Hello, people of Allakhazam!
After a very bored day at work, I was thinking of FFXI as usual. See, I work in retail, and in the evening shifts, it can get quite boring and slow... so anyways....
So often I see Call for Help being used in the not-so-quite right ways, and other things I observe people doing that I think could be improved upon, so I thought that I would offer some of my opinions, theories, and other such ramblings.
Its okay if you don't agree with me here, but these are some of my personal feelings about this wonderful little feature in the game.
Section 1: What is Call for Help?
Call for Help instantly releases you/your party/your alliance's claim on the mob you are fighting, allowing anyone in your immediate area to attack it. The penalty, however, is that all exp and drops from this mob are sacrificed. Call for Help also places a beacon on everyone's compass who is nearby so they can see the mob that is called for help, and the general direction in relation to them. A mob who has been called for help will have its name displayed in Gold font.
NOTE: "Call for Help" is oftentimes referred to as "CFH".
Section 2: How do I call for help?
There are a number of ways:
1). Menu -> Disengage -> Call for Help. This is the slowest way to call for help, requiring a lot of navigation through the menu.
2). The "/help" command. This is the fastest way to call for help. You can simply type /help and hit the enter key and you will call for help. I think /h might even work, but I am not sure of this as of yet, if anyone knows for sure please let me know, as that's even faster.
3). Macros. Please, Please don't use these. Same reason why I say that one shouldn't macro Warp in an XP party. It really really sucks to have Chain #4 and the 5th mob be at 5% health left, and suddenly you see:
Partymember calls for help!
On a mob that would have given you 300xp Chain#5.....
NOTE:
"But Xylia! I did the two above and it said: You may not perform that action at this time. or something like that!"
The reason is becuase you are probably a WHM, or a BRD, or something along those lines and haven't 'attacked' it yet. You cannot call for help, if you are in a Party or Alliance without first attacking the mob, by performing an action that would normally claim a mob: Ranged Attack, Attack, offensive spell, offensive job ability.
"Heeeey, Xylia. Problem. I tried to Call for Help on that slept mob, but it called for help on both!"
Yes, Call for Help will Call for Help on all mobs that you have "attacked" and are still claimed by you/your party.
Section 3: When should I call for help? Call for Help is usually used when you are fighting a mob that you know that you cannot handle, a mob that you know that you will probably die without assistance. However, with the fact that you lose all benefits from fighting this mob (no xp or drops), CFH is usually used sparingly. Here are some things to ask yourself:
1). What's the chances of me surviving against this mob? If you think you might be able to survive, mayhaps CFH isn't the best idea just yet. If you got the mob down to 5% and you still have half of your party, and/or your 2hrs, maybe its better you "go for it".
2). Can I zone it? Should I zone it? If you think you are capable of zoning/teleporting/escaping the mob, you might want to consider that option instead. However, if you think you can zone it, ask yourself if you should zone it. An example, would be a Soldier Crawler in CN. Please, Please don't zone that. In general, its very bad to zone linking (moreso aggressive!) mobs.
3). Is there anyone around who could assist me? Call for Help's primary function is to allow others to assist you by fighting your mob. However, if you are out in the middle of nowhere, with nobody around you, Call for Help is useless. If you cannot Escape, or Teleport and there are no other people around, you can try to kill the mob by throwing everything you have at it, or if it looks like you are going to die regardless, instruct your White Mage (or, later levels, RDM or BLM who have /whm sub) to do the following: Deodorize, Sneak, Invisible in that order, and RUN. If that's not possible, then you are just going to have to pray that one of your WHMs (and/or /whms) have Reraise up.
4). What do the rest of my party members think? The last thing you want, is an angry party... I've heard it all before: "Why the hell did you CFH that!? We coulda taken it!" My reply is usually: "Its better to CFH than to die needlessly." If a fight looks like its gonna go bad in a hurry, try to ask at least the party leader if they think you should Call for Help. If it starts looking really bad, and you don't get any responses, do it anyway. If a party kicks you for CFH'ing in a near-death situation, then that party leader sucks anyway. In a GOOD XP party, you should never be pushed to the line to the point you are using 2hrs and hanging on by a thread unless something like a link, or aggro happens.
Section 4: Okay, I (or someone else) called for help. Now what?. If there are people who are near you and if it looks like they are going to help you, your job is to do your best to keep yourselves alive, especially if your party members are getting fatigued, their mana pools are getting low, your tank is getting exhausted, its best to start playing defensively. Try to keep the thing off your mages, back off a little and let the fresh helpers gain hate while you try to rest back. Mages, if you can, tab through the people helping you, to make sure they are still good. What really sucks, is when someone not in your party dies on a mob your party CFH'd. It lowers their morale, and makes it a lot less likely they will help on a CFH'd mob in the future.
Section 5: Okay, someone ELSE called for Help. What should I do?. Well, it depends. If you are much higher level, and can solo the mobs, please. Just do it if you are able. If, however, the CFH'd mob rates Tough or higher, there are a few things to consider:
What is the mob? What does it con to our party? If it is a normal exp mob, and if your party can handle it, please jump in, if you are able to. More than likely, you are much more capable of handling it than they are.
How many people are currently fighting it? Are we needed? Sometimes, there's a CFH'd mob that already has 30 people attacking it. I doubt they need any More help. Or, if a mob only has two people left alive and it still has 80% or more health, and you don't think you can handle it, its probably not any sense in getting yourself killed. Just be around to res their Raisers if necessary, and provide whatever assistance you can. Remember: Curing them will give hate to you.
I hope this guide helps you in your journeys in the future!
--Xylia
Edited, Fri Aug 5 22:21:59 2005 by Xylia