Mechanics of a good party
by Josh Owens 
Dec 9th 2005 at 11:15PM
We've all been there, the party from hell. You just start
through Shadowfang Keep (SFK) and some n00b accidentally trains all the elite
mobs in the next two rooms right at your group! There is nothing more painful
than being stuck in a bad group. It can be especially painful if you are like
me and you devote time to your family and only run a couple instances per
month.
A good leader makes all the difference in the world, in my opinion. A strong
leader can teach players who don't know their class well enough. This happen to
me during my first Wailing Cavern (WC) run as a rogue at level 15 - I had no
clue had to use Sap at that point, I had never had a need for it at that point.
The leader was kind enough to explain how I should use it and how we would
handle the approach each time. He had the mage stand by to sheep in case I
failed with the Sap.
I like to find a leader that knows the classes, someone who can handle n00bs
that might not understand how to play their class well in a team setting. I
also like for a leader who takes charge and explains his policy on healing,
aggro control, and looting - I prefer things to be laid out before we start. I
find the best way to tell if a leader will be good is by striking up a
conversation about a bad instance experience and ask what their thoughts would
be on avoiding that.
How do you guys determine if the party is going to be good, ahead of
time? Or do you just let the cards fall as they may and hope you got
lucky with your party pick? As you can see from the pic, my motto is: "When in doubt, dance!"
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Tips
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Silvertusk Dec 9th 2005 11:48PM
If worse comes to worse and none of the other players are taking charge, volunteer yourself. If all of you are newbies going in, figure out eachother's abilities - ask one another what you can do to help in certain situations.
Jim Dec 10th 2005 12:55PM
One of the hallmarks of a good party leader - the loot policy is laid out beforehand (along with asking if members are looking for certain items). Another - asking about specs - is the warrior Protection, or Arms/Fury? Is the priest Disc/Holy, or Shadow? Is the mage Fire or Arcane? Etc. It shows a knowledge of the classes, and desire to know what the various players can be expected to do.
jakk on the blackrock server Dec 10th 2005 5:40PM
why were u in wc at lvl 15? the minimum someone should do wc is 18
VoIP Ted Dec 11th 2005 1:44PM
I've been through Wailing Caverns at lower than 18, incidentally.
But on the point, the problem with group leadership is that some people, especially in pick up groups, take leadership cues as attacks on their skills and go silent or freak out. I can usually tell within the first 3 mobs of an instance whether or not the group is going to work well together.
Icemental Dec 12th 2005 2:18PM
Hey sometimes u just can't tell if the group is good or bad. Everything starts with the layout of the group. If you are talking about a good 10 man raid group for an instance, you need to have mages, tanks, and healers. A 5 man group requires a dps class, a tank class, and a healer. So basically all groups are based on the same layout. IF the group consists of other classes then it's going to be much harder to get through the instance unless everyone knows what they are doing. That brings us to leadership; a good leader makes a group - he determines weather the group is gonna wipe or live. Never go in the group with a leader who never talks, a leader should give directions to the people just like you said. But even if you have a good leader, he needs to have some knowledge of the instance you are doing, going around aimlessly, killing random mobs won't bring you anywhere. Now, if you have a group wipe on the first pull... i don't think u will get far, but keep going and don't give up right away. If you start an instance you aren't set on killing elite mobs right away, you are still in your normal mode where you can kill anything in groups of 2 or 3 at a time - that is the reason why people have wipes right away. But once you see people wipe several times without a good reason... leave the group.
P.S. At higher lvl don't do instances 5 man if there is a group of 10 raid available(quests in 56+ instances are mostly useless).
Aenara Dec 13th 2005 12:47PM
I am a level 21 druid. I have only been in one group for an instance and it was half good and half bad. I openly admit to beeing a complete noobie, but I've had some guidance from some great players who have lvl 60 alts decked out with epic gear (not won at auction), and I knew going in that if my talents were all in spells and none in feral I would end up doing healing in just about any situation - which is fine, I hate taking damage.
Another druid joins the group shortly after we had enough people to enter the instance - yeh she's maxed out as feral and a lvl 25 so I figure she would be fine just taking care of taking damage and peeling from me. NO. She didn't even come in with any maple nuts to rez people - I had 20 so after I died due to no one peeling from me running my butt back to the instance I gave her some of mine.
I also told everyone to stay in line of sight or they would not get healed. So one of the other guys goes and starts running ahead to loot some dead guy while we are all still fighting below. I keep healing the people I can see - and I see his stats going down, I try a heal spell but it tells me that he is out of line of sight I ask him where he is - above me! I can't run up - mob in front of me and I'm pulling enough aggro as is, so I ask him to come to edge - he won't - he dies. Then he tells me I'm a crappy healer! The only 3 deaths we had were his, mine and mine again cause people couldn't keep the aggro off me from my healing.
I guess the moral of my overlong vent story is PLEASE listen to your healer, and remember we can't fly, and even if you are a druid speced to be feral, have some maple to rez people if you are going to bother with an instance.