Below is a basic smobbing guide.
- Listen to the group leader, and do what he/she asks. This is by far the most important.
- Use horse numbers. If the leader doesn't state which horse is yours to ride, then figure it out yourself. Easy way is to check the group command. Count up from 1 starting at the bottom of the list. Whatever number you are, your horse will be number.horse.
- Stock up on food, water and [[light]s before you go. A lightstick or at least 2 lanterns are preferred, if you need more then loot them from the goonies as you kill some smobs. If you have less than level 5 survival, bring 4 hunks of beef (or something equivalent) with you. Hunks weigh less than slabs, fill you up with one serving, and load on the ground. Whenever the group butchers something, be sure to pick up a few slabs. Also if you have less than level 5 survival, bring 2 skins full of water. Always refill whenever you're near a water source. The leader will probably stop at one often.
- If you're out, or almost out of food or water, let the leader know so he/she can coordinate getting you some.
- Don't loot the smobs. That task is for the leader alone. The leader will distribute loot.
- Turn notice on as soon as you stop. Turn notice off once you leave.
- Some leaders don't like it when you loot the money from the goonies, some don't care. Be sure to know your leader's policy on this before you do it.
- Don't worry about coin right away, but do remind the leader to divvy it up at the end. I often forget until someone reminds me.
- If you want a piece of equipment, let the leader know. If it's for storage or an alt, be sure that's clear.
- Don't hoard eq.
- Stay with the group. Don't go and scout smobs or go fill skins or go butcher or anything unless the leader tells you to. Doing this just slows the group down and annoys everyone, especially the leader.
- Don't try to impress anyone with your knowledge of the mud, or your knowledge of how smobs work. Doing this just annoys the hell out of the group, and especially the leader. And we don't care.
- Don't flee until you have to. One person fleeing when they don't have to can easily make or break the success of the smob group with some of the smobs. If you're not doing great, inform the leader. Tells might be better than says so they don't get lost in the spam. The leader will direct you.
- Yes, we know half baked dodge kits can't buff some of the smobs. Remind us if you can't buff the smob, either we'll figure something out or you'll hopefully hold on long enough for us to recover after you flee.
- Flee at beat, not crit, we don't want to risk you dying. Certain smobs the leader might direct you to flee at batt. There may be some cases where you stay until crit, but don't get too risky. No need to have a mob rip over a few pieces of eq.
- Keep the group informed about what's going on in your fight. If you're winning, say so. If you're losing, say so. This way the leader can coordinate the fight better, or you know better which target to hit next.
- If you don't have a warhorse or better, have a plan to get one. You're hurting the group if you join up on a draft horse or a black stallion. Some leaders will stop somewhere like Whitebridge early on and buy warhorses for everyone who doesn't have one already.
- If you're not level 30+ don't expect to join a smob group. If you're not 25+ don't even ask. You won't last, and the rest of the group will have to work harder to take care of you. You may be able to get into private groups, or maybe if you know someone (especially the leader) but generally not. Your priority should be getting more levels.
- Don't hold the group up. We don't need to stop for you to put your loot in your pack or for you to send a tell. All you're doing is eating up the time it takes to hit another smob. You want loot, don't you? So let's go get some.
- If you have to go soon (ie under 30 minutes to an hour) let the leader know so they can coordinate someone else taking your spot if need be.
- If/when you stop in a city, consider depositing some of your loot. Recovering the lost bonuses from carrying the gear will help you, plus you'll be able to get more loot on the long smob runs.
- If you're a bad follower (ie don't follow the advice here) some leaders will simply ditch you in the middle of nowhere to figure stuff out on your own. Some will just give you less loot. Some will kill you. Don't be a window licker.
- Once again, listen to the leader. Absolutely vital.
- Have fun. If you're not having fun, make some fun. Don't rely on the leader to bring the morale of the group up. At the same time, if you just won't shut up and notice people don't often respond to you, try talking less. They may have gotten tired of your spam.
- Find out who the newbies are early. I can't think of a smob leader that wasn't very patient and helpful to less experienced players, once they knew who they were. I've noticed there can be certain expectations that a player should know what they're supposed to be doing and a bit of frustration before realizing the new player really has no clue. Nalav's post is great at helping newbies, but I was not an active forum reader when I went on my first few smob runs.
- Call the target before hitting. This is often "smob", but sometimes it is the support mobs, and sometimes it's a specific target (i.e. 2.bandit).
- Be extra clear about identifying specific strategies. For example, "no bashing" or "keep bashes rolling" or "flee off and rehit if smob is rescued".
- Give a countdown before hitting. I really appreciate this one, so I can make sure my target is set right, check again to make sure my weapon is not scratched, and ramp up my spamming.
- Don't assume we know the rooms around the smob, especially if we have to flee off. I've fled off before and then had no idea how to get back to the group. Obviously checking the exits is helpful, but for new players the "wall of text" can make it hard to know what's going on. Having the leader tell you which direction to go to return to the group is something I always appreciated.
- Don't assume we can make it safely to a city or a patty if we're hit while low. Mangler got me once after hitting our group and everyone regrouped somewhere. I didn't know where we even were, much less how to get to safety. Not a big deal, but I think the leader just assumed everyone knew how to get to the regroup point they called out.
- Provide an estimate for how long the smob run will last, and if someone can only stay for an hour and a half, make a stop in a city after that time period. That's been very helpful to me in the past, especially since there are many smobs I'd have no way of finding my way back from. This isn't always possible, and sometimes I've had to just LD. Other times I've been able to continue much longer than we originally planned. But it's nice if everyone is on the same page about the duration of the run.
- Provide suggestions for what EQ players might need. When I first started smobbing, I had no idea what eq I needed or could improve my current set. I relied entirely on other people telling me that I should grab the full metal to replace my crested helm, and things like that. Or that certain mid-level trinkets would be of any value. I was also too timid to ask for things, so I was OK with just taking the scraps that others didn't need once it was offered.
- Make sure folks are healthy enough to hit. Some leaders are very good about this, while others may count on you to tell them if you're low before hitting. And some smobs are OK to hit while low with others requiring lots of HPs to hit. New players won't know which are which. So just asking if everyone is OK to hit might not be enough.
Nalav & Bronte