I completed all ToV heroic zones, with majority of 200 stat old world gear, on the first day ISXEQ2 was up.
I personally enjoyed how many of these encounters were set up, because from a bot point of view, most of these encounters aren't really about gear, it's about skill. Being able to manage your group effectively.
First and foremost, there are MANY ways to play this game. You don't have to play the same way I do. This is merely some hints and tips on how I play, which some people may find helpful.
Secondly, various things take practice. You won't be able to read some of my strats, and go first pull the mob. You will need to take time and do a few pulls.
Lastly, you're not as good as you think. I've talked and helped a LOT of people, and I'd say 99% of them think they are a much better at botting than they really are. This isn't specific to anything, there is just a lot more involved to being a GOOD botter, than "I have OP gear and can afk". You will need to learn and adapt to overcome.
Okay, into the meat and potatos!
Ogre MCP
Stands for 'Master Control Panel', it's a series of customizable buttons that allows you to control various aspects of your group from 1 location.
While there's hundreds of thousands of things you can do with MCP, I'm only going to touch on a few, that should greatly improve your capabilities.
OgreFollow (OFol) vs EQ2's follow.
EQ2's follow is the "in game" follow that anyone can use. There are some limitations with this that I didn't like, so I wrote OgreFollow. For example:
Eq2's follow, is set at a specific distance, you can't change it. You can't have your toon 'face' a different direction, because in-game follow changes it, even if you aren't moving.
There's two ways of turning OFol on.
OFollow
This pops open dialog boxes you type in, to set the options. However, you will probably use the exact same options the majority of the time, so we can just 'set' them into a button.
Make a button with the following:
- Code: Select all
Select Command: OFol-Dft
Paramters:
all
${Me.Name}
2
100
FALSE
Note: Some are case sensitive.
It explains in the button what these do, but I'll cover them briefly also.
all - This says "everyone" will obey.
${Me.Name} - This says "the toon who pressed the button". Generally speaking, your tank. The reason we don't use your tanks actual name, is if you switch to a different tank/character, the button still works.
2 - This is the distance they want to be within. This means if they are LESS than 2 meters from you, they are happy. if they are MORE than 2 meters, they will try to move to you.
100 - If they are OVER this value, they consider you a jerk, you have abandon them so far away, they shall chill until you come back within 100 meters.
Hopefully the above explains exactly what OgreFollow does.
It will keep you within 2 meters, as long as you're not more than 100 meters away.
If you have 'Move into melee range/behind' options checked, OgreFollow temporarily disables, and they engage your target. Once you no longer have a valid target, OgreFollow turns back on.
If you have 'face mob in combat' checked, it happens also once you are done moving.
Using this bit of information, we can then perform some actions.
Lets say a mob, Mob1, has a period of time where we want to fight him like normal, then we want to run away from him (or move him). We have options.
1) Simply move the mob. Anyone WITHOUT move into melee range/behind will follow you where ever you go, in or out of combat. People WITH move into melee range will continue to do their thing (following the mob, basically).
2) Move away from the mob. Assuming all your toons are assisting you (the tank), target yourself (which makes OgreFollow engage, and not move into melee range), then move. Everyone will follow you.
Hopefully already, you are seeing the benefit of using OgreFollow in some of these new zones. A few things to remember - When everyone is following you, every single time you move, they move also. For mages/priests, this means you will interrupt their casting.
OgreFollow is fully campspot compatible. Meaning when you campspot, it takes precedence over OgreFollow. Once campspot is removed, OgreFollow takes back over.
This allows you to do things like: campspot them, then when you want/need to move, do a 'lets go'. When you get to where you want to go, you can turn campspot back on.
Lets look at an actual example of this in use.
The Nexus Core: Maligned Gyro
Good old Gyro.
He spawns the slicers, and you have two choices.
1) When the slicers spawn, you move with your tank (and anyone without move into melee range follows you). As the mob moves, the toons (scouts, for example) will move also.
2) When the slicers spawn, TARGET YOURSELF with your tank, then move. Everyone will immediately follow and stay with you. When you get to where you are going, you can:
* -> Target the mob and resume killing.
* -> Campspot, then target the mob and resume killing.
Benefits: Dynamic movement based on where YOU want people to go.
Managing campspots.
If you've used any of my "Grind options" or "Raid options", you've probably seen characters change their campspots based on events. Such as a red text etc.
These take a lot more work for me to hardcore than most may think. While I'll probably get around to it, there is a VERY easy way you can do it yourself, without any coding required.
First thing to do:
Find a place on your MCP that is always available, and easily clickable by you. For example, mine is in the second row of static buttons (second row from the left).
Make yourself these 4 buttons. Try to be smart about where you place them:
- Code: Select all
SelectCommand: CS_Set_ChangeCampSpotBy
North:
all
0
0
-20
East:
all
-20
0
0
South
all
0
0
20
West
all
20
0
0
Going by the names, you've probably already figured out what they do.
When you press a button, it changes your campspot by that direction.
For example: (You can test this in a guild hall also).
Campspot everyone, then press "North". They change their campspot to be 20m north of the old campspot. Likewise, if you press "East", they will change their campspot 20m to the east.
