August 15, 2000

A Newbie's Guide to Leading Points - By Zernin

As I step off the cloud I hopped on at the great tree I find myself facing a huge maze. The battle cries of whatever is to be found within ring through my ears. I decide to venture forward despite the fact that I have no idea where I am going, but I suppose that is the whole point to a maze. I try to keep myself oriented by heading in one general direction, but needing to flee from the dreaded Minotaur leaves me somewhat lost. I eventually fall through a trapdoor and find myself lost. After many a battle I resurface at the foot of the goblin castle! I charge forth, meet my first goblin guard, and die almost instantly...

While my first journey to the goblin castle may have seemed a failure it was actually a huge success. I did in fact die that day and I gained much less experience than I had hoped, but it left me with a great understanding of the labyrinth that lies beneath the Goblin Castle. Later that evening I took a friend of mine with me to Goblin Castle and we gained more experience than I could ever imagine. Knowing the zone made it much easier to lead a form there later as I knew what to expect and where.

Back then forms were just a great way to earn experience. Today, with Medievia's unique Multi-Level-Requirement system it has also become a way to gain experience of how the game works in all its aspects. Leading points are earned by having someone in the form that you are leading in the same room as you as you gain normal experience by killing a mob. The leading points earned is equal to the number of standard experience earned by you when kill a mob. In other words you gain both normal experience points and leading experience points at the same time in the same amount. Formleading is not only a way to gain levels but is also a way to gain respect and friendship from other players. To lead formations successfully there are many steps a formleader must follow.

The zones that you will lead best are the ones you know by heart. For this reason it is sometimes better to explore some zones on your own. Before I ever lead a formation in Wittermark forest I ran through the entire zone (using sneak) until I knew enough about it that I could find my way back to key points in the zone. However you must remember that most higher level zones have aggressive mobs in them so a warrior running around a zone full of these mobs is not going to learn very much if he has to keep fleeing from them. The thief sneak skill or the mage's invisibility spell come in very handy here. Knowing a zones layout before leading a form there keeps your form members happy and they will be more willing to form with you again later. Try to watch what direction someone who knows the zone goes when leading it or even ask them to teach it to you the next time you are formed with them. Not all zones can be learned without a form. It is up to you to decide which zones you can learn on your own and which zones you need a formations help with. A tactic I have used to learn many zones is to pick a direction and walk in that general direction (meaning I walk in a northwestern or southeastern direction or the like), making mental notes of major landmarks. When I can't walk one direction any longer, I walk in a different direction. This method works both with and without a formation.

If you are building your form to go to a specific zone think about what kind of players you are going to want in your form. Do you need someone who can dispell mobs? Would a mage with a powerful acid blast help in a zone where you will be fighting many mobs at once? Healers are always a nice thing to have along. Clerics can also cast heal on the form. Once you have your form you can decide exactly what kind of zone would be best for your form.

It would not be a good idea to take 3 level 7-10 warriors to the pirate ship. There is no point in taking a form to some huge zone with the dream of getting lots of experience if the form is all dead. A leader must also be careful not to go to the other extreme. 3 level 28 players are not going to get very much experience at the pirate ship. Also remember that players of the same level will gain more balanced experience and that if your level difference is more than ten you will gain very little experience. Much thought must be put into choosing a zone that gives a good balance between both rewards and difficulty. A good source for information on what zones are good for what levels is help SUGGESTED ZONES in the game or the Areas in the Game on the Medievia homepage ( www.medievia.com). A good way to choose zones to go to is to remember where you have been invited to in the past. Another thing to remember is the formations zone percents (score zone). Just because a zone has been giving you good experience doesn't mean it will give the entire form good experience if some of them have been spending lots of time in the zone recently.

The second thing a formleader must do is choose what positions would be best for the members within their form. The standard is to put warriors and thieves in the front row and keep your mages and clerics in the back. The change comes when you have a form member with exceptionally high hitpoints for a magic user/cleric or exceptionally low hitpoints for a warrior/thief. However, until you begin to form with players of levels 26+ or players of multiple classes it is best to stick with the familiar 'tanks in front' method. Another thing to remember is what kind of mobs you will be fighting. In the event you have more than four 'tanks' (warriors or thieves) in your form and you are going to be fighting multiple casting mobs at the same time you may want to put a warrior with a fully practiced charge in the front row over a thief with slightly more hitpoints.

When leading a form be sure the form members know what to do and not to do. If you only have one cleric and you have lots of melee fighters you may want the cleric to save his/her mana for healing and leave the damage to the melee classes. Which mage is going to be in charge of casting invisibility on the formation after each fight? If you have more than one thief, figure out which one is going to backstab. If you are running a zone with spellcasting mobs choose an order for your tanks to trip/bash so they don't all trip/bash on the same round. When running special zones, such as The Dark Escarpment (I am not gonna tell you which part) be sure everyone knows what to do. Communication is the key to success in any form you will ever lead.

The most important thing to remember when leading a form is not to be greedy. There may be other members of your form who can lead the zone better than you can due to experience or just the fact that you may have lots of lag that day. Whatever the reasons, the best formleaders always know when to give up his position to someone else. Other players need leading points too!

The most important thing a form leader needs to do is have fun. I always gained the most experience when I was with a few friends and we were all throwing out socials during downtime. Don't be afraid to talk, but do it when you have a break in the fighting such as when the formation is ticking. As a form member be sure to consider the fact that the form leader is probably already very busy trying to lead the formation. If you don't have fun your Medievian life will become very boring, however most people consider gaining 20 million experience points in half an hour lots of fun. : ) Now go out there, learn some zones, get some friends together and enjoy what benefits formleading has to offer.