Yupa's Leading Tips Version 1.1, January 27, 2003 Contents A. Introduction B. Leading C. Zone Selection D. Posts E. Gold Split F. EQ Split G. Walkthroughs H. DTs I. CRs J. Slide Rooms K. One & Two Person Rooms L. Tactics A. Introduction - I've never thought of myself as a particularly good leader. I do try however. And I guess I usually do a decent enough job. But that's mostly because I've taken cues from following good leaders in the past. I hope I do my "mentors" justice with the information I'm trying to pass onto you. B. Leading - Be confident. Don't be stupid. Use the resources available to you as best you can. - Whenever possible, try to use your brain, not brawn. See if the mobs can be blinded, or gusted, etc, rather than walking in killing. It might be a lot easier in rooms w/ multiple mobs, if you can take some out of the action. Sometimes, there may be 2 or 3 different groups of mobs in a room. Some might be aggro, others not. Don't waste your time and resources killing everything if there's no need to. - Take care of your party. You're the boss. The head honcho. Numero Uno. Anyone zoning with you is basically under your wing. Take care of CRs promptly, don't make that low avatar responsible for stunning a mob by himself, watch out for saccers, scavengers, flame/frost/bolters, acid mobs, etc. - You're the one to get things started. See who wants to zone. Try not to be snobby about it, invite people from other clubs. Unless you are a snob. You Meanie! - But, be wary. If you're zoning w/ someone new, don't assume they know what's going on immediately. They might not know the basics, or are unsure of the commands you give. Make sure everyone's clear as to what's going on. C. Zone Selection - Don't bite off more than you or your group can chew. There's no point in trying to do Robotics Factory, if you're only going to get everyone sacced. Stick to something more manageable for the time being, and once you get good enough or have a big enough group, then tackle the big stuff. - Try to pick something that rewards everyone involved. Getting 2 pieces of awesome eq is great, but not so if you're in a group of 5 players. What do the other 3 people get? It may suck more to do a lesser zone, but it's more rewarding for those involved. In the alternative, do the awesome stuff first, then do something smaller that the excluded people can get something out of. - Make considerations for time. How long are you going to be on? How about your group? If the zone you want to do takes about 3 hours, but nobody is going to be on that long, it's probably better to pick something quicker. Also take into consideration extra time that may occur in case of a big FUBAR. Like everyone dying. That'll suck up a lot more time to do CRs and sort gear. - Pick something fun. Avoid boring stuff, unless your group doesn't mind. D. Posts - Leave a post in a safe part of the zone. This will be very handy in case you die. Then you can just use the post to summon everyone back in. It'll also (in most cases) prevent a zone from repopping, and having all the eq in your corpse from going poof. - Make sure the post's in a safe, summonable place. Avoid hot/cold rooms, when possible. Make sure they can summon in to that part of the zone. Make them sleep until you need em. - When feasible, reposition your post accordingly. If you get 3/4 through the zone, it might be wise to bring your post to that spot rather than at the beginning; it'll save some walking time and other headaches. E. Gold Split - Yeah, auto split on usually covers this. But it's not necessarily good when someone has 5 chars in the group, while others have just 1. Minor mobs is no big deal if you ask me, but if you enter a treasure room type deal w/ alot of money, it's probably better to get the gold w/out splitting, then divvying it up by the number of players, not chars. - If someone dies, watch out for gold split if you get something from their corpse or gold piles on the ground. F. EQ Split - In the past, I gave a buncha things to think about when it comes to divvying up the loot. I think some points were valid, but in terms of fairness, I think I'd propose this instead: - Dice. Really, it's generally the only fair way to do things. Totally random, let Lady Luck decide who gets first pick. You can't have any bad blood going around if everyone gets a fair chance to pick the cool stuff. - However: Some things to consider... - People jumping on the bandwagon later in the zone. Ya, is nice to have your pal or extra muscle come along, but let them pick after those who were there from the start. I think that's a fair enough point. - People who leave in the middle. Yeah, thanks for coming along in the first half, but really, those who stick it out for the whole zone deserve at least first dibs. - Sympathy Points for those who get really messed up cause of your leading. Be a good guy, if you end up getting someone sacced or something. On the other hand, if it's cause they weren't listening/paying attention/etc., eh. - As leader, sometimes you gotta take one for the team, so to speak. If you ain't got enough EQ for the whole group, consider passing on your pick. It may suck, but you'll probably earn more in respect for your generosity. :P G. Walkthroughs - Walkthroughs are good guides. Some people scoff at them, but it's better to have useful info written down and easily accessible than to be going from foggy recollections. Use them as reference, it's alot better than stumbling around without a sense of direction. - Don't rely solely on them though. A lot of zones are revamped from time to time, so the info on a 5 year old WT may be inaccurate now. Also, don't rely on a WT from some unknown source. They might have made it inaccurate, or just didn't know how to write one. Even some of the best walkthroughs I've seen won't prepare you for everything. Following a WT on blind faith (yes, even mine....as cool as I am, I'm certainly not omnipotent, and probably will miss a few directions or trouble spots! ) is both dumb and suicidal. Use your brain! - By that measure, if you're planning on leading, take notes on zones that you do. Log it, if you got zMud or any program that can make logs. That way, if you do a zone with someone else leading, you have your own set of notes so that you can someday lead it yourself. - Once you've done a zone a few times, it'll mostly be second nature. Still, it's nice to have directions the first time through, and a good reminder for directions/ instructions in subsequent adventures. H. DTs - Watch out for em. Peek won't always sniff em out. When in doubt, throw a coin in the room and check for it w/ peek. Or send a naked char in first. Or, if you got aliens, it's kinda moot. Still, be careful. I. CRs - Did you leave a post nearby? Sure hope so, cause otherwise you got alot of walking to do. - You can do your CR first, but don't stand around equipping yourself while the rest of the corpses decay. When possible, get all the CRs done first. It's not always feasible, but try. It'll save you time later, rather than sorting thru a room full of assorted eq. J. Slide Rooms - Watch out for them. When the time comes to slide, and you know where you'll end up, make sure to tell everyone in the group to slide. K. One & Two Person Rooms - Bottlenecks can suck. Especially if you don't know it's coming. When you do, make sure you give good orders on which way to walk, what to expect, etc. Typically, the leader should go in first in a 1-person....best to lead by example, no? In 2 person rooms, take a solid player with you, someone who can hit hard and stun well, or is proficient in whatever way is needed. L. Tactics - I'm not telling. No, really, I'm not. Your strategy for leading will change with zone to zone, and everyone's got a style of their own. I'm not one to force any particular method of zoning/leading on ya. If you're a charge-in-and-kill- em-all type, and the zone calls for it, then by all means enjoy. If you prefer to take it slow and safe, that works too. - Just remember that each zone may require a different touch, and that you might also have to change tactics for different parts of a zone as well. Of course, you should have your own playing style and tactics. I'm just trying to provide some options and ideas. Lemme know if there's something I should include. Yupa