Dungeons in Tree of Savior can be chaotic affairs, or they can be a smooth and efficient way to level. The random group finder does not ensure a tank, healer, and three damage dealers are always present and even if it did, the encounters are not designed to require the traditional trinity set up. Instead, each player must take personal responsibility and demonstrate situational awareness to ensure a quick, enjoyable run. Overall I like this set up. Classes have unique toolkits as a result and rarely is completing a dungeon challenging even if you lack one or more roles so long as everyone works together. In fact, some bring such vital utility as to be overpowered by the standards of most MMOs, which in my opinion only serves to bring value and flavor to each class.
However there is some basic, dungeon delving common sense that seems to be constantly lacking in the groups I’ve played with, especially given the lack of any real trinity. Ideally you work as a group to cluster mobs together and then aoe them all down. WIth only 1 of 80 classes able to taunt, it’s likely you’ll all have to work together to group enemies in one location which makes for quick clears. That’s the goal anyway, but all too often everyone is running in their own direction, chasing their own mobs, or using aoe knockbacks that ruin a neatly clustered pack which ultimately slows down the entire affair.
As a Cleric/ Dievdirby, this affects my class most of all as nearly all the utility I bring to the fight requires some level of positional awareness. A lot of the problem stems from the newness of the game, I’ve played the Cleric past level 100 but have only reached 20 on the other classes which means my knowledge is primarily limited to one archetype. Assuming the majority of players are in the same situation, it’s understandable why a Swordsman might use an aoe knockback ability right after I drop a statue with a hard hitting frontal cone attack pushing mobs out of the field of damage. Or when an Archer kites a boss away from the statues I’ve dropped that would have otherwise kept his SP regenerating faster and his ability CDs shorter had he stayed within the glowing blue circle.
I can understand the ignorance, because I’m not exactly sure what they’re doing at all times either. Nevertheless, it is still frustrating. I feel useless at times because my single target damaging abilities are weak right now and will continue to be so until I reach level 127 and I’m able to advance to the Monk class. So right now my number one contribution is buffing my party, debuffing the targets, and then placing an owl statue that does a ton of damage but requires mobs to stay positioned in front of it. Many of these abilities are on longer cooldowns which means once the target is moved out of range, I’m gimped on what I can contribute for a while.
Thankfully no one has complained about my lack of damage, or blamed me for slowing down the run; the community members I’ve met via the group finder have all been stellar. But if you happen to be playing Tree of Savior and see a character carve a wooden statue that emanates a blue circle, or you see a glowing square placed on the ground with a shield icon in the middle (pro tip; step on it for a temporary damage shield), or an owl spewing forth green fire, try to keep your targets and your character in range. Not only will it make the run go quicker, but it will make your Dievdirby Cleric happy as well. I love playing an MMO with unique and useful utility spells, we just all need a bit more experience and education so that we can work together more effectively.
Waiting For Rez 