Raiding Basics?

[alWald0]

Since i never played the original everquest when it first came out, i was never able to raid obviously. But know being a 48 druid and that privilege is available is available, how does it work? How long are they usually? And being a druid, what would be the best spells to have memorized going into a raid? (I know i will have to change spells out during).

[Nagash]

I'm not at the level where I can tell you which spell to memorize but have a few tips for you nonetheless:

- How long does it take? Depends on your raid structure, how long you have, where you're going... There is no rule of thumb here but expect a few hours (I used to raid on Live back in time, never saw a raid lasting less than 3h)

- Watch your aggro

- How does it work? Each target and location will have it's strategy and recommendations (for exemple don't wander in the wild in PoFear unless you like trains). Generally speaking, don't engage a mob unless you're the puller (that won't be you as a druid) or the assist call has been sent.
Your raid leader should explain you the strategy, do's and don'ts before. Alternatively, a lot of guild will post this on their forum. Saves a lot of typing time and gives ample time to the people attending to familiarise themselves with the "rules".
Generally speaking, to be successful, expect the raid leader to be very directive as he has designed the strategy and needs you (and the others) to do some specific things at some specific time. The worst thing that one can do is not to pay attention so be a good soldier and listen to your general, no ifs, no buts. Not doing this is the best way not to get invited again.

- Watch your aggro

- Be on time. A meeting place and time should have been announced prior to the raid, be there on time with everything you need in terms of consummables (this includes IRL consummables): a cleric running out of peridot is bad omen... so is some going ninja afk to grab a can of Coke...

- Watch your aggro

- Your role as a druid will generally be to assist heal (keep everyone alive so the clerics can focus on the main tanks) and possibly assist DPS (especially during the clearing phase). Let's not forget the buffs you can bring to the table. In a nutshell, as a jack of all trade, just like in a group, your role is to fill in the gaps; said gaps will depend on your raid structure (you may already have a lot of healers and be designed to DPS mainly or not enough healers and be asked to do this solely)

- Watch your aggro

- The raid leader is a busy chap during raids. Don't talk to him (unless you're a group leader) and don't question the strategy. If you have some suggestions to make regarding the strategy, post them on your forum. There is no stupid ideas (well, usually) but raid time is not the right time to submit them.

- Watch your aggro

- That being said, communicate with the raid: if you get low on mana, say it. The raid leader will know that the raid overall DPS/healing capacity has gone down but also, maybe a necro has some mana to spare and will twitch you. But also, if you have to go AFK, say it (and try to do this during downtimes).

- Watch your aggro

- Do some research prior (this is linked to the strategy mentionned above). For example:
-- If you have to heal, do you have to expect a phase where the targets will do more damage, like enraging at 10% HP or casting an AE every 30 sec...
-- If you have to DPS, what are the lowest resists of your target which will help you in your spell selection
-- What are the strengths and weaknesses of the other classes. How can you guys compliment each other?

- Watch your aggro

- Be patient, you will die... a lot. You will get frustrated... a lot. You will wipe at 5% of the target hp... a lot. Rememnber that everyone in the raid will probably feel the same but you are here for some good time with them so enjoy the good sides of it (you are probably hunting in an unusual place with some people you may not group with very often).

- Watch your aggro

- Don't let raiding become a chore... ever.

That's not much, but that's what I can tell you. Our raiders will probably complete that with more details. Oh, one last thing: watch your aggro (this can't be stressed enough).

Petitpas/Nagash

[Kruel]

most druids on raids invis and afk throwing in a small heal when they are wiping. port ppl when they ask, follow the group.. afk to your liking.

[YendorLootmonkey]

Don't let everyone's HP go to zero before the HP of the engaged mob(s) go to zero. How you do this is entirely up to the reader. This is all you need to know about raiding.

[Dr4z3r]

One critical thing no one has mentioned about classic EQ raiding:

There are not scheduled raid times or places. Since there are no instances, there is only one boss or plane that everyone is competing for. The only (partial) exception is Plane of Sky, which isn't isn't typically as popular for raiding.

The major raid targets (Gorenaire, Sevrelious, Faydedar, Trakanon, Cazic-Thule, Innoruuk, Dracoliche, Lord Nagafen, Lady Vox, and to a lesser extent Maestro of Rancor) spawn once every several days, and any guild that wants to kill them simply has to run to & kill them as quickly as possible. You're not online when it spawns? Too bad. Another guild was faster and engaged before you? Be faster next time. You can only be online 3-4 hours a night, and nothing ever spawns during that time? Try WoW.

The minor targets (trash mobs on Plane of Hate, Fear, and Sky) all have shorter respawns (~8 hours), and are usually killed over the course of a nice, relaxed 2-3 hour raid.

[Kassel]

Use common sense and dont be a moron.

[Supaskillz]

Spot heal, buff and port people who need to go. If you find you are at full mana toss some nukes or whatever but only when mob hp is low you don't want to draw aggro. If you want to raid, chances are you will have to join a guild.

[Ennoia]

Originally Posted by Nagash [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

- Don't let raiding become a chore... ever.

By far the most important thing that was said. Raiding is fun, until it stops being just about the fun.

[Salty]

Don't give up if you are getting your ass kicked to Trakanon every week. Sit your entire guild there the day before so you can get your dragon.

If there are three guilds fighting over a spawn, go earlier.


Best advice.

[Reynard_CT]

Originally Posted by alWald0 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Since i never played the original everquest when it first came out, i was never able to raid obviously. But know being a 48 druid and that privilege is available is available, how does it work? How long are they usually? And being a druid, what would be the best spells to have memorized going into a raid? (I know i will have to change spells out during).

Regardless of class, raiding can be a lot of fun or a terrible experience depending on how well everyone works together. If things are generally smooth, you should be able to find yourself mostly:

>Healing your group, as well as clerics and squishy classes if there is a lot of AE or wild mobs bonking folks (if its a usual bunch of raiders, you might consider dedicated hotkeys for those who generally get cracked skulls).

> Patching up the Main Tank between Complete Heals landing, if a chain is in place.

>Healing the Offtank if there is one required for your particular raid (OT can sometimes use a Damage Shield as well, since mages generally focus on MT).

>Curing Poison or Disease if required, since the shaman are usually busy having their slow resisted or buffing 50 folks. For speed, you can ask for tells when removal is needed, and use /rt for this.

>Buffing if required (for efficiency, have a separate tell window so you can see who needs what, and use /rt again to target the last one who requested something)

Some things which you, as a Druid, should not do on a raid include:

>Dont heal the monk (or FD puller in general) without being specifically asked for a heal. It might seem helpful, but wiping and losing your target mob are sometimes the result.

>Dont DoT trash mobs since they might be in the process of being locked down, unless you want to piss people off.

>Dont try to nuke unless the mob is debuffed and your raid is solid on heals without you. For the main raid target who is immune to mezz, you can add some dps by throwing your MR based DoT between heals. The bonus is that it has a negative resist component so is resisted less than your nukes.

>Dont use your damaging Root to try and lock down mobs (I forget when the damageless root was introduced). That ench might have finally gotten one mezz out of 20 tries to stick, and you dont want to be the one to break it with a 5 second damage root.
(If you need to you can kite with snare if there is room and no danger of agroing the whole zone, though good rangers will usually watch the clerics and enchs to get mobs off of them in this same way).

Overall, it should be fun and it will be fun if everyone uses common sense and pays attention to raid instructions. A good raid leader can make raiding great, and a bad one can ruin it for everyone.
Stock up on dirty jokes or find a cyb0ring partner because wipe recovery can take a long time and druids are usually low priority when it comes to rezzing a raid without the clickstick.