Runes of Magic US / AU

This guide is meant for new players. If you have been around for a long, long time you will most likely learn nothing new here.

COMPREHENSIVEGUIDE TO SIEGE (A Must Read to new siege players):

This is intended to be a full, comprehensive guide tosiege wars. I am quite aware there have been guides posted before (which I will reference to save space and time) but they do not quite cover everything that new players need to know. THIS IS NOT A STRATEGY GUIDE!!! This is simply to provide information on things in siege – you (or your guild mates) can choose to use this knowledge however you wish.

Before starting to talk about anything here, I strongly suggest first reading through the following posts:

http://nightsong.wikifoundry.com/page/RoM+Guild+Siege+Info I take no credit for this as someone else made it. It is very old and some information here is outdated, but still lists the dialogue windows one would see when talking to buildings in siege (so you know what things do before entering siege itself).

Crying Wolf In Siege and How Some Things Work= thread on how some things work so you don’t start calling hacks on legitimate players
There is information in the above links that I do not discuss/state here. Should you wonder about something like "what does the siege war map look like?" click the first link.

As already said, the first link I posted is old. As such,you need to know the following:

• Siege war registration times now run every 4 hours, not at 1 set time.
  

• You onlyreceive rewards from the first siege your guild does (if you ONLY attend your guild’s second siege that day you will still not receive any rewards)
  

• The price for farm items decreases as you increase the level of the farm
  

• Library and Drill Ground buffs are UNIT-SPECIFIC, they do not apply to the entire team
  

• Scrolls From Throne: they are no longer attribute (int, stam, dex) based. They do 10% hp to a gate and have secondary effects
  

Conditions to winning siege war

1. Occupy all 6 Major towers (Anand, Asachi, Bellin, Buruk, Hilot, Knin) AND Capture your enemy’s honor crystal. This results in Automatic victory
2. Occupy your enemy’s honor crystal. If they cannot recapture it in 5minutes, you will win regardless of the number of major towers you occupy
3. Occupy more towers (this includes honor crystal) then your opponent at the end of the hour. Each major tower has a score of 1000, and each honor crystal has a score of 2000. You can see the point-balance on the special Siege war frame that appears on your screen (Red vs Blue scores)

Should one team fail to meet any of the above conditions, the match will be a tie (i.e the siege lasts a full hour and both teams end with 5000:5000 score). In this case, neither guild loses any Siege war ranking/score, and both teams get “winning” rewards.

Now that that stuff is out of the way, I suppose I’ll start right at the very beginning of your siege war time...which (should be) actually is BEFORE it starts.

Pre-Siege Prep:

First thing’s first. Download the addon “Guild Siege Quick Trade” found here: http://www.curse.com/addons/rom/guildsiege-quicktrade This addon can be set to donate or collect, automatically trading merits to/from players when a trade request is made. It works while afk as well, and will save you and your guild mates a lot of time. Turn it off by un-checking the little box, and click the “donate/collect” button to switch functions.

Before entering siege, buff up. I can’t stress this enough. Get your stable mount speed buff (available during and outside of siege) BEFORE you enter, this way if it gets destroyed quickly you won’t have any problems. Find priests or other classes that can buff you, get your housemaid potions (see other guides for info on them), other potions and foods in order BEFORE you enter. Don’t waste 5min of the start of siege to grab these things. Every time you die, try to get as many buffs as you can (within a reasonable amount of time) before exiting your castle. Buffs are the difference between life and death, killing and not killing, winning and losing.

Another thing to do before siege is try to form groups. I’m not about to give a seminar about siege strategies, but at the very least do your best not to run alone. Rogues thrive on finding that one straggler, the guy/girl left behind, to kill and pick off – being with a partner or 5 will help reduce this and setting up the groups before siege starts lets people know who they’re following and where they’re going.


So now you’re all buffed up, ready to go with your teammates. Now what? Well you enter siege of course! What you do after entering is entirely up to your role in siege. While not all guilds go so far as to delegate jobs, there are various things you can do in siege.

