buffs on yourself first, then on the others.  That way, you can check the timers on your own buffs to see whether you'll need to refresh them soon.  Another useful aid is to set up a audio trigger that fires off on the "spell has worn off" messages.

The Math

In general, grouping means there's more experience being handed out.  If two players the same level form a group and kill something, each player gets 60% of the experience.  Since two players can kill things about twice as fast as if they were both soloing, this is a good bonus.  Three players get 43% each, four players 40%, five players 36%, and adding a sixth player everyone continues to get 36% of the experience for each mob.

If players are different levels, the higher levels get proportionally more of the experience (but need more experience for each new level, so they generally advance more slowly than their lower-level groupmates).  The limit is a difference of 1/3:  If the lowest level in the group is less than 2/3 of the highest level (rounded down), then the lowbie won't get experience.  E.g., a level 25 grouped with a level 38 is okay, but a level 25 with a level 39 generally won't get any xp.

Forming a Group

Often, you'll be forming a group from people who are already present.  To do so, just target one of them and press ctrl-I to invite them.  They'll get a message telling them to click FOLLOW or DISBAND in their group window.  (They can also type ctrl-I to accept the invitation or ctrl-D to decline.)  Once the group forms, the person who extended the invitation is the leader, and is the only one who can invite additional people.  In the rare event that the leader isn't able to invite someone (e.g., because the leader died and is running back from his bind spot), he can use "/makeleader so-and-so" to make so-and-so be party leader.

As of mid-2005, it is no longer necessary to target people in order to invite them into your group; indeed, they can even be in different zones.  Just type "/invite so-and-so".  Of course, if the person IS present, targetting them may be easier than typing their name.

If you don't have all the people you need for the group, you can try looking for more via the LFG (looking for group) tool, which by default is opened by typing ctrl-L.  Conversely, if you don't want to spend the effort looking for a group but would be interested in joining one, you can list yourself in the LFG tool, or just type "/lfg on", so that others can see you in their LFG windows; then go off and solo or do tradeskills or whatever and see if anyone sends you a tell.

If the group has three or more members, then whoever is group leader will, by default, have a portion of their share of the party's experience go toward "Leadership Experience".  Type L to open the Leadership Abilities window and see your current status.  Leadership xp is sort of like Alternate Advancement (AA), in that the points diverted into LXP can be used to buy special abilities that are available only when you are the leader of a group of three or more people (including yourself).  As of late 2006, the leader can opt to have some of his diverted xp apply toward another group member acquiring leadership xp; this lets the group use the current leader's extra abilities while grooming future leaders.

Mercenaries

Mercenaries are special NPCs that players can hire in PoK or in home cities.  Each player can have only one at a time.  You pay a large amount to hire one, and a smaller upkeep cost every 15 minutes.  You can "suspend" the merc to avoid paying him, but there's a five minute cooldown timer before you can bring him back.  The mercenary is part of your group, taking a share of the experience (but not of the loot) and potentially activating Leadership Abilities.  Currently mercenaries are either tanks or healers.  A rogue and berserker, for example, might have trouble taking on most targets as a duo, but can do quite well if they add a healer merc and a tank merc.

The rank of the mercenary (Apprentice I-V, Journeyman, etc.) determines both the skillfulness of the merc and also how likely it is to panic and run if facing too many foes.  (Foes that are snared, mezzed, or otherwise under control are less likely to cause panic.)  The hiring and upkeep costs are based on the rank and on the owner's level; mercs are always the same level as their owners.

Mercenaries are a recent addition to the game as of this writing, so the full range of uses and etiquette of including them in larger groups has yet to be worked out.