I thought I might do a little discussion of group strategy in MMPORGs that might help those who are MMPORG noobs. A group will consist of many players, but the roles are usually:
Puller: This person pulls in mobs to be killed. He is responsible for making sure that they come in when the group is ready, and that there are not too many adds (a bad pull).
MA, or main assist: This is usually the top tank in the group, who can handle aggro well. He chooses the next mob to be killed. He is responsible to pick the next mob quickly after one is killed, and to not switch targets. Picking a target is more complicated than it seems, because the MA has to account for which mobs are most dangerous, which are easiest to kill, which ones are CCed and how long they have been CCed, and which ones are currently beating on your healer. All other people use /assist to help the MA kill the mob (when they are not busy with other tasks.)
CC: This person is responsible to mez (root, sleep, or otherwise control) the adds. Good teamwork between the MA and CCer is essential. Nothing is worse than getting off a successful mez and then seeing the MA hit the mob and break it.
Healer: This is obvious. Healing is an artform, though. If you heal too fast or too strongly, you can pull aggro off the MA, and your group is in trouble. If you heal too slow, someone dies.
Peeler: If an add goes to the healer (or other weak character) Or the healer otherwise pulls aggro, the peeler is responsible to pull the mob off the healer. Once he has aggro, the peeler switches back to helping the MA.
Of course it is not always so cut-and-dried. I played a skald, and was often peeler and secondary CC. However, all good groups in DAoC assigned these positions, but I am not aware that any groups in D2X EVER made such assignments. That really is where MMPORGs shine - the feeling of teamwork is not to be found in D2X.
Puller: This person pulls in mobs to be killed. He is responsible for making sure that they come in when the group is ready, and that there are not too many adds (a bad pull).
MA, or main assist: This is usually the top tank in the group, who can handle aggro well. He chooses the next mob to be killed. He is responsible to pick the next mob quickly after one is killed, and to not switch targets. Picking a target is more complicated than it seems, because the MA has to account for which mobs are most dangerous, which are easiest to kill, which ones are CCed and how long they have been CCed, and which ones are currently beating on your healer. All other people use /assist to help the MA kill the mob (when they are not busy with other tasks.)
CC: This person is responsible to mez (root, sleep, or otherwise control) the adds. Good teamwork between the MA and CCer is essential. Nothing is worse than getting off a successful mez and then seeing the MA hit the mob and break it.
Healer: This is obvious. Healing is an artform, though. If you heal too fast or too strongly, you can pull aggro off the MA, and your group is in trouble. If you heal too slow, someone dies.
Peeler: If an add goes to the healer (or other weak character) Or the healer otherwise pulls aggro, the peeler is responsible to pull the mob off the healer. Once he has aggro, the peeler switches back to helping the MA.
Of course it is not always so cut-and-dried. I played a skald, and was often peeler and secondary CC. However, all good groups in DAoC assigned these positions, but I am not aware that any groups in D2X EVER made such assignments. That really is where MMPORGs shine - the feeling of teamwork is not to be found in D2X.