The R4/R5 Guide to Dark Moon

So you want to excel in your role of R4 or R5 in your alliance during Dark Moon?

Well step right up ladies and gents and boys and girls or amphibians or whatever you happen to identify as today, cause we got a guide for you!

It is no secret that Dark Moon is a team event and because the event is driven by your leadership team that also means that the success of your alliance in part falls on your leadership team.

However, do not fear!!! We have an easy peasy guide to help your team excel in Dark Moon.

Let’s Talk Dark Moon

Okay, now that the infomercial is over (aka my super cheesy introduction) it is time to dig in and talk about the Dark Moon.

As we all know Dark Moon is a super new event and with that comes new strategy and new roles for players of every type. Part of being a leader in your alliance during this event means that you will need to be able to guide your crew of misfits, rebels, or cool kids.

Ten Elite Tips for your Dark Moon Leadership Team

We have lots to cover today so we are going to hop right in and give you Ten tips for your leadership team when preparing for and participating in Dark Moon.

Leadership Tip One: Understand the Basics of Dark Moon

This is a new event for all of us and so often it is easy to get bogged down in the technicalities whether you are in leadership or not. So as leaders it is important that you understand the basics and eventually the intricacies of Dark Moon.

Because this event is still in Beta Mode it is difficult to really go too in-depth as we see things continually change for this event. We will really get into the intricacies when all the details have been ironed out and this game is no longer in Beta.

However, the basics of the points system and how you play have remained consistent over the first two, so understanding these is very important. How you score points may change but the game-play and overall point system have stayed the same for the first two.

There are three ways you can educate yourself on the basics:

Make sure you check out our guide that covered the basics of the original Dark Moon (we will provide that link at the bottom of this guide)
Keep up to date on the forum and changes coming that are announced by the developers
Play the game! Logging in and experiencing and exploring all the different aspects of the event are going to be the best ways to understand the basics.

Leadership Tip Two: Understand the Importance of Playing at your Level

“We will never win Dark Moon so there is no point in investing too deeply,” do not have this attitude! When you are up against huge alliances such as AVE who won the first Dark Moon the task ahead can be daunting.

However, if you play at your level your team can still have a lot of fun and get some great rewards. You may not come out as the winner but you still get to enjoy the game.

Knowing who you are as an alliance and being realistic about what you are able to achieve will help when it comes to planning your strategy.

Leadership Tip Three: Understand the Importance of the Bigger Picture

It is easy for your team to get caught up in the immediate, and when I say the immediate I am referencing the Inferno and Alliance Event. If your team does not understand the scoring system well or where the majority of the rewards come from then they will be super focused on just engaging in PvP battles and getting kills for those events, and why not? The PvP part of the event is a blast.

However, the majority of the Dark Moon Coins and rewards will ultimately come from the goals that score points towards the whole event. While working towards those goals you will naturally complete the Inferno and Alliance Events.

Leadership Tip Four: Work with the Rest of your Leadership Team to Iron Out a Strategy Before the Event Starts

Until the event is no longer Beta we will not have all the details however, working from your knowledge of the basics (remember tip one, y’all) you can craft a strategy with your leadership team. It is important to make this a team effort so that the whole team is in the know with no excuses of not knowing the plan.

In addition, if you try to shoulder the whole responsibility by yourself you will quickly burn out. Remember Dark Moon is intended to be a long-term event and one person cannot do it all by themselves.

Does this mean that your plan is set in stone? Absolutely not. Anyone that has been gaming for any amount of time knows that you will encounter unknowns. Your strategy will need to have the ability to be flexible and to change and change back and change again. This is part of knowing the basics as well because this will help you to be able to adapt.

Leadership Tip Five: Assign Roles to Your Leadership Team

It is just as easy for your leadership team to get confused and to struggle. So each person on the team needs to have a role and needs to know where they fit in.

Do you have an international team with players on all times of night and day? Make sure you have leaders who can fill in the time gaps so your team does not become stagnant and your leadership team does not stretch themselves thin by trying to run a Dark Moon team 24/7.

Leadership Tip Six: Work with the Rest of Your Leadership Team to Educate and Communicate the Plan to Your Team

From the start of Dark Moon your team will want to know who to look to for direction and what the plan is.

If you do not give your team direction this will result in a lot of extra unneeded stress for you, let’s be honest even when you give your team direction it can still be stressful because there will always be that one person who did not read mail or did not read Line or Discord.

You also have to decide how much information you want to convey to your team if you give them too much of the plan and the plan changes it could result in confusion.

When conveying the plan for Dark Moon to your team here is what needs to be conveyed:

Who they can ask questions and who will be setting and helping lead the team
The general plan and why this is where the education piece comes in. You will ultimately have team members who want to know why so they can understand what is going on and your ability to educate them and convey this information to them is essential as an educated team is a strong team.
The need to be flexible, if you do need to change the plan there will ultimately be that one person who questions why the plan is changing. When this happens you will need to refer to step two again however, also convey to your team from the very beginning that as the event changes and evolves there may be changes to the plan and you need them to be flexible and patient when that happens.

It is also important to know the best way to communicate this information to your team. Alliance chat where there is a lot going on is not going to be the best place because the majority of your team will not back read to find the information.

That leaves two places where you can convey your plan:

In-game Alliance mail. Make it simple and send an email to your team.
Line, Discord, or whatever your social media poison for your team is, however, be aware if there are members of your team who are not plugged into socials outside the game and whether or not you need to convey this information in multiple places.

Leadership Tip Seven: During the Event be Prepared to Point Out Rewards and How Close Your Team is to Achieving Them.

Keeping your team motivated during the event is essential. You want your team logging in and having fun and engaging in the battle. Part of motivating your team is going to include encouraging them and pointing out the successes you are achieving as a team.

When a stronger team attacks your territory and you lose it can be discouraging so know when your team needs an ego boost and find different ways to provide that.

Make sure you are pointing out all members’ successes and make sure you are giving credit where credit is due. Players that feel appreciated are happy and will continue to help support the team.

Leadership Tip Eight: Communication is Key

At this point, we have talked a lot about different ways to communicate with your leadership and your team. If you do not know at this point that communication is key, then I am not doing my job well.

However, just to throw out there and help myself have ten pretty points, I am going to continue to encourage you to understand that communication is key. Good communication will help build trust in your team which is essential for an event like this.

Leadership Tip Nine: Know it is Okay to Step Away and Take a Break

A game is supposed to be fun. So if you find yourself becoming stressed it means you have been online too long and you need to step away and take a break. This is okay.

This is why we talk about a leadership team, all the responsibility should not fall on the shoulders of one person and if you think it does then you need to work to delegate and work with your team. Part of knowing your role plays into reducing stress and knowing who you can tag in when you need a break is important as well.

Leadership Tip Ten: Have fun

It’s a game guys! It is supposed to be fun and when it becomes stressful you end up fighting with your team and not wanting to log in and play. At the end of the day, it is all about enjoying the game and enjoying your team.

Strategy is important to help you keep moving forward but do not sacrifice the enjoyment of the game by letting the stress get to you. Ultimately an unhappy leadership team will trickle down into the rest of your team and make an unhappy alliance with players leaving and not logging in.

What’s Next?

Do not miss out on so many articles and videos on our site with a ton of information! Are you looking for more information on gear? We provided a ton of links earlier in the article. However, we have more!

Dark Moon: The Ultimate Team Building Event

But wait! There’s more! Make sure to check out our initial Dark Moon guide that covered the basics of the first Beta event and be on the lookout for more information to come as this event continues to evolve and change.

Dark Moon: The Ultimate Team Building Event