There are some things I noticed while playing for the past month that I want to point out. Here is my list. Feel free to comment or add.
BATTLES 1. When battling multiple foes you should defeat the one with less hit points first - especially in boss battles. I can't believe how many people focus on a boss with 1000+ points when their minion has 500. Bosses do not seem to have spells that do any more damage than their minion. You need to reduce the number of attacks against you per round as quickly as possible.
2. Related to #1. If you are in a group against 2+ foes, communicate with others to indicate who to target out first. Don't have 2 people attack two different foes.
3. Related to #2. If you are in a group communicate your next move. If a foe has 30 points left and you can take them out with a wand spell, tell your friend you will take them out so they can do something else. This helps them avoid missing their turn. It will also help avoid both people healing one person and possibly overhealing, which is a waste of turn.
4. Pip lovers. Hi there. I know you need pips for higher spells, but don't sit there collecting 8 pips while I get attacked by every foe and have to continually heal myself while attempting to inflict damage. Higher spells are cool, I know. But think about the spells and how much damage they will do. If you skip 8 turns waiting for the one spell that deals 600 damage in one shot, rethink what you are doing. You have lower spells that could potentially do more damage than that in less turns, meanwhile helping your group. There is a balance to battling. In some cases you can hoard pips to do a multiple foe attack and still come out alive. In other cases, you have to chip away at foes in between healing and boosting. Don't fight one way all the time.
1. In some cases, if you kill a minion and then die, it won't respawn, so you can come back to fight the boss alone. If you kill the boss first and then die, the boss will respawn, so you've made no progress. This is particularly important in difficult areas such as Sunken City and Tomb of the Beguiler.
2. It shows you what card other group members have chosen and against which target on the combat display. People attacking different foes can be useful in some cases to keep mobs from focusing fire.
4. You can't have more than seven pips saved up at a time, anyway.
If you have to pass more than once in a great while, you're doing something wrong. A zero pip card (wands, blades, traps, shields, etc.) is better than a pass. Add more zero pip cards to your deck if you have to pass a lot. Also, when on occasion you do have to pass, discard some other cards to increase your chances of getting some more zero pip cards available.
As a storm student I have the spell tempest, which depends on the pips. The more pips you have then the higher damage you make. An important thing to say is that tempest attacksall enemies.
What does this mean? That If I do things correctly and have a lot of luck in one turn I could deal 1900 points to ALL enemies. Surely that is not a waste of turns lol
Pay attention to what other people are targeting. If I'm targeting a foe with my wand and it only has 30 points left, you should target something else. I don't know how many times the person in front of me waits until the last second, only to target the same foe I'm about to finish off and cause me to waste a round.
If we both click the same target at nearly the same time and the round begins, then there's not much we could do. But if you're sitting there thinking about what to do and the other person has already chosen their action...pay attention. :)
Some good replies. I did not realize it told you which foe they targeted but I did notice which spell they cast. I sit kind of far from my monitor. I also was not aware that taking out the minion and then returing, if needed, would just leave the boss. This further validates point #1.
That If I do things correctly and have a lot of luck in one turn I could deal 1900 points to ALL enemies. This is the exact case that led me to post about the pips. I'm not saying you do this, but I saw two different people sit there round after round waiting for that perfect setup for tempest. This was against regular foes that had 500 or so points. Once they finnally cast tempest half those points were gone and they ended up doing like 1000 points to each. It's overkill for the situation and not fair to other players. Since they aren't attacking, there is no threat so all attacks hit the other player who has to hope they can continually heal. It's not a huge deal, but the moral is to choose your spells for the current situation and work as a team.
Regarding tempest, I'd say use it once you have enough pips to kill something--even if you don't have enough to kill everything. If it's going to take ten pips to kill anything, then maybe you shouldn't be using tempest.
A player charging up tempest should be using zero pip cards each turn though--especially wands to draw fire from some mob.
If you are looking for something to do, and notice a friend is online, by all means help them out. But, before you do that, ALWAYS ask before you teleport to them.
At times you friend may need the help, in which case they will be happy for you to come help. However, at other times, they may wish to solo a quest. Or, perhaps they are almost done with a long battle and you coming in will add more enemies to the battle.
Just know that a friend telling you "No" to your request to help them doesn't mean they don't like you. It just means that, right now, they don't want to add other people to the battle.
Teleporting in without asking is rude, and can cause more problems for your friend.
