I am by no means a hardcore mmo player and have found this game does a poor job explaining things to someone who has never played one before. With that in mind...here are a few tips from one noob to others:

(note this list is group combat oriented)

1. Don't stand in fire. Just don't do it.

2. If a circle appears under you during a fight...pretend it's fire and see No. 1.

3. If a bad guy is floating, looks asleep,has electricity on him, or has any other 'cc' (crowd control) ability on him....do not attack him. Do not use an area attack near him. It will be your fault when your group dies.

4. Read every pink and purple message in the chat window and be responsive. You don't have to be super talkative if you don't want to. But if someone asks you a question...please respond. It is very frustrating when someone in your group is doing something wrong and says nothing even though you're asking, pleading with them to stop. This is probably the most important point I can make. There are a lot of very knowledgeable players out there that will gladly help you.

5. Do not assume you can do whatever you want in a group and you will always win. Sometimes this is the case. But usually you have to work together to beat the bad guys. If you don't want to take suggestions from someone on how to play, that's fine, but don't join groups. If you do wan't to play in groups but are just new and don't really know what you should be doing. Tell that to your group...then see point No. 4.

6. If a bad guy pulls you towards him. You should back away from him. There's a good chance he will hurt you much more up close than far away.

7. If a bad guy pushes you away. Get back to your regular distance. This is only really bad if there's a ledge nearby. Once you know that a bad guy has a push attack, make sure you aren't standing near any ledges.

8. Know your role in a group. There are only three: tank, healer, and dps (damage per second). Tanks take damage so everybody else doesn't have to. Healer's make sure nobody dies. And dps does damage to the bad guys. All classes can dps. Most classes can either dps or heal/tank. If you can heal/tank, you will generally be expected to in a group.

9. Buff your group. A buff is a skill that increases your stats. Every class has one...it's the skill that lasts 60 minutes and adds something like 5% to one of your stats. When your group starts, use your buff. Also if you die, you need to reuse your buff. If it runs out, use your buff. It's quick and easy, you just have to remember to do it.

lol you listed common sense. If you don't know this stuff then you really need to stop playing this game and go to school.

And this game does a good job. Most of this stuff you should be able to figure out when playing. Like really, who opens the instruction manual for a game? I know I don't, I usually just pick it up and go.

I'm not a new guy, but this is pretty helpful for players like:

A: My little brother, a little Sith Inquisitor that RPs as the emperor(Thankfully on a diff server, with a diff legacy name)

B: My sister of equal age who just started getting into gaming yet has more sense than half the people who've played WoW for years,

Thanks from them in advance, I'll pass along some of these tips while they're playing.

lol you listed common sense. If you don't know this stuff then you really need to stop playing this game and go to school.

 

And this game does a good job. Most of this stuff you should be able to figure out when playing. Like really, who opens the instruction manual for a game? I know I don't, I usually just pick it up and go.

While it is true for players who play any other MMO, it is still good advice for totally new player who never play MMO before.

On the CC: Please take the time to learn what each CC looks like. Sorcerer and mercenary CC can be reapply (I don't know about marauder since I don't have one yet) EVERY 1 minute (1 minute cool down and it is 1 minute CC) but Ops can only apply initially (so I am told with this one group I am with) so once it is broke, it can't be reapply.

more stuff about combat for new players

- If you join a FP (Flashpoint) that is within your level, the adds from various bosses can be handle by DPS. DPS should always clean up the adds so it doesn't wander toward the healer (which can get ugly especially with LOTS of adds)

as a general rule - NEED apply on to what YOU can use and NOT your companion. You should always greed for your companion. the only exception if the group says ok when you ask them. but it is better to greed only and should never NEED for COMPANION (I encounter this a couple of time)

as a general rule - NEED apply on to what YOU can use and NOT your companion. You should always greed for your companion. the only exception if the group says ok when you ask them. but it is better to greed only and should never NEED for COMPANION (I encounter this a couple of time)

Also, don't roll on gear you can't actually use. Need only when you can equip the item (i.e. as a Jedi Consular, you have no business rolling Need on Smuggler gear). Too many times have I seen gear lost because some jerk in the group decides to roll Need on everything that drops, or because the player just wasn't paying attention when they clicked on Need (my favorite was a claim that he wasn't wearing his glasses when he clicked his mouse). Even if it's a mistake, you'll be chewed out horrendously, no matter how apologetic you are.