Things to do During Siege:

As stated in the first link, there are two currencies inside siege -- crystals and merits. I'll start by how we obtain those.

Crystal Extraction:
if you’re going to be afk or are very low level you can at least set your character at one of your back towers to extract crystals. Some enemy rogue will most likely kill you but hey, it is better than nothing. Extracting crystals at a tower takes between 5 and 10 seconds per round (this is done automatically provided your character is alive) and provides both crystals and merits (which can be traded while afk with the afore mentioned addon)

MeritCollection (balloons):
The balloons found throughout the siege war map give merits when killed. Merits and crystals are the main currencies of siege, as stated in the first link posted in this guide (read it if you have no idea what the heck I’m talking about and have not done so already). The small balloons near both castles give 5 merits each upon death, the ones in the middle of the map give 20. They are relatively easy to kill, any player with 15k or more hp should be able to kill the ones near the castle, while the ones in the middle of the map will require a little more to farm them efficiently. Collect merits and use them yourself or trade to your guild mates (as stated in the first link, the “will of honor” buff increases merits receive from these balloons but only for one player).

Merit Collection (guards):
The NPC guards at each tower yield 250 merits per all 3 if I recall correctly. Having a rogue kill the guards to farm merits is a quick and easy way to quickly build up your guild resources. It is often more beneficial to allow the enemy guild to control a tower for the sole purpose of killing guards there to get merits, then it is to capture the tower for your own guild.

Upgrades:
Various upgrades from the forge, field, lumber yard can be obtained during siege war and as mentioned in the first link work for all members of your team. If your enemies are tough to kill, get the “upgrade steel” or “magic infusement” buffs. If they are killing your teammates quickly, get “upgrade defense”. If obtained early, these buffs can make a big difference as the fight drags out. They cost 500 merits and 500 crystals each, but this can be reduced by getting the buffs from library (discussed later on).

Building Construction:
There are tons of buildings/mechanisms you can use/place in siege. I refer you again to the first link in this post for details. Placing crystal extractors early on can allow you to buy many buildings or get the above mentioned buffs, provided the enemy doesn’t break down your gates and destroy all your buildings before you get them. Honor buildings aka towers, which will come with their own section later on, have various uses.

Building (De)Construction:
Just as your team may be trying to put up buildings and mechanisms to slow down the enemy, they are most likely doing the same. Sometimes it is more important to destroy the buildings at a give location then it is to kill the players there, since after all players don’t cost anything but buildings do. If the enemy gets an area well defended with buildings, your team may find it extremely difficult to retake that location – nip the problem in the bud before it becomes an issue.

Fighting the Enemy:
The most obvious thing you can do during siege is of course kill enemy players. New/undergeared people are better off sticking to the above jobs since you will die just from having an enemy look in your direction. You might have fun trying to fight people with 2-3 times or more your health points, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re being helpful to your guild during siege. Once you’re better geared, have more familiarity with the game, you can think about venturing in to the more combat heavy areas of the siege map.

DestroyingGates:
The ultimate goal of siege is to capture your enemy’s honor crystal. To do this you need to go through at least 2 gates. This now requires quite a bit of effort since patch 6.0.2 as gates take less damage from throne scroll items. When you decide to try to break down your enemy’s gate(s), you will need a focused group to do this. How you go about it, is left up to you but destroying a gate is a difficult task by itself.

Protecting Gates:
As mentioned in the second link in this thread, there are ways to protect gates. Sometimes it is more important to hang inside your castle and prevent the enemy from getting inside, then it is to be outside your castle. For example, if your team gets inside your opponent’s castle and destroys their Forge, your team will be able to get Upgrade Defense (while the enemy cannot) to a high level giving a large advantage over your enemies. This is only possible, however, if you prevent your forge from being destroyed.


