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I'm starting my first post as I have searched for this info in the forum and apparently the subject is not there yet.

This morning I played my first group dungeon as a leader. It was set in Elden Hollow, level 22. We were a group of 4 players, not known to each other: a Healer, two DPS and a Tank. An experienced TESOnline player, had they watched us, would have thought "They suck", and we kind of did. For my part I guess I'm just learning, I never played an MMO before (except for some Lineage II hours many years ago, but that doesn't count, I was a loner in a multiplayer game), and had to tank without even knowing very well what to do, except from dying a lot

So... can any experienced player explain us rookies what Healer, DPS and Tank mean, so we can accomplish our work more efficiently? Please redirect me to the correct topic if it's there and I haven't seen it.

Above all: don't stand in red marks on the floor! 3rd person view is your friend in this regard.

In a group dungeon, other people are relying on you, so you should make an effort to care. This means you should have gear that helps your build and role, you should always have an appropriate food or drink buff up, you should have at least a dozen level-appropriate soul gems, your weapons should be charged, your gear should be fully repaired at the start of the run, and your bags should have enough space in them to pick up all of your loot (30 slots minimum). You should have a stock of appropriate potions and have them quickslotted. Your bars should be set up with the skills you plan to use.

People make mistakes and forget some of these things, but if you choose not to care about these things, then you are a burden and a liability to the rest of your group. Some new players may be shocked at the idea that these things are necessary. They are. Really. New players are often short on gold, and I understand the aversion to using consumables and paying to repair your gear. Joining a good friendly guild can help with many of these things if you're new to the game. If you play on the NA server, our UESP guild is full of people who can help you get stocked up on good (blue quality) food and great crafted gear, etc.

Once I have some more time I'd be happy to get into specific roles.

Thanks Deandra for your opinion on this.

So the idea I get from this is that in groups you're not only working for your character, but also for the others, and obviously expect everybody to do the same. With that in mind, you'll use all the tools at your grasp to contribute to the 'functioning as a clock' of the group. I hope I got it right.

Apart from this, I take your advice and guess should delve deeper in the Guild Bank tool... As a new player in MMO I tend to be too much self-reliant, specially on what I can craft and get of the environment, but this might not the best for groups PvE (or PvP, why not).

I'd be happy to learn of specific roles when you or anybody else touch the matter. It also would be interesting to know how they intertwine with the classes in ESO (Dragonknight, Nightblade, Sorcerer and Templar).

See you in game!

Edit:



I didn't get this part, though...

Which part don't you get?

Oh, I guess I didn't quote correctly. The part where you say "Above all: don't stand in red marks on the floor! 3rd person view is your friend in this regard."

Ok I just wasn't sure what you were asking. When an opponent is about to use an area of effect attack, there will be red marks on the ground showing where you shouldn't be standing if you want to avoid taking damage. For example if a boss is about to do an explosion that radiates outward from them, then a 1/2 second before it happens, you'll see a red circle on the floor grow outward from the boss. This is a cue that you need to run or dodge roll your way out of that area to avoid taking heavy damage.

If you're in 1st person view, especially if you're in melee range, then your whole view will be taken up by the monster(s) right in front of you. You won't even be aware of things hitting you from the sides or behind you. If instead, you're in 3rd person view and zoomed out a bit, then you can see much more clearly how the battle is happening and what sorts of things you shouldn't be standing in. If you're used to games like Skyrim played in 1st person, it can be difficult to get used to 3rd person view, but forcing yourself to get used to it will make you far more effective in group dungeons and pvp.

I play as DPS most of the time since it translates best from solo play to group play. I'm a loner too, but also like dungeons, and two skill bars is too complicated. (I also have a tanking character, but she's not played as often.)

Sooo, DPS. The point is to deal as much damage as possible. Once I figure out how to do that with whatever class I want to play, I'm golden.

Tanking is more complicated, because you need to keep the bad guy's focus on you and off the more frail DPS and especially the healer. This involves more status moves (especially taunts) than a DPS would use, and tons of armor. Heavy plate is your friend. Since you are (or should be) getting hit the most, you'll also need to repair your armor a lot.

As for healing... I have no idea. I have enough trouble watching my own bar.

In general, the tank's job is to mitigate damage, the healer's job is to heal, and the dps's job is to kill things. And it's everybody's job to do those things while not dying unnecessarily. Here's a more detailed view:

A tank's job is to hold the attention (almost always via a taunting skill) of anything that hits really hard, such as a boss. Because of this, a tank needs to be able to take heavy hits. However, that's just the bare minimum of what a tank should do. Tanking is one of my favorite things to do in the game. A good tank will do the following:

• Lead the way and pull. It is also important for the rest of the group not to run ahead of the tank.
• Keep aggro on bosses and the most dangerous opponents
• Have some combination of high health, high armor, damage shields, an actual equipped shield, self-healing and dodge chance that allows them to survive hits that other members of the group would die to
• Hold block every time a boss does a heavy attack
• Position the boss or other big threats in a way that best helps the rest of the group. This could mean facing the boss away from the rest of the group, or putting them in a corner so ranged attackers can stay out of aoes, or whatever. Varies by fight and by group composition.
• Uses crowd control to keep melee opponents from running up to your squishy ranged dps or healer. Note that templar and NB tanks have a hard time with this one, but they can use strategies like taunting more enemies or healing the group to make up for it.
• Bash targets. Priorities for bashing are enemy healers or bosses who are about to do a huge aoe.

