Grouping tips from a loser

[tasheren]

Causing your party to die and get pissed off at you is fun to Minra She doesn't even do it on purpose! more like out of habit...

[VLSmooth]

Hmm, when and where does this person play so I know to avoid?

[Alan]

You'll know it when you're in the same zone as her.

She's the one shouting, "I'm getting outta here MeEoW!" every 15 minutes because she overpulls and then has to use Flee, leaving her party to die behind her.

Or else she dies because her party engineers a wipeout.

I swear it wasn't us.

[VLSmooth]

Try and start your own group
Try and be the highest level
Keep a 1 maybe 2 level difference between ALL members
Only get non-newb players (especially non-newb pullers and healers)
Invite only friends or what the party needs
Play your role correctly
Kick idiots
Organize skill chains/bursts
Only chain toughs, and only do IT+ if chainable with tp/bursts

Leveling the second time around, its pretty easy to know what your group can and cannot handle. Through Valk we were chaining 200+ xp baddies 4 at a time before resting. Then in qufim, it is best to zip through landworms at 200 xp/killl which means only join/start groups of 20/21, and avoid groups of 24+ which make worm xp drop to like 30. Then once the tanks hit 24 and get chainmail, move up to giants/pugils now im in the grind to 30 >_<

You know, this is so much more applicable now that I'm 19 that it's scary.

As for chaining in Valk, the best I've done is average ~150 xp per fight and chain twice, to average ~100 xp per fight and chain up to five (ran out of even monsters for the highest level person). It really helped to have two WHM in a group of 18-21, but it sucked that I was the puller/tank/lowest level/skillchain finisher (only single skillchains)/organizer (set up the chains)/etc and I died once when there was a misunderstanding over damage spreading. To their credit, I was hit by a beach pugil's screwdriver attack for 154 damage when I only have ~310 hp. However, I never should've been under 200 hp if we spread damage properly...

The PT I was in today for public scrutiny:

Code: Select all

NIN20/WAR10 => NIN21/WAR10 <- dmg dealer, emergency provoker
DRG19/WAR9  => DRG20/WAR10 <- dmg dealer, provoker #2
BLM18       => BLM19       <- dmg dealer, did magic bursts
WHM19/BLM1  => WHM20/BLM1  <- healer #1
WHM20       => WHM21       <- healer #2, unfortunately hurt our xp early
WAR18/THF8  => WAR19/THF8  <- main tank/puller (me)

Overall though, I found it to be one of the best groups I've been in. We (I?) managed to miss zero skillchains (except when they started and I didn't have the tp), and the PT only had to really "rest" three times total since we cycled WHM (one heals, the other debuffs than rests, switch for next mob).

It was also suggested I level up before so that we can all go to Jeuno for the people without chocobos, and so that I don't get xp screwed again ^_^;

[VLSmooth]

Now to target the quote a little more:

• Only get non-newb players
  Er, how can you tell beforehand? Or do you mercilessly kick them if they're not up to par after two mobs? (I've been tempted many times as the leader)
• Invite only friends or what the party needs
  I try to get two tanks (I'm one), at least one healer, and the rest can be damage dealers (most classes) to speed things up. If possible, I try to get one support, a la RDM or BRD, but it hasn't been completely necessary, and quite often it can be quite a hassle to find one.
• Play your role correctly
  All too often the person that's supposed to trade-off provokes with me at 15 seconds "forgets" to do so (or uses berserk, etc), letting the casters get aggro, expecting me to provoke when I'm still cooling down, and then provoking at the last second, sometimes before the casters get thwacked, or even worse, never provoke and wait for me to provoke, while the casters run in circles. Bah
• Kick idiots
  I really really should...

[VLSmooth]

Then in qufim, it is best to zip through landworms at 200 xp/killl which means only join/start groups of 20/21, and avoid groups of 24+ which make worm xp drop to like 30.

W00T! New zone soon! (guess I'll see why Qufim is currently controlled by the beastmen...)

[Alan]

As for the kicking idiots, if you threaten to do so, some idiots will stop being so idiotic. Others will just leave. The rest you can just kick if they don't stop being stupid.

As for noobs, sometimes if you tell them what to do they'll listen, sometimes they won't. And sometimes it's too much of a hassle to tell them what to do. It's harder to kick noobs because they just don't know better, but in the long run they'll get you killed just as an idiot will.