The only other MMORPG I've ever played was EverQuest. In EQ, levelling is done in groups at least as much as it is done solo. Here in SRO, soloing is so easy that people have absolutely no concept of how to be in a grinding group. While soloing is easy, it's also VERY, VERY BORING after a while. In addition, if you die, you may have to wait quite a while for someone to res you, and you're more likely to die if you get swarmed because you have no backup. You also probably either spend a lot of time sitting on your butt, earning no experience, or you chug down potions like nobody's business, which costs money. In good exp groups (and I've organized a couple now so I know they work in this game), you either never sit down, or you get exp and can chat with the group while you're sitting. You also save a lot of money on potions. Of course good exp groups are hard to organize, and there will be many frustrations when you try - but good exp groups are a ton of fun and are very efficient.
An exp group will pick a position as free from spawning mobs as possible, so adds (additional mobs that were not pulled) are minimized. Everyone except the puller is supposed to STAY IN THAT SPOT. Don't go wandering around unless you're the puller! Set both autopot percents low - maybe 25% or so. Healing and mana regen is to be done primarily via spells and sitting, not potions. Experience autosplit is a must; I recommend item autosplit as well, though it's not as important.
There are a number of basic roles in the standard exp group. They are:
Main Tank - This is the guy who is designed to take damage. The ideal MT in SRO as far as I can tell is a pure Str Ice Blade. Damage dealing is semi-important but not the primary focus of this role - getting the monsters to attack you and being able to take their hits without dying or wasting the healer's mana inefficiently is much more important. Therefore, area effect attacks might be a good idea so that the MT can more easily get all the mobs on him. If you are the MT, your job is to make sure you're taking the hits. In a small group, you might be the puller as well, but in a larger group, the puller will be a separate character entirely. If you're the puller, make sure you bring the mob back to the rest of the group before you start fighting it so you can be supported. If you're not the puller, don't pull! Let the puller do his job.
Main Healer - The main healer's job is to keep the MT alive. Secondarily, he is supposed to heal the others as well and provide resses. He should have a powerful healing spell and a powerful res spell. This is what Cabronegro is designed to do using Alfred's Healer Guide (see the Characters' Skills forum). Ideally, during the fight, the MH heals the MT as the MT is getting pounded by the mobs. Other characters should not require significant healing if the players are doing their jobs well since the other characters should not be getting hit. Lightning is a great secondary mastery because of mobility; I find myself running all over the place to keep everyone healed since they often don't have the discipline to stay close enough for me to remain stationary.
The two roles described make up the basic exp group. Fighting and healing are split between two characters. This means that less healing is needed, since the MT is designed to be especially tough, and spells instead of potions can be used which means more $$$ in your pocket. Also, there is a steady flow of experience while the healer is sitting down, which is not the case for soloers who choose to sit down to heal HP and mana instead of using pots. In addition, there are the following secondary roles:
Puller - The puller's job is to bring mobs to the party. Period. A good puller does very little damage (whether or not he's capable of doing more) because he's not wasting time fighting. However, in small groups, the puller may be needed for his damage capabilities. Pullers need mobility, toughness and a ranged attack. Glaives make poor pullers; blades have the extra toughness (pulling with that ranged blade skill) and bows have the extra range. Lightning and garments are a must for pullers since they provide mobility. The puller shoots a mob, choosing one that will be a challenge for THE WHOLE PARTY to kill and which will provide good experience after being split among all the members (thus often one significantly higher level than the party's members are), and then, without getting hit if possible, leads it back to the party. Then, the MT intercepts it, gets it's attention, and the puller runs off to get another one. By the time he comes back, the party has finished the first mob and is ready for the next. This is a very active role; a good puller is constantly moving in a frenzy of pulling, handing the pull off to the MT, and then pulling again, over and over and over without a rest. If I were to make an ideal puller build it would probably be a pure str lightning bow. However, Cabronegro is actually an excellent puller, though not by design. Alfred's guide makes excellent pullers as well as healers.
Damage Dealers, Crowd Control and Offtanks
The rest of the party is generally filled with these guys. Their main job is to do damage without getting hit. Nukers, archers and glaives are all good at this role. It's the most popular role because a wide variety of builds work well in it and because most people like to do lots of damage. In EQ, Crowd Control had it's own role, considered as important as MT and MH, because the Enchanter class was specialized for it, but in SRO there's no Enchanter style Mesmerize line as far as I know (which in many ways is a good thing IMO). Crowd Control refers to dealing with adds; ideally, the party would face one enemy at a time, but this is rarely possible. There are a couple of standard methods one could use to deal with CC situations in SRO - the simplest and possibly best is Offtanking. One of the tougher Damage Dealers attracts the attention of one of the extra mobs and tanks it until the MT is done with his mob(s). Alternately, heavy firepower can be concentrated on the adds, killing them as quickly as possible until there's only one mob left. This is the method that the higher damage, lower toughness DDs should use for CC instead of offtanking. AE effects are good for this too as long as they don't lead to someone other than the MT getting mobbed. DDs also provide things like light healing, backup res for the MH in case he goes down, status effects, backup tanking in case the MT goes down, etc.
There you have it. That's the basic exp group. It works fine in SRO. It's pretty simple, but it does require some skill and a lot of discipline. That challenge makes it more fun than mindless soloing, as does the company and the ability to play your character a little differently than usual. Plus you can take out bigger, badder mobs than usual, which is a lot of fun.
If possible, I'd like to see this stickied, because these are skills SRO players need DESPERATELY in my opinion. Would some mod do that for me?
, all the other times were totally wast of time and exp
fena