Many modern MMORPGs boast features that encourage players to abandon the stereotypical online gaming experience. Sure, you still need to develop a character by leveling it up and giving it the best weapon and armor that the game can offer, but the endgame content of many online games today give players an entirely new definition of what it is like to play an online game.
Most of an online game’s endgame content focuses on its massive-player explorations called raids. Usually deviating from the standard party setup of 5-7 players, raids take the game to an entirely new experience by allowing groups of up to 10-40 players, some even allowing as large as an entire server’s worth of players itself, to take part in challenging game experiences that will test every player’s mettle and see how much they know of their characters. These challenging encounters boast powerful enemies and typically reward players with the game’s best equipment.
Here are some tips and tricks that beginning players should grasp before even attempting an online game’s raid content:
- Know your character – every raid expects its participants to know how their respective characters are played. From skill rotations to gear build, every player must be prepared to face what lies ahead in the raid that they will be exploring. There are raid encounters that focus on gear checks, which test whether the raid’s equipment can last throughout the entire dungeon. There are also special encounters that test player reactions and situational awareness, which means that everyone needs to be on their toes throughout the raid.
- Communicate with others – parties of five are fairly easy to organize as they are just a small group, raids tend to get out of hand fast. Many guilds in raids invest in a VoIP service to keep raid members in line through audio communication and it has proven to help many a raid in overcoming critical encounters that involve almost split-second reactions. Typing in chat to warn a raid that a deadly attack is coming might end up coming in too late.
- Learn the encounters – the standard fare of boss fights in many MMORPGs is a style known as tank and spank, where the players just face up to the boss and kill it while standing still and doing their damage. Many raid bosses, however, deviate from this usual style, and give players challenging encounters that range from avoiding harmful area-of-effect attacks to an epic-level chase that spans the entire dungeon itself. Thus, players are expected to know what they will be up against even before they enter the raid instance itself. Not only does it save time for the raid to explain these things to beginners, but also helps make the entire raid encounter smoother.
- Be professional – just like a work environment, be polite and respectful of your fellow raid members. Show up on time for scheduled raids, don’t whine when the raid keeps on dying to particular encounters, and be a helpful person in trying to solve the raid encounter itself.
Raiding is a challenging experience that offers players a unique twist in dungeon explorations in online games. Plus, it’s an awesome social experience that helps MMORPGs strengthen its multiplayer aspects.
