Ragnarok Online: Our Guild and War of Emperium

[Regdren]

After today's WOE in which Hyperguy, JG and I participated alongside a friendly guild, we've decided on a couple of things.

1. WoE is really fun.
2. It would probably be better if we were good at it.

In order to be good at WoE and compete against the other strong guilds we will need many more guild members, reborn characters, and PvP-specific gear which, not surprisingly, is the most expensive. This is a tall order. On the plus side, I think that if we do this, we can do it better than most of the guilds out there on Lightside.

We in the Congress of Awesome have some decisions to make. The biggest one will be how much we intend to dedicate ourselves to WoE. It will take a lot of work to get good at it, and there is no shame in decding that we'll just be a for-fun guild. If we do decide to compete, here are a few things I have in mind.

The trickiest will be recruiting people to our guild; I'd like Hyperguy to deal with that and tell us what he thinks, but what I think is that people who want to be in our guild should be aquainted with this site. Their reaction to it will be a good indicator of how fun they will be to play RO with. However, if they're going to join WoE they should be fairly active in-game as well.

Gear will also be difficult. Everyone should have cranial guards/shields but because they're so useful the price will be high. Hydra weapons, Blacksmith-forged weapons, unfrozen armor will all be a drain on our resources. The @ss command (no, I'm not kidding) will help you find good deals from street vendors but there are limits to this. We need good ways to make the kind of money we need for PvP gear.

As far as characters go, we could really use an Asura-strike monk. Emperiums count as small, holy creatures. A shadow-dagger wielding Assassin will kill it pretty quick and is likely to spam strong healing items while trying to capture the castle. An Asura monk with a good supply of Blue Potions is the best way I can think of to fight this. Also, though I hate to say it, we should get an Emperium killing 'sin ourselves at some point. A forger smith and equipment-coating alchemist would also be helpful in our guild but are probably less vital than the first two.

So, let me restate the big questions: should we aim to be competitive in WoE? If so, how will we do it? This thread is for attempting to deal with both of these questions. Fire away.

[ROMate]

I agree that we could do it. Centurion thinks we've got a good set-up already, but that it just needs some fine-tuning with equipment and whatever. I'm not sure if I'd want to or not though. It'd be fine to participate in WoE, but I would also like to have just goofy fun now and then too.

[Mediocrity]

My Priest has absolute shit for gear (I'm pathologically unlucky and I don't have the hours to burn to go farming for chaff to sell), but I wouldn't mind doing WoE. She is FS, though she's built more for PvE parties. Still, if she was reborn, I could spec her towards being WoE Support. I dunno if that's different than regular support, but...yeah.

[JG]

Wate, whut?? My alchemist can equipment coat.... just, not efficiently (it REALLY takes a Creator to do it right)  Might help if we had more than one wizard, too, to cast area attack spells on castle bottlenecks (of which there seemed to be a great number in the two we tried)

WoE is goofy fun.  Plus there's lots of time throughout the rest of the week for goofing off.  You want to talk about fun?  I came to Hyperguy's rescue and saved his ass at one point after he got slowed.  Level 79s don't often get the chance to save 95s. I feel much better about my character after that little episode.  (I'm sure he saved me a few times, too, but hes so much higher-leveled - he's supposed to protect me, not other way around.)

I think HG, Regdren and I did a pretty good job of working together.  Problem was the other two clans we were working with didn't coordinate with us or their other guild members.  They'd go in one by one instead of a group.  Not stay together (faster characters would leave slower ones behind), and would often go in right as another guil was taking the castle, meaning we'd all get booted halfway though our raid. It was my first time in WoE, and it only took a few tries to realize the basics:
1) Thou shalt assign a party boss and follow his orders.  We did this, yet, over half the team refused to listen to HG and it undoubtedly cost us a great deal of wasted time and effort.
2) Thou shalt not invade right after another guild has gone in, unless you're guild is much bigger than their's or your combined effort is needed to take the castle (in which case, you'll probably lose it when that guild comes back...)
3) Thou shalt only invade right after the castle has been taken.  The owners are weakest at that point.  Anytime earlier and you'll get booted when they claim the castle; any later and its more time for them to regroup.
4) Thou shalt knwo the name of the castle you are attacking by looking at the banners outside its entrance.  Watching for the notice that the castle is taken is the cue for #3.
5) Thou shalt always move as a group. Split up to take out area-effect mages but stay close so no one gets lost or outmanned.
6) Thou shalt attack certain enemies with everything you got.  Assassin Crosses, rogues, high powered mages or other high dodgers need to be ganged up on.  Certain classes can beat down others 1 on 1 without getting scratched.
7) Thou shalt avoid the well-known guilds.  If Relentless Fenrir or Legendary Guardians or the like are holding/attacking the same castle as you, its probably better to move on to another.

