Teamplay

Written by Braiba, this guide will explain the basic overview and mechanics of teamwork in Akarra.

During this guide I will refer to Whispers In Akarra as "WiA".

General Info
Fellowships are the best way to increase your level in WiA and allow you to become part of the growing community. The big advantage of fellowships is that you can take down bigger monsters and reap the rewards in the form of experience as well as money. When you are in a fellowship with other people you get much less of an experience drop-off from enemies which are of a higher level than everyone in the group, allowing you to level up quickly and possibly gain a high rank on the 'Top 50 Fastest Level-50-Characters' table which can be found here [Editor's Note: Link currently defunct. -PT].

Finding A Group
Playing WiA alone is all well and good, but in order to take down bigger foes, get better items, and earn more experience you'll need to fight in a group. Obviously you want to find people who are about the same level as you. If you click the Friends Button (F8) you can see the level of all the players who have unlocked their level. To learn more about locking and unlocking levels (as well as your email address, position, and stats) please refer to the Commands Guide. The other information, however, is only available through the /finger command. The /finger command is also explained in the Commands Guide.

Creating/Joining a FS
To create a fellowship, click the Fellowship Button (F9) and click 'Create Fellowship' then type the name of the fellowship you want to create. To join a fellowship, do the same, but click 'Join Fellowship' instead. You can only be a member of one fellowship at a time.

Once you have joined a fellowship, the fellowship menu will change to show the health and coordinates of the members in your fellowship. Below that, the 5 faith colors are listed with either 'set' or 'cleared'. If there is an odd number of people of a color in your fellowship it will be 'set', otherwise, it will be 'cleared'. Different patterns of 'set' and 'cleared' may give your fellowship different fellowship powers. If you have one of these fellowship power bonuses, it will be listed below the colors.

Communicating in a FS
When you're in a fellowship it is generally useful to click the Options Button (F7), click 'Set Chat Prefix', and type '/f' (without the tic marks). This will place the /f prefix before everything you type so that you don't have to keep typing /f over and over again when you want to talk in the fellowship. This means that even if you get separated you can still communicate without having to use /tell (or /t) command for each person in your fellowship. It also means that people who aren't in your fellowship won't overhear your private conversation. If you want to talk normally to someone who isn't in your fellowship you can either delete the chat prefix or press '.' to stop the '/f' appearing. Despite this relatively easy method, it is likely you will still see many people forget about it, so if you notice it be sure to remind the person that the person they are talking to can't hear them.

Fighting in a FS
When your fellowship defeats a monster, your fellowship's experience bonus is added to it and then it is divided equally between the members of your fellowship. The experience bonus will increase with the size of the fellowship. Generally it will increase by 25% for each person beyond the first, however some fellowship powers will also increase this bonus.

Dividing the Loot
When you're in a fellowship the money and experience you receive is automatically divided between the fellowship members, however, the items are not. Listed below are a few methods commonly used to solve this problem.

Note: WiA contains a loot protection system so that other players may not steal items dropped from monsters you've killed. The same holds true for fellowships but the loot protection treats the entire fellowship as a single player. In other words, it doesn't matter who kills the monster while you're in a fellowship. Any member of the fellowship may still pick up the item dropped from it.

The 'Survival of the Fittest' Method: The highest-level person who can use the item and doesn't already have one gets it. If nobody can equip the item then the closest person to being able to equip it gets it. If everyone already has the item then the lowest level character gets it. This is based on the idea that the higher-level characters need to kill stronger monsters and thus need to be better equipped. The lowest level characters get the items that nobody wants so that they can sell them because the money will be more useful to them, relatively speaking.

The 'Auctioning' Method: The people who want the item bid an amount of money, which they must pay the rest of the party. This is generally a good method to use when you can't decide who gets an item because everyone benefits from it, however, in a larger fellowship the amount of money each other player receives can be quite small. Sometimes, in certain situations when rare and valuable items are dropped by a monster, people also offer to come back and help the others get the item in addition to the money. This should only be done if you think you can trust the person. Most players in WiA are quite honest but there are always a few out there who only seek to take everything for their own personal gain.

The 'Finger on the Button' Method: Whomever picks it up first gets it. There are obviously major problems with this method (which can cause a lot of negative attitude towards one another) and it should only be used if you're doing it for fun, meaning that everyone in the fellowship has agreed to this kind of behavior.

General Info
A clan is a group of people who have banded together to form a long lasting group. A clan must consist of 5 leaders (in order to be created) and as many members as you want. Members of a clan receive a % experience bonus depending on the power of the clan (clan leaders get a much bigger exp bonus than clan members). The clan power is calculated by the amount of experience the members have received (in total, not just since they joined the clan) and is visible on the statistics page. The clan power shown on the statistics page is the power the clan had when the page last refreshed. Even when you are not a member of a clan, you can still use the '/glist' command to see the list of the people belonging to the clan. The clan leader's names appear in purple. If you don't know the name of a clan, you can use the '/gtag' command to find the clan name. Refer to the Commands Guide for details on those commands.

Creating a Clan
Before you can create a clan, 5 people must be in a fellowship. The total cost is 30gc (equal to 300sc or 30,000cc) between all 5 players. The creator of the clan (or main leader) contributes 10gc and the other four players contribute 5gc. If everyone has the sufficient funds, you can create the clan with the '/gcreate' command. Keep in mind that a clan leader may not be kicked out by another clan leader. The only way to remove a clan leader from leadership position is if the clan leader leaves the clan entirely.

When creating the clan, you will be asked to enter the name of your clan, the tag, and the tag color. The tag can be a maximum of 4 characters and will appear beside the name of your members in the Friends Button (F8) menu. Also note that you cannot see your own tag when you hover the mouse cursor over your character. Refer to the Commands Guide for a list of all clan/guild commands.

Joining a Clan
If you want to join a clan use the '/gjoin' command and your name will be added to the clan's pending list. After the clan leaders make a decision, you will either be thrown off the pending list (refusal to join) or accepted into the clan. Be patient when waiting for a decision because it doesn't always happen in 2 seconds!

Belonging to a Clan
Belonging to a clan allows you to use the '/g' command, which works in exactly the same way as the '/f' command, except that it sends your message to the rest of your clan. You can also use the '/gleave' command to leave the clan.

Guilds
Guilds were never implemented into Whispers in Akarra.

Player vs. Player
In PvP matches, you and the other members of your faith must band together to try and take down the other faith. When you are assembled at Hope before the PvP match, you should try and take a look at the statistics page to try and evaluate your opponents. The strongest people should generally be taken down first, as they will cause the most damage. Listed below are a few tactics which may help you win your victories.

If you have enough people you could try and do a defensive strategy where the people with lots of health protect the weaker characters while they rest. There are three places where this is most effective (due to the positioning of the pillars). The middle of the arena is clearly the best place as it only takes 4 people to form a wall and you can have three people behind each set of two, ready to jump in when someone is weakened. You could also have two of the three with spears so they can attack and stay reasonably safe. If you fail to secure the middle point you could also use the line across the two pillars at your end of the arena (or the enemy's end if you can manage it). This will require six people to barricade, leaving only four people to come in when they are in critical. The best way of arranging this is to have two people behind each pillar, so that they can replace people from the section on their side, but also replace the people in the middle section. These tactics may or may not be effective. It all depends on the cooperation of the team.