Hail and well met!

I'm sure by now most of you have encounted a kill stealer or two in your days of Everquest, but could never figure out how to stop them and make them play fair! (Well, if you have figured out a way that works for you, no need to read further <grins>)

These are written in, more or less, the order you should use them.

First, dont jump to conclusions.  If someone steals your kill for the first time, never accuse them of kill stealing to start out, they may not have seen you due to lag or such.  Always, and I do mean ALWAYS be polite. Go up to them and use the standard "Hail" greeting.  Then make some small talk such as, "So what brings you out here?" and wait for their response. If none is forthcoming after a min or two, say something to the effect of "You have something against me (or us) or arent feeling very sociable today :)".  9 times out of 10 that will illicit a response from them.  Work your way out from that.  Ask them what they are hunting here, if it is the same as you propose to either:

        A) Get into a rotation
        B) Promise to let them know when you or your group is through so they can come back when you are leaving.

If they agree to a rotation great, now abide by your agreement and hope they do too.  You dont own any camping spots, and no one really likes to share, but you must. Half a pizza is better than going hungry!  Its even better if they choose obtion B, but I have only encountered that a few times in my day.

Now, on to the good stuff. Dealing with the kill stealers who don't abide by A or B or who wont even talk to you.  As always, be polite, dont get into name calling or threats.  Above all, do NOT train on them as I have seen some people do.  You endanger innocent lives and you and your groups own that way, and it solves nothing.  Check to see if they are in a guild, if so, do a /who all "guild" and find another member of their guild. Politely ask them for the name of the leader of the guild, if the leader is not online ask again for the name of one of their officers or other high ranking members.

Next contact the guildmaster (or high ranker) and ask if their guild condones the action of kill stealing?  Most of the time the guild will say absolutely not and ask for the offender's name.  Give the guildmaster a report of what the member is doing and how you proposed a rotation (you DID propose a rotation didnt you?), but the offender chose not to abide by that (or ignored you).  This method works about 60 percent of the time.

Last resort....A lot of the times the kill stealer will be a high level caster after a certain item from a lower level (to them) monster.  Be polite and tell them that if your party can have all the kills, as soon as they get the item the kill stealer is after, they can have it.  Some of you may gawk at this but if they agree think about it.  Whats better, fighting for every kill (and most likely losing to the kill stealer which means no XP and lost time), or getting XP and standard loot AND the lack of stress that comes with trying to fight for the kill.  If they dont agree to that the simple solution is to just leave and hunt elsewhere, it will save you stress and time.

Now, again I have to remind you above all to be POLITE in all your conversations with the kill stealer.  Appoint one group speaker to speak to them, no one else talk to the kill stealer if they dont have to.  That will avoid confusion when trying to negotiate. Some of you newer to being kill stolen from may try to petition the GMs for help.  Do not waste yours or their time on that.  The GMs, while they do a GREAT job (I honestly say and stand by that), can't do anything about it.  Its not against the rules, or the exploiting of a bug.  Im not so bothered when I see a dark elf or other evil race kill steal (though I am still bothered), they are just roleplaying their evil character.

Finally, a word to all you kill stealers who are reading this I have but one thing to say....Shame on you! What would your mother say if she found out?

May Tunares grace and light be with you,
Tarrew Marr (and I only play on Tarrew Marr)
Geno Kanan
Ranger of the 30th level
Deputy of the Vale
/play time of 41 days and damn proud of it
geno_kanan@hotmail.com

(I appreciate any emails I get, just try to keep them polite.  If you disagree with me, I won't even bother reading your letter if you aren't civil about it.  If you have any ways to deal with kill stealers to add to this, send em!  If I get enough I'll write up a second guide)

No monkeys were harmed in the making of this guide (well, maybe just a couple)
 

