Aggro issues?

Tastian · July 19, 2006, 05:48:35 PM

It was a big topic for awhile and with a few changes it doesn't get brought up as often. I'd like to know what situation you are in and if you think aggro is much of an issue anymore. Grouping, raiding, highend, low end, 55, 65, etc. Play style does have a huge impact on aggro as well, so please include some data about what is going on when you have aggro issues as well. That is to say that if you are slowing at 100% life before the mob is even in camp yet, it'd be nice to take that into account as well. 8P

Kanan · July 19, 2006, 06:09:32 PM

between RoT and the DoD swarm pet, my agro is much easier to control. That relatively massive amount of DPS that pet puts out for 0 agro is wonderful.

The only times I really have agro issues on raids is when, on inc, I open up with nukes, and double tap em quick, along with the melee dps.

Groups, its a similar situation, at least with tanks in the same ballpark, agro-gear wise. Lesser tanks... lol.. I was goofing around and joined my GF's guild on a bertox run in CoD a coupla months ago.... I couldn't rake w/o stealing agro from em and would often steal it by turning on attack.. but then again, its not really a fair comparison in most respects, due to them being ele-or-slightly-under geared, so they had few agro modifiers besides epic and no Dbotw or BBoB.

When tanks die on raid bosses, I am no longer the first to third summoned like it was when I was tapping em with 3 nukes in quick succession as fast as they'd refresh. I am quite happy with our agro situation now.

Constaq · July 19, 2006, 06:44:17 PM

Havent thought of it lately but, yeah with DoD pet 2 nukes and mellee im behind monks on the summon and die list. But I can use tools to hold agro if im asked to OT. Weapons/Slow/ Flash o Light/ Nukes. At the high end I dont think agro is a problem. If they do give us double atk it might become one but Id gladly deal with more agro for double atk!

Sanois · July 19, 2006, 07:09:12 PM

at 55 to 58 I have huge agro problems but I dont really mind. I use 2 nukes and 1 dot on almost every mob. I have weapons with large procs so I get agro often. It usually takes a 65+ tank to keep agro off me. I am over geared so I dont mind having the agro because I have as much hp/AC as most of the tanks at my same level. WA 5 with those procs doesnt really help either lol. If I back off on the nukes a little I can drop agro but I like to see the mobs drop faster. More mobs dead = more exp so I dont care if I get agro.

hakaaba · July 19, 2006, 10:30:20 PM

it's really pretty much right. Certainly lower priority than almost anything else we're having problems with atm.

Shamno · July 19, 2006, 11:04:50 PM

With RoT and protective handling aggro hasn't been simpler. Just alternate them when you aggro and your fine. We still have som eof the strange aggro issues form PoP, but again with the tools now and how much aggro we actually produce comparitively speaking, at most levels, it hasn't been much of an issue. Mid Tier with rake and relatively high amount of offensive mods compared to other folks at that progression levelI still get a good deal of aggro but nothing I can't handle.

There are times I wish I could produce more when I have to gimp tank, but since I really not a tank per say I know that is walking a fine line. *shrug*

Khauruk · July 20, 2006, 01:34:36 AM

I've also had far fewer problems w/ agro between the 70 slow, and the DoD pet. Really, I wish I had some better ways to hold agro when I'm tanking other than FoL. I get tired of spamming slow/slow/slow/slow/nuke/nuke/slow against guildmates when grouping w/ them...but, oh well :).

Taiglin · July 20, 2006, 05:05:41 AM

As a non-raiding Bst in a family guild for the longest time I would have problems pulling aggro from our SK tank if he wasn't on top of his game. I will say I usually slow very early in the pull or when the mob hits camp. If I slowed and hit feral swipe right after there was a good chance I would pull aggro. I play a decent amount and the SK about 1/2 of that. He has since gotten a few DoN augs for his weapons I believe. It was to the point that when I only had about 200aas I started buying some of the offensive pet ones as a way to increase my overall damage w/o more aggro from me. I didn't want to overly raise my DPS or proc numbers.

jitathab · July 20, 2006, 12:57:45 PM

AS our overall DPS is so low relative to the big DPS classes and dots are poor mana use its not really an issue at the moment. If DoT's are made useful then things may change.

Khauruk · July 20, 2006, 01:43:21 PM

Taiglin - I had similar problems w/ some of my guildie SKs, until I talked to one of the better agro-hounds SKs I knew, and learned his spell setup. Then, whenever I'd gank agro, I'd ask what spells they were using, and had them try out his setup....well, now I can't grab agro from any of them. It's all about how they use spells. <3 knights w/ agro procs, but in a family guild, an SK shouldn't even need to melee to hold agro, properly played.

Taiglin · July 20, 2006, 02:28:19 PM

Care to pass that list along either here or in a PM? Would appreciate it.

Fightclubx · July 20, 2006, 02:52:47 PM

my guild tanks I have no problems with, but pickup groups really suck

bham · July 20, 2006, 08:18:30 PM

Quote from: Khauruk on July 20, 2006, 01:34:36 AM
I've also had far fewer problems w/ agro between the 70 slow, and the DoD pet. Really, I wish I had some better ways to hold agro when I'm tanking other than FoL. I get tired of spamming slow/slow/slow/slow/nuke/nuke/slow against guildmates when grouping w/ them...but, oh well :).

I find incapacitate very effective. Fast cast, fast recast, lowish mana. And when it lands it actually does something slightly useful.

Pakratz · July 21, 2006, 05:00:03 AM

Agree with all here that DoD pet has made this problem virtually disappear. It's replaced aggro generating nukes with non-aggro pet damage. Also, when you engage, the first 1.5 seconds is spent casting that pet and not even engaging, so tank has a head start. All-in-all BE was a brilliant stroke of genius.

On raids, I find I'll get summoned after all rogues and zerkers and usually rangers as well, while typically outdpsing all but 1 or 2. So the situation is perfect as is. Shhh, don't tell anyone we're satisfied.

Damit, it bugs me to not have something to complain about...

Essant · July 21, 2006, 05:26:48 AM

Agro is generally not a problem. I'm used to being high on the hate list even above those that might parse better, but it really doesnt bother me. I just have to adjust accordingly for the fight, and be willing to scale it back sometimes. Afterall theres no reason to really burn 110% on trash to the point where it gets you killed.

I noticed a large increase in agro when I added the +3 damage aug from Tris to the Tonfa, but it just took some getting used to.

However playing off a tank that is generally below my level gear wise is an issue, but thats to be expected.