[JG]

Our current guild members. I'm guessing on some of this info so PM me if its wrong/out-of-date.

FORUM NAME	RO CHARACTER NAME	BASE LEVEL/JOB LEVEL & JOB
Hyperguy	Hyperguy	95/50 #4 Ranked Taekwon
Regdren	Regdren	97/50 Wizard
"	Anlaf	81/? Priest
JG00	Barton Sylva	83/50 Spear Knight
"	Estel Vyse	76/45 Alchemist
Catt-Shinji	Coupe	52/? Bard
"	-Matthew-	73/? Super Novice
R-9	Larina	71/? Assassin
"	Arinala	59/? Sword Knight
Mediocrity	Lady Salome	70/34 Priest
HG'sIndestructibleRoommate	Metahorn	65/? Grand Cross Crusader
Centurion	Centurion	65/? Spear Knight
?	Taranil	70/? Dancer
?	Nissiku	67/? Rogue
?	Osuwari	73/? Soul Linker
?	Corneleus	55/? Rogue

(If you own one of the last three accounts, let me know.)

[Centurion]

I'm all for this WoE thing. I used to play alot back in the day, my only problem was not having the money to get all the good gear for it. I still did a half-way decent job. If we REALLY need more than one spear knight, I'll stay. if not, i'd be glad to pick up any character that we're low on. I can do basically anything accept merchant classes (because i dont like them. sorry, thats just me). Let me know, please.

[ROMate]

Grand Cross Crusader is what I'm after, JG.

[MMX]

private server WoE is alot different than iRO WoE o.o  Do you guys know the differences?  Does clownphobia have any info on that?

[JG]

I'm all for this WoE thing. I used to play alot back in the day, my only problem was not having the money to get all the good gear for it. I still did a half-way decent job. If we REALLY need more than one spear knight, I'll stay. if not, i'd be glad to pick up any character that we're low on. I can do basically anything accept merchant classes (because i dont like them. sorry, thats just me). Let me know, please.

Having more than one spear knight is not a problem - from what I read we're highly useful in WoE.  Unless you're an AGI knight, you just about need a Peco, and theres no better weapon for a knight while riding Peco than a spear - so its almost a no brainer that we're the best type of Knights.

[Centurion]

Having more than one spear knight is not a problem - from what I read we're highly useful in WoE.  Unless you're an AGI knight, you just about need a Peco, and theres no better weapon for a knight while riding Peco than a spear - so its almost a no brainer that we're the best type of Knights.

Alrighty then. In that case, I'm gonna stay on this track until further notice. My offer still stands.

[Mediocrity]

Lady Salome   69/? Priest

JL34 at the moment, and it's me.

[Centurion]

Just got Knight last night. Roomie got Sader and Chun Li is now monk.

[MMX]

Anyone know how to play a Vit Crusader for WoE?  I would like some advice.

[Hyperguy]

At first I thought that if I trained a lot of high level characters it'd be great for WoE, but then I realized something; I can only play one character at a time.  So even if I did train an end all dominating Sin X, it'd mean that I wouldn't be using my taekwon, whom in some ways is much better for WoE.  Like for example, how I can get into the Emperium room much more quickly than anyone by finding the balcony warp at the start of the map and going to the Emp directly.  I guess effectiveness really depends on the situation, but you're not going to see many taekwons in WoE so I think that puts us at an advantage.

However, having a high level Sin X on our team would be a great asset, so we'll just have to try recruiting one, or least try recruiting a thief in hopes that they'll eventually grow up to be a high level Sin X.  Since our guild's big on helping each other out anyways it wouldn't take long to help them or any other new recruits level.


As far as recruiting people goes, we've discussed this a few times and I for the most part agree.  It's great that a lot of people from the forum are playing, but there's many more on Clownphobia, so I think a healthy number of people from both would be good.  It's kind of interesting in that if we all met each other strictly through Clownphobia and made a serious guild that we would have made a website so we at least have the luxuary of already having one complete with a forum.

