April 3, 2024

The Art of Running
by Sampa

The Art of Running: Habits of Successful Form Leaders

So… you’ve decided to try your hand at leading, eh? Good for you! Whether you're leading a trade run, an experience form, a hero-level equipment zone, or a high-stakes CPK form, the habits below will likely serve you well. No one takes on the role of leader for the first time and knows it all. Even the most capable and experienced equipment zone leaders are still learning new things after running the same zone hundreds of times. While this article certainly can’t teach you everything you need to know, the following are some key areas where you can focus on building intentional habits that will make your leadership endeavors more successful.

Communicate (More): Make a point of communicating clearly and frequently, and remember that no one can read your mind. Try to adapt your communication to the skill level of the weakest form member and don’t assume they know specific strategies or requirements until you have seen them succeed on several runs. Some examples of good communication include:

• Offer positive feedback and encouragement when people do the right thing. Ex. “Nice bashes!” or “Great healing on that fight”
• Call people out by name when you need a specific action taken. Instead of saying, “Someone shield room” ask a specific person, preferably a caster, to cast shield room. People often expect someone else to perform an action when no one was specifically assigned to it.
• Tell people when to tick, or when not to tick. If there’s a big fight coming up then it would be good to make mention of it. If you need to be able to move the form quickly and don’t want anyone to rest, you should mention that too.
• If you’re running equipment, let people know how loot will be handled before you even begin the run. Everyone’s experience will be better if they know what to expect at the beginning of a run.
• If you are an inexperienced leader still learning the ropes, let your form know. Chances are you will gain their patience and understanding, and if a veteran is present they may even share some tips and tricks.

• This may seem obvious but, when you’re learning a new zone, or running a zone you haven’t run many times, pull up a walkthrough. Even better, read the whole walkthrough before you start the run. Even better than that, rewrite the walkthrough or make your own personal cheat sheet for the zone that makes sense to you. It’s common for walkthroughs to be clunky, confusing, or poorly formatted. Doing a little work in advance can make a big difference.
• Consumables are your friend! Get into the habit of carrying sanctuary orbs, healing staves, healing potions, protection potions, scrolls, and anything else that might make your life easier in a zone. Having a heal staff or two at the right time can be the difference between you needing to have your form flee, and possibly wipe, or finishing a fight safely.
• In opposition to the advice I gave about consumables, I would also strongly recommend that you clear out your inventory. If you are carrying so many things that you can’t pick anything up without rearranging your entire inventory then your runs are going to take a lot longer. Longer runs may even mean your form gets bored and stops paying attention. Learn to do more with less and don’t carry things you never use. Make a storage character if you need to store more items somewhere. Build your character to be really good at a few things rather than to be so-so at everything. Make a great front-line warrior, or an awesome healer, or a bow-mode mage that pumps out tons of damage, or whatever else you want. Just be intentional and clear out everything else from your inventory.

• Learn to check sneaks every time before you move. This is a smart habit to build early on or you’ll end up fighting a lot of mobs you don’t want to.
• Always rouse all before moving. People rest at bad times and there’s not a lot you can do about it. However if you alway rouse all before you start moving then it’s rarely an issue. I’d even go so far as to recommend that you rouse all after using sanctuary orbs because people might sit back down and get left behind.
• Intentionally initiate combat. Avoid walking into a room and waiting for a mob to attack you. At best, the mob will do a lot more damage the first round, and at worst you might even get hands of winded or backstabbed.
• Learn mobs classes and tell your form in advance. Make sure your form knows to bash, trip or charge mobs that dodge, or to use iceshield against cleric mobs, or to strengthen up before fights with mages, etc. Mobs in Medievia typically have class-specific skills and you should get to know these by memory so that you can tell your formation what to do.

• Leave your form behind and take solo actions when you can. In many zones, it’s easier to turn solo on and complete certain actions without your formation. Leave your form in a safe space and go it alone when you can. If you do hit a mob, it’ll be easier for you to flee if you’re solo.
• Find or create safe rooms. Use shielded rooms or traps to create safer spaces when it makes sense. If you are going to be in any room for more than a few seconds, and there are aggressive mobs around, then you should expect one of them to walk in.
• Consider whether gravity can help or hurt you. Don’t fight mobs that bash, trip, or charge above a down exit because you’re likely to have some form members fall down. Even worse, they might hit other mobs and lure them in on their way back. However, it also might be preferable to fight some mobs above a down exit, especially if using tremor to get rid of extra mobs can create a strategic advantage.
• Mobs don’t lure over water, even if they are levitating. In many zones, you can use this knowledge to your advantage when creating safe spaces for you and your formation.
• Lastly, rooms with fewer exits can also create a strategic advantage, especially when using traps. Natural choke points will mean that fewer mobs can wander in and you’ll need fewer traps in the rooms leading up to your position.