Inccoming - Heal - Assist - Root Whatever Messages.Follow

gbaji wrote:


LOL, since when did one or two stun's become a chain...

Silly Pally's. :)


This does however bring up one of those times where a group / raid message could be needed when under normal circumstances it would not. Anytime you need to coordinate a series of actions amongst a group, then it would be good to use a message. For example, setting up a chain stun with 5 or 6 pally's to keep an unmezzable mob down. Would not have to be elaborate, or even worry about fails. Just a quick "Stun launched - Go gbaji" would work. Might even beable to get away with just the first pally having a message to start the chain.

Another time that can be usefull is a "Taunt Failed" message now that taunt reports back. This would fall under the catagory of "something didn't work, take appropriate action". I would not suggest that you need a failed taunt message all the time, but in some encounters it would be useful.

Anyway, point is there are other times where messages can help. I for one, like to RP and so I have various messages that reflect that. However, I will move to short messages or no messages when doing raids since I agree, hearing that Brell is going to yet again save the ranger from death, is annoying with so much other info going by.

Chaining stuns is not like chaining CHes. Stuns don't need to overlap, they just need to be in a row. Thus, a single paladin can indeed "chain stun". Heh. I do admit that I started out thinking about chaining stuns, but then modified what I was talking about to just a stun or two (since that's all it generally takes to delay long enough for a CH to land), hence the kinda confused wording.

There's about zero need to set up a stun chain like you set up CH chains. CH has a 10 second cast time. So if you need them to land faster then that, you need more casters in the chain. Stuns pretty much all have shorter casting times then their durations (cease and desist excepted). At level 65, I have two stuns that work on mobs up to level 65, I have 2 stuns that work on mobs up to level 61, and 3 stuns that work on mobs up to level 55. That's a *lot* of stuns (and doesn't count the two interrupt only stuns, cease and desist). It is quite easy to set up a spell set such that a single pally can chain stun a mob and keep it from being able to attack for a significant duration (until a resist or mana runs out). There's not much need for chaining the way clerics chain CHes. One character is all that's needed.


Oh. And Aubsp? Sure. We kinda ignored the topic a bit, but that's to be expected. If someone posted a thread asking for advice on he best way to commit suicide, you probably wouldn't be surprised if there were a lot of responses that advised against doing it in the first place. Same logic applies, if not to the same extreme. Those of us who have reasons to wish folks wouldn't use so many uncessary chat messages kinda can't complain about it if we don't actually let those who like to do such things know what our opinions are on the subject. If we didn't say anything the OP would be totally confused if some day she's in a group and someone asks her to cut out the excessive chat. She can't ever say: "No one told me that might be annoying", now, can she?... ;)

Personally i consider part of the clerics job to tell the group when and who he is healing, often a cleric casting a pulse is not aware that his target has a full 15 slots of buffs and that gives them a chance to click of yaulp before it lands.

I do not use long messages in raids but i use the same pull/assit key every time and no one has even complained.

The 2 heal messages are not my regular ones they are tucked away on page 3 and haulled out for 1 or 2 casts per Adv or group to give them a laugh, it makes the group relax generally and i have 10 or so people on my friends list because they enjoyed groups so much Directly because a 'quiet' group woke up and started talking because of funny emote.

then put your group chat in a different box to your combat info. i have 4 chat boxes
1:Zonewide spam and Raid
2:Guild / Chat channels and random rolls
3:Group
4:Combat stuff.

the first 3 are across the top of my screen the 4th smack band in the center at the bottom.

Why on earth do you need someone to tell you that you are being healed by them?

You get a cast message saying "so and so has healed you for 5,000,000 points. And there is a fair chance that you will see you HP bar increase as well.

No one else in the group could give two hoots who you are healing, they have their own job to get on with.

Regarding HoTs, as a Cleric you would no that you get a great big red message saying that "your spell would not take on so and so". When you see that message you tell the MA to click off a buff or else. Never had an MA argue with that. Again, no one else in the group could give a darn, no need to spam them with stuff that is irrelevent to them.

Regarding chat boxes, it is worth considering seperate boxes with Enrage/Rampage etc directed to it and a seperate box for important spell messages, al la the spell did not take message above and resists, duration spell fades etc.

I typically use 6 boxes, one has the junk I don't consider important directed to it and is always minimised and tucked out of the way. The others are for group/raid/battle channel comms, general guild, shout, randoms emotes etc, mob battle messages, general spell messages, my spell messages. I have these color coded so that something like a rampage, mob casting, my heals, spell fades or failures are immediately noticeable.

This way, if someone is spamming the group chat, I don't miss a rampage or heal miss or something else that is critical.

Edited, Thu Mar 25 03:05:12 2004 by Iluien

The only macro I use is when I am pulling.

Hey look! I found %t... Let's kill it.

I agree with those that say that some of the messages are long and, if repeated constantly, will drive me nuts. I do like to see some of them, though, because if they make me smile for a second, they did their job.

