MMORPG Gamers Handbook - Part One, Page Three
4.1.4 Crowd controller
Crowd Control is a tricky job; you need to have an overview over the whole fight. By zooming out your camera to the max you should be able to easily pick out the enemies who need to sleep. Be sure to keep track of where the enemies come from and potential directions where additional enemies may show up.
It’s also important to foresee what will happen a few seconds before they do. To know this you need to learn how enemies move, which spells they are likely to cast and how much damage they can do to your group. Start with taking out the enemies with highest threat potential. Usually this means enemy healers and spell casters goes first, but there will be enemies with abilities or spells that are especially dangerous. Often you can associate names of enemies with how dangerous they are to the group. In example if they are named sorcerer, chances are that they have spells with long range and high damage. Be sure not to put have your controlled enemies too far from the group, this may draw additional enemies that passes by to join the fight.
Communication is also an important part of crowd control. Your group needs to be prepared for fighting with a crowd controller. If they hit one of your sleeping enemies, it will wake up and you are likely to get aggro. Be sure to tell everyone in the group to hit the same target. It’s also common for many crowd controllers to send a message to the group that tells which enemy is about to fall asleep. It’s better to alert them before casting than after, chances are that a group member will be alerted by this and can avoid attacking the target.
4.1.4.1 Sleep (single target)
This spell looks very different in many games but have the same basic function. It will allow the caster to completely stop an opponent. When sleeping, an enemy can’t move, cast or attack. Once the spell lands, its will not be able to finish it’s casting, hence, useful against any enemy that uses magic. This will last until either the spell wears off, or the opponent is damaged in some way. Spells that lower an enemy’s statistics, or that changes its hate towards a particular player, usually do not break the spell.
4.1.4.2 Sleep (point blank)
Same as above, but will target anything in a certain range around the caster. Usually, since more enemies can be targeted, the duration of the Point Blank sleep is much lower than the single target version. Considering most classes that have good Crowd Control abilities have a low amount of health, this spell is particularly handy. It allows you to stop all movement for a short period of time, allowing you to use other abilities without being interrupted or killed.
For example, you have 4 enemies going for you; use this spell once to stop them from hitting you, then use the single mesmerize on one of them, rinse and repeat until all of them are unable to hurt you. You can keep this sleep chain going for as long as the mana allows or until your group killed off all the enemies.
4.1.4.3 Sleep (area of effect)
Same as above, except the caster is not the centre of the circle of the range of the spell, but her offensive target. For example, if the spell has a 3-meter radius, and there are 3 enemies 2 meters apart, you should definitely use it on the one in the middle, so that the other 2 are also in range. If you would use it on the far right one for example, the one on the far left would not be under control. This spell can be very useful when you don’t intend to be anywhere near a big number of enemies coming your way. For example a warrior brings 4 enemies towards your group; you target the one closest to the middle of the pack, and hit the AE Sleep as soon as they are in range. This will usually stop them from hurting anyone else in the group and also keeping them all in your field of vision, allowing you to judge if any special measures need to be taken.
4.1.4.4 Stun (single target)
This spell is similar to Single Target Sleep, but with a very short duration. The biggest difference being that hitting the enemy while stunned will not remove the effect. These spells are useful to interrupt a casting enemy, halting a running enemy or simply to give you the time to think about your next move. If you have more than one (that is usable at the same time) you may consider using them at regular intervals, so that the enemy is almost permanently stunned.
4.1.4.5 Stun (point blank)
Same as above, but effect hits everything within a certain radius around the caster. Great when a mesmerize line spell has been resisted by one or more enemies.
4.1.4.6 Rooting
Rooting spells makes enemies unable to move, but does not take away their fighting ability. Often this spell has a random duration and may be a bit unreliable. It is still very useful to cast before enemies gets to a weaker players saving the healer some mana. Note that in many games enemies have larger chances to break free of the spell if they are taking hits. It these cases it’s a good idea not to shoot ranged attacks on a rooted enemy.
4.1.4.7 Charm
This spell will give you control of an enemy for a period of time. While the spell is in effect, the enemy will act as any pet companion would. In most games, this means you can ask him to attack another enemy or do anything a normal pet would. These spells usually cannot be refreshed until they break. Which means you can’t cast this spell on an enemy already having one, or have two charmed enemies at once. You will have to wait until it breaks for when the enemy is once again trying to kill you, and then use the spell again.
4.1.4.8 Short term summoning
This is another spell that looks very different over the games. The common factor is that it creates a creature that will attract the enemy’s attention for a period of time. It will take the heat off of you or your group members, but not stopping the enemy. This means that the enemy will still attack, but will just not deal damage to your group members until the creature is either dead or the enemy’s hate toward one of your group has become greater than his hate towards your creature.
Keep in mind that during the period of time the enemy is attacking this creature, it can still heal, hurt your group with Area of Effect spells or simply just attract an additional enemy that roams by him.
4.1.4.9 Lure
This spells is similar to above, but usually for a set amount of attacks instead of being on a timer or affected by hate. Sometimes the spell only works for one enemy, sometimes it has an Area of Effect, and everything in its radius will be attracted to it for a set number of attacks. Once the enemies have attacked it for this amount of times, they will resume attacking your group. This spell will just draw attention off of you, giving you more time to react accordingly. It can be useful for Crowd Control purposes, but keep in mind that the faster the enemies hit, the less duration this spell has.