As far as criteria goes I think it'd be best to recruit people we could get along well with.  Since we're all leveling anyway even the weakest in the guild would get stronger if they were active so strength shouldn't always be a factor.  Like Regdren said before, their reation to the site should also be a factor.  They wouldn't necessariily have to be active on these forums but if they're not offended by the site it that should be a good indication of how well we'll be able to get along later.

As far as WoE goes, here's some setups that I think would be helpful.

Asura Strike Monk: Like Regdren said, these guys are absolute nuts when taking out a single opponent and would be a big help against Sin Xs.

Priest and Crusader: With Holy Cross a sader could effectively block off a hallway and damage characters as they try to scramble by.  The Preist would serve to recover HP lost when using this skill.

Bard and Dancer: I'm not sure if you've heard of it, but they have a duet called Loki's Wall that disables all skills within a 9x9 area.  This would be absolutely perfect for defense when people are rushing in as we're breaking the emperium.  People in our team standing outside of the area could heal the dancer and bard while mages on the outside could send down waves of spells upon enemies as they enter the area.  Sin and Rogue's couldn't use hide to get past it, characters couldn't use healing spells while in it and generally would have to rely on basic attacks while we take them out from a distance.

Hunter: A hunter would be really useful for WoE in that they can set down traps and take out enemies as they enter areas much faster than mages can with spells.

[Centurion]

As far as WoE goes, here's some setups that I think would be helpful.

Asura Strike Monk: Like Regdren said, these guys are absolute nuts when taking out a single opponent and would be a big help against Sin Xs.

Priest and Crusader: With Holy Cross a sader could effectively block off a hallway and damage characters as they try to scramble by.  The Preist would serve to recover HP lost when using this skill.

Bard and Dancer: I'm not sure if you've heard of it, but they have a duet called Loki's Wall that disables all skills within a 9x9 area.  This would be absolutely perfect for defense when people are rushing in as we're breaking the emperium.  People in our team standing outside of the area could heal the dancer and bard while mages on the outside could send down waves of spells upon enemies as they enter the area.  Sin and Rogue's couldn't use hide to get past it, characters couldn't use healing spells while in it and generally would have to rely on basic attacks while we take them out from a distance.

Hunter: A hunter would be really useful for WoE in that they can set down traps and take out enemies as they enter areas much faster than mages can with spells.

Offer still stands. If it turns out we need less cowbell and Vit KNight, I can be a Priest or a Hunter. I refuse to touch bards or dancers.

[Mediocrity]

Wonderful ideas, HG.

[Centurion]

Anyone know how to play a Vit Crusader for WoE?  I would like some advice.

Err. No idea. Gamefaqs has some decent guides for Crusaders in general, but for WoE honestly there's minor skill tweaking, if any... and then a huge equipment overhaul.

[MMX]

If it turns out we need less cowbell

NO SUCH THING YOU BLASPHEMOUS HEATHEN

[Centurion]

NO SUCH THING YOU BLASPHEMOUS HEATHEN

LOL! That comment made my day.

[Regdren]

Yesterday's WoE went a lot better than before, mostly due to a 3-guild alliance. We're already allies with the Wings of Destiny, but we should also seek alliance with the third guild involved...unfortunately I don't remember their name. We should still look for ways to become self-sufficient; you never know when an allied guild might not be around. However, I think that this alliance is neccesary to stand up to the larger guilds on Clownphobia.

I noticed that the organization when defending was a lot better than when attacking. If I may say so, it's probably not because we were any better at it in the castle, but because defense is simply easier to manage. The biggest probem I noticed when attacking was that naturally faster characters, such as peco knights, tended to go really far ahead of the rest. Even our own guild was not immune. We should behave the same way in WoE as we would in a leveling party; don't get separated unless a duty specifically demands it (I'm thinking of Emp assassins, mostly). And if you do go that far ahead in a normal adventuring party, you really shouldn't.

Finally, I really think that Hyperguy can lead parties effectively, as long as the party follows his orders. However, eventually we might grow big enough that we'll have to divide into two parties due to space constraints. For that we'll need a goodsecondary commander who can coordinate well with Hyper for combined assaults or split team tactics, as the situation demands. We don't need to decided who would do this right now; for all we know, we may end up recruiting someone good for that. job. It's just something to keep in mind.