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Hotkeys, FAQ and other Information

Hotkeys are a big help in this game, there is some that I consider essential and could not do without. As there are some that I insist other people make when I group with them.

Here a few to show what I mean.
ASSIST KEY
Everyone should have an (at least 1)  Assist key. For example my Bard's Assist key looks like this:
Name: Assist
Line 1: /assist SOandSO
Line 2: /con

While my enchanters assist key reads:
Name: Assist
Line 1: /assist SOandSO
Line 2: /attack off
Line 3: /con

In addition to that, all my chars have an 'emergency' assist button
AssTar
/assist %t
/con

this one is good for when someone in your group needs help with something that is attacking him, you can quickly hit the F# key to target that person and then use that button to target the mob.

Now, why should you make an assist key?
Easy, if you aren't the person who is Main Tank, you should assist that person, that way, when there is more than one mob incoming, you make sure to attack the same mob as the main tank. And why should you do that? Well, for a few reasons,
1) to make it easier on the healer. If only one person gets the aggro, the healer can concentrate on that person instead of bouncing between players to keep them all healed.
2) to make the Enchanter's life easier. If you attack a different mob than the Main Tank you risk that your Chanter has to Mesmerize a mob multiple times since you would be breaking the mez attacking it.

Another thing that I consider important in reference to the Main Tank, when a mob is mezzed, let the tank break the mez. Why you ask? Whoever is the tank probably has the ability to taunt and can do so a few times before breaking the mez, that way he will get the aggro, instead of the Chanter (should it just wear off) or someone else hitting on it, which in return makes life for the healer(s) easier again.

Other Hotkeys I have found useful:
Name: LOC
Line 1: /loc
This one is useful when you have to orient yourself, even when running from a mob, or when you are about to die and aren't quite certain where you are, hit it and you will get the location so you can later figure out where your corpse should be.

Sense Heading, all my characters have this key on the first page of their hotkeys, you take it from your abilities and drag it over. Helps figuring out which way you are going and together with the loc key makes travelling a lot easier.

Name: Corpse
Line 1: /corpse
This command is used to drag PC corpses, if someone died and isn't able to get to his corpse or just doesn't want to loot it where it is, you target the corpse and hit this button (after you have received /consent) to move it.

As the puller, these hot keys should be in your possession…..Your neighborhood chanter will love you.

Name: Inc1
Line 1: God took the day off so lets send < %t > to hell (saw this one the other day in game, don't know the trolls name to give him credit, but its one of my favorites)
Line 2: /con

Name: IncDot
Line 1: %t has been dotted, I repeat, an unmezzeable %t is coming to camp
Line 2: /con

Name: Tarcha
Line 1: I am changing my target to %t, you should too

(this is real handy when you have someone not controlling there pet or accidentally dotted a mob, as well as if you have an unmezzeable add, Giants….ect)

The secret here is get creative, the more of these buttons you have, the more your chain group will love you, anything to break the monotony

Hotkey Placeholders

these are the a combination of a % and a letter be sure to always have a space before the % and one after the letter.
%m - pet's name (your very own pets name, if you dont have a pet it will show up as "pet")
%t - current target (npc or pc doesn't matter if you do not have anything targeted, it will show up "target")
%o - Him, Her, It
%s - He, She, It
%p - His, Hers, Its
%r - Race (only works for player characters)

Let me put down a few examples for the mentioned placeholders.
If you have a commandable pet making hotkeys for the commands is a must, you can also include emotes or groupsays in that:
/g %m go beat up %t
/pet attack
/em asks %m to bring her the head of %t

They are also fun for inc messages:
/g INC %t KILL it or DIE trying.
/g INC %t, let's show %o the way out of here is through %p death

or for the race one:
/g HEALING %t the %r

Taunting
Here are a few ways to gain and hold taunt.

First off, be sure you train taunt, if you are of a class that gets it.

If you are the main tank in a group/raid, and have the ability to do so, duel wield the two fastest weapons you have. It isnt necessarily the size of the individual hits as it is the speed and repetition, which tend to add up a lot faster.

The MA should stand as close to the mob as possible, if you are an ogre, you will barely be able to see what you are hitting. The closer you are, the more they hate you. Just ask that chanter that is having to move in because someone isnt assisting, making it much harder to find the right mobs to mez.

I have seen where a bash seems to be more effective taunt versus the kick, however if you arent of a large race with the ability to duel wield and bash, kick will do fine.

Beg, also makes for a great taunt. Don't think so? Walk up to a non-aggressive mob and hit beg a time or two =). Getting the hang of this takes just a little practice. 123412341234 0(auto attack in my case) 5 (beg) 0 and repeat.
123412341234 doesn't look familiar? You can use the number keys for your hotkeys, which makes having hot keys worth while. In my case 1 is taunt, 2 is bash, 3 is sense heading, 4 is disarm, 5 is beg (might as well get that sense heading up while we are at it)

In groups where the MA is doing the job of holding the taunt, the other melee can move around behind the mob with the rogue, this will decrease any reposte/parry that you would receive while hitting from the front

Special Mob Skills

At Higher Levels you will encounter that some mobs have special abilities, in general, some mobs over level 50 can Summon you, some become enraged, others go on a Rampage.

Summon: if you are a caster in a group and you gain aggro from a summoning mob, you should avoid sitting down since he then will summon you (You have been summoned) and that way is able to hit you, even if he is rooted and you were not close to it. If the tank can not regain aggro fast enough, it can even happen that you get killed that way.

Enraged: Enraged is a warrior mob skill, a very nice one, well nice, for the mob at least. Basically, the mob wil Riposte EVERY hit. I have seen people drop like flies since they didn't know what to do. Nr 1 Rule when you see <SOandSO has become enraged> is to either stop attacking (safest) or move to the side or the back of the mob. The main tank should simply turn attack off unless he has so many HP that the 100 something damage he takes each hit don't matter. Just make sure that after you move, the mob does not turn your way, should he do so, turn attack off or move again.

You have just been slain by your own stupidity!
LOADING, PLEASE WAIT…                          .

Rampage: ... a mob that can go on rampage has two "hate lists" one normal hate list which you can change positions on depending on how much you tick the mob off .. the second list is the rampage list ... this list is permanent and once on it you can not work your way up or down the list. The mob will NOT rampage the person he is currently fighting but the person who engaged (or healed tank before anyone else engaged) second. Usually for this a second tank person will be chosen and assigned a cleric (or other healer).

The Mob and YOU ~ or ~ Mob Positioning
Number one rule here would be .. You tell the mob how to move.. not the other way around. Sometimes it is important to push a mob into a certain direction (out of walkway from others, away from a cliff, or to pin it into a wall).

Aside from that the following goes, the only person in front of the mob should be the tank, everyone else should be behind the mob (to avoid ripostes), if a mob needs to be turned the tank will turn him, everyone else should adjust their positions according to that.

Preservation of Stat Food/Drink
Bakers can make certain foods that have stats, for example, Frost Giant Steaks, they give 4 Str, 1 Stamina and are a Banquest size meal, wich means they last a long time. Now to profit from these stats, the item has to be before any other food in your inventory (I usually put my stat food in my very first backpack into the first slot). Now someone was nice enough to make you a few of these but you wish you could keep them forever ... YOU CAN. Either forage regular food or buy a stack of cheap food and force feed it. How do you forcefeed? Put the food into a mainslot in your inventory and right click it until you see the message 'You could not possibly eat anymore'. Every once in a while repeat that to ensure you're always "stuffed" and you will keep that Stat food preserved forever while you're actually living off the stats. The same goes for drink.

Classnames past Level 50