On announcing slows, if I am the only slower, I will usually announce if I'm resisted. The rest of the time, it's assumed that I'm on it. (Depends on the group, regulars know me.)

On the subject of announcing heals, I will usually announce heals, at least at the start of a run so that they can get used to the way I operate. If I'm in a group with a second healer, I most assuredly will announce my heals. I see your hand in the back, wait for it . . ; Firstly, I want to let the fella that's bleeding know that I know (he might assume it but RL happens,) and secondly (and more important) I want the other healer to KNOW that I'm on it and not to waste a spell on that one. Thats the most important to me. In raids, we set up a healer channel, throw it in another text box, and that way we don't annoy the Ogre that is having trouble figuring out his axe.

The best assist message that I've seen is something like "Here is the assist message . . . You should have waited for it. Assist me with %T." That's real helpful, specially in raid situations or with MOBS that you need to wait a tic or two for the tank to get firm agro.

I "usually" fall into the minimalist camp myself. However, the one place this is not true is with heals. I play a 65 druid as my main. I take it as my role to do back up heals, nuke, root if we have no CC, regen, evac, DS, and anything else needed spur of the moment. I have many times had my heals cross with clerics when more than 1 group member is low on health and the cleric does not announce his. If the cleric does announce I will immediately duck and heal the other one myself so the cleric doesn't need to interrupt his spell. The other night this almost caused a wipe.

In a hard ldon the monk pulled 3. The cleric had to heal early and got aggro before the chanter had both mezzed. Cleric got down to 20% at right about the same time as the tank. Since this cleric didn't use heal messages I spammed my caster heal to her for 1750 assuming she would be busy healing the tank. To my surprise and disbelieve, .5 sec before my heal lands I see her HP shoot up. Less than 1 sec later the tank dropped and I was already casting evac.

If she had called her heal my spam would have instead went to the tank and possibly saved this evac.

Just my 2 cents worth.

"Chanter, necro and bard: Mezzing %t! You spank it, you tank it!"

ROFLMAO

For some reason, even using the HoTs I have a special gift for drawing aggro when healing. Doesn't matter where I stand...Downright uncanny. So my inc's all look like this:

Heal-taunt in 10 (CHeal on %T stay close - get 'em off me!)

I fix you, you save me! (SupHeal on %T)

Massaging %T's shoulders (and aggroing %P mob(s)) (Gheal)

OMG BANDAID FOR %T (Not in the face)!!! [Heal or Gheal depending on level]

Panicky twitch heal on %T (Pulse Heal Inc) - eep?

/shout If you see me sow me! (Train to zone!)

/ooc Uh..."lulled" a rockhopper (Train!)

Well, the mana is not spent if they go out of range. But it is still a valid point. When dealing with heals, time can be just as critical...if someone needs a heal and moves out of range not knowing it is coming...you have to wait and recast and get him in range...all of which can take precious time away when people need to be healed.

>>Celestial Healing to %t, Remedy to %t, Superior Heal to %t etc. Who the f*** cares? Just get on with your job for heaven's sake.<<

As a cleric I take some exception to this. There are times and situations when healing must be made known. I do not announce every heal. I will warn for CHeal of course. I also warn for the GHeal/SupHeal combo, because that is a sure taunt. If I pop off a couple heals then die in a pile of mobs, I'm no good to anyone...but it helps to remind the tanks of the possibility.

Generally, I work in groups with multiple healers. A frequent group partner of mine is a shaman and he does well enough that I consider him backup healer for most things. He needs to know who I am healing so mana is not wasted by him doing the same if it's not necessary.

Our primary method of hunting at the moment is a virtually all AE caster group. That's right - no tank. So as a plate wearing priest I have a better shot of living through pounding than anyone else in the group. And heals...taunt...

Our *enchanter* pulls 20-30 mobs at a crack and he chain-stuns them. He uses shuriken to pull. Stuns are ALL his mana goes to besides downtime buffs/clarity/KEI. Needless to say if his stuns are resisted or fail he is going to be hit very hard and keeping soft squishy casters alive in such situations is difficult. So I heal him.

Now it is *VERY* important to everyone (especially my shammy) to know exactly what kind of heal I am casting. If I am casting a heal at all it means at least one stun was interrupted or resisted and there could be a break in the chain that means we all die if not brought into control and soon. As there is usually only one chanter in our group it's risky. No one else in the group HAS ae stun.

There is no time for a cheal so forget it. I won't surive the aggro of the 20-30 mobs he's pulled anyway. So the best I get off at first is a heal over time. My shaman NEEDS to know if I am casting a Celestial Health (115pts every 6 sec) or a rapid-fire Gheal/Supheal combo (closest I can come to Cheal in short time at lvl 40). He needs to know this because A) He may not have our puller targeted and could be busy dotting/nuking/debuffing, B) If I cast G/Sup combo I *will* draw aggro and need a heal of my own (which being pounded so much I can't cast on myself). If he sees "Celestial Health on %T" he knows there is something in there hitting for damage through stuns. Could just be lag, could be a resisted stun, could be a major problem. If he sees, "Heal Combo on %T" he knows we're in trouble, and he's going to need to heal me and the puller and maybe prep for evac.

