| These Tips were copied over from Camelot Vault, with a few of my own added in. I've filtered the list to include only tips helpful to a Hunter (we don't care about tips that help Wizards, right?) |
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Using speed to save your life At Beastcraft spec of 34, we get Speed of the Pursued (80% Speed Increase, 50 Seconds). Now (and this is in MY experience and opinion, not any specific facts), when we take near-death damage and are only a few slivers of HP from death, our running speed is reduced by ~70% (you basically start crawling) and it's not too long for the enemy to catch up and finish us off. Along comes our savior, the speed buff! Losing 70% speed, then gaining back 80% means our near-death crawl is now just slightly faster than normal running speed (not quite Sprint speed, but faster than normal)...And since it's for 50 seconds (enough time to regen enough HP to get back to normal speed) we now have a GOOD chance to get away! Note: DON'T forget to release that pet first otherwise the speed spell can't kick or last the proper amount of time.
Knowing when to release your pet But only if you're running from a mob and are in the clear! We'll start with an example. At level 39, finding a blue pet in Varulvheim is as likely as finding a rare drop (it happens, and when it does you want to KEEP it!). So if things go bad and you have to run...RELEASE your pet once you're
in the clear! This serves several purposes:
Pets; your damage shield! Pets are basically the equivalent of a damage add (adding some amount of damage to our own attacks)...But with some proper timing, they too can be our damage shield allowing us up to 2 extra arrow shots into the mob. Here's how... Note: With the variety of animals and insects that we can charm, each has it's own run and attack speed, not to mention the speed of the bow being used, so trial and error is in store to get this working properly. The end result you're striving for is to set your pet to attack just before the mob is in melee range (to you). When you time it correctly, the mob will take the first offensive swing at your pet (making them the dmg shield for you) and you will have the amount of time it takes before their next combat round...Often times they'll be standing right in front of you while you're shooting them with your bow!...Depending upon their attack speed and the speed of your bow, you can get up to 2 extra arrows into the mob (vs. not having a pet)!
Stealth 'Radar': Stealth is defined as a 'bubble' (around the stealther) of detection, the higher your stealth the smaller the detection bubble is around you...Inversely, for people that choose to not raise their Stealth to a high level, you can use stealth as a kind of 'radar' to detect other stealthers! here's how... In order for you to enter into stealth mode, there must be NOTHING in your 'bubble' area, otherwise you will receive a message that "You are unable to stealth so close to an enemy!" So, if you're in an area and KNOW that there are no creatures within your 'bubble' but are still getting the message...That means you're probably being stalked by an Assassin! You now KNOW about them! To further maximize your 'radar', create a macro for '/loc' to help you find that stealther! Once an enemy is in Stealth mode, the information for their location is no longer sent to the client (aka your machine)...Using the /loc forces updates so that you no longer have to be right on top of the stealther to see them.
Using side-prerequisite styles while solo: Can be done, here's 2 possible ways... 1. Approach 'neutral' or 'hostile' con mobs from the side and attack using the style when in range. It is also possible to do this with 'aggressive' con mobs, but you must choose wisely a creature with a very small aggro range to pull it off.
Synchronized Critical Shots Hunters grouping with other Hunters makes a deadly combo, because of sync'ed crits. Here's how to go about doing it... 1. If you all don't already have pets, GET THEM! What's cool about this is that the shots DON'T have to be simultaneous! Basically as long as EVERYONE fires off their shots in the 1st round of combat, your crits will ALL hit! Shortcuts to Pet Commands: To do it, all you have to do is Shift-Left click the command in the panel. Then you can put it on the bar. You can pull all the commands - including the "Aggressive", "Defense" etc. Using Elevation to your advantage: A Hunters' arrows have a maximum range of 2000 along the X,Y axis...But the Z (Elevation) axis also affects range. Getting to higher ground vs. your target will extend your maximum range. Inversely, if your target is on higher ground than you, your maximum range will be shortened. Pacify the Pet: Also, it's a good idea to keep an eye on your pet to make sure that he doesn't attack a mez'd target before everyone is ready! You can put him on Passive to do this or release him in an emergency.
