NM hunting etiquetteFollow

So, I just wanted to get some thoughts and share some feelings about proper etiquette when hunting Notorious Monsters. Everyone knows that once the NM pops, all bets are off and it's first claim, first serve, but what I'm talking about is stuff outside of that.

1. If you claim an NM that you know other people are hunting, be polite and give a /shout that the mob has popped, just so that other people hunting will know that they can take a break for a bit. You've got the mob now, so sharing your joy won't hurt. Much.

2. Don't come to a camping area and start sending /tells asking people when the last pop was. That's just rude and lazy. Some of the people that are here have likely been here a lot longer than you, and are probably not very willing to give you a potential edge over them. Furthermore, for that reason, you can't expect anything they tell you to be the truth. If I was camping Lizzy and it hadn't popped for 4 hours and you came along asking me if it was about to pop, I'd probably be inclined to tell you that it popped 10 minutes ago just so that you'd leave me the hell alone.

3. Don't train. It's greedy, and if you're killing placeholders, it's counterproductive. Getting two mobs is fine, but don't grab a lizard and then start trying to train the whole camp area just so that you can show off your shiny Cyclone or Circle Blade. Training mobs means that they take longer to die, which means that they take longer to repop, which means that it takes longer for the NM to pop.

4. Respect the levelers, if there are any. If you see someone that's Lv. 7 and running around killing stuff, don't try to beat him or her to the punch. You might politely tell them that it's a camping area and they might want to look elsewhere, but don't be a jerk and one-shot everything you see them engage.

5. If you're a mage and a melee gets claim, be a pal and toss a cure when needed. Don't just let the guy die in a dim hope that you might be able to steal claim.

6. Just be nice. Don't get angry or emotional at people if they beat you to a claim, don't /cheer the mobs, don't get bitter if you "wasted" hours camping something only to have it get claimed by someone else who claims to have gotten the drop. If you really feel like you've wasted your time, then perhaps you should find something more productive to do than camping NMs, or playing XI in general.

I don't camp NMs, so I don't know really what the etiquette should be there, but i completely agree with not training when it comes to farming. Nothing amuses me as much as someone who posts here or in the game that "I was training a bunch of mobs and trying to monopolize all the drops and this mean old blm came and used a -ga spell!"

Sure, you *could* abuse that by being an *** and shouting "OMG I have Leaping Lizzy!" right before it spawns, but if you pull that trick over and over, it's not cool, and eventually people will catch on to you. You're just begging for a /slap by karma if you pull that enough.

When I've gotten claim to an NM (on rare occasions), though, I'll try and do a shout. It's common courtesy, I think.

I'm saying try to be honest - last night I got Zhu Buxu the Silent on an off chance and didn't even think to do a shout until well after I'd left Giddeus. ^^;; Sometimes people forget in the moment.

Edited, Sun Jan 30 10:33:18 2005 by Zylle

Edited, Sun Jan 30 10:34:41 2005 by Zylle

I don't think anyone was too worried about you getting a Parana Shield. ^^;You could be perfectly capable of taking it and still have something go wrong. Maybe you're a RNG and you know you can take the NM with EES. And then YOU MISS.

Bad things can happen unexpectedly. Why should you suspend the rules of kindness just because someone beat you to an NM?

I'll grant you that if someone is clearly out of their league (IE - Lv. 20 SMN claiming VE), then there's not a lot you can do, other than try to tell that person that they should disengage and let someone else have a go. If they live that long. >.>

I don't know that I really agree personally. But then NM camping isn't my bag, so I'm not really qualified to comment.

I will point out however that I don't think Valcrist was recommending that one beg nearby NM campers to cure you.

If I were in that situation though, being one who was camping an NM and got beat to it by someone slightly too low a level to reliably beat him would be to cure him for that one time. I would procede to advise them that they may want to level some before trying to camp this NM.

Then, if they didn't take my advice, I would mysteriously find myself afk if they got into trouble again.

