Ok, you got into a party. So what do you do? You may think that you know what your job is in the party, but do you really really know? As I have mentioned in my earlier blog, I have played FFXI and it is a game that requires you to know a lot about your role in the party. And based on it, as well as the various sources I had looked through in the past, I have compiled a a rough guideline to each role to the party. Take your time to read through this. You may learn something you have never learnt before, and if you something to add, please leave your comments and I will update it as necessary. Newcomers to MMORPG should also read through this list, as it may help you decide which job you like the most. Now without further ado...!!!

Tank

This role, together with a healer, is indispensable to any party. The tank's job, to take all the damage from the mob(s), keeping it's attention on him/her, while the rest of the party concentrates on either healing him/her or killing the mob itself. This job requires a great deal of concentration, as well as an awareness of the environment that the party is in. He or she will have to be on the constant look out for any adds (mobs that might aggro and join in on the fight) to the fights, or if any mob is attacking any other party member it should not be attacking, and make it focus it's attacks on you.

As tanks have the highest defence in the party, the mobs will do the least damage to it. Having the mob(s) attack the tank is the most efficient course of action, as this means that the healer will need to expend less MP to keep the tank alive, hence reducing party's downtime to a minimum. This job is also probably the one that requires the most frequent upgrades to their equipment, especially their armor. And for games where durability is an issue, they would have to also spend a lot on repairs, making this a surprisingly expensive job to take.

Tanks would have to watch their MP bars and ration its use, in case they need the MP to use skills to gain the aggro back from another party member who is getting attacked. Tanks also requires an elementary understanding of the skills and abilities of his/her party members so as to be able to co-ordinate better with them.

Tanks should also take the lead in positioning of the mobs and his party members. Ideally, the mob should be facing the tank, with it's back facing the rest of the party, reason being to avoid any possible cone-shaped AOE zone attacks that the mob might have. This positioning also gives the tank a good view his party, and if any other mob were to aggro any of his party members, he would be able to tell immediately and act upon it. On another note, tanks should always inform their party when they are going to AFK. Nothing is worse than a situation where the pullers accidentally pulls more mobs and that the tank is not around.

It is an unspoken rule that if things go wrong, the tanks will have to sacrifice himself for the survival of the party, by taking aggro and pulling the mob(s) away from the rest of the party while they make their escape, then try to escape on his/her own. This putting-party-before-self attitude is exactly the thing that earns the respect of others for Tanks. The level of difficulty

Healers

Healers are often the soul of a party. In rare instances, a party can survive without a tank, but never without the healer around. A healer does a lot more than just keep the party alive. His well-being determines how the pace of how the party can operate.

Healers need to conserve MP as much as possible, so as to reduce party downtime to a minimum. This requires healers to know his/her skills very well. Overhealing (or healing beyond the HP limit), means not only MP is wasted, but unnecessary aggro is generated as well, putting a heavier burden on the tank. Underheal, and you end up killing the tank, or your party member indirectly. Healers are all about making snap decisions, which can only be possible if the healer is familiar with his/her skills enough.

Healers will need also to anticipate when to make those heals, or getting rid of status ailments. This requires the healer to observe the mob's movements, and the chat log for any debuffs that the tank, or any of the party members might have. Sometimes they have the time to let you know, but other times they may not be able to. Debuffs on party members may reduce their attack power, defense, or their health gradually and failure to remove them may cause the demise of the party. It is up to the healer to take note of any status ailments and remove them before any real damage is done. Healers also need to refresh any buffs cast on members. All these tasks make managing MP pool a tricky task.

In games where there are penalties for dying, in case of a wipe, the healer usually will need to come back to raise everyone, meaning he or she will take the largest EXP hit. On the other hand, as healers are so much in demand, it is always easy for them to find a party to level with.

Pullers

The most underrated role in the party, most people think it's just someone who pulls the mob into the party's camp. They are only partially correct. If the healer is the soul of the party, the puller will be the brain of the party.

Characters with a ranged weapon are usually tasked with the job of pulling of the mobs to the camp. Pullers have to know the place they are hunting to a certain extent. Usually they are the ones who will be in the best position to know which camps are the best. They would also have to know the characteristics of the mob: it's aggro range, does the mobs aggro as a group, or an individual, and make calculated decisions on where to pull it from, and where to pull it to. Making a safe pull, at times is a skill that often goes unappreciated. If a pull goes wrong (e.g pulled too many), a puller sometimes will have to make the painful decision to just accept his/her mistake and die, so that the mobs won't go on to wipe the entire party.

They are ultimately the ones who makes the decisions of how fast the party could go. Too fast and run the risk of healers running out of MP, putting the entire party into danger. Too conservative, and the party becomes inefficient, slow and boring. Using the first few fights as a judge, pullers are the ones who decides the pace of the party, without taking too much risks, and keeping the party safe in his own way.

Damage dealers

Damage dealers are usually played by most of the people in MMORPGs for a good reason. Compared to the roles I have mentioned above, they are comparatively easier to play. Their main jobs in the party is to take the monster down as quickly as possible. But that job is made tricky by the fact that they would have to take into account that aggro control.

Most damage dealers aren't made to take a lot of damage, and hence if they overdo it right off the start, they tend to pull aggro onto themselves, making it hard for the tanks to gain aggro back again. In the worst case scenario, they may die from that one mistake they made.

A general rule of thumb is to start on the mob slow, using the DOT (Damage-over-time) skills, and let the tank gain more aggro, then start wailing away at the mob after a certain period of time. It is hard for me to explain how to determine when it is safe to start using all the damage dealing skills, because it varies from game to game, and from each person as the tank, but generally, the more skillful a tank is, the faster he/she can gain aggro and the faster it becomes safe to use the damage dealing skills.

On the occasion that one actually manages to steal aggro from a tank, it is important to stop everything one is doing, including to stop hitting the mob and use your aggro reducing skills (if any) or just let the tank get aggro once again. And on the odd occasion that there are adds to a fight, a melee damage dealer is almost always expected to off tank it until the tank can get aggro from it.

Again this list is not conclusive. It's just what is on top of my mind here at this moment of time. If there is anything to add, or I missed anything, please let me know, and I will continue to update this page.

Have fun ^^v