Finding a Crafter: If you're shopping for wares, you can find tailors by doing a "/who tailor", or fletchers by "/who fletcher", or armorsmiths and weaponsmiths by "/who smith". Armor crafters are listed as "armorers" while weapon crafters are listed as "weaponsmiths". So "/who smith" reveals weaponsmiths, and "/who armorer" reveals armorers. Here are the titles that will display: A very rough rule of thumb for armor: Every 100 levels of skill points can help characters for 5 experience levels. Thus, Junior Apprentices can help level 1-5, Apprentices can help 6-10, etc. So multiply your level by 20 to work out what title you need.
Making Change: Whenever giving money to another player, you can hold down the shift key when clicking on the coin count arrows and you'll count out 10 coins at a time instead of just 1. Separately, note that you'll always make change automatically (so you never need to ask anyone if they have change). For example, if you have 2 gold and 5 silvers, and need to give 50 silvers to someone, just click on your silver piece slot in inventory, then shift+click 5 times on the right arrow. Then click Accept and give them the 50 coins. After they accept, you'll automatically have 1 gold and 55 silvers left over. Chatting: When trying to get a group together or when merging with other groups, it helps to invite everyone involved into a chat group (/cg invite) no matter where they are. This helps keeps all the future group members in communication so they can easily coordinate and find a regrouping spot without one person having to be the middleman to all questions. It also seems to keep impatient people from flaking out since actually hearing where that healer replacement is and when she's coming is much more assuring than just hearing, "healer on the way".
Melee During Lag: During periods of intense lag, mobs will commonly "warp" short distances, which often has the unfortunate side effect of placing a melee-attacking mob out of your view. Even tho the mob appears to be in your front arc, text messages will indicate that the monster cannot be seen, and your character will not attack in melee. At times when this warping is prevalent, begin stepping backwards as soon as the mob gets close. No matter where the mob warps to, it will stand still once in melee and simply rotate to face you, not following you until it sits in your front arc. Swing away!
Fighting adds: Advice on not breaking a Mez! This is good for PvP AND RvR. Remember when your in a group that if your Mez'er casts Mez on something, do NOT attack the Mez'ed target until you finished the Unmezzed ones first! If you have multiple targets mez'd make sure everyone attacks the SAME target so you don't have to re-mez something! It will save Power, Time AND may save someones LIFE! To help in attacking the same Target it is a good idea to decide who
is the "Main Tank" before hand. Everyone else should make an
assist macro so that they can target the same thing quick and easy when
it gets crowded. Example, if your main tank's name is Anakara, type:
Adjust your Alpha: If you like to use your windows a lot, then make sure to turn down the alpha so you can see enemies. Turning down your alpha to 0 on the text box and to around 30 on the mini/friends/concentration or whatever type of boxes you use. This can really save your life, so in RvR an enemy can't hide behind any of them.
Sit while selling: If you are camping an area for loot and exp, try to run to the merchants while still hurt, then SIT while you sell your inventory. It's a little more efficient. Recover POW, HEALTH and END while you sell. The less downtime the better.
Try Mouselook: While experimenting with ways of controling my character, I found that using the mouselook feature made me aLOT more agile. You can turn around and look up and down much faster than with the keyboard. This is very useful especially in narrow dungeons, like Mithra for example. If you see a monster you wouldn't like to run into, you don't have to stop, turn, and run away anymore. Now, you can just do a quick 180 degree spin and keep running!
Using the Sprint Key: If you feel the situation is getting out of hand and you may have to run, don't wait until you begin your retreat to hit the sprint key. hit it at the first sign of danger! You won't use any endurance until you begin your retreat, but you can stay in sprint mode without moving for 5 seconds before your 'prepare for sprint' expires.
Knowing when your Pet's Buff wears off: If you are a pet caster, cast buffs on yourself first - then your pet. That way when they are about to expire, you'll see the "blinking" icon for your buffs... and you can guess that the pet's buffs will run out soon too. Pet buffs running out have no warning... so this helps avoid sudden loss of pet buffs during a fight.
