Lawyer, I was curious how you have liked your med warrior in Factions. I have been working on one myself and he is about a week away(will be gm everything but resist, it will be about 85 by then). Factions is much different than any fighting I have seen in past. Alot of large group fighting. How has the med warrior held up in these types of fights and how are you using him. Thx for any info =) Mbogo

Truthfully, I have not had the time to play hardly any lately. Real life does get in the way sometimes, especially with Christmas near. I have not had the time or motivation to give factions a good try yet. I cant really help you with any of my experiences, I apologize.

Theoretically though, the Med-War is formidable, however in group warfare there are better templates. In my opinion the Med-War is primarily for 1v1 fights. That does not mean it cannot hold it's own in a group situation, but there are equal or better uncommon templates for that. A good majority of everyone you talk to will tell you Archery is not for PvP. In group warfare archery is very good. The same goes for magery (yes I know magery is not uncommon). Both allow ranged attacks, and in numbers, could be lethal within the first shots. I believe a good factions only character (group PvP only) does not comform to the standard PvP templates.

A truly great group PvP character is one that is versatile. You need to be able to make up for the weaknesses and contribute to strengths. Your friends/fellow group members also mean a great deal. The group as a collective needs to be able to stay alive and kill at the same time. If you manage to learn how to accomplish that, you will be a hell of a lot better than many others. Most groups are suicidal and concentrate on killing you. It is much easier to keep one person alive than kill one person with friends, especially if you have company that have no idea what they are doing. A good group, in my opinion, would consist of ranged and melee, with good healing capabilities. You are useless if you are seeing monochrome. Spear users are preferable for group melee because of the stun - keeps the dying from outrunning you and keeps damage down. A person with three spear users on them is pretty much dead, then the mages and archers add to the lethality. You do know you should concentrate on one person right?

General strategy, or common sense, would be to take one person out at a time. Considering 1 person cannot handle 4+ people on them at one time, its not hard. The spear users are close to each other so they better be keeping each other alive. This is easy with the short delay for healing another. The mages in the back, or running, depending on how the enemy reacts, should provide cures and critical heals, but I would say they should concentrate on keeping the victim poisoned and everyone alive in general. Just make sure you dont lose all of your mana, if you do that you are useless. Supplemental damage is OK, but the weapons do it much better than you do (no offense to mages). Archers - well they just rock. If you have 2 or 3 archers, against a non-parryer, they are dead. You would be experiencing the medieval M16. The main goal is to keep everyone alive. Killing the opponent comes second - a very close second. If you lose a group member, you will be at a great morale and tactical disadvantage. As I have stated before, many concentrate on killing and ignore healing. Take advantage of that.

Also remember to pack light. A good death is an inexpensive death - if such a thing exists. Dont take out that l337 blue armor, dont take out anything magical, and you sure in the hell dont take out a load of regs. If you are a mage I would suggest a junk rune in your book so if your group gets low on supplies, you can mark in a safe place and gate to your HQ, then gate back. That could happen because an organized group is lethal - and rare.

As for supplies, I dont see a noticeable difference between studded and GM studded. If you expect to die, go to a shop - not a PC vendor. You will save a lot of money in the long run and factions truly is a resources game. I can go for GM weapons, there is a noticeable difference there. If you want to use lesser poison, which is a good idea (interrupts), use it on a store bought weapon. 25 pre-made bandages will be good, but if you want more go for it - cloth is cheap. Potions are a matter of personal preference. If things go right you should not need any, except for a TR or three. If you want to take the expense, be my guest, it might save your ass. Just try to keep your expense low, and your kill : death ratio high!

I am not going to post templates because whether or not the template is effective depends on your skill, your connection, and your opponent. If you do not enjoy playing a warrior, do not make one, because you probably will not be good at it. Play something you are comfortable with and can easily adapt to. If you hate archers, dont play one - you will suck at it. Archery is great because of the range. Also if no one is on you, you can step away and heal yourself while dealing out damage (this should not happen). Healing is crucial. If you want to be a awesome support character, go with a healer mage - if your con is great. If you want to live a lot longer, take hiding. If you want to throw fish at them - take fishing (if you do I will kill you). If you want to have some good fun, take snooping and stealing. Make sure you dont lag though. It all comes down to what you are comfortable with - you will be more effective with a character you enjoy than one you do not. Realize that the commonly accepted PvP templates are not group PvP templates.

Nevertheless, a Med-War is average in groups, but there are better templates. They allow raw damage, keeping friends alive easily (bandages and spells), and um.. well if you can do that youll do good.