Since you can't con an NM and get a reliable answer back, taking on one that is too strong for you is understandable. Not everyone comes to this site, after all. After that, its your own hide.

Unless of course they want to split profit.

I totally disagree with this. As others have stated, if you can't solo the thing without the help of random strangers, or if something goes wrong and you weren't prepared (no hi-potions or other means to cure *yourself*), you shouldn't have been there in the first place. I just think it's unrealistic to expect those who you are competing with to help you. Sure, I'll raise you if you die, but don't expect more than that. There are all sorts of nifty ways to cure yourself in this game (hi-potion tanks come to mind). If you don't take advantage of this and die, I won't feel even slightly responsible for it.

Also, if the argument is that if I see a random stranger in trouble passing by I should cure so he doesn't die, I disagree with that too. I've almost died a few times due to being nice and curing a nearly dead person running by (hepl! cur plz!!!), only to have the mob that was killing them agg me, as they run away trying to save themselves, leaving the mob aggrod on me and purple... I don't cure strangers anymore due to not wanting to pull hate off of someone who doesn't understand how hate works. I've also cured someone before, only to hang around in that zone and have 3 mobs train on me, because I'm assuming the person died anyways and their mob linked things on the way back to me. It's bad news to just randomly cure people, so in general, I don't do it, and wouldn't do it at an NM spawn either, even though it's a different circumstance.

If you're dying and want to invite me to party to help you kill it and *share* the loot, that may be a different story, but don't expect help for nothing, especially at one of the most competitive past times in the game. People don't camp NMs to make friends ;)

Edited, Mon Jan 31 09:08:17 2005 by Apocpink

Actually, yes. But that's why bcnms are "hard"...



I think if SE made any plans as far as NMs and gil are concerned, it was a mere afterthought. There are a ton of NM drops I think ought to be made rare/ex -- the hairpin and boots, specifically, since everybody wants both, as does anybody who wants to sell them. Honestly, if you make an item both hard to get and possible to place on the auction house and you *aren't* aware of the consequences...



Sorry, but I couldn't even name *one* NM that drops something useable at the level it's soloable.

Anyway, that's the last I'm going to say on the matter. It's unreasonable to expect other campers to help you if you are too low (50/50 shot = too low). It's your right to think everyone who's not curing you is an ***, and your right to be just as big of an *** by calling for help. Whatever... you can't camp NMs with thin skin. You can't expect a game to have low supply items that you can sell, and the price not be ridiculous, and other players not attempt to farm the item for their own wallet. (Maybe you know already, but having gil to buy more equipment is just as important as having the drop itself in some jobs.)

About the curing... I feel like I've said what I think already. I will amend that it's of course very kind for a mage to put aside their own interests and cure someone who has bitten off more than they can chew -- but I don't think it's at all reasonable to actually expect this, or to get angry with those who don't demonstrate that kind of kindness. It's like getting pissed off at wealthy passersby who don't pay your cab fare when you didn't bring enough money. But this is all just opinion, in the end.

Sorry, but anyone who has been standing around camping VE for 5 hours and misses the claim, and the person who did claim it is about to die would never help out. I mean, even I wouldn't if I had been standing there for a week about 3-5 hours a day and no drop.

Also, it would be nice if everyone had great etiquette when hunting NMs, however if this were true there would not be so many repeat campers for VE just to make money, versus the person who would want to get the hairpin to use. People aren't always going to be nice when it comes to things like this, sad to say I know but it is the truth, at least in my experience.

~Ram

Hmmm... be myself, or don't be to fit in. Tough choice.

I think I'll be myself, even if it ends up that everyone hates me for having thoughts and sharing them because I enjoy conversation.

But thanks for the advice. I'm sure it was well meant.

I guess I should apologise to nataraja for posting this thread. While I'm certainly not happy that people have decided that my karma must pay for offending their sensibilities, I think my perceived "offenses" are far worse than his, and you guys have seen fit to trash him thoroughly.

I'm done with this place.