Party Order Screen

The other night I was about to go on a mission, and so I LFG'd a group of people to join me. But before we left, they nagged me for 10 minutes about what order everyone appeared in the Party window, making sure that the tanks were near the top of the list, mages near the bottom, etc. They kept telling me to kick someone and then re-invite them until it was tweaked to their specs. They seemed mighty agitated about it, so I shut my mouth and accomodated them.

Now I can see how, if you are a single player with all henchies, this might make the "slightest" (and I do mean slight) bit of difference, as when you stop moving, that's the order you are in. Of course, when a fight breaks out, it's every man for himself anyway.

But in a group full of live players, how is this relevent? It's not like monsters aren't going to chase you because you are on the bottom of the party list. In fact, as an Elem, I can tell you monsters often target me specifically, and I spend half the battle running!

Did I just get in with a bunch of misinformed people, or was there some method to their madness?

Mostly for the monk(s) in order to heal u better my dear, some monks really like it, and some (like me) don't give a damn.

It mainly has to do with how monks prefer it, but also other classes.

In game there are invisible lines, where the line most to the front is the melee characters ( wars,dervish,assassin, or anyone using this classes weapons)

Then theres the second line where there are support characters ( paragons, eles,necros,mesmers)

Then there is the backline, where you get the classes that keep you alive(monk,ritualists , rangers are also most of the time in the back because of the range of their weapons but they are actually support characters)

Also its a very easy to see box of what is going on (no , you should really not just look there) , ill explain, if you follow the lines i just said, the classes in the front line should be taking the damage, so their health bars should be the ones moving, then there is the mid line where if mobs run past you front line they will come across them, then of course there is the back line ,that means the enemy has passed up all your lines and is now on your back line.

So to put it simple ,your front line should be the only ones who's health bar is dropping, if your mid line is getting attacked it means something didn't go as planned, if your back line is getting attacked it means your screwed.

But remember most of the time this isn't the case as your monks could be taking some ( or the only damage) while your front line can be killing of the entire enemy team.So you still win.

Another thing of note was which mission you were doing. On some missions like The Eternal Grove and Grand Court of Sebelkeh, it is almost required to split a team into sections. This is very important for the monks, as it allows them to more easily identify who is in range of healing, and who they can't get to.

its not normal to order for a normal quest or mission, but for some high-end pve or ha/gvg, dont even think about leaving before ordering your team. its amazing for the monks.

I monk a lot, and tend to prefer to be at the bottom of the list when I do. It makes it easier for me to know which skills I can use on myself. Over half the skills on my bar are solely for healing others. If the bottom bar is dropping I know I have to do two things: 1) run back into a cleared area and keep running along the cleared path till I stop taking damage, and 2) heal myself using skills like healing touch. In condition heavy areas, again, some skills cannot be used on myself so it makes it a little bit easier if I don't have to worry about which bar happens to be mine. Being the leader of the party is my secondary choice, again, because it makes it easier to hit the correct skill if I begin taking damage.

Other than monks on the bottom, though, few of the groups I play with are really picky about order. We do tend to have the tanks at the top of the group, but that is usually because it is usually the tanks who don't suddenly decide they need that skill they neglected to buy and will brb after buying it.


Woodsy

Yes, it definately helps out with monking. The reason people do this is because it is the habbit/tradition of most high end PvP (organized HA and GvGs). Sounds like you partied with a few PvP players playing PvE who are very stuck with their ways and thus wanted a reorder. They aren't "misinformed," just stuck in their habbits.

its a good habbit to get into if people know how to do it. it only takes a few seconds if you dont need to explain it.