        I was impressed at the huge amount of response my first guide recieved, all positive and with new ideas on dealing with the kill stealers.  I might as well state this first.  In my first guide I mentioned a Trade Window tactic.  Upon speaking with a guide I have confirmed this is considered the exploit of a bug, and IS a bannable offense.  It should never have been included in the first guide, and I have asked this site to remove it.  If you know of what I speak USE IT AT YOUR OWN RISK.  Again I apologize, it never should have been included. Now! On to the ideas submitted to me.  I admit I was vastly overwhelmed by the number of ideas I got, and I will list them all here in no particular order.  Thanks again to all! (I copied and pasted directly from the emails I recieved stating a tactic or two.  I intended the second guide to be mainly direct posts from EQers, so thats what it is.  I recieved a lot of similar ideas so I just took theletters that described them the best)

"When a magic-user tries to steal from you, don't do anything. Let the MOB go after him. If they are around the same level, chances are they are going to have a tough time taking on a creature by themselves that you are attacking as a party. The only way they can do it is if you tank for them. Just don't do it. Stop auto-attacking, back off, and the MOB will usually go after them. The other one that seems to work is casting Fear on the monster. Makes it run away, and they have a tough time making the kill. They still usually get the kill, but it gets annoying for them =) Also, in a dungeon they sometimes bring back a train ... annoying for you and your party, but if you have a good one you can deal with it usually. Deadly for the solo kill-stealing caster."

"Anyone that has attempted to KS from a Bard (27th level or higher) with time on his hands will attest to the fact that it is almost impossible, unless the Bard gets bored/makes several mistakes.  Bard Charm can be kept up almost indefinitely and at a Zero-mana cost. Plus, he can let party members know when he will allow the charm to drop for a second or two (during which time they can do damage but the KS'er will likely miss out). The KS'er sees the party doing melee damage to the creature .... starts to cast a heavy-mana Nuke spell...and doesn't even scratch the mob......because the Bard has already charmed the target again ;)  Repeat as necessary until your party has killed the mob a little at a time, or until the Nuking KS'er has blown all their mana and wandered away in disgust."

"NEVER tank for a kill stealer. If he is not killing stuff much lower than his level, the MOB (and all of the MOBÆs nearby friends) will find the caster doing all of the damage to them and go after them. As long as the kill stealer has a group to tank for him, this is no problem. However, if you turn off that auto-attack button, and start to walk away, the monster will go straight for the kill stealer. This is NOT training stuff to him as he decided to attack it in the first place. IÆve only had this work once, but it was VERY satisfying to watch the kill stealer ask for help while everyone watched him die. 2) If you are in a guild, ask you guild mates to come by and help. If you have a caster in your guild that is a higher level than the kill stealer, he can just take all of the kills from the area until the kill stealer decides to rotate or move on. Note that the caster CANNOT target the kill stealer individually, as that is bannable. He must take all of the kills. This is kind of cheep, and may piss off other people at the camp, but eventually, the kill stealer will get the idea and move on or share. 3) If you are not in a guild, do a /who command and look for a high level caster in the zone. Send him a /tell and ask him if he can help you with the kill stealer. IÆve found that many high level casters are willing to take some time out and help stop a kill stealer. Many of them donÆt like the kill stealers any more than the melee classes as they are giving their class a bad name. 4) The charm spell is great. Both enchanters, and bards (and probably others that IÆm not aware of) can charm a MOB. Charm it, say /pet follow, and run around. The kill stealer will think it is chasing you and unload on it. Once his is out of mana, wait for the charm spell to wear off and kill the MOB. 5) If you donÆt have charm, try fear. You may not be able to deny the kill stealer his kill, but you can make it that much harder for him!"
 

A Response from a Kill Stealer:  This is in response to the kill stealing thing.  I am an avid stealer from time to time, but there are 2 or 3 things that stop me from stealing, so you may wanna share this info.  First, If I ask a shaman for a SOW in a zone like Mistmoore, and he says yes, I never steal from that group, they did me a favor, so i dont steal from them.  Second, If they say something like "hey nice shot, wanna join us?" or something, I will join 90% of the time. Usually when I steal, its cause no one will let me join their groups, and an offer means that theres no reason to be an ass.  Third, if they act like a jerk for no reason, accuse me of stealing when it was an accident (I'm a wizard, and on a modem, so sometimes I steal inadvertantly), or are in general rude about it, I actually am more prone to stealing..Courtesy is key here.. Basically, let the first one go, assume it was an accident, second, if ya can't beat um, let them join ya, and third, give them a sow ;)