Snakespeare
08-08-2011, 02:22 PM
It happened again! There are just some people who think they're invulnerable and they run ahead, riling up the mobs, then bring them back to wipe a party of low level players. And there's nothing you can do but remember never to play with these folks. But today, let's try explaining the concept here, as it seems to be difficult for so many of them to grasp.
It's like this. Some mobs break your armor, some are DPS, and some stun and do massive damage per hit. What you have to do is take out the ranged ones (archers and mages) and the armor breakers first, and save the sword wielders for last. Sometimes you actually want to kill the armor breakers first if there are a lot of them. When you bring in 3 armor breakers, their effect is cumulative, so before long you have no armor. I used to wonder why a 50th level character was taken out when he tried to run through the halls in Zyla Doom's hideout, but it's obvious that anyone with no armor at all can be taken out by a group of archers.
When you fight mobs, like when you pay off loans, the trick is to think about reducing the amount of damage you receive. Since armor breakers cause you to take more damage from the others, take them out as soon as possible. Ranged attackers cause more damage per second. Obviously, taking them out sooner makes you live longer. It's definitely NOT about taking out the biggest attacker while the rest wail on you. Save the biggest for last.
Let me try to show the math... let's say you have 20 armor and 100 health. You are being attacked by a mob of 5, two brawlers, a femme fiera, a corrupt archer, and an evil knight. Normally the archer and mage will have the better DPS, and when you subtract your armor, they do about 20 points per hit. But the brawlers who do about 10 points a hit are breaking your armor, so today the mage and archer are doing 40 points a hit, and you're using health pots like crazy. So you wail on the dude who is stunning you, who also had good armor, and after several seconds, and a few health pots, you slay him. One down, but over 200 hp done to you so far. Well, you can already see that this is slow going. You've used all these health pots and only slain one bad guy. As you can see, the armor breakers are going to keep reducing your protection and the mage and archer are going to cut right through it like a hot knife through butter, and if you don't keep using health pots, you'll have to respawn soon.
Now try my way. The brawlers are actually easy to kill. Take them out first. One of them is gone in half the time it took to kill the stunning evil knight. First few rounds, you are fighting without armor, but then these two are gone. Now the big dude has been wailing on you with that big black two-handed sword, but all he did was stun you and some light damage. Maybe one damage pot so far. But now look at where you are. The debuff will wear off as you go after the archer. Archers, again, have paper thin armor. In a moment your armor is at full and the only two attacking are the mage and the evil knight. I take the mage next because they also have procs like armor breaking, they have combos, their armor is weak, and they sometimes heal their party. Once the mage is down, you turn to the big dude and duke it out.
OK, so that's basic combat (any tweaks from other long time RPG players welcome).
Now let's look at what happens when you go in too deep. Simple. Three or four armor breakers make you effectively unprotected, then two or three archers DPS you to death, and you can't run because one or two evil knights are stunning you, and the whole time they are getting healed. Maybe you hit them with a combo, damaging them all halfway. Guess what, halfway is nothing, man. The point isn't to damage as many bad guys partway as possible. The point is to reduce the amount of damage that gets past your armor. All those halfway damaged bad guys are going to do the same amount of damage per second to you that they did before, because they are still attacking. Because of global cool-down, you will not be able to use health pots fast enough to escape, and you can't run, so you will have to respawn.
If you take smaller, bite-sized pieces, it will actually take less time to whittle away at the mobs than it does to always run back from the start. I'm sure you can tell from the example that the mobs die faster, they do less damage per second, and you don't have to run back from the start, so all told the careful and thoughtful method is also the fastest.
To get smaller pieces, attract the mobs at the edges away from their friends. Stand close enough to get them to see you, then stomp or shoot an arrow or an icebolt or something to attract them. When they chase you, freeze them, reduce their armor, and DPS them to death. This isn't something a bear is good at, but don't let that stop you. I use taunt from a distance to get them to charge me then engage them in melee.
