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Groub Combat Faq

  • Thread starter Lord Kalatar
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Lord Kalatar

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Credit for this faq goes to uorehab and Relious Shade of the Lake Superior shard.

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How to work effectively in UO group PvP combat

This guide was posted on 11/8/03 and since this is the first posting of it some updating or editing may be needed. Once you have read it if you feel something needs to be added or changed post at the link at the very bottom of this guide.

Intro:

I have played UO for over 3 years now. The past 2 years of it has been in group PvP. From 2 people working together to leading groups of well over 20 players in multiple parties. I have watched guilds and groups of players come to Fel to either do some pure PvP or to do a champ spawn. Many fail...miserably. They think that the only preparation they need is to type /add and get everyone in party. The only thing they succeed in doing is knowing who killed there friends "Trammy Noob: I was killed by L33t r0xx0or Dude!". Group combat is a thing of art with the best of players. Each member acting out his/her role on the stage of UO with precise movements and actions so smooth that it is almost perfection formed in pixels. Group combat with the worst of players is like watching cattle with mad cow disease going to the slaughter.

But all is not lost and the worst of players can learn a few simple things that will make them 20x better. But you have to be open minded. Some things I suggest will seem alien to you but it is what you must do because those you come up against will be using all of the things I list and what I copied over from Rel's guide to PvP Mage combat (which if you are reading this you might want to look over)

Use a Voice Chat Program!

EVERY PvP Guild that has half a clue uses one, EVERYONE does. Because in the time it takes to type out what needs to be said in a PvP battle you will be already dead. In fact in battle you should not type ANYTHING until everyone is dead. That means no in-game smack talk or calling for help. Use a voice chat program. Use it use it use it! Don't have a mic? Get one, they cost from $5 on up and the $5 one will work as well as the $30 one. Then find a voice chat program. There are three to choose from all free. All with different strengths and weaknesses.

www.ventrilo.com - If you have a group of 4 or less all with broadband connections then you use this and you can host your own server. If you have more then 4 then you will need to rent a server cost is $5-15 a month and worth every penny (It will lag all to hell if you don't have a dedicated server / connection with more then 4 peeps). It has superior sound quality over all the other programs and more features then all the others combined.

www.rogerwilco.com - Bad sound quality compared to the others but it takes the least amount of connection speed so even dial up users can use it with little or no problems. Very little extra features besides the voice chat part.

www.teamspeak.org - This one is in between Vent and RW in quality and features. I haven't used it much so won't say much about it except that it is better then RW but not as good as Vent /php-bin/shared/images/icons/smile.gif

If you have problems using a certain voice chat program read the FAQ that comes with each program, still having problems, go to there respective websites and read/post on there message boards.

Other programs:

UOAssist and a UOAutoMap Server (not just having the map, but a server with everyone logged in) are essential to PvP and group combat. Everyone needs UOAssist. EVERYONE. It offers more features then you know. If you don't know about it go to stratics and ask why you need it. As far as UOAM goes, you need someone to start a UOAM server and then you all log into it. This is a backup method of communication along with knowing where everyone is.

Get a Clue &amp; be Prepared

Don't be stupid about anything. Be prepared. Be in party. Bring GM made potions, with UOA macros to drink them. Don't wear a lower reg suit (unless it has 50-60+ resists) wear good armor so that you don't die to 3 mind blast spells. Ride a horse (I see way too many of you on foot, you will die first). Don't go grey, for the love of all that is holy, don't go grey! You go grey I attack you, your friend jumps in and heals you, now he is grey and I kill you both, then someone else rezes both of you now they are grey and I kill them too! This is how it happens folks, don't let it. Don't piss people off unless you know you are better then them and 10 of there friends. In tram you can call someone a ass and get away with it, in Fel you do that and you are asking for trouble.

The following is taken from Rel's guide to Mage PvP combat: (It is somewhat geared towards the Mage but is a must read anyways)

Group Combat

i. Strategies

Group Combat requires, in my opinion, far more individual skill than single combat. It requires a heightened sense of awareness in both offense and defensive fighting.

Successful group combat is based one two important principles:

STAY TOGETHER

WORK TOGETHER

Now that you have a basic idea of combat from a 1v1 standpoint, I’ll go right into group combat fighting techniques.

To be successful, you must be using a voice chat program. At best, each person in your running group will have a functional sending and receiving system that allows them to both talk and listen. At the very least, you should have a team leader on voice chat while the rest of your team can listen in.

Have a healing method ready. Either have a main healer for a party, or have the party break into teams. (One person buddies up and is responsible for that person).

Call single targets and stick to that target until either the target is dead, or the leader decides to change targets.

Each person in the party is responsible for keeping themselves cured. (Potions) This way, the other party members can focus on healing only.

Do not go grey unless you are sure:

· You can escape

· Your teammates can keep you alive (By going grey themselves)

· There are few individuals around that will engage you in combat

Choose your targets wisely. Some people will drop easy. Try to pick those individuals off first.