So now you know some of the things you can do in siege, and hopefully know a bit of their importance. Ask your guild what you need to be doing to help them succeed and get to work! But the question becomes, what honor buildings do I get? What EXACTLY do the upgrades do? Well continue reading...


Siege Engines (from the Arsenal):
Since these have not been updated in a very, very long time, they are useless. While they might be fun just to ride around in, they are quite literally one shot by enemy players and become a huge waste of merits. Don’t bother dong anything with your arsenal in siege war.

Herald:
It is very important to get herald quickly in siege. As per the first link, you can see the herald has many strong spells. The Summon Tornado skill does high damage to buildings (it can do as much as 90% of an enemy gate’s hp), and it knock backs enemy players. The fearless skill is also quite powerful, and getting it before your enemy can net you a nice advantage. The third most important herald skill is Thunderforce, which is a group movement speed buff applying to your whole team. This buff expires on death but lasts for 3 or 5 minutes. *note: the herald skills can be interrupted, negating the effects. Be careful not to take damage or move while casting summon tornado, as it will go on cooldown regardless of whether you got the full effect off or not.*

Farm Buff Items: I cannot stress how powerful the two buffs from the farm are. They are 10 of each available, they have a 5minute effect time and are a party buff,dissappear upon death, and ARE NOT consumed upon use. Assault time increases movement speed by 30%, but this effect will not stack/work-along-side the herald skill Thunderforce. Alternate between the two to keep your teammates running quick all siege. Battle Time increases attack and casting speed by 30% FOR 5 WHOLE MINUTES. This will not stack/work-along-side strong stimulants and ancient spirit waters, but who needs those anyways? They only last 30s, this lasts 5 minutes. Battle time may not be so helpful for mages who rely on instant cast spells, but for physical players it makes a huge difference and you will notice it in your sieges.

Honor Buildings:

The second link I posted has information about these. Just another quick rundown of them...Each honor building has an “upgrade defense” option, which for 50 merits and crystals will increase the hp and reduce dmg taken. I personally don’t think this is worth it but others may disagree. For the individial costs of the buildings, see the first link in this guide.
Flame Towers:
Deals fire damage every 3 seconds to (up to 3) nearby enemies. Oil Bomb Research: 50 merits, 50 crystals, makes the flame towers fear
enemies. The fear is short but it can be very powerful and/or annoying to enemy players.

Electric Towers:
Deals wind damage every 3 seconds to enemies. Upgrading them allows them to not only interrupt enemies, but also bring rogues out of hide. Electric towers have an insanely huge range, which makes them REALLY helpful. Don't underestimate the importance of these towers, as again, they detect rogues and interrupt herald skills. Electric towers placed inside your castle will attack things outside of the castle, and can save your gates by interrupting a herald tornado.

Invisibility towers:
makes players, friendly buildings and friendly npcs invisible to the enemy. This effect takes a few seconds to come into effect when you are near the tower, and the effect range isn't large, maybe 100. This can be seen by scout detection. If you cast a buff skill, the invis will not be removed, but any attack skill or heal on another player will remove the invisible effect. Nearby towers will also remove this invisible effect when they attack, so be careful how you use them.

Holy Tree, Heart of Honor see the first link of this guide, they don't require additional information.

Crystal Extractors:
generate 10 crystals each every 10seconds. 5 are available per processing factory, meaning 300 crystals per minute per processing factory. If you plan to buy a large amount of honor buildings, or upgrades from field/forge/lumber yard, these are absolutely necessary. They might not be important on short lasting sieges, but if you're going the full hour you will want to get up an ample amount early on so you can go buy-happy later on in siege.


Mechanisms: There’s some information in the second link posted about these, but again I shall re-iterate.