You don't need to "wait" to combine these either. Lets say you wanted to move 20m East AND 20m North. You can press both buttons as fast as you can, and it will change the campspot to be 20m East and North.
Likewise, if you want to move 40m North, double click the button.
Note: You don't have to use [20]. If you'd prefer to only move 10m at a time, change it to 10. The choice is yours!
In ToV, there are plenty of mobs who put things on the ground. I can't remember a name, but I'm sure everyone has seen an example of a mob dropping a turd of death on the ground where you need to get away from. This is exactly where this is useful.
How to make the most use out of this.
EQ2 Options -> Controls -> Free look controls -> Avatar Relative
-> Tank only: Controls -> Combat Auto Face Avatar -> ON.
-> Non-tanks: Controls -> Combat Auto Face Avatar -> OFF.
What this does, is allows you to "turn" the camera, but still have your tank facing the mob and attacking.
There are two ways to accomplish this every time you log in.
1) Use some kind of virtualizing options (I believe ISBoxer does this).
2) On Ogrebot's "Load" tab, do the following:
--> Tank -> eq2execute ics_playercombatautoface 1
--> nontank -> eq2execute ics_playercombatautoface 0
Ogrebot settings:
--> Tank -> Settings -> Face mob in Combat -> OFF
--> NonTanks -> Settings -> Face Mob in Combat -> ON
While you are fighting, you can turn your camera in game (hold the RIGHT mouse button then move it). Using the in-game compass, you can see which way your CAMERA is facing. IE: N(orth) E(ast) S(outh) W(est).
See where we're going with this?
This allows you to easily see/plan which way you'll have to move your group when something happens.
For example:
Lets say we're set up like this.
[Tank][Mob][Group]
On your tank, you get your camera facing the group. Lets say this is North.
This means if we press our "North" button, the group will move directly backwards.
Likewise, if you press the opposite of North, (so.. South, incase you weren't sure), your group will move through the named towards you.
And you will either know that East is always to the right of North, or you can turn your camera and see.
Now you can plan which button you'll have to press, depending on what happens.
Lets take an example. Recap, we're placed like this:
[Tank][Mob][Group]
And we know that on the tank, facing the group is North.
Lets assume this mob drops something on the ground, under his feet. When that happens, we would press our "North" button. Then it would look something like this:
[Turd][Tank][Mob][Group].
Then it happens again, so we press it again.
[Turd][Turd][Tank][Mob][Group]
If you're about to run into a wall if you go north more, go East, then go South.
Some mobs may drop a HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGE red circle, so you may have to move twice. (Which simply means pressing your button twice). In our example, it would move you 40m instead of 20m.
Flying
Note: OgreFollow has full flying capabilities. Leaving this here as informational only.
It is EXTREMELY easy to switch between OgreFollow and Eq2Follow.
Above you made a button to turn on OgreFollow, here is how you make one to turn it off.
- Code: Select all
Select Command: OFol-Dft
Parameter:
off
I personally put this right next to my OgreFollow button. This way I can turn it on, or off with 1 click in the same location.
How to "use" in-game follow.
--> On non-tanks -> Ogrebot -> Settings -> Auto Follow Mode -> ON
-----------------------------> Setup -> Auto Follow -> (Your tanks name/Alias)
Fighting and want OgreFollow? Hit that button.
Fighting done and want to fly? Hit the Off button. Easy peasy.
I personally have enjoyed many of these instances, because, as a botter, they require some skill. You have to pay attention, you have to make some decisions, you have to press some buttons. Winning, or wiping in most zones, will come down to YOU.
There's hundreds of more hints and tips using Ogrebot that can help in general and specific game play. Look at the wiki, and at some of the options in the MCP, and here on the forums. You will find a lot of ways to use various tricks.
Lastly, with your new found knowledge, please use it to better yourself and friends. Keep the SLR down to a minimum, and no one will notice your superiority..
P.S. Over time, I will probably add in automated moving for a lot of these fights, but it takes time, and right now I'm trying to spend SOME time playing the game instead of coding. This should allow you to be successful in the mean time.
Feel free to leave feedback, or tips for other people!
P.S.S. It ate this post the first time I hit submit, I didn't lose the text, but it ate the formatting... Oh well!
Addition:
Campspot on "you"
Set a campspot on "you".
There are many times where you end up charging into a room, and you have to decide, do I self target to group everyone together, to do a nice campspot for everyone in 1 location, or do you do a "campspot" on the fly, in which they are in a line.
You still have those options, however you can also set a campspot, then tell everyone to change their campspot to where YOU are. That way, everyone is always together.
Make an MCP button:
- Code: Select all
Select Command: Change_Campspot_Who
Parameter1: all
Parameter2: ${Me.X}
Parameter3: ${Me.Y}
Parameter4: ${Me.Z}
Now, whenever you press it, anyone with an active campspot, will change it to where you are currently standing. This can be quite useful in various other situations. Say, if, due to not fault of your own or Ogrebots, your group's automated movement gets split up, you could change everyone's location to your tank, then let the script continue to take over from there.