Asherons Call: How to Surive VoD

There is no _I_ in team!! VoD will quickly point that out to most dudes with a quick, all expenses paid trip to the lifestone. Unless you are close to being maxed out in all your stats, VoD hunts are team hunts. Everyone plays a role for the group and they must check their ego at the drop-off if they expect to have a successful (read as, make lots of xp and pick up the occasional trinket). And yes, VoD hunts are basically for the xp, so don't expect to collect a ton of uber loot.

The entire team waits until everybody has done their buff cycle. In fact, everyone in the VoD fellowship should be on the same time cycle for their buffs. In the middle of a big battle is not the time to lose a key team member because they have to back way off to do a buff cycle. If you don't like this idea, there are always other groups arriving at the drop-off that would be glad to have your uber-self assist them in their puny efforts to master VoD's local fauna.[p]
Since I'm talking about teamwork here, the entire fellowship should never be more than half a radar scope away. This means that anyone in the fellow should be able to see ALL of their fellowship green dots on their scope at ALL times.

2) VoD fellowships have a number of critical roles.

There are definite roles for everyone in a VoD fellow. Read on about those roles, and reread rule 1 just to be sure. The following explains the various roles for people in a VoD fellow. [p]
HEALER: Probably the most important role is that of the designated healer. This is the person that will save just about everyone's butt at least several times during big fights. The designated healer is just that...nothing but a healer. They will normally hang back from the main group with Healer's heart in hand and the fellowship panel open in the stretched UI to able to see everyone's health status with one look. The designated healer heals first and can occasionally replenish stamina. HEALS ARE ALL THEY DO!! The designated healer does not do the random heal and then fire off 5 or 6 war shots that have little chance in hell of landing. All that does is piss off some critter who goes over to the healer to re-arrange their attitude; along with their toon's corpse after sending them back to the lifestone. [p]

VULN MAGE: If the VoD fellow is large enough, then another mage can be the designated vuln'er. The big deciding factor here is life/creature magic skill level. If your magic skill does not buff up to 420 or better, you will have to work way too hard to get your spells to land on most VoD creatures. When first engaging a new pack of critters, or even a singleton; the vuln'er is about to get the undivided attention of the critter, its pack mates, and maybe even nearby creatures that are not directly engaged. Until the fight is fully joined by the rest of the VoD fellow, the vuln'er is going to take damage from at least one, or likely several, irate creatures.

Not only are the type of creature to vuln important, the vuln mage also needs to consider the make-up of the fellow. Find out the attack weapon of choice to be used by the melee types and any archer(s) in the fellow. Even if a given critter is very weak against cold, casting a frost vuln on it is wasteful if no one in the fellow has a frost weapon. So, a little measure of preplanning is definitely worth the time to ask a question or two. [p]

MEAT SHIELD: With rare exceptions, a VoD fellow needs to have meat shields. A meat shield can be a melee type that has damn good armor and a couple of weapons, or a war mage similarly equipped with good armor. I'm not going to get into the subject of what type of character, weapon and/or imbue is the best; I'm talking about the critical role of meat shield. The meat shield's primary responsibility is to block critters from attacking the healer and vuln'er. One effective way to accomplish this is to be the first toon that the critters detect inside their attack range. Of course, this style of play means that you will have the undivided attention of the creatures, but there are lots of trees in VoD so use them to your advantage. The meat shield will take a fair amount of damage after the VoD fellow is fully engaged in battle, and that is your responsibility along with the designated healer. If you take several shots in short order, you had better have health elixirs (not health potions) hot-keyed and you need to make use of them. Don't worry too much about having a large supply of dispel gems since they are practically useless in VoD for the most part anyway. You can pop a gem, but it will only be a few moments before you pick up another round of debuffs during the next fight. [p]

ARCHER: If the VoD fellow is really balanced on the offensive side, there will be at least one archer. I've not included the archer in the meat shield category since they don't have shields and don't have a wand/obb/staff readily in hand to use their magic for a quick heal. The archer can do some limited scouting but never goes more than a radar scope's distance away from the group. This means that anyone in the fellow should be able to see all of the green dots on their scope at all times (refer to rule 1 above and reread as needed). The archer can scout slightly ahead of the main group and notify the group of creatures on the horizon. Like the designated healer, the archer can be slightly outside of the main group to better pick targets and fire their weapon. The archer should not be standing right beside the healer which may draw unwelcome attention onto the healer working so hard to keep their fellow members alive. One additional benefit of having an archer is that they can help encourage stubborn critters from their pack to come talk things over with the fellowship. [p]

LEADER: Finally, a VoD fellow should have a designated leader. This ONE person will be sure that the rest of the fellow know their roles and then be a general guide for the group. The fellow leader does not have to be the person holding the fellowship, or any of the above team roles in particular. The leader's role is to make basic decisions; such as which way to turn, what critters to not fight and such. Everyone else should listen to the leader. If you think that the leader has made a bad decision, don't just go running off in a different direction to show that they are wrong; give the leader a tell. If you don't like the way things are progressing, you can quit this VoD fellow AFTER the hunt. If the leader does not hold the fellowship, they are still the person who decides whether to boot a member out of the fellow.

3) VoD hunting involves the team beating the crap out of one critter at a time.

