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Diffstat (limited to 'commanding/commanding.tex')
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1 files changed, 144 insertions, 3 deletions
diff --git a/commanding/commanding.tex b/commanding/commanding.tex index ac67a7d..6fbb736 100644 --- a/commanding/commanding.tex +++ b/commanding/commanding.tex @@ -198,6 +198,12 @@ Once all commanders are ready and on the correct map, you can tag up by creating Usually, the commanders will spread out a bit - the Cobalt squad to the north of \emph{Firthside Vigil Waypoint}, the Amber squad to the east and the Crimson squad to the south. Make sure that you are not standing right below the waypoint, otherwise your tag will not be visible on the (mini) map. +\begin{figure}[ht] + \centering + \includegraphics[width=0.3\textwidth]{images/commanders-tag-places.png} + \caption{Usual gathering spots for the three commanders next to \emph{Firthside Vigil Waypoint}.} +\end{figure} + Now that your squads are open, it is time to get people joining in. You can advertise your squad on the LFG tool, usually in the \emph{Open World} $\rightarrow$ \emph{World Bosses} category. You can use the map and say chat to advertise the run to people already on the map and get them to join one of the squads. @@ -209,6 +215,9 @@ Note that this part should be done about 30 minutes before the event starts. The later you open your squads and the LFG, the harder it is to get people for the event. The longer you have to wait for people, the less time you have for explanations and the dry run! +Additionally, commanders usually take care of placing down buff food (\href{https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Feast_of_Truffle_Steak}{\emph{Feast of Truffle Steak}} and \href{https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Thesis_on_Learned_Strength}{\emph{Thesis of Learned Strength}}) and a \href{https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Guild_Heroes_Banner}{\emph{Guild Heroes Banner}}. +Place them down before starting the escort, otherwise they will run out! + \section{Explanations \& The Dry-Run} @@ -261,7 +270,12 @@ The escort achievement \emph{Wurm Bait} will happen just before taking a left tu You will see a \href{https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Plague_Carrier_Abomination}{\emph{Plague Carrier Abomination}}. Once you kill it, it will leave behind a white AoE field - stand inside it to get the achievement! -\begin{figure}[ht] +\begin{triviabox} + The Abomination used to bug out when CCd, leading to it not leaving behind the white field. + This bug has been fixed though. +\end{triviabox} + +\begin{figure}[ht!] \centering \includegraphics[width=0.7\textwidth]{images/escort-amber-path.png} \caption{Path of the Amber NPC.} @@ -284,7 +298,7 @@ Afterwards, an \emph{Elite Jungle Wurm} will pop up next to the cloud, so make s The husk on the Crimson escort will be behind the \href{https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Cave-in_Debris}{\emph{Cave-in Debris}}, which you have to destroy in order to proceed with the escort. -\begin{figure}[ht] +\begin{figure}[ht!] \centering \includegraphics[width=0.7\textwidth]{images/escort-crimson-path.png} \caption{Path of the Crimson NPC.} @@ -310,7 +324,7 @@ Make sure that the water between \emph{Dredgehat Isle} and the next batch of egg The NPC might get stalled otherwise by fighting those mobs. The husk will appear after the final batch of eggs. -\begin{figure}[ht] +\begin{figure}[ht!] \centering \includegraphics[width=0.7\textwidth]{images/escort-cobalt-path.png} \caption{Path of the Cobalt NPC.} @@ -343,6 +357,12 @@ There are three different \href{https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Phytotoxin_Extr As soon as the event spawns, there will be \href{https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Phytotoxin_Cloud}{\emph{Phytotoxin Clouds}} (also called \enquote{Color Clouds}) appearing all over the arena. People can pick up a color by walking through the cloud and then fill them into the fitting extractor by walking through it. +\begin{figure}[ht] + \centering + \includegraphics[width=0.4\textwidth]{images/crimson-extractors-map.jpg} + \caption{The three color extractors at Crimson.} +\end{figure} + Using mounts is fine, such is gliding. However, any use of portals, blinks, teleports, shadowsteps, \textellipsis will remove all color buffs from you. The only exception is the Jackal jump, as that counts as a mount ability and not a normal teleport. @@ -356,6 +376,12 @@ This is the so called \enquote{triple color spot}, where you might get all three If you're lucky, it leads to a fast first burn phase. Otherwise, you just have to run and pick up colors. +\begin{figure}[ht] + \centering + \includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{images/crimson-triple-color-spot.png} + \caption{The \enquote{Triple Color Spot} at Crimson.