If you're a DPS or a healer, you have no business leading pulls for groups. That's for the tank to do. Nothing is more annoying than an overanxious DPS who wants to set a record time for a Flashpoint, only to them blame the tank and healer if he dies, or at the very least overstressing the healer to keep him alive. If the healer lets you die for your stupidity, don't expect apologies.

As a DPS, if you pull a mob off the tank and die because of it, the fault does not lie with either the tank or the healer - it's your fault, plain and simple.

Also, don't roll on gear you can't actually use. Need only when you can equip the item (i.e. as a Jedi Consular, you have no business rolling Need on Smuggler gear). Too many times have I seen gear lost because some jerk in the group decides to roll Need on everything that drops, or because the player just wasn't paying attention when they clicked on Need (my favorite was a claim that he wasn't wearing his glasses when he clicked his mouse). Even if it's a mistake, you'll be chewed out horrendously, no matter how apologetic you are.

 

If you're a DPS or a healer, you have no business leading pulls for groups. That's for the tank to do. Nothing is more annoying than an overanxious DPS who wants to set a record time for a Flashpoint, only to them blame the tank and healer if he dies, or at the very least overstressing the healer to keep him alive. If the healer lets you die for your stupidity, don't expect apologies.

 

As a DPS, if you pull a mob off the tank and die because of it, the fault does not lie with either the tank or the healer - it's your fault, plain and simple.

Also keep in mind that decide early in the Flashpoint/instance/heroic whatever on CC symbol and who does what.

If the leader assign you a symbol (say lightning) when he/she marks it and say go (or decide that you will CC first THEN tank pull aggro that is fine.

Aggro mechanics

Most tanks have some taunts that can draw aggro, but generally as they attack, they generate threat. A DPS who outdamage a tank AND threat WILL pull aggro (it can be done. I don't know the math) so be careful.

Watch the AoE. When I play my Sorc or Merc, and I was told to CC first, I usually pick a place I can CC and run back TOWARD the tank. Most boss/mobs will follow ME and the tank will use AoE or an attack to draw aggo. DPS PLEASE make sure you map a key or use Target's target to concentrate attack on what the tank is killing (unless assign otherwise)

It is pretty easy when you have 2-3 champion attacking the tank and you are concentrating your fire on the WRONG kill order and pull aggro. It happens.

If a tank does his/her initial AoE taunt, then you are safe you attack the primary target the tank is attacking and won't pull aggro. The only person who may pull it is the healer (with all the aoe heals and such) but that is the tanks' job to keep reapplying aoe attack that will generate threat.

AoE: play around with your AoE and see how much distance it will hit. Death field is pretty big (says 8m but it seems I can get bigger area) when using your aoe skills, sometimes the actual area is BIGGER than the symbol on the ground (same for bosses)

most important thing (IMO) PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE discuss your interrupt rotation. some boss will use special-super-oh-my-god-it-hurts attack that CAN be interrupted. Please use your skill that will take it out for 4 seconds (8 second cooldown) so maybe two DPS can rotate who use it. Some bosses use missile barrage that does massive AoE damage that can kill the whole team or orbital strike which can EASILY be interrupted by someone. I know the tanks can do it too, but sometimes people get into the "groove" and forget to use interrupts.

Aggro is a very important thing for any new player to understand, but not mentioned anywhere in the game help/manual (if you can even call it that). And this is another thing I find extremely lacking with respect to noobs (myself included). So something should probably be said about what exactly aggro is...

Aggro (I've also heard it called threat) is the measure of how much a particular bad guy dislikes you as compared to the rest of your group.

If you have ever seen baddies switch from attacking you to your companion, that's aggro at work.

Unfortunately, there is no way to see this in the game. You just have to get a feel for it.

Area of effect (aoe) skills build a lot of aggro.

There are also some skills that reduce aggro (threat generation by a percentage).

Lower level players, as compared to the rest of the party...and/or the bad guy you're fighting, also build more aggro. I'm not entirely sure how this works, but have seen it happen.

And that's pretty much all I know about it.

Area of effect (aoe) skills build a lot of aggro.

Only indirectly. Threat/aggro is based on damage done to mob (and some tank moves generating extra threat) and the reason aoe feels like generating lots of it is that you're dealing the damage to many mobs while tank is likely unable to do the same so some of the mobs are likely to put their eye on you.

Lower level players, as compared to the rest of the party...and/or the bad guy you're fighting, also build more aggro. I'm not entirely sure how this works, but have seen it happen.

Not more, just on wider area. A high level player can walk by a mob without it reacting while lower level player doing the same gets attacked. Whether or not mob notices you is based on the level difference between you and it and the range you're from it. This is why high level characters can walk past almost anything in low level areas without ever getting to combat while low level character on high level area gets attacked by monsters far away.

