The last time we tried to do this we actually came REALLY close to finishing. Had we survived the wave we were on, there was only 1 more small wave to go before Narandi himself would spawn. I think there were 5 important lessons to be learned:
1) The week before our first ring war, there was a ring war that failed at that exact same spot. This is not surprising at all since I've heard that that particular wave is the most difficult to deal with of all of the waves.
This is the wave that comes from up the hill on the west part of the zone and tries to run to Thurg from the side. In the third major wave, this includes Kromrif Veterans and High Priests of Zek. There are several reasons why this wave is so difficult, namely from what I've seen is because that hill is so spread out that the giants run rampant along it and that ends up really thinning out our army as we split up to try to tank each giant. Last time, we also were unprepared for that wave of giants during the first large wave (the one with the kromrif recruits) and did not help the Coldain troops on that hill in time. The Coldain help we get is usually much weaker than the giants (Garadain's small army to the east I think is an exception as last time they held their own, with our help or course, very well). I forget who exactly is on that hill (it might be Dobbin) but that group of troops is too weak to hold its own well. There are only a few of them and they get wiped by kromrif recruits like a spider against a lvl 65 tank.
My point is not that we need to try to keep this band alive, so much as it is that we need to maximize the NPC usefulness we get. There is also a group of Coldain in the wurm caves, but because we didn't help them they were wiped quickly as well. Ultimately, I think we would be much more successful if tried harder to keep these guys alive (sometimes though this isn't possible because of how spread out our army is). The Coldain on the hill, had they survived to see the third wave for instance, may have been useful in helping us survive -they could have tanked some of the giants for a bit to stop them from running while we killed the others. Perhaps, this may be the secret to our succes this time -let's try to keep these guys alive so we can use them in those tough third waves!
2) Everyone should create a "RUNNER to Thurg!" hotkey. It keeps communication alive and lets the few that stay near the entrance know what's coming. At one point in the last war I think we almost lost in the beginning because nobody was prepared for so many runners.
3) Tanks should always let their healers know where they are. I'm sooooo guilty of misinforming my group (SORRY ALLEY!). Healers won't be able to get to you unless they know where you are. Make sure you aren't just running left and right without informing your healers or else you'll get wiped. Remember that just by saying "where the giants are" doesn't help because the giants are all over the place and an additional wave can spawn freely if the primary wave is not dispatched causing some large tanking confusion.
4) Before we start we should designate which groups will deal with new giant pops and which groups will stay to dispatch the wave the army is currently dealing with. Last time this one cost us in the beginning because people were confused on whether or not they were supposed to keep fighting what they were fighting or move to engage the new spawns. In other words, it was a poor distribution of our forces which sometimes separated the healers from their tanks because one tank would engage one set of spawns while another would run to encounter the new ones and the healer would have to decide to stick with one or the other.
5) A lot of people needed to log by the third wave. I know nobody ever tries to do this intentionally, but if we can all hold on til the final stretch that would be ideal since the third wave is the hardest. More importantly, however, it also says that
late comers are welcomed! If you can't make it for the first two waves, we could sure use the help on that tough third wave, so don't think that if you don't show up in the beginning that we won't want or need you -heh believe me, chances are we wouldn't mind at all