| Eq dicing and core roles/eq prep farming | Sat Jan 20 15:13:33 2024 MST |
| Starting next week we'll be instituting a +5 dice for anyone playing a core
roll, as well as +2dice for laslore key and +3 dice for imma keys from
tornwals.
If you'd like to rotate in as a core role both temuthril and myself are
happy to switch to blaster rolls as long as you've got a grasp on where
things are and how to play the role.
If you have any questions please hit me or temuthril up.
-Brackston/Denim |
| >Eq dicing and core roles/eq prep farming | Sun Jan 21 06:11:18 2024 MST |
| A bit of questions and answers, with my two cents:
Q "You just want all the loots to yourself, this is nepotism!"
A No, everyone is welcome to play a core guild. In fact, at least three people have gladly offered to stand down and let other people step up. Bard role has also often been non-static and filled on the fly, depending on who can do it. There's quite a few opportunities for anyone who wants to do it. This is an opportunity for anyone who wants to put in a little elbow grease to improve their position.
Q "The dice part gets very difficult to follow."
A Just add numbers to a few players, reorient the list and send it to the party channel with the in-game converse command.
Q "This is a huge boost in dice."
A Here is how it would've went in practice last Saturday:
First part dice:
POISON [POISON]: Doing Party Dice!
POISON [POISON]: a 97 ( 29 )
POISON [POISON]: b 88 ( 69 )
POISON [POISON]: c 86 ( 15 )
POISON [POISON]: d 82 ( 72 )
POISON [POISON]: e 81 ( 78 )
POISON [POISON]: f 80 ( 69 )
POISON [POISON]: g 70 ( 28 )
POISON [POISON]: h 68 ( 71 )
POISON [POISON]: i 56 ( 87 )
POISON [POISON]: j 41 ( 85 )
POISON [POISON]: k 37 ( 61 )
POISON [POISON]: l 22 ( 92 )
POISON [POISON]: m 16 ( 28 )
POISON [POISON]: n 2 ( 88 )
With suggested dice bonuses:
POISON [POISON]: Doing Party Dice!
POISON [POISON]: a 97 ( 29 )
POISON [POISON]: b 88 ( 69 )
POISON [POISON]: c 86 ( 15 )
POISON [POISON]: f 85 ( 69 ) +2 spots
POISON [POISON]: d 82 ( 72 )
POISON [POISON]: e 81 ( 78 )
POISON [POISON]: g 75 ( 28 ) no change
POISON [POISON]: h 68 ( 71 )
POISON [POISON]: i 61 ( 87 ) no change
POISON [POISON]: k 44 ( 61 ) +1 spot
POISON [POISON]: j 41 ( 85 )
POISON [POISON]: l 22 ( 92 )
POISON [POISON]: m 21 ( 28 ) no change
POISON [POISON]: n 10 ( 88 ) no change
The people that moved down one spot were players D, E and J. On the other hand, if they'd played core or done extensive prep themselves instead, they would've themselves jumped up: D and E one spot, and J one spot. If something really rare had dropped, that would've likely been gone in the first 1-2 dices, players C, D, E and F could've boosted themselves to second spot, had they really wanted.
Q "I don't have a minmaxed core set with max guild rank."
A The parties regularly slay top end eq mobs with ease, and the playerbase has been overtuned for the mobs for a while. Paying attention and following orders is a much bigger guarantee of things going smoothly than having top gear.
Q "I don't know how to play a core guild."
A For most guilds it's really not rocket science. 90-95% of the mobs function the same way for guilds, and everyone can give tips and tricks for the position for things to go smoothly.
Q "I don't have enough exp or eq to do a core guild."
A There have been a lot of Grimtooth parties recently with even secondaries getting easy access for boosting purposes. These days it's easier than ever to raise enough exps for a new body or character. There's also a lot of very decent basic caster gear available in the game.
Q "This is unfair."
Either
1) playing core is easy, in which case this is easy +5 in the dice for the taking, or
2) playing core is hard, in which case is it wouldn't be unreasonable to have a very slight boost for spending the extra effort.
Which one is it?
Putting it another way, it's more cognitively draining than playing blaster, which a fair amount of people that have played both roles can corroborate with.
- Abjurers put varying shields up per mob for the party and keep 2-3 rupts up
- Witches have 7-8 debuffs, dreams on other players and either announcing the damage type to the party or outsourcing it to someone else via a gaze trigger.
- Bards have, quickly counting, around 19 different buffs to keep up. Initial setup is fairly easy, but when people die they have to prioritize crucial songs up quickly to get the party going again. Skill flasks also take extra effort.
- Healers are the most time crucial role: not paying attention for three seconds can result in a party wipe. They also have to keep up HP/SP/EP on the entire party, and a fair bit of buffs. Healer is the bottleneck in both prep phase (people can't cast the necessary buffs when tapped) and combat phase (HP 0 = bad).
