[baalzy]

Decided to make this a new thread to draw attention to the insane amount of research I just did. We all know that pet taunt is weak on p99. We've all seen 1 spell casts taking our pets 5-6 rounds of attacks just to pull hate off us. Here is a giant list from casterrealms strategy guides which all backup what many of us remember. The simple fact that pets were hate monsters and it actually took some effort to get hate OFF of your pet.

Originally Posted by http://web.archive.org/web/20010911123114/http://eq.castersrealm.com/playguides/VIEW.ASP?ID=4838

You can solo some yellows and below now, and I personally used the following spell combination.

1. Clinging Darkness (If it resists just move on).
2. Poison Bolt. (If Both CD and PB resist start running, and kiss your pet goodbye!)
3. Send in the pet.
4. Keep an eye on your pets health, when its down to 40% start meleeing yourself. This takes the pressure of your pet for a bit. (Cloth armour helps here if you can afford it)
5. Once you’re down to 50% health, the mob should be just about dead, stand back, let your pet tank, and start chain casting Lifespike.
6. Retreat to the Windmills and start meditating!

With this method I have been able to solo yellows.

More evidence of pets holding agro like a boss, EVEN at low levels
March, 2001

Originally Posted by http://web.archive.org/web/20020507072017/http://eq.castersrealm.com/playguides/VIEW.ASP?ID=4429

24 - 29: you can head to an Outter PAW Spire group. Or you could do what I did and SOLO! .. Thats right .. head back to highkeep and right next to that guard room there is a small room where 2 Lookout spawns pop. EASY Soloing and GREAT Lewt! You may need help breaking this spawn .. so just ask the group next to you. They spawn on a 5 min count which is just enough to med to full and have the pet healed. Or you could just get a Breeze/ Clarity / C2 and it will be a sinch. This was the best exp I have ever seen in the game. It averaged to One bubble every 30 minutes and at lvl 24!! .. amazing .. simply amazing.

If you're using mana and have to med & keeping the same pet, that pet sure as heck better be keeping some agro.

Jan 2001

Originally Posted by http://web.archive.org/web/20020520194948/http://eq.castersrealm.com/playguides/VIEW.ASP?ID=3166

Your level 44 pets will tear these mobs up pretty fast, can almost solo them in fact, and your nice new level 44 nuke will drop them so much faster. These will be blue until level 47 or 48, which you'll be in no time. There are also often enchanters in the zone you could get Clarity from if you want it.
....
I can't recommend this at 43 or below, as your best nukes are fire based, and these kobolds are extremely fire resistant. Even with Malise, they rarely hit for full damage, more often being almost completely resisted. Between your 39th level pets and your most efficient non-fire based nuke (level 24 shock spell), you just don't yet have the firepower to efficiently take down these kobolds solo. It's possible, but downtime is significantly worse.

So, you're having to rely on your nukes & you're using a fire pet so you're also not relying on Snare and yet he makes NO mention of watching out because you'll get roflstomped by a 100 dmg nuke tearing agro away from your pet. He's even talking about using Malise!

March, 2000

Originally Posted by http://web.archive.org/web/20020507071432/http://eq.castersrealm.com/playguides/VIEW.ASP?ID=3125

If you are solo down there, you can break one or two corner spawns and solo the gobs as they pop. To break a spawn, let yer pet tank both with a barrier of combustion on, and finish the first gob with one blast, and burn the other one down then as usual. Swim thru your pet if one gob should aggro on ya too early to stick it on pet again. You might even have to heal your pet, mine got near death a lot while breaking the spawn... grouping is safer for sure. Don't expect to outswim the gobs.. they are faster than a sowed lvl 41 druid with 100ish swimming.

This seems to imply to me that using high damage nukes still doesn't cause agro to get transfered on to you very often and it ALSO makes it seem like the agro doesn't stay on ya long. Talking about healing their pet too to keep from using it. This seriously implies the mages are nuking (and not having much of an agro problem) mobs down fast enough that pet-chaining isn't required.

March 2000

Originally Posted by http://web.archive.org/web/20020507070746/http://eq.castersrealm.com/playguides/VIEW.ASP?ID=2944

Tuck youself into this corner, park your pet and pull to the pet.

At this level people would have to pet chain on p99 because they couldn't reliably nuke mobs to kill them before losing their pets.

Originally Posted by http://web.archive.org/web/20010911112442/http://eq.castersrealm.com/playguides/VIEW.ASP?ID=5415

Make sure you hit the snake with a couple of Shock of Blades so you get more then 50 percent of the damage for the maximum amount of experience. Your water pet has a very high poison resistance so it "should not" get poisoned. Monitor your pets health using /pet health report command, and heal it if required. Once the snake is dead the loot will be any of the following:

level 8 and talking about nuking more than 50% of the mobs health away and having to monitor their pets health because the snake is still hitting it.
May 2001

Originally Posted by http://web.archive.org/web/20010911120149/http://eq.castersrealm.com/playguides/VIEW.ASP?ID=3766

Dive in and start attacking the Pirana. Let you r pet tank while you nuke it, remember you cant attack it out of the water so you have to stay under. Be sure to keep an eye on your H2O bar. If things get out of hand, A.k.a you stary loosing, get out of the water! The pirana cant follow (duh) now you can rest up and try again. Just keep doing this for the whole lake, by the time your done with all six, the first one should have respawn for you to kill again!

More talk from a low level of pet tanking the mage nukes it.

November 2000

Originally Posted by http://web.archive.org/web/20010911121854/http://eq.castersrealm.com/playguides/VIEW.ASP?ID=3306

First make a earth pet which will help with the root and such then buff your pet with burnout, use when you have full mana pull her with the level 8 bolt spell and put your pet on her, then keep nuking her with the bolt spell . You may have to take some hits when she cons red because she will hit for the high 30's constantly which will take your pet out easy.

Nuking but talking about having to get in and take some hits to keep the pet from getting killed. This either supports the pet holding great agro, or the earth pet reliably & consistently rooting.

March 2000

Originally Posted by http://web.archive.org/web/20010911123221/http://eq.castersrealm.com/playguides/VIEW.ASP?ID=2718

This is simple, at lvl 8, dervs are mostly red with