Also, some monsters in flashpoints / operations don't work at all or partially based to regular aggro rules but may sometimes / all the time attack random players. This is especially on the case of mob completely disregarding aggro very easy to notice, with random attacks bit trickier.

lol you listed common sense. If you don't know this stuff then you really need to stop playing this game and go to school.

 

And this game does a good job. Most of this stuff you should be able to figure out when playing. Like really, who opens the instruction manual for a game? I know I don't, I usually just pick it up and go.

I respectfully disagree with your entire post. It's really a shame that there are elitist players in every MMO who feel that everyone else, including real MMO newbies, should automatically know how to play every game and know what to do at all times. Have you forgotten that all of us were MMO newbies once, including yourself?

Telling new players to "stop playing this game and go to school" really makes no sense. I'd much rather have elitist players stop playing and I feel they should go to school instead to learn how to get along with everyone else.

I read the SWTOR manual even though I have been playing different MMOs for at least a decade. This is because information is the most valuable commodity to have, not only in video games, but in the real world as well. Without information, how would real MMO newbies know not to attack CC mobs or know that it is dishonorable to select Need on everything that drops? It is true that most things can be learned by doing, but being prepared before doing something is far more effective than just jumping right in and not having a clue on what to do next.

lol you listed common sense. If you don't know this stuff then you really need to stop playing this game and go to school.

 

And this game does a good job. Most of this stuff you should be able to figure out when playing. Like really, who opens the instruction manual for a game? I know I don't, I usually just pick it up and go.

I wish people would do this, it seems every match in PVP its "umm how do you throw the ball" .... wha?? but then again its not like the game teaches you this very well.

lol you listed common sense. If you don't know this stuff then you really need to stop playing this game and go to school.

 

And this game does a good job. Most of this stuff you should be able to figure out when playing. Like really, who opens the instruction manual for a game? I know I don't, I usually just pick it up and go.

Arghhh... It's people like this that make me not want to play. Wow some people are self centered.

I'm certainly no new player and know this stuff too but I, on the other hand, would like to thank the OP for contributing positively to the community

Aggro (I've also heard it called threat) is the measure of how much a particular bad guy dislikes you as compared to the rest of your group.

I thought I'd chime in and talk about the difference between Aggro and Threat as they are 2 different things.

Everyone has threat:

Threat is something you build up by using abilities. Each ability aswell as causing X amount of damage/healing generates Z amount of threat.

Only one person can have Aggro:

You have aggro when the target is attacking you. You get Aggro by having more threat than anyone else.

Notes:

1. Tanks have certain abilities that generate high amount of threat in comparrison to other abilites giving them the ability to hold aggro easier.

2. When a tank taunts they are basically making their threat the same level as who ever had the most at the time. If they don't continue to attack this target and a DPS does that DPS can and will take aggro back quite quickly.

3. Healing generates Threat on all enemies in combat.

4. Abilities that reduce your threat level by a % reduce the amount of Threat you have generated on your current target.

Excellent advice! One thing I want to add:

- If you're a healer or DPS (particularly a ranged one) and you accidentally pull aggro, it may be your instinctive reaction to run as far away as possible from the big bad monster heading your way. Don't - run towards the tank, so he/she can easily get aggro back. Most tanks can only attack from close range, so it makes their job very difficult to run around all the area chasing mobs.

Excellent advice! One thing I want to add:

 

- If you're a healer or DPS (particularly a ranged one) and you accidentally pull aggro, it may be your instinctive reaction to run as far away as possible from the big bad monster heading your way. Don't - run towards the tank, so he/she can easily get aggro back. Most tanks can only attack from close range, so it makes their job very difficult to run around all the area chasing mobs.

This is a good one. In addition, while you're either in flashpoint or zoned quest area don't try to run away from mobs thinking they lose interest in you after a while like in the open world since they don't. They will follow you until you run out of the flashpoint, die or someone else grabs their aggro, or they evade.

Lots of nice points here. I'll add one since it happened last night with a random pickup we took on our 7/8 guild run through EV... If your group is all standing in a tight group away from the boss, you probably should be with them, not next to the boss. If your healer pulls you out of fire, dont run back into it to regain your cover spot!