} +\end{figure} + Keep in mind to clear the arena sometimes between burn phases. Especially some of the wurms near the yellow extractor can become quite annoying for your blocker. @@ -380,6 +406,12 @@ In order to get inside the wurm's stomach, you first have to kill the \emph{Plag When you kill the Abomination, it will leave behind a white AoE field. Standing in this field gives you the \href{https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Wurm_Attractant}{\emph{Wurm Attractant}} buff, which is a buff that will make the wurm swallow you. +\begin{figure}[ht] + \centering + \includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{images/amber-stacking-spot.png} + \caption{Amber swallow spot, indicated by the green haze on the ground.} +\end{figure} + You need at least 20 people with \emph{Wurm Attractant} stacking up in front of the wurm on the marked spot. If you have less than that, the wurm will not even swallow you. Inside the stomach, you can then pick up the harpoon and start shooting the \href{https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Pyloric_Valve}{\emph{Pyloric Valve}}. @@ -429,11 +461,23 @@ Kegs can appear at three possible \enquote{keg spots}, however only one of them Which one it is is determined randomly at the start of the event, and after that it will change every two minutes, which means it will switch whenever the event timer hits an even amount of minutes (12:00, 10:00, 8:00, 6:00, 4:00, 2:00). If one head is decapitated, the keg spot will not change anymore! +\begin{figure}[ht] + \centering + \includegraphics[width=0.4\textwidth]{images/cobalt-keg-spots.jpg} + \caption{Keg spots at Cobalt: Circle for Beach, Heart for Jumping Puzzle, Square for Mast.} +\end{figure} + The three keg spots are the \emph{beach}, the \emph{jumping puzzle} and the \emph{mast}/\emph{plank}. Keg running is fairly straightforward: You pick up a keg by interacting with the active keg spot, and you place down the keg on the dark spot in front of the wurm. When placing down a keg, skill 1 has to be used, as just weaponswapping will not actually place down a keg. +\begin{figure}[ht] + \centering + \includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{images/cobalt-keg-placement-spot.png} + \caption{The dark spot in front of Cobalt where kegs have to be placed.} +\end{figure} + For the jumping puzzle and mast spots, care has to be taken that people do not fall into the water, as falling into the water will remove the keg. You can use mounts (e.g. the Skimmer) to avoid any issues. However, just like on Crimson, any use of portals, blinks, shadowsteps or other teleports will also remove the keg from your hands. @@ -463,4 +507,101 @@ The explosion timer is also something that you have to keep in mind when telling If you give the call right after your safety burn, and Amber goes immediately, then by the time that they have done their mechanic, you will run into all the explosion timers when you attempt to get your burn phase. +\subsection{The Burn Phase} + +The burn phase is the same on every wurm head. +There is not too much you can command about this during the event, as a lot of it has to be done before the event starts (making sure that people bring the right skills, making sure that people have melee weapons equipped, \textellipsis). + +When the burn phase starts, you should move inside of the wurm and stand on the double damage spot. +This gives people a point of reference to stand. +If you see people standing around, attacking the wurm at range, make sure to tell them to move in - even if they use a ranged weapon, their damage will still be increased by the sharing of boons and other profession specific enhancements. + +You can use the chat to give commands and remind people about their skills, calls like \enquote{banners down} or \enquote{fire fields \& blast them}. +Additionally, you can call for \emph{Time Warps} and other \enquote{long cooldowns} when you see that people have enough might, or a few seconds after the burn phase has started. + +If you are doing a safety burn, keep in mind to tell people early enough to stop their damage, especially if you have a lot of condition damage in your squad, as those will continue to damage the wurm. + + +\subsection{The Decapitation} + +Once all three heads are ready to be decapitated, the decapitaiton can be coordinated. +This is done by the Amber commander, as they have the longest mechanic to execute, and the one that is most prone to failure. + +After making sure that all heads are ready, the Amber commander will go for the Abomination to kill it and get the buff for their squad. +Keep in mind to update the other commanders about your current activity, as they may need the time to prepare (Cobalt can stack up on the keg spot while Crimson can search a blue cloud). + +Once you are swallowed, take a final count of the people with the \texttt{/supplyinfo} command. +Communicate this count to the other commanders and make a call whether they should go for their final burn phase or not. +It is important to make a clear call, even if it is \enquote{wait a bit more}, as you don't want to confuse them whether to