How to play WoW:
Check off one of three roles. Teleport to dungeon. Run into pack of mobs. Whack-a-mole cooldown buttons until mobs die. Click food/water. Wait 20 seconds. Repeat until Boss. At boss, avoid fire. Buy gear with points.
How to play EQ:
Determine group class makeup dependent on desired activity and which classes compliment the classes already present. A bard for example will favor caster heavy groups but be much less empowering to a melee heavy enchanter group. A FD puller might enable certain camp options, like the fungi camp. Certain activities (such as PBAoE groups) have strict class requirements. Certain group compositions can eliminate downtime entirely. A backbone of Cler, Shm, Ench with some skilled play will usually reduce downtime to nearly nothing once buffs are done. Add mod rods or bard regen for overkill.
Decide which zone to do considering group classes, gear, player ability, activity (AoE grind, melee grind, etc), desired loot, and ZEM.
Port group. Cast scale of wolf on group or sing selos, possibly lev. Run to zone super fast. Enter zone, possibly invising past dangerous mobs, (Charasis) or navigating a lower level dungeon first. (Guk)
Decide which buffs to cast, who to cast them on, when, and in which order. Tanks arrange buffs so that insta clicks are at the top for dispel protection.
Summon and resummon pets until an acceptably high level one is kept. Arm them.
Drop mod rods. Twitch cleric and/or shaman. Use manastones. Heal buffers.
While group buffs, rogue monk or SK scouts zone for open camps.
Weigh the risk vs. reward of camp options or whether to try luck in another zone.
Begin pulls.
On large pulls do:
Pacify mob(s) and/or attempt to FD split. If FD splitting, tank pulls mob(s) off feigned puller from range if mobs do not walk home at same time, else reattempt split.
On small pulls do:
Mana check group long before current mobs in group die. If mana permits, have puller leave group for next pull before mobs in camp die and attempt to time the arrival of incoming mobs at the same moment the last mob in camp dies.
Once combat begins, tanks do the following:
If enchanter in group:
Tank or MA (main assist; a non-tank assist has advantages) targets front mob, possibly also hitting a 'assist me on X' macro so party is confident when hitting assist will give a correct target. Enchanter targets and mezes one of the back mobs. Rest of group assists tank/MA.
Tank casts on, or procs on, or simply does some damage to the first mob. If tank is the designated assist, he makes sure not to switch targets too quickly so group can get the correct target. Tank then targets a non-mezed mob, builds hate on it, and watches chat carefully for enchanter's mez cast macro to avoid mez break. A mez macro allows a tank to freely attack any mob to build hate on it as he can simply turn off attack right before mez lands. Meanwhile group stays on mob #1.
When all mobs are mezed, tank brings the assist mob to the next mob to die, stops auto attack, targets the next mob (which is mezed), hits taunt, retargets old mob, and resumes attacking until old mob dies or taunt recycles. When MA wakes up the next target, mob will not only be on tank instead of enchanter if a taunt succeeds, but will also have hate on the mob as high as the enchanter as taunt is highest hate + 1.
If no enchanter in group:
Tank routinely swaps targets and builds hate on each while group sticks to one mob at a time; stays on first mob a bit to allow for assists.
Debuffers do the following:
Enchanter, if present, tashes each after mezes are done.
If mobs are strong enough to warrant malo debuffing, the magician will if present else the shaman does, possibly announcing it to the party with a macro.
If charming, be alert and malo immediately after mez breaks so that it lands before the enchanter can finish his tash + stun + charm routine.
Shaman or Enchanter slows mobs when able, announcing to group. Often mez is not broken by the MA until the next mob is slowed, possibly requiring the group to wait a moment.
Cleric does the following:
Fully hitpoint buff the tank. Macro your CH key to announce casts and time them to land so as to not waste mana but also not risk the tank's death.
If you are not the only healer, waste as little mana on non-CH heals as possible; let others do the off-healing, as CH is ridiculously more efficient and the group's pace is largely (almost entirely) limited by your mana.
Ask for and consume mod rods if available. Wear regen items.
Melee DPS do the following:
Monks and Rogues drag corpses and scout when required. Possibly act as main assist. Monks pull mobs instead of tank. Ranger... tracks. (and snares) Attack mobs from behind to maximize damage. Keep an eye on buffs. Annoy the shit out of enchanter or shaman for haste when it drops as it doubles your dps. Ask at convenient times.
Caster DPS do the following:
Assist MA, pet attack if applicable.
On large pulls with no enchanter, kill the first mob as quickly as possible ignoring mana costs but without wasting healer mana-- either be just aggressive enough that tanks regain aggro quickly or possibly kite. Multiple casters in group nuking hard simultaneously might allow you to ignore aggro entirely.
If multiple mobs attacking simultaneously is not an issue, pace nukes out more for consistent damage to minimize risk of aggroing mobs.
Keep mana levels high enough that mana is available for an unexpected large pull, but low enough that you minimize time spent at full mana.
If no mez is available, root capable classes might be on ghetto CC duty. Wizards stun caster mobs. Necros might need to ghetto mez. Magicians damage shield tank and summon pet weapons, arrows, food, etc.
Misc duties:
On a bad pull, Druids and Wizards make judgement call and hit evac macro that ensures no ambiguity on casts, allowing groups to call a possible abort.
Somebody must be on snare duty: either the druid, ranger, necro, or even a warrior with a snare whip. If no snare is available, care must be taken to root or stun runners.
In outdoor zones, druids keep SoW up and possibly take over other duties like pulling and pacifying. Charm becomes much, much safer.