Most raid/operation/guild leaders are willing to accept unfamiliarity with content and explain things (at least I am). What irritates us, is ignoring instructions and doing your own thing against the strategy of the other 7 members of the group. Go with the flow, listen to advice, and you'll do fine. Alot of end game content is more about coordination, control, and awareness of what's going on around you than raw dmg/healing. As a dps and healer player I live by this (tongue-in-cheek) tennant: If the tank dies, it's the healer's fault; if the healer dies it's the tank's fault; if a dps dies, it's his own damn fault! While certainly not always true, it often is.

This is a good one. In addition, while you're either in flashpoint or zoned quest area don't try to run away from mobs thinking they lose interest in you after a while like in the open world since they don't. They will follow you until you run out of the flashpoint, die or someone else grabs their aggro, or they evade.

This is a very good point. Always run to the tank.

If DPS concentrate fire on what the tank is attacking (minus the add that DPS suppose to take care of) Healer usually generate a good amount of threat when healing everyone on the board and will probably draw aggro on other mobs (hopefully not boss since tank suppose to keep aggro on the boss)

BH Powertech have an aoe missile that generate threat but it is a small area so it is best to run toward the tank and they will use their ability (like the threat missile which I don't remember the name at this time) I am not familiar with other tank threat generating skills yet.

I'm not a new guy, but this is pretty helpful for players like:

 

A: My little brother, a little Sith Inquisitor that RPs as the emperor(Thankfully on a diff server, with a diff legacy name)

 

lawl.

Like it was said on a previous post, Healing does attract a lot of agro, and if the tank is not on the ball, your healer dies, group wipes, everyone gets mad and blame the healer.

On most tanking classes. there is this nifty ability called guard.

Its very nice, and you should use it on, lets say the healer. It reduces the agro the healer gets by healing the tank / group.

Also, DPS need to wait till the tank pulls and has all the agro.

I simply hate when DPS thinking they can tank, jump right in before tank is in position and starts attacking, the the healer struggles to keep dps alive, gets agro, dies, group dies and all blame the healer.

Healing is a thankless job, not many appreciate what some of us have to do to keep the whole group breathing.

Awesome thread I learned some great stuff.

Thanks to OP.

I rely on you guys to teach me how to be a better DPS.

I didn't know what a DPS was a couple weeks ago.

I'm not a total newb but it would help if someone posted a short list of key terms.

(No thanks to that second poster If I met him I would /spit on him. then /ignore LOL )

Now whats CC exactly? Crowd Control?

What was that lightning bolt thing the leader put up? Can I get rid of it?

I had a good leader in my last 3 hour flash point and he taught us alot.

I was trying to solo everything up to this point to avoid the jerks and guilds but need to group now, so been enjoying all the nice players Ive found and trying to be a good group player.

Cool. I like the idea behind the list.

You play solo a certin way and then group content throws some curveballs that you jsut aren't ready for the first time.

Avoiding fire and the targeting circle are great tips. Same with enemies who have push attacks and avoiding nearby ledges.

If you get pulled in, run away! Also good advice.

In the spirit of the thread perhaps you can help this noob with a basic question:

Can you revive teammates during battle? No? Never? Never ever?

Strange that you have these teammate revives and when you need it most it doesn't work. In most games the healer class at least can revive during battle. Just wanted to verify that there is no way to revive during battle that I am missing.

Thanks for the post.

There was a post on common abreviations and jargon used in MMOs a while back, but it's likely 10 pages deep by now. Anyhow, I'll try and list as many as I can think of:

Tank - holds attention of bosses

DPS - damage per second - burns down the bulk of the boss's life total

Healer - self explanatory

Mob - Mobile object - any non-player entity in the game

RNG - random number generator - used as a 'dice roll' for determination of random events

Proc - Programmed Random Occurence - used to denote when certain abilities become active

LoS - Line of Sight; needed for targetting with ranged abilities (heals and dps - dont LoS your healer!); sometimes used as a strategy to pull mobs

Pull - Initial opening of any encounter

AoE - Area of Effect - any ability that targets an area and effects multiple targets

DoT - Damge over time - abilities that continue to damage without need for channeling or recasting

HoT - Heal over time - same as DoT but for healing

Channel - any ability that requires you to stand still and 'cast' while the effect happens

Taunt - ability of tanks to regain the attention of any mob

Threat - how much does the boss hate you (generated by all abilities)

Agro - who does the boss hate most and is therefor focussing

Res - short for resurrection - self explanatory (normally not usable in combat)

Bres - short for Battle res - same as above, but usable in combat with cooldown

This abreviation list probably deserves a stickied thread!... but that's all I can come up with off the top of my head and should give you a decent idea of what we're talking about in an Operation group. So if I say "LoS pull the mob behind this pillar and AoE" you should know what it means!