In this regard, the fellowship should directly attack only one creature at a time. This action will keep the fights from getting too crazy yet still give everyone a chance of kissing the lifestone. When a critter is just about to die, then the next creature can be invited on over to continue the fight. Please remember rule 1 since this is a fellowship team, not any one individual's entourage for personal support or an audience. If several team members yell out for vulns and they are not fighting the same critter, then the team is not working efficiently. Pick one creature, preferably the one with vulns already, and put it down quickly as a team. The leader should make the call on which is the next creature to be targeted. If an entire creature group comes to the fellow, then the leader must make a snap decision on how to proceed. Some options to consider are run, ignore them until they go away, pick one and attack it just to name a few. Again, this is the decision for the fellowship leader to make.

4) Share the wealth.

Typically, the creatures in VoD have very little loot but those few pieces are usually great items. As such, the team should take turns with loot rights of creatures. This sharing also includes the designated healer. However, do control yourself and take your turn looting AFTER the fight is finished. Taking a few extra seconds after a fight gives the group a chance to regroup, which is much better than having a member coming back from the lifestone while you were bending over for that shiny little trinket.[p]
Another point of consideration deals with the use of the Invoker to remove debuffs. Each use means that a large amount of mana has to be replenished on this item. If you are on the receiving end of its use, consider handing over some mana stones to cover its use. [p]
A slightly different item, but still sharing of sorts, is helping out during a buff cycle. When the team is doing a buff cycle, some members are very fast while others are fairly slow. If you are one of the fortunate fast buffing variety (I envy you), don't just stand there or even worse, run off to scout a little bit ahead. This is a team, and those slower buffers will greatly appreciate an occasional infusion of mana, stamina, health or whatever is needed.. This action can speed up the buff cycle considerably and let the group get back to whacking that much sooner.

5) Come prepared.

This is a rather open-ended statement and should be self-evident.. Be sure that you have sufficient mana stones, elixirs, ammunition or whatever else you may need for a hunt. Arriving and then spamming for a couple of mana stones is not a wise way to start. Have your elixirs (health, stamina and/or mana) hot-keyed for quick use. Also, if this is a planned hunt, be on time. Again, this action should be a common courtesy to all regardless of the location.

6) Be self-sufficient.

The bounty of VoD fellowships is most enjoyed by all who are self-sufficient. By this, I mean able to cast the bulk of your buffs yourself. Level 6 protection and buff spells are the absolute minimum to consider for VoD, but I would strongly suggest level 7 spells. Many of the creatures in this area can and do cast level 7 debuffs and war shots, so you are going to be hurting if only using level 6 spells. If you aren't self-sufficient, you owe it to the fellowship to have reached a prior agreement with someone to help out with your buffing. It is not fair to expect others to buff you completely without advanced notice. Also, remember that the kind person helping you is burning comps so you should at least cover the cost of those comps. Again, this is a matter of common decency to others in general and the VoD fellowship in particular. If you are being buffed by a helpful person, please try to help them out by infusing mana, stamina or both. In VoD, time is xp and a slow buff cycle for the team means less time for fighting.

7) Rebuffing.

There are a number of approaches in regards to VoD hunts and people rebuffing. The 2 most common methods involve either finding a relatively safe hole between spawns in VoD proper for the group to rebuff, or to recall to the initial drop-off to rebuff for another pass-thru. Either way is valid and I'm not judging the merits of one approach over the other. However, rule 1 mentions something about team effort. The leader of the fellowship should decide based on the various situations of the team members. The main point is that the leader owes the fellowship a clear statement of how to proceed before buffs start running out. Don't wait until you get the first pop-up notice in the text box that you are starting to lose your buffs. Check you own buffs occasionally, and advise the leader as you get close to rebuff time.

8) What to bane and what banes to use.

The easy answer to this question is very short and simple EVERYTHING. The variety of high level critters in the VoD neighbor should make this answer obvious. However, the fellow members that are slower with their magic and casting may consider a subset of banes. Impenetrability along with pierce, slash and bludgeon banes are the absolute minimum. In addition, remember to cast impenetrability and banes on your undies. Anything less and you will slow down the team with those unplanned trips to the lifestone.

9) Large hunt groups or multiple fellowships. [/b]

Until now, the main focus of this primer has been aimed at a fellow comprised of 4 to 6 people. Occasionally, a VoD hunt will be with a full fellowship or multiple fellows working with each other. One example of this situation is an allegiance hunt. With a larger number of people, several new aspects of balancing need to be considered and addressed.

First, multiple fellows must have at least one designated healer per fellowship. This need is not only to keep people alive, but to keep the fellowship groups earning roughly equal amounts of xp. A big part for VoD fellowships is the xp, but the fun factor is as important if not more. The uber types doing the killing are not the only ones spending considerable effort during the hunt. The healers and vuln mages are there for the same reason and should garner the xp rewards the same as everyone else. [p]
Important information must now be broadcast in the clear, and not to just fellowship members. As such, the team members need to keep their talking in check more so that a critical call is not missed by anyone (such as call for the group to do a strategic back-up). One basic concept still applies with larger groups however. There is only ONE LEADER. Everyone needs to know the who is the leader before anything else. [p]
Finally, larger groups may have the benefit of multiple vulners. In this situation, these mages need to plan ahead and determine who is casting what vulns and/or debuffs. This saves on the level of confusion by the group in general, and reduction of wasted vulns. With two vuln mages for example, one mage will cast imperil on the critters while the other mage will cast the appropriate attack vuln. Two mages delivering two quick vulns for the group equals one critter dead in a quick way and everyone is ready for the next contestant.

There are probably other rules and knowledge gems to be passed along, but the above items are a good starting point. I'm open for discussion and modification of this primer. I do ask that you send me an email in real-life, I'll be too busy in-game. ;-)

Good hunting and safe journeys to you,
Shobuck Jr.