This guide includes basics on how to get involved in this exciting PVP raid on Rubi-Ka 2.
Contents:
Why do we fight?
Loot
How to get involved
Getting there
Map
Tarakill PVP-Bot Introduction
Points Awards
Tarakill Basic Commands
Tarakill Advanced Commands
General Tactics
Advanced Tactics
Bot and PVP Etiquette
Other information which may be helpful
Why do we fight?
Anarchy Online is a Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game or Sci-Fi adventure, (take your pick). The game offers an immense array of solo and social opportunities to level, raid, and PVP. However, many of the new additions to the game draw people into more solo-oriented escapades, such as daily missions. If we always play solitarily, we run the risk of not engaging in one of the most important aspects this game has to offer: social interaction.
Social interaction, both with your faction and with the others, is a vital ingredient to forming the bonds which shape the "faction struggle"... The faction struggle is the never ending war of clan vs omni, and, as it turns out, it is one of the few things the game has to offer that continually picques interest in all those involved. To help this "struggle" along, I love to hamper or delay omni acquisition of PVP loot... even better than hampering their acquisition, is getting it for personal gain!
Loots none of these drops are 100%
The very first, and easiest way to get involved is to join the Tara PVP-bot. To kill Tarasque is childs play, a well geared 220 could solo her given enough time, but, getting the time... and, in a 25% zone, while trying to stay alive while 30 omni's are shooting you... well, good luck! So, you need to enlist help.
/macro TARA! /tell tarakill invite
I am lazy, so I build macros so that I can press a button to gain bot access, it's faster and easier than retyping.
Joining the "Tarakill" PVP-bot will put you in company of people who share the same objective: to kill tara. What happens on the way to tara, is PVP. Fight omni, beat omni, and win the "kill rights", kill tara, to have a chance at phatz.
This may sound like a lot of work, and, in some ways it is. However, to make sure people are compensated fairly for their time investment, a point system is setup as seen in the Points Awards section
Getting there
Once you're in the bot and there appears to be a raid running, head to Camelot (level 3 of grid), and save in the town, just west of grid exit. Head into the castle.
Map originally produced by Windgaerd, Editted by Noobas
Tarakill PVP-Bot Introduction
Make sure you select a screen for the bot chat to go to. To enter text in the bot requires you to select the white chat, and press enter to get to the text entry line.
Bot syntax is important: I will write all commands in green as though you have the chat selected, and have the cursor on the text entry line.
Points Awards
To help provide incentive to people coming out to war, tara points are given out at both war, and at tara.
At war, In the war bot Warsrus:
- On defense: Level 119-220 raiders earn 2 points per PVP hour (in raids at their levels or if they are required to support lower raiders) if there is some significant PvP at any time, plus 1 bonus point for killing a 15+ omni group.
- On offense: Level 119-220 raiders earn 2 points per active hour as above if there is some significant PvP at any time, and, in addition, all raiders get a bonus for killing an Omni Control Tower, depending on the Range Level of the site: 1-118=1pt - 119-174=2pts - 175+=5pts.
In Tarakill:
Level 150-220 raiders earn 2 points per hour if there is some significant PvP at any time, and, in addition, people in raid before the lock (10 min before spawn if PvP / 20 min if no PvP) get a reward when Tarasque is killed, depending on characters levels AND raid result :
Raid result Won PVP NoPVP Lost PVP
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Level 150-199 3 pts 2 pts 2 pts
Level 200-220 6 pts 4 pts 4 pts
*note Once you're in the bot, you should ALWAYS, before anything else, read the !help section. This will provide you with a list of commands and rules for the bot.
Basic Commands
!timers this will give you a timer for when the next tara will pop. Notes on timers: you shoudl aim to arrive in the bot, at the castle and ready to fight 30 minutes ahead of pop. At 20 minutes, the bot locks (you cannot join the raid after the bot locks).
!raid join If there is a raid already running, this will add you to the raid. As part of player courtesy, you do not join the raid until you are at the castle. (Failure to adhere to this rule can result in consequences such as a temporary ban)
!lft This command will add you to the list of people who need to join the raid interface - if you are not in the raid interface, you will not be able to loot, nor will you get PVP points, and generally, you'll be operating solo (not fun). Make sure to ALSO type /lft to join the IN GAME looking for team page, so the raidleader can find you easily (best to write something related to your activity such as /lft TARA).
