Heroes of Swords and Boards » How to MA?

Shermen · 4/23/2019 7:02 am

Not a guide, just some observations, and some ideas.

We are getting pretty good at not dying to trash mobs, but it sometimes seems a bit chaotic.

I am quite certain everyone is using some sort of "/assist main" macro and believe that engaging whatever the MA is targeting at that point as the next target and might even be dot'ing the target.

After being MA one night, and realizing that to find the next target the MA will need to cycle through the available mobs and pick the best one, so will often be targeting a mob that ultimately will not be the next target chosen to die.

Now, how we get to the point where that decision is made is really a side note, as I believe that no one should engage the next target until the MA has announced for everyone to assist them (hopefully in some sort of /ooc).

This should keep the Enchanters and Healers happy by making their jobs much easier, and enable us to kill trash in a much more controlled manner.

On the MA subject, I think having the MA tank the mob they have chosen may slow us down as at 35% (or whatever is appropriate) it might be time for them to look for our next vicitm.

Thoughts?

kazu · 4/23/2019 8:53 am

I wholly endorse having fewer mobs in camp simultaneously DoTed.

If that requires simply holding for an assist call, picking a new assist at 35% while the raid finishes off the old assist, or having one of the tanks deeper in the assist chain prepping the next assist target for the main tank ahead of time I'm all for it.

Burnberry · 4/23/2019 4:37 pm

Endorse as well. Just one clarification, /assist main only works for the MA that is designated for your current group. You have to use /assist raid on the raid.

GodKing · 4/23/2019 10:49 pm

Burnberry wrote:
Endorse as well. Just one clarification, /assist main only works for the MA that is designated for your current group. You have to use /assist raid on the raid.

I've heard this before but in my experience /assist main works just fine in raids regardless of what group you are in.

my 2 cents
I've been the MA a few raids and what I see is people picking what they think the target might be and going at it. If they see someone else on it then its OK they are on it and its just a snow ball effect.

I think its multiple root issues.
a) a lack of use of /assist main or raid
b) attack chain reaction, if I see it being attacked its ok if I attack snowball.
c) dotters wanting to maximize their dps. Dunno why perhaps they are fapping to damage parsers, lol.
d) being too fast and not allowing MA to pick target. This also bends the other way, MA can be very slow on raids. I was pretty frustrated with our MA being distracted with tells and things and decided to volunteer to MA. Pitch in so to speak.
e) MA not calling their targets with a macro once it is selected. This is really key when there is 4+ mobs in camp as that is the beginning threshold for confusion. 3 and under people can just assist.

I think just some general awareness of the importance of focus targeting is key. Even on stupid little boring mobs like planar gear droppers. A balance of discipline when called for and ability to kinda flow with it is needed during raids.

Nessy · 4/26/2019 5:34 pm

I think Godking is on the right page here.In many ways I think ironically enough "Provoke" may be having a negative effect. It does 0 damage and Does NOT brake mezz, but the spell effect animation on it makes it look like I just procced a DD (buff icon can maybe be mistaken as a DoT too) or that im tanking a mob that in fact Im trying to help CC. I cant count the times Ive provoked a mob in camp to near instantly have it followed by a random DoT (looks at the druids).
I can imagine this will continue untill people realize whats going on and start assisting the actual MA, Someone starts calling out the people not using assist or we get to some content thats challenging enough to have people show up with their "A" game.

armor · 4/27/2019 11:13 pm

So what you are really saying is... a person is using a macro'n keyboard that does
/assist main
/cast (spell)
Or they are just hitting the macro while watching hello kitty adventure time
Or they are pushing the button, with their big toe, while playing another game
Maybe, just maybe, they are watching Bob Ross painting while they are playing, happy accidents can wipe raids and make our CC angry.

Last edited by armor (4/27/2019 11:15 pm)

Vodn · 6/15/2019 10:59 am

I think our MAs dont understand their purpose. Which is to expedite concentration of dps. Not to tank the mob to the last.

IMO, you break mez, call assist, and allow another tank to gain agro, then move on to the next. Depending on circumstance you wait to call assist until previous mob is dead or immediately call another assist, because waiting is generally serious overkill. Rangers should probably be the only toons to remain on a mob until its dead since they can snare it if its going to get away. Dispellers an obvious exception....

Just my two cents.

Lucianna · 6/18/2019 5:18 pm

I can't speak for what others may be doing but I can speak for myself. I ONLY use a Main Assist. But if the MA isn't setting a target I sometimes, very reluctantly, have no choice but to find one on my own. And that happens way too often.

1. The MA should find a target quickly.
2. The MA should only target a mob AFTER the tank has called dps in. We should not all have to stare at our chat window looking for a dps call. Whenever a MA target pops up, we should be good to attack.
3. The MA should never target a charm break, or should move quickly off of it if they do. We should not all have to be studying the buffs on every mob before attacking if we are assisting through the MA.
4. When possible, the MA should have a new target selected before the current target dies so there is no pause in the dps.

If we can improve our MA performance, people will not feel it necessary to look for targets on their own. And we won't hear people admonishing us to "wait for the dps call" or "don't kill my pet!!!" If anyone does screw up, the only reason should be that they are not using the MA as they ought to. And a good MA should make screw ups nearly impossible, and make the entire raid much more time and mana efficient, with a far higher QOL for all!

Last edited by Lucianna (6/20/2019 12:17 pm)

Thomaslon · 12/11/2020 4:48 pm

Hi,

If we found that somone is spamming from our server. How do we track it down the useers?

Pleae provde the logs name which we have to check?
How do we check?

Any oter test tool available?