Standing Position in Fellowships

[Zilch]

I've been playing a guardian as well as a minstrel to get an understanding of both sides of the tank / morale booster relationship.
One thing I have noticed as a tank is that a lot of the minstrels I have grouped with like to stand miles away from me. This makes getting the agro off them very hard as I'm always running after then.
I have explained to some of them that they need to be closer to me which most understand.
So three pleas to learner minstrels
1) Don't be a stranger keep near to the tank so that he can help you.
2) Don't run away if you do get the agro. Nothing worse than chasing around after a minstrel and mob.
3) Let the tank know if you do get agro and they don't notice.

[Hunka]

thanks for that...

[Gilmir]

You obviously should know to keep your distance, too - area damaging mobs or, the definite favourites - area stun mobs being reason enough not to get too close to the fray.

It's good to keep enough distance, too to be able to realize when you're actually getting hit yourself. If the fight gets really hot I tend to look at the health bars of all my fellowship members, especially the tank and tend to sometimes overlook that I'm getting hit myself. If you keep a little away, you see the monster actually turning to you and walking in your direction. The tank can see it easier that way, too

[Tiawhyn]

I don't know if healing in LotrO is simular to other games but in Dark age of Camelot for instance when I played my druid and we where taking high level mobs I used to move away to be just in healing range. The closer you where to a mob the higher chance you had to end up on his hate list after healing the gung ho tanks That could be a reason for some to take a little distance. I also like to have a bit of overview when healing so i can see if there is any adds or strays incoming. A tank usually has no time and ands up with "adds inc222211333222333" then either he dies or I get the agro

[Goodshanks]

I had a level 36 guardian during beta, and am now playing a level 29 minstrel.

The minstrel should definately not stand miles away from the guardian, but he should not be in close combat range either. It helps when the guardian can clearly see when mobs are "running for the caster".

Here's a little tip for guardians: Don't fight with your back towards the healer/casters. Spin around the mob you're fighting so you're facing the healer. That way you can easily see it if someone is attacking him, and you can quickly run to help.

Remember my ruleset: The main priority of the tank is to keep mobs off the healer, the healers main priority is to keep the tank alive. Break any of those rule and there's a pretty good chance you'll end up with a wipe.

[Bluesnow]

I tend to play healer classes.

I wouldn't stand anywhere near the tank because of area attacks and if you in the thick of it time between drawing aggro and taking a hit is tiny. If you sit at the back you can see the aggro coming at you, giving you time to deal with it.

I tend to keep out of the way but also within casting range, if I do draw aggro i move towards the tank wait for tank to pick up then return to normal position.
Maybe saying AGGRO AGGRO!!!!! a bit

Also other classes can increase morale, it not just minstrals (they are not healer) I say this because I fellowship with so many who blame the lone minstral for defeat. Also there are morale pots and food in game....

[Aelred]

errm....

Minstrel should always be standing up hitting the mob even against trolls and fire drakes the damage they cause should hardly worry you it regens in one click after the fight.

If you get multiple adds then step back but minstrels are a melee class and need to be on the mob for many conjunctions.

The biggest problem I have found is that hunters tend to stand too far away and are out of healing range.

[Gilmir]

Originally Posted by Aelred

errm....

Minstrel should always be standing up hitting the mob even against trolls and fire drakes the damage they cause should hardly worry you it regens in one click after the fight.

If you get multiple adds then step back but minstrels are a melee class and need to be on the mob for many conjunctions.

The biggest problem I have found is that hunters tend to stand too far away and are out of healing range.

While I agree with you on minstrel being a melee class when soloing, there are some points to observe:

- even if the damage from area effects isn't significant it's still damage - you're loosing health and if you're in a fight with several mobs it might be hard to notice where the damage is comming from exactly - is it just the area effect, or is some mob (maybe a smaller add) hitting you. Might also confuse your tank if he sees you loosing health,

- I think there is nothing more annoying then getting stunned when you're supposed to heal - which might happen standing too close to eg a troll with an area stun,

- When a conjunction pops up I still tend to have enough time to close the few steps into the right range to select anything. If talking about full groups it's more effective anyway to select green at the end which is doable from the distance raher then to go along with the standard red. 4 or five reds with a green end give you both a big whack AND a great heal over time for the whole fellowship for a long duration! So I tend to wait a bit and finish the conjunction with something really useful

Also, if the fight is really tough, you won't be able to contribute significantly as a damage dealer as you should conserve your power for heals and the auto attack just isn't enough to make a difference anyway. And honestly, for an easy fight (anything with no adds and not above yellow elite is an easy fight for more then one person with minstrel support) you don't have to worry about your position or anything else. Just get in close and help out with all your possible skills to shorten the fight significantly. The minstrel does make a reasonable damage dealer after all, but at the cost of massive power that would be wasted during multi - mob fights.

[Aelred]

Well all I can say is that if I was in a group with a minstrel who was just standing at the back spamming morale boosts I would kick him.

To be truly effective minstrel players need to get out of the eq healer mentality of literally just healing or for most of the game they are doing little more than leeching xp. Minstrels are not healers.

If you want to play that way then hunter is the class of choice.

You can go five or six combats without needing a morale boost and even then it is likely that your boost was just to keep the green line above 50% and usually just the morale gain from the three herald's strikes is all the boost that is needed.

I fail to see how you can run out of power unless your fate and/or will is not high enough, usually my power is at 50% when the rest of the group has none at which point blue conjunctions are the order of the day.

Since fate followed by will are the most important stat for minstrels 'Man' is the race of choice for minstrels.

Once you complete book VI Chapter VI and get your power stealing Thalronn (more powerful than the level 50 class quest mace) not standing there whacking is actually being power inefficient. The five herald's strikes do more than 1,000 damage which is a pretty significant contribution plus a dps of 26.6 is definitely noticed when absent.

You can run out of power if you are fighting in areas you shouldn't be in.

Not having raided yet I presume it will be different there and much of the time you will have to stand back but am looking forward to finding out.

[Sabian-X]

Originally Posted by Aelred

To be truly effective minstrel players need to get out of the eq healer mentality of literally just healing or for most of the game they are doing little more than leeching xp. Minstrels are not healers.


You can go five or six combats without needing a morale boost and even then it is likely that your boost was just to keep the green line above 50% and usually just the morale gain from the three herald's strikes is all the boost that is needed.

I fail to see how you can run out of power unless your fate and/or will is not high enough, usually my power is at 50% when the rest of the group has none at which point blue conjunctions are the order of the day.

Since fate followed by will are the most important stat for minstrels 'Man' is the race of choice for minstrels.

The five herald's strikes do more than 1,000 damage which is a pretty significant contribution plus a dps of 26.6 is definitely noticed when absent.

Signed

i always stand behind the mobs so my tank sees when they turn and attack me. makes it easier on both of us.