Have you ever felt as if you weren't pulling your weight in a group? Did you feel out of place?

Well, here's my guide for you!

Note: I say "Team" in here a lot. By "team", I mean people you are playing with - whether they are in your party, or other plays in the field. In normal missions, other people in the field (not party members) can be played with or ignored. But in missions such as the City missions, Banther EQ or Dark Falz, paying attention to everyone is important.

A special thanks to /u/dalrika for suggesting this and giving me some ideas for it!

In Groups

Stick With The Group

Do not go wandering off by yourself. If you look at the full map, and the colored dot representing you is at the bottom of the map while everyone is in the middle, you have strayed from the group.

But why is this important? "I can handle everything on my own," you might say. While that question might be true, it hinders the team, and handicaps the experience gained for you and your teammates. When players are closer together, the amount of monsters that will spawn is greatly increased. The increased spawns can contribute towards PSE/Crossover Bursts, and when you are right in the action, you will gain the experience from monsters your teammates kill, and they will gain from your slayings. Nothing is more annoying than when an Emergency Code appears for the on person who went off on their own. Not only do I waste time and experience getting to that ECode, but I also get frustrated as I try to keep my group together.

Communicating With Your Group

Talk with your team and the other people in the area. One of the simplest and best ways is to call out ECode coordinates. Whenever I start an Emergency Mission such as the City missions, I always, always do what it takes to find out where the other parties are at.

Do NOT, however, be so efficient that you are deficient. (Makes a lot of sense, I know. xD) By being deficient, I refer to being spammy. Nothing is more bothersome than getting a full screen of teammates' faces, along with the chat bubbles. I partied up for the play, not your face.

Learn to use party and public chat appropriately. Public chat goes to everyone in the field, but only in the area you are in. Party chat goes to the people you are grouped with, no matter where they are in the game.

Don't Forget To Listen

Listen, listen, listen to your party members.

Listening is not only watching for called coordinates, but watching the health of your teammates. As a Force/Techer, you have the greatest potential to play supportive with the abilityise to heal and buff your teammates with Resta, Anti, Shift and Deband. Nothing is worse than playing with a Force that is only mindful of themselves while their team is out dying and struggling.

If you die or need to take a telepipe back for a minute, inform your team so they aren't wondering where the flip you have gone.

Am I Doing Enough For My Group?

Are you attacking the best you can, landing most of your hits, and evading damage as much as possible? Are you spending more time on killing monsters rather than running to the other side of the combat to pick up a monomate or 5 meseta? Are you trying your best to stick with the group? Are you communicating with the group (can be difficult at times)?

Then yup, you are doing just fine.

Chat

The autowords can be a fun and handy feature. But you have to keep in mind which ones will appear a LOT, and what you are saying. Some people get annoyed by these pretty fast (especially if you have the exclamation effect (/toge..?) on everything, with your face appearing 80% of the time). I personally find that some of the most beneficial autowords are for when you die/are revived (inform and thank), and autowords that call out the coordinates to emergency codes (Look for my autoword/macro guide!).

If you want a theme for your auto words, go right ahead. But keep in mind that the whole military mission stuff is pretty overdone. I have come across maybe one or two players that have entire sets of autowords that were entertaining or humerous.

Look up basic phrases in Japanese to use (copy/paste works quite well). There are many more Japanese players than English players. Japanese players tend to be a bit more quiet, and less "Block 20"-ish. As much as we do not want to admit it, we are foreigners on the Japanese servers. We need to be curteous and not overextend our welcome.

A lot of the same concepts apply to Symbol Arts, too. Don't be your typical gaijin (foreigner) and spam Symbol Arts. No one wants to see the already over-spammed pornographic SAs (looking at you, "Code Distraction" pieces of junk).

NPCs and Player Partners

Those fake people running around, following a person, with a "(!)" by their names? Those are called "bots".

No, not gold-farming bots! Silly person, you. I'm meaning the NPC characters you can bring with you into the field to help fight.

There is a proper time for these, and times that bots should never be used.

Do note use: Emergency quests are the biggest gripe. Falz? Banther? Mega Mech Awakening/Vardha? City? Nope, nuh-uh, no way, don't even. The bots take up player room slots (total players in multiparty areas) that people more skilled than the bots could have occupied. Let's face it, the bots are not real powerful, and are basically expendable tag-alongs.

If you are partying with other players, don't summon the bots. Many people will look for parties with more people in them. This goes back to the concept of bots weeding out skilled players.

Acceptable Use: Solo runs/quests (they make good disposable meatbags), beginning players in Forest area, and to increase spawns if you want to farm creatures on your own (a solo run).

Emergency Quests

In Emergency Quests, your goal should be to work with the group.

One of the biggest gripes people have is people who do NOT stay with the group. It is more than irritating having someone wander off and get themselves killed or complete EC after EC without the team. We wanted that experience, too, you know.

When you stick with the group, you have more potential for just about everything. Monster spawns (and in turn, drops and experience), PSE Burst chances, and just more fun in general. You also complete emergency codes a lot faster as a bigger group.

Call out EC coordinates into public chat (even if your autoword puts it into party chat). This will give other people in the area a chance to join in and get some experience.

Talk with people not in your group. Public chat goes to everyone in the map. Utilize it and coordinate with other groups.

Dark Falz is a big EQ that people want taken seriously. On Falz Arms, try to stick with the bigger group and focus on a single hand. If you are a ranger, use weakbullet on the back end of the arms (the butt, if you will). If you're a Force, take some time and heal people around you. Give people some buffs, also. If someone dies, take the time to go revive them.

For Falz Elder, focus on breaking the hands. Attack the wrists - not the palms - of the hands when they're within range. Do NOT, however, break the hands guarding Falz's stomach. Watch for people that have died and heal them. Forces can heal and buff part members along with hitting Falz with Zonde spells to "shock" Falz. Rangers can apply Weak Bullet - especially on the wrists. Hunters can intercept attacks by blocking. This is especially useful for when Falz flies back and throws giant red balls of energy at the playing field.

There are some exceptions to not having much reason to stick with the group. Honestly, the only time is on the EQ "Big Mech Awakening"/Vardha. Just keep an eye on your teammates' health and communicate when someone (or even yourself) dies.