A healer obviously needs to heal. A good healer will:

• Prioritize their own survival
• Watch the fight and call out phases of boss fights, if possible. The healer should have best overall view and understanding of the fight.
• Anticipate impending damage and have heals ready for when said damage lands
• Block large hits and not panic if the tank loses aggro and the boss starts eating their face. This includes walking towards the tank rather than running away, so that the tank can more easily regain aggro.
• Revive dead teammates only if nobody who is alive needs immediate healing
• Manage their own resources so that they're not out of magicka and without an ultimate right when the group needs burst healing
• Supplement group dps when nobody is taking a lot of damage. In strong groups, a good healer should be ready to act as another half to full dps.

A DPS or damage dealer exists to do as much possible damage. Good DPS will:

• Not take unnecessary damage, meaning they will stand outside of avoidable AOEs
• Prioritize targets. In most boss fights, this means killing healers first, then any adds that don't respawn, and then focusing on the boss
• Resurrect dead teammates. Unless all dps are dead or the healer truly has nothing better to do, this duty should always fall to the DPS.
• Bash healers or enemy casters, especially in trash fights
• Have both AOE and single target abilities available, and know when to use one or the other
• Watch boss health and begin executing (using abilities that deal more damage to heavily wounded targets) at an appropriate time
• Adapt to unforeseen problems in a fight

I've probably missed a lot of things, but if you can do what's in these lists for your chosen role, you will be a great teammate. Also, a good attitude and willingness to learn will go a long way.

Wow! Thank you both Deandra and likelolwhat for the information, it will be very useful in my future "adventure nights". In short, the important thing is to learn to be a good partner for the sake of the group, and having in mind these ideas will help a lot.

See you online!

So, yesterday a random player earned the dubious "distinction" of being the first person ever to be added to my ESO Ignore list for gameplay-related reasons rather than for acting like an idiot and/or bigot on /zone chat. Listen to what she did wrong and learn from it!

1) Never run ahead of the Tank into a group of monsters
The Tank is there to take aggro and absorb damage. If you run ahead of the Tank, especially as a squishy DPS, you're going to get killed.

By all means, if you know the dungeon well (as is likely when you're a V14 running the easiest Veteran Dungeon), run ahead to a safe position just before the next group of monsters. That's how you signal to the Tank that you're ready to continue. But charging straight into the mobs by yourself? Multiple times? While complaining that the Tank's going the wrong way because we're in the habit of killing everything in the dungeon for the XP rather than skipping bosses because they're not needed for the Pledge? No.

Honestly, if it had been my group, I'd have kicked her out at that point.

2) Never spend the entire Dungeon run [&@%!] about the other DPS
She kept whining about "how [&@%!]" the other DPS was. Everything was taking "too long". I personally didn't think it was, I've run Veteran Banished Cells a whole load of times with DPSes ranging from "newbie" to "elite", and we were definitely at the upper end for speed. We weren't going to get the Achievement for running it in under 20 minutes, but doing that requires someone casting Rapid Maneuver (or its morphs) continually because of the layout of the dungeon. She hadn't even asked for a speed run.

Posting your stats from FTC and then going "u ashamd?" when the other person doesn't post theirs? because they don't know how to? even though they asked how you use the addon to post the stats and you didn't bother to answer? Yeah. Really mature.

3) Never get out of the line of sight of the Healer
My main character is a Sorcerer Healer. A lot of people are biased against Sorc Healers because we don't have any healing class spells/abilities. The same people often love Templar Healers because Templars have a class spell called Breath of Life which can bring someone to full health from nearly dead.

However, what these people don't realise is that I have a Healer of every class and know the relative merits of each.

[&@%!] at me for "nice healz" when you were constantly out of my healing range and there was a MASSIVE FIRE between you and me, blocking my view of you... Yeah. Genius work, there. I was throwing out heals the best I could, and even running through the fire trying to find you, but I couldn't get any closer to you without risking killing myself. And if the Healer dies, likely the whole group dies.

The irony is that the maximum healing range for any standard spell in ESO is 28 metres. This includes the wonderful Templar Breath of Life! I could have been playing my Templar, and I'd have been no more able to keep you alive - because you were outside my range. Idiot.

So! If you would like to be a good group player, read everything she did, and then do the opposite .

I've got to keep the things said here in mind if I ever wind up fighting in a group again. I'm going solo at this point.

The only time I've been in a group (in Fungal Grotto) was... Effective (nobody died and we got through quickly enough), but not as good as it could have been. For one thing, I don't think there was a tank at all. Just three DPS and one healer (who was mainly a fourth DPS). When it came to the boss fights, everybody focused on attacking. No one could hold the attention of the boss. When we fought the Goblin King there, it decided to focus on me and I was reduced to under half health in a few (two, maybe?) hits. The healer didn't seem to notice and I was forced to retreat and heal myself (using the Breath of Life mentioned). I used ranged attacks (Destruction Staff) after that. At least until we got into the lower part of the dungeon. Then I switched back to my usual dual wield + Templar abilities.