decapitate or not. + + +\section{The Second Phase} + +Once all three heads have been decapitated, the second phase of the event will start. +In this phase you need to kill the detached wurm head a second time. + +The job of the commander in this phase is to mostly keep the squad together at the right spot, so that the wurm will charge into a wall. +Keep in mind that the charge will pick a target at random, and it can pick illusions/turrets/minions/pets as well, so remind your squad to put them away. +You want to stack between the wurm and the closest wall. + +Additionally, you should learn the wurm animations so that you can call out dodges. +This is a bit harder in say-chat wurms than on TeamSpeak, because the delay is a lot bigger. +The wurm will also not do the same attack twice in a row, which is why you can call for dodges prematurely if you see the wurm doing a wiggle. + +\begin{triviabox} + When \emph{Signet of Humility} still did 1000 breakbar damage, you could usually break the wurm's defiance bar with just a few Chronomancers. + This allowed for some swift kills, where you could stop a wurm's charge in the right moment and \enquote{break it} into a wiggle. +\end{triviabox} + +As a small side note, the wurm will cleanse conditions when it is charging. +If it charges away at a low percentage, don't rely on conditions killing it! + + +\section{After the Event} + +Make sure that you pick up the main loot by taking the portal back to \emph{Firthside Vigil Waypoint} and looting the big chest. + +Other than that, there is no set rule on what to do when the event ends. +As for TTT, we keep track of the runs we did in the \emph{Activity Tracker}, and we have a small chat with the other commanders where everyone can tell how their wurm went. + + +\section{Beyond the Textbook} + +If every run would go as smooth as described above, then there would be no need for commanders. +We could just copy and paste the explanations into the map chat, and let people do the rest for themselves. +The truth however is that there are more things that a commander has to take care of and that we glossed over for now. + +For starters, you usually have to deal with eggs and husks, either by having an egg blocker and/or husk handlers. +If you have them, you have to take care that they don't get attacked or even downed by the wurm's attacks or veteran wurms standing around. +It is your job to keep them alive! +Depending on the blocker, you might also need to handle some unexpected eggs and the AoE spits, which will not always be blocked. +This can make a run a bit more chaotic, especially on Amber, where husks can disrupt the zerg while stacking up. + +Depending on the amount of people that you have with you, or the amount of new people, you might have issues getting burn phases on e.g. Cobalt due to bad keg running. +It is your job to coordinate the squad and make sure you don't descend into chaos with all the explosion timers! + +Additionally, not all people might listen due to various reasons. +They might not know better, they might understand English that well, or they might not be in your squad, they might just try and get an achievement, or in the worst case, they might be intentionally trolling. +It is your job to be aware of what is going on in the arena (e.g. people killing the Abomination or filling blue), and to be prepared to handle it! + +As such, the qualities of a good commander are not in how well they can recite the dry run by heart. +A good commander is someone who can make the right decisions even in tough and unexpected situations, who can stay calm under pressure and who can lead their squad to victory even when some things don't go according to plan. + +All of those however are not things that you can just read about or list in a document. +They are things that come with experience, and as such, you can learn them by commanding and getting feedback from other commanders. +This is why at TTT we have feedback from other commanders and the trainee passport, so that commanders can learn from the experiences of other commanders and they can talk and discuss about different decisions. + +\textbf{Always keep in mind that smooth seas don't make good sailors.} + + +\subsection{Failure} + +Sometimes, despite our efforts, the event fails. +Be it due to a bug in the game, or due to human error, low participation or bad damage, it doesn't matter, it happens. +The important part is that we don't take it too serious. +Some people can get really worked up over a failed in-game event, even one that spawns six times a day and can be spawned even more often by guilds, but we should try to not let it affect us. + +If the event failed because of a wrong decision made by a commander, they can learn from that for the future, but should otherwise not beat themselvse up over it or keep blaming a single person for it. +While succeeding the event is our goal, it is also important to not forget that we are here because we \emph{enjoy} doing it, and because it is fun to do. + \end{document} |