"THIS IS A RAID!!!" "Oh crap, hide the stash!"

Raid parties, love 'em or hate 'em, have become a standard in the game. They are mainly used in PvP, GRB, and for bosses such as Knight in Argilla Ruins and Astaroth in Aidion Neckria. Why are raid parties necessary? What makes a raid better than a perfect party? And once you find yourself in a raid, how do you configure it?

These are important questions that I shall endeavor to answer. First off, let's look at what a raid (or Union) is. A raid is a large party of up to 30 players, where the leader and subleaders can control placement in groups, looting, and can appoint subleaders. The leader is the only one that can appoint anyone as leader.

So why are raid parties necessary? Well, to answer that question, you first need to ask yourself another. Where are you when you are in a raid party? This is important because the answer to the first question depends on it. If you are in PvP, the answer is simple. For every kill a member of the raid gets, every member of the raid gets credit. That is to say if you are in a raid of 30 people, and ten of them kill an opposing player while you hide in the bushes because you are squishie, you still get credit for those 10 kills. But be careful when hiding in the bushes. Many times, raid leaders will kick people not pulling their weight in the party. On the other hand, if you are in GRB, you will find yourself in a raid. That is to ensure quick communication between everyone in the GRB, and also (when we have more people) to have a logical way to separate all of us into squads. There are 5 tabs on the raid party window, with 6 slots each for people, thus, an ideal squad for GRB would be 1 guard, 2 pagans, 1 oracle, and 1 damage dealer (warrior or assassin). You are still able to communicate with everyone in the raid, but you will only see the 5 other people on the same 'tab' of the raid party window as you. This allows you to monitor your squad's health, MP and SP. Further, the only party members that show up on your minimap will be the 5 others in the same tab of the raid party window. Therefore you won't be getting confused by seeing 29 other green dots on your minimap and trying to figure out who is who. Lastly, when dealing with bosses that drop good gear, many times a raid party will form. This is to allow as many questers to join as possible, while still allowing farmers to kill the boss in question and get the drops. Farmers do this by starting the raid, so they are leader, and then setting the loot to 'Leader gains'. That way, everyone in party gains credit for defeating the boss, but the farmer still is able to walk away with whatever gear the boss gives up. This is an imperfect system, due to the fact that if a farmer starts a raid, you can be guaranteed you will not receive anything other than credit for the kill. That's why you want to be the raid leader.

So what makes a raid better than a perfect party? Absolutely nothing. The two are like comparing apples and oranges. They are both used for different purposes. In the paragraph above, I explained why raids are used, but perfect parties are used for gaining xp at a better rate than you otherwise would be able to. Thus, there is no 'better' system for parties, it is entirely purpose-driven.

So once you are in a raid, what can you do? If you are just a member, you can't do much to configure the raid. If you find yourself as a subleader, however, you can manage the placement of the other characters on the tabs by right-clicking your picture and selecting 'Config Union'. This will bring up a window that shows you the entire raid party. From there, if you wish to move someone, you simply right click on their name and select 'Move Group', then click on an empty space anywhere else in the window. Another thing the party subleaders can do is to pass their status as subleader on to someone else. This is done by going into Config Union again, and right-clicking the person's name, then selecting 'Grant party sub-lead'. This will allow them the rights of a party subleader, but at the same time, it will take those rights away from you. If you are the raid leader, you have even more tools at your disposal. You can do all the things the subleaders can do, in the same way, as well as being able to set the looting for the entire party, deciding whether your raid is auto-join or invite only, and you can also give up party leader by granting it to someone else. To choose the loot, there are 3 options, Master Loot (which means that only the leader gains the drops), Random Loot (which is like any other party, drops go to whoever is in party) and Group Loot (which is only those raid members in the same group (ie guild) as the party leader gain the drops). Deciding whether your party is auto-join or invite only is entirely up to you. I almost always select auto-join, simply so I don't have to invite everyone. If the raid is auto-join, all a person has to do is type '/join <any party member's name>' in common chat. Notice that you do not have to join the leader, just any party member will work. To grant subleader status to any member, you simply open the Config Union window, right-click on a person's name and select 'Grant party sub-lead'. To grant leadership to someone else, its the same as it is for subleaders to give their subleader status to someone else, simply right-click the person's name in the Config Union window and select 'Grant Party Leadership'.

Ok, that's about it for the raid tutorial. I think the cops are gone now, so bust out your stash and spark it up.