- Lurkers function more as utility in eq parties: multiple short duration debuffs to keep up (foul and putrid drink, confuse opponent, anger opponent), fast talk when necessary and possibly assisting with bartender drinks.
- Party leaders have to run to new mobs between kills, solve quests, keep track of the entire party, and keep track of the party readiness status. When you have 10-14 people that have to do things manually (enter bucket, climb stairs, move manually, etc.) for the entire party duration, it quickly gets mentally taxing. Arguably the most involved role with healer.
- For 90% of eq mobs, as a blaster you have to tune 1-3 times and then have the recast trigger do the job. There are some exceptions like Jesrael with multiple spawning extra targets and Vahl with exiting and re-entering his tent. For buffs you have to keep nether body up and fueled, focused mind and regen trance up and crystal drained with possible herbalist and animal tamer stuff.
For the prep part: getting both Imallinga keys can take up to 8-9 hours, if you're unlucky with Tornwals's spawns. Without saying any quest info, prepping Mordulak from scratch can easily take 1-2 hours. All of these are actions that make the eq parties run much smoother, and able to slay more mobs in the four hour time slot allotted.
Can you really say these are all equally difficult? Is it fair for someone to prep Evolver, prep Mordulak, prep Imallinga, lead Mordulak & Naraku quests and herd the party for four hours (for 8-9 months in a row) to be treated the exact same than logging in at 12:30 rltime and blasting? Keep in mind that in most of the cases in the above dice chart example, the positions didn't even change much. Again, everyone is welcome to do this.
Q "Do you want naked blasters with no guild rank?"
A This is a strawman, as a lot of the current core has top sets with high guild ranks.
Q "Mobs will die a lot slower now with suboptimal guild choices!"
A Most of the time wasted in eq parties is outside of combat: getting all necessary buffs up, trying to get a huge party to follow instructions and get into the correct locations, and ensuring everyone is ready to go and on the same page. In other words, logistical stuff. The parties do not lack raw power. |
| >Eq dicing and core roles/eq prep farming | Mon Jan 22 13:37:11 2024 MST |
| Q&A Part 2: Electric Boogaloo
Q "I really want to play a blaster guild."
A That's completely fine: you can lead the party even as a blaster. Just grab 20 levels in lurker or acrobat for tunnels (or master navigator portals, ferry ride tickets or even just walking there manually the old fashioned way), run to mobs, solve quests, check that buffs are up and that party is ready for combat. Just set the tank as the party leader after everything's done, and he can count down and enter combat. Easy way to get +5 in dice, that doesn't require much effort.
Alternatively you can get both Imallinga keys for +5. Tornwals, despite being an EQ mob on paper, isn't that difficult. Grab some buffs or a buddy and it'll be a breeze. You can even get +10 as blaster: lead the party and do Imallinga prep.
No one is being forced to play any specific guild. All you need is the willingness to contribute a bit more in exchange for a tiny chance to dice slightly higher. A little quid pro quo. No prior experience required, on-site training provided!
Q "I don't know where mobs are located."
A A large majority of mobs can be done with walk commands. If you want to lead parties and run to mobs, you'll be given any existing walk paths. Excluding quest mobs (Naraku, Jesrael, Mordulak), everything can be taught to others with ease, if you're willing to learn and contribute that way.
Q "Well the core slots must be in demand and already taken."
A With a quick preliminary check, a lot of them seem to be very eager to swap to blaster and let others shine. There's easily 4-5 openings right up for the taking.
Q "Does the tank still get +5 if they're just meatwalling?"
A No, at that point most of the cognitive load is outsourced. They'll just self buff and enter the mob room. Hence party leader is considered a core role, not tank in a vacuum.
Q "Can I get +10 if I both core and lead?"
A Role bonuses initially limited to +5.
Q "Does prep + core stack?"
A Yes, +10 if you get both Imallinga keys and play a core role.
Q "I can't stay logged on for long, how do I handle keys for Imallinga?"
A Inform Temuthril in advance. If he knows, he can idle on a server for a stable connection and you can just drop keys to his inventory.
Q "Does making the eq list give bonuses?"
A Would +2 sound reasonable? It hasn't been very popular either, good way to encourage people to volunteer.
Q "What exactly are core roles, and what is the basis for them?"
Leader, healer, abjurer, witch, bard, lurker. They incur a higher mental load on average over the four hours.
Q "Miscellaneous math"
A Adding numbers can go over 100. The bonuses are only added on the first dice. The bonuses are only added to the first number (not the one in parentheses). If the first numbers are the same, go by the second numbers, as before. If both the first and second numbers are same, both players do dice 1d100 until either scores higher. |
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