Advanced Commands
Once you have the basics well in hand, it's time to start "pulling your weight". Up to this point, you're just another body that wants loot but isn't helping. Time to start helping; here's how.
!callers Arguably the MOST important command of all: this command displays who the raidforce will assist. The reason that this command is so important is a long convoluted answer, but, lets simply say that raidforces are defensively MUCH stronger than they are offensively. What this means is that it often (always) requires more than 1 person to KILL another person, on average, it probably takes 2-4 people to kill another person. If a defensive raidforce has doctors, engineers and crats, it may take as many as 6-10 people to kill one person. Now, the idea behind the "assist" is to focus the offensive power to one or two targets, and kill them quickly and efficiently.
Once a kill is produced, the caller movs to the next highest priority target (next doctor, engineer, crat). Eliminating the highest priority targets first makes subsequent kills easier. This is the job of the caller. Callers, in general, must be true PVP veterans. Calling is one of the most stressful jobs in game, and, is definitly the most difficult. The caller has to be sharp, he has to be able to discern pets from people, know exactly who the priority targets are, know how to skip targets, tab through masses, and pointer select specific targets in a MESS of people, pets and mobs. In general, never criticize a caller. If you think you can do it, offer your services, but, never tell the caller he did a bad job - offer constructive criticism if you must (this means saying something like: I think I saw a fourth omni doctor named "XYZABC")
It is the callers job to have a solid background of opposing force doctors, engineers. Good raid leaders also have spies that they can use to find the names of priority targets. Your job, as part of the raid force, is to USE the assist, until the raidleader decides otherwise. To use the assist, copy the macro that is produced after typing !callers, into your own chat command line, hit enter, this will produce a small black square. Stick this on your hotbar in a EASILY accessible location.
How to use "ASSIST": this is a common macro, but, it may be less common for multiple callers. The way to use this macro is to hit it once to find the target of the primary caller, hit it AGAIN to find who the target is of the secondary caller. If there is a third / fourth caller, often these callers are backups. In other words, they too will be using the assist in order to concentrate the raidforce further. Lets say there are 12 people in the raid. 3 callers will possibly split the offensive force down to 4 people per target... not good. So, for 12 people, you only need 1 or two callers, and possibly a third backup caller. However, regardless of number of callers, all you should be doing is assisting. If you don't like the target you're on (he's out of range, too high evades, target is in AMS), tap it again. Ideally, find someone close to you or within "attack range", the way to EASILY find out if they are in attack range is that the two ends of their HP bar will flash red. Attack people whom you can hit. If you can perk, perk, if you can use specials like Aimed shot, use that. Use debuffs like UBT, malaise, drains, Shutdown skills, roots, snares, fears, blinds, ANYTHING... but, the greatest benefits are, in order of priority: ROOT then KILL.
!heal assist The heal assist macro is used by doctors to find the targets that the opponents are attacking. By finding their target quickly, the doctors can often out-heal their damage, resulting in our side having a greater chance to kill one of their targets, while they can't kill one of ours. Concerted efforts at killing specific targets and healing specific targets EARLY in the fight can dictate the course of the entire fight. An afk doctor at the start of a fight could be so significant that that side will not recover.
!sb The !sb command will open the "shadowbreed" window. Select yourself and remove from list if yours isn't available. Here is a webpage that shows what the various SB's do.SB's on AO Wiki
!bid ###Provided you beat omni, you can then add or bid on loot. To bid, you must do /tell tarakill !bid ###. You can't bid more points than you have.
!points gather This command is important, you use this command to gather the points you have on alts. This means you always have access to your points, regardless of what toon you're on.
/tell warsrus !points transfer all charname This command goes to warsrus. If you have been active at tower wars, you can get points awarded in warsrus and transfer them to youself in Tarakill. Attend all wars for more points
General Tactics
Come early.
Save in Camelot!
Return to the fight EVEN if you aren't rezzed. As soon as your HP is filled, or, even before, just run in. If it's a close fight, the dead returning IS the deciding factor.