Faces Of Treachery:
These cost 30 merits ONLY. The repeatedly cast a skill which knocks down enemy players. Once a player is hit they receive a debuff that prevents them from getting knocked down again for a few seconds. They have relatively low hp, but they can be quite effective. You can hide them under bridges or behind trees. They can even be placed while invisible (rogues can do this on unsuspecting players). If, however, the enemy is so fast they run out of range before the FoT completes the cast spell, they will not be knocked down. *note: the knockdown only lasts a brief second. Some skills can be used while the player is on their back/getting up*

Eye of True Knowledge:
Cost 30 merits, low hp. Sees through, removes, and stuns invisible players (this includes invisibility potions). Rogues who use escape are not affected by these

Sea Washed Stones:
Cost 30 merits low hp. Interrupts spell casting. The usefulness of these is highly debatable. In my opinion, they are worthless. You may as well use a FoT instead since they are usable on all players, not just caster types.

Using FoT’s and EoTK’s together, and in large quantities can be very powerful. However, don’t forget they don’t guard themselves – if
you place them down and don’t leave any players to guard them, you should expect to find them destroyed when you return.

Field/Forge/Lumber Yard Upgrades:
See first link for the effects of each buff. These go up 5% per upgrade, and the max achievable level is the same level of the respective building. That is to say, with a level 6 Forge, you can get Refine Steel 6: increase damage dealt to enemy players by 30% (6x 5%). If you plan to get a large number of buffs, I suggest feeding merits to one player who has your library buffs (reduce merit cost) so they can get upgrades for 350~ merits rather then 500, but this is not necessary.

Library Buffs:
The reduced cost applies to many things. That is to say, it is cheaper to upgrade flame towers, forge buffs etc while you have this buff on. But remember, it is not a team buff, so while one person doing everything will save you crystals/merits, it may also slow down your team from getting important buffs. I would suggest not relying on this buff much, but it is something a low hp, new player can get to help out. Get this buff to a reasonable level, then get your guidl to trade you merits inside your castle and you can spend the time doing upgrades rather then one of the stronger players in your siege.

Movement In Siege:
As mentioned in the second link, "lag" is rampant in siege war, and you might see people porting around, or getting all kinds of errors. This is, unfortunately normal. However, lag aside, there are ways you and your opponents can move around quickly and easily in siege. First, from the Middle Section of the map there are 4 small floating islands that go back and forth between 2 points on each side of the map. They can be used to circumvent the 2 bridges on each side of the map leading to/from a castle. Secondly, there are a plethora of ways to increase your run speed. From herald skills already discussed, to item shop mount speed potions, to titles, there are lots of ways to make you run faster. These can help kill enemies or collect merits quicker.

Macros, Addons and siege:

Runes of Magic is an open interface game. You can use macros and write/use addons in game, including siege. If you personally choose not to use a macro (for whatever reason including “I don’t know how/too lazy to ask someone else”) then that is YOUR CHOICE and don’t complain about someone else who does use them. There are macros and addons to make targeting enemies easier/quicker, and allow you to avoid targeting pets. There are addons and macros that let you use certain skills against certain enemies, or just simple ones to use skill A, skill B, skill C in a row. While some people want games that require “skill” (playing without the use of macros/addons) Runes of Magic isn’t necessarily the game for this – macros and addons can SIGNIFICANTLY improve your performance in and out of siege. Again, if you choose to not use a “target players only” macro then you being slow to target enemies is your fault, not theirs.

I learned in today's sw that using an immune prevents you from casting tornado properly - having serenstum or heart of the oak acts like you got interrupted, even if you use them before casting. You simply need to have an immune buff on and it interrupts tornado.....is this new? Or am I not as observant as I thought?

I talked to some priests on artemis and was told that wave armor didn't prevent the interrupt. I tried it in siege a week ago or so and it didn't work, which prompted me to ask about it. Wave armor only prevends 2k dmg to the player, so if more then 5 towers hit you at 400dmg a piece, then it wears off.

I will test nature crystal and get back to you. It *should* work.

Wardens sending pet through walls is something I frown upon, while being a warden myself. I will admit i've done it in the past, but I don't feel it is fair anymore. But this isn't rly the thread to be bringing that up in tbh -- this isn't a thread to teach ppl how to exploit/do immoral things.