Let's say I survive (and we generally do). If I am casting more heals the group needs to know -- becuse as an AE group every heal I cast is mana away from my Word line -- damage not done to 20 angry mobs. So if I am healing, the wizzies know to use that more powerful direct nuke on the highest lvl mob pulled, the shaman knows to use the most powerful dots rather than just debuffs -- we need dps and fast -- without tanks. I can heal or nuke, but not both. My people need to know which I am doing because it greatly effects what they do and how long we hang in there before evac/zone.

Why do we do this? Because our little AE group averages 2-4 full blue bubbles - per pull. And generally we do two to three such pulls before the enchanter has to med (we all med while he rounds up the horde). So far all of our deaths have been due to LD or lag.

>>This has become so ridiculous lately that I now see clerics with hot button announcements for their nukes!<<

If the cleric is the main healer I'd want to know why mana was going to this at all -- barring very special situations. But I'd bet the cleric is warning the group that she/he is casting a nuke because Plate aside we don't survive taunts well and can't heal anyone if it's interrupted by pounding. We NEED the tanks to know that mob may decide to turn around and pound us. This is also why, unless I am in an AE group where ideally no one should take damage except the mobs, I don't even have nukes memmed.

Back in the days before LDoN when I could trust all tanks to know their business to taunt the mob back off me I wouldn't have hot buttoned this kind of warning ... today.... I grouped with a cleric last night who went AFK in the middle of a battle in Karnor's. People don't know specific dungeons or their classes anymore, but that's another argument. Suffice to say that random spammers aside, we clerics do have reason to tell you all what we do now and then.

I will quit announcing my heals the moment tanks quit saying, "Heal me". You haven't died, so calm down, do your job and let me do mine.

On raids, despite the spam, I prefer the announcements so you can change to someone else.

I am in the minimalist camp. Just tell me what you are doing and who you are doing it to. No need to have "fluff" in the message.

For me the important messages...

Incoming
Heals
Canni 5
Slowed
Malo, Tash, Ro's
Mezzed

All other spells, I assume you are doing it, like snare, stun, nuke, dot, etc. No need to annouce it.

depends on the toon i'm playing. i usually keep the messages short and sweet after i've passed level 30 or so (before that who cares there is little tactic in playing).

Playing MA or puller - Incoming! --== %t ==-- or ASSIST me on --== %t ==--
(i've found its good to identify target in noticable context when pulling or assisting).

Playing healer - ### pt heal to %t.
(keep it simple, state the number of HP healing and who its going to. This is primarily because AAs effect # of HPs a spell heals. I put on CH or 10 sec if its a CH just so they dont forget)

debuffer - Attempting to <insert name of debuff> %t.
(anyone who has played the game can watch the action messages to see if it stuck. if they see the message again, it should reinforce that it was resisted)

thats about all I use.

On my shaman:

- Quiescence (2100 HoT) on %t
- incoming { %t }

On my druid:

- 3k heal on { %t } in 10 seconds
- fast heal on { %t }
- { %t } is harmonied
- incoming { %t }
- { %t } is snared

I have some lesser used ones for when I'm playing with pickup groups filled with less than stellar players:

- %t is Slowed
- { %t } has been rooted - BACK AWAY FROM IT NOW!!!
- using canni5, don't need a heal at the moment

In general, I ask the cleric if they want "slowed" messages. The good ones tend to not need them, either because they trust me to get the thing slowed or because they watch for "yawns" messages. If I'm not giving slowed messages, then I type in "resisted" if a slow is resisted (since recast is over 2 seconds, I have plenty of time to type it in and don't need a hot key for it.

Most of the time, when I root park something, I move it away from the group, so a root message is only useful for an idiot who wanders aimlessly into the rooted mob and doesn't notice his health bar going down. But I've noticed a lot of people who just root adds and yell at everyone else to move. If I used that style, I'd probably have a rooted message on my first hot key panel all the time.

Finally, most good clerics can tell the difference between canni damage and mob damage, so I don't generally need a canni5 message. I just use that when some half-asleep cleric keeps wasting mana "fast healing" my canni damage.

I only ask 3 things of hot keys from my groupmates:

1. the message should be info I NEED, not just cutesy crap
2. the message should be clear
3. the message should fit on ONE line in a reasonable size window

If the message meets both those criteria, I'm relatively happy. If people want to use emotes now and then for their other spells, that's cool with me. Just don't /gsay every stupid spell you cast. Nothing more irritating than a wizard who feels the need to announce every nuke for hours on end.


Edited, Thu Mar 25 16:48:30 2004 by Kazim