Equip AR gear - purple research hud, the odd ring or whatever other items you might have kickign around your inventory. If you don't have Aimed shot or SA, your next best option is to have a lot of AR. If you're called, you'll die. So, having 60 or 100 more evades or 1k more HP doesn't mean squat. AR all the way, at least that way you might land a stun, or some perks.
If you're called, RUN! Ideally, try to move to some place where line of sight is extremely limited the best places are around doors, behind boxes, around a wall, losing LOS of an attacker means that they will have to hunt you, or, most likely, they'll choose another target... SAFE!
Always, always, always: listen to the raidleader.
Advanced Tactics
Raidleaders often have ideas of where they want people to wait, so it's good to be familiar with the various locations that they will talk about. What you don't want to do is "follow the guy running up ahead" he gets you killed. Stick with the horde/zerg.
Here are the MAIN rooms you should know about:
1. 100% <--waiting and organizing location.
2. End of corridor <--area used to afk check and RL will get mad if you don't get here fast if he says to go there.
3. First stairs, Second stairs, Third stairs <--waiting area prior to rush for sissy RL's
4. Box <-- excellent defensive position
5. Second room <--used to waiting area prior to counter box rush
6. Second Room BEFORE Troom <--used for waiting before rush
7. Room Before Troom <- used for offensive door fighting
8. Troom <--used for defensive door fighting
9. Platform <--weak spot
10. Bridge <--weak spot (some RL's don't know this)
11. Platform before Bridge <-- strong spot defensively and offensively
Bot and PVP etiquette
Never argue with the raidleader.
Don't argue in bot. Don't spam bot.
Buff everyone with buffs like RRFE, FAT, TTS, MOP, any HP buffs, Nano resist buffs, GSF, NCU.
Come early, be supportive, always try to post stuff that credits your side with a good job.
Morale is incredibly sensitive in PVP raids, a few bad words can sink the whole ship- so be nice, especially to the RL and the callers.
ALWAYS bring your highest level toon, or the toon which is BEST equipped for PVP. This cannot be stressed enough. If you want to win loot, and get points, brign the highest level toon that you feel is best capable of performing in a stressful circumstance (this also includes your familiarity). Bring a 220 if you have one, or bring the next highest you have available. Bring a toon that has: fears, auras, high AR, blockers, heals, stuns, Aimed shot, or Sneak attack. Tara, and PVP battles are won by hard work by dedicated people who follow instructions and work as a team, working as a team is the most important aspect here, so, even if you arent' the best equipped, or, not the right level, working with your peers will give you the best chance at success.
Other information which may be helpful
Some profs will be much more useful at tara than others. Some breeds will be much more useful as well, due to their shadowbreed.
Specific professions who can utilize specific parts of their toolset to benefit the group:
Engineers: 215+ engineers who can cast 7 team blockers is incredibly useful.
Crats: Fear.. Fear, Fear, Fear, Fear, Fear... Fear, Fear, Fear, Fear.. roots help too and obviously AAD/AAO auras.
Keepers: Anti-fear, uh, if you see how much crats fear, well, get ready to spam it.
Enforcers: remarkably, size at tara is important. An enforcer parked in a doorway, can severely limit the opponents ability to see, and pick targets. If priority targets are not seen, you can bet on an easy win.
Doctors: heal assist, and, moving. Doctors jumping around, hiding behind boxes, leeted, staying out of range, are a huge benefit to a successful raid.
Enforcers, MA's, Shades: stuns+init debuffs+alpha = dead docs
MP's, Traders: Debuffing nano skills on docs.
NT's: doing massive damage on priority targets with blockers (detonation matrix, triples)
Agents, MA's: rolling solo, these two profs can seriously hamper docs and even gank them if they aren't paying attention.
Advies: ideally, defensively, hopefully advies will get called and kite the entire raidforce ... offensively advies just assist, or call because they are so hard to kill.
Soldiers: call or assist. can be weak or strong depending on whether they get AMS up. debuff dodge on some targets.
Thats it! go kill some omni and chicken
This guide was written by Noobas
(08/31/2011)