Jumping to shoot: If you are having line of sight problems while shooting up an incline, jump and fire at the apex of your jump - this will often allow you to fire the arrow despite the incline.
Bulk selling crafted Arrows: When selling arrows as a Fletcher only sell in bundles of 400. Often times when you get scattered orders you get most of the money you make tied up in expensive materials. In addition to this you don't make much off arrows therefore you must compensate with volume. This allows you to buy materials needed and make the arrows with no leftovers. So you get all your money. In short selling in bundles of 400 makes sure you have funds accessible right away and more profit enough to make the sale worth your time. (spending time to make like 20s off 200 arrows is a waste of time for all that effort).
Walk on the Bridge Support Ropes: In Midgard, there is a bridge behind the guard tower next to Dvalin. You cross this bridge if you take the road to Audliten. Almost unfailingly, there are several crabs on this bridge. While typically they let you go by without striking, lower level characters might be a beat squeamish to run by something which cons purple or red to them. So, use the ropes! On many bridges you can run along the supports for the bridge, and on this particular bridge you can run up along the ropes for the bridge, safely out of distance of harmful enemies.
Face & Strafe: You can use the /face command in conjunction with the Strafe Keys to do a circle around your target. Makes it handy to slip around behind something while keeping in range and facing your target.
Horse rides to save your life: If you are hunting an enemy near a stables and things turn nasty, grab a ticket and ride on out of danger. It's just a thought, but it's gotten me out of harm's way a time or two.
All items need repair: If you don't seem to be getting the right bonuses from your magic items, perhaps they need repairing. That's right: magic items have a condition that deteriorates just like weapons and armor. You cant see it but it is there. Just hand them over to any smith for repair and your magic item will be as good as new... When I realized this and fixed all my stuff it was like I had a whole new character!
Run with your melee weapon: To all you New Archers out there , don't run around with your bow in
your hand ! Yes I too wanted too look cool with My bow out as I went running
through the countryside or sat waiting to heal. I realized after getting
whooped on and making a few trips to the healer that by having my weapon
of choice and shield ( for rangers your two weapons ) readied that I saved
a second or two worth of fumbling over the keyboard when I got jumped
by a sneaky critter...and as a Archer( scout for sure ) that could very
well save you manyt minutes of going to healer, spending money to be healed
, running back to gravesite and then killing Monsters to get back lost
XP.
Swapping Arrows, mid-fight: Archer Classes waiting for their quiver upgrades can still "hot swap" arrows. To do this place the long range flight arrows in one slot, with medium range or short range below. Click and grab , but do not drop, the short range arrows. Now hit critical shot and auto fire, reload. Drop the shorter range stack on the long range one. As soon as you do this, you will reload the shorter range arrows. The system "takes" the arrow from the highest slot when it "draws the bow". So the critical will be long range, and you will continue to reload short range arrows as the mob closes on you, saving those expensive arrows for "pulling".
Don't miss out on Quests: Ever feel as though you are missing out on quests as you make your way through the various cities and outposts of your realm? Just talk to your local bartender! They should ask you if you seek adventure or directions. If there are any quests available to you in their general vicinity (and sometimes even further away) they will tell you who to talk to and what sort of problem they are having.
Bind from Horseback: You can bind when riding a horse by an area that has a bind stone. Its easiest to create a macro (/macro BIND /bind) so all you have to do is nail it a bunch of time as you ride by.
Swap Pets instead of waiting for heal: Swapping pets is faster than waiting for them to heal. Hunt in areas where you can easily get a new pet and release and tame a new one rather than waiting for pet regeneration. ;)
Use Detaunts even when Soloing: When soloing as a class with combat styles, try using the combat style that is a detaunt. Almost all detaunts give a medium or high bonus to defense. Since you are fighting blues or yellows solo you usually won't need any bonus to hit, and regenerating endurance after a fight takes a lot less time than regenerating health.
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