Make sure everyone in your attack party has the same target on “Last Target” before engaging an enemy.

Have a party leader. This person decides the plan of attack, the strategies used in attacking, and the called targets.

Have a method for synchronizing your attacks. We usually count 3, 2, 1 GO! Or perhaps you can say “Watch for the mana drop.” This is necessary because most voice chap programs have a latency lag. This timing technique ensures your attacks land at the same time.

Try to keep your team between 2-6 individuals. 4 members seems to be the ideal number for balance and order. Having too many causes the fighting to become chaotic, and having too few results in not dishing out enough damage.

Spell attacks for Group PvP are geared more towards overwhelming damage in the shortest time possible. Try to use come of the following combinations:

· Explosion/Flamestrike

· Explosion/Mindblast

· Mindblast/Pain Spike

· Mindblast/Poison

· Explosion/Poison

· Explosion/Energy Bolt

· Explosion/Curse

· Mindblast/Curse

· Explosion/Strangle

Tailor your attacks from there based on what energy type did the most damage and what your team leader says.

Remember: Stay together. Have at least one person in your party with tracking. Track your target before your initial attack. If they start running, they won’t be able to hide.

If your target is hiding:

I. Use Wither or Poison Field to Reveal

II. Sometimes you can get away with typing out Wis Quas – Reveal. This will fake them out into thinking you’ve actually precast a reveal spell while you’ve actually an attack spell up.

If your target is house hiding, there are several methods available to kill them:

I. Sick a revenant on them

II. Prepare a heavy assault for when they peek out

III. Have one person block access to the house with energy field spells

IV. Drop poison fields inside of the house

V. Lure individuals out by leaving one person as bait

VI. Leave, incognito, change clothes, and return. This often gets a target to come out.

Always carry bolas. If you are dismounted, you can return the favor. (Also have an “all follow me” macro ready).

Test your target’s spell resist by casting spells like Paralyze or Mana Vampire. If they have low resist, you can use these spells to your advantage.

In fights where the odds are even, it may be to your advantage to have protection up.



ii. Team Rules

Have a set of “Team Rules” or codes of conduct you don’t break regarding:

- Number of people you will engage

- Horse Killing

- Talking in Channel

- Sticking Together

- Tactics

- Places to avoid

- Smack-Talking

- Revenge

- Dropping off loot

Always remember: Revenge is a dish best served cold. You generally perform better when you’re not angry.



e. Evading the Gank

This section is paramount. Evade the gank, and you have embarrassed your enemy and proven how much they suck.



· Never allow yourself to be attacked by more than 2 people while sieging house hiders.

· Have at least 10 cure potions available. Use them much.

· Know, at all times, the shortest distance to: A guard zone, friendly house, server line, group of allies.

· Try to keep running in straight lines. If you zig zag, you’ll lose separation distance while trying to turn.

· Remember, it is easier to hide and inviz yourself behind buildings

· Pay close attention to obstacles

· Make extreme use of lesser heals

· Keep your teammates healed. Nobody should be attacking in a gank scenario.

· Remember: Kick some butt and run like hell, you’ll live to fight again in Fel.



f. Law of the Loot

This is a method of playing. It is an ideology that believes looting your opponent means you have defeated them, and you won. All the smack-talking about skill this and gank that doesn’t matter, the end result is that you have their loot, they’re dead, you’re alive, and if they paid out the nose in insurance, you got paid.



Several things to keep in mind:

· Law of Loot says you do not loot bodies of the fallen until all outside threats are removed or chased off.

· If someone loots your kill, and they flag grey doing so, you must kill them and loot them as well, by law of the loot.

· Dry loot corpses of smack-talkers

· Drop off loot you gather often so you aren’t carrying much should you die.

· If you loot someone’s body, you win

· Never die retrieving loot

· If you die and loot an opponent, and he kills you but loots less, you’ve still won by law of loot advantage.



g. Murder Counts

Be careful of murder counts. People love to give them to you. To prevent this, never cast a delayed spell on a grey you plan to attack. Always hit them with an instant spell like harm or weaken.

Don’t attack blues you think are thieves until you are certain by performing a forensics check. Always leave a few points of skill available for making forensics checks. Even if forensics is at 0, you know the person is a thief if you get a gain in skill by using forensics on them.

Don’t giver murder counts to Reds. That’s what they want. However, ALWAYS give murder counts to blues.



Practice a lot &amp; Expect the worst to happen

If you expect the worse then when the group of 20 reds walk in and wipe you out you won't be pissed. Just think of the people you fight as the most intelligent computer controlled monsters you will ever fight. Don't take it personal. Regroup, reequip, and go back and do it over and over. Eventually you will learn to PvP and work better as a group. So what if you die 50x's over. As long as you are getting better and learning something each time then it was worth it.

You can check out this faq and other interesting things as well as send uorehab new ideas at www.uorehab.com
 
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