Anyhow, if you have a habit of running in too deep, try to break that habit. People won't want you in their party. If you find you are dying too much, try bite-sized pieces. And think about reducing the damage to yourself. It really is faster in the long run.
It's like this. Some mobs break your armor, some are DPS, and some stun and do massive damage per hit. What you have to do is take out the ranged ones (archers and mages) and the armor breakers first, and save the sword wielders for last. Sometimes you actually want to kill the armor breakers first if there are a lot of them. When you bring in 3 armor breakers, their effect is cumulative, so before long you have no armor. I used to wonder why a 50th level character was taken out when he tried to run through the halls in Zyla Doom's hideout, but it's obvious that anyone with no armor at all can be taken out by a group of archers.
When you fight mobs, like when you pay off loans, the trick is to think about reducing the amount of damage you receive. Since armor breakers cause you to take more damage from the others, take them out as soon as possible. Ranged attackers cause more damage per second. Obviously, taking them out sooner makes you live longer. It's definitely NOT about taking out the biggest attacker while the rest wail on you. Save the biggest for last.
Let me try to show the math... let's say you have 20 armor and 100 health. You are being attacked by a mob of 5, two brawlers, a femme fiera, a corrupt archer, and an evil knight. Normally the archer and mage will have the better DPS, and when you subtract your armor, they do about 20 points per hit. But the brawlers who do about 10 points a hit are breaking your armor, so today the mage and archer are doing 40 points a hit, and you're using health pots like crazy. So you wail on the dude who is stunning you, who also had good armor, and after several seconds, and a few health pots, you slay him. One down, but over 200 hp done to you so far. Well, you can already see that this is slow going. You've used all these health pots and only slain one bad guy. As you can see, the armor breakers are going to keep reducing your protection and the mage and archer are going to cut right through it like a hot knife through butter, and if you don't keep using health pots, you'll have to respawn soon.
Now try my way. The brawlers are actually easy to kill. Take them out first. One of them is gone in half the time it took to kill the stunning evil knight. First few rounds, you are fighting without armor, but then these two are gone. Now the big dude has been wailing on you with that big black two-handed sword, but all he did was stun you and some light damage. Maybe one damage pot so far. But now look at where you are. The debuff will wear off as you go after the archer. Archers, again, have paper thin armor. In a moment your armor is at full and the only two attacking are the mage and the evil knight. I take the mage next because they also have procs like armor breaking, they have combos, their armor is weak, and they sometimes heal their party. Once the mage is down, you turn to the big dude and duke it out.
OK, so that's basic combat (any tweaks from other long time RPG players welcome).
Now let's look at what happens when you go in too deep. Simple. Three or four armor breakers make you effectively unprotected, then two or three archers DPS you to death, and you can't run because one or two evil knights are stunning you, and the whole time they are getting healed. Maybe you hit them with a combo, damaging them all halfway. Guess what, halfway is nothing, man. The point isn't to damage as many bad guys partway as possible. The point is to reduce the amount of damage that gets past your armor. All those halfway damaged bad guys are going to do the same amount of damage per second to you that they did before, because they are still attacking. Because of global cool-down, you will not be able to use health pots fast enough to escape, and you can't run, so you will have to respawn.
If you take smaller, bite-sized pieces, it will actually take less time to whittle away at the mobs than it does to always run back from the start. I'm sure you can tell from the example that the mobs die faster, they do less damage per second, and you don't have to run back from the start, so all told the careful and thoughtful method is also the fastest.
To get smaller pieces, attract the mobs at the edges away from their friends. Stand close enough to get them to see you, then stomp or shoot an arrow or an icebolt or something to attract them. When they chase you, freeze them, reduce their armor, and DPS them to death. This isn't something a bear is good at, but don't let that stop you. I use taunt from a distance to get them to charge me then engage them in melee.
Anyhow, if you have a habit of running in too deep, try to break that habit. People won't want you in their party. If you find you are dying too much, try bite-sized pieces. And think about reducing the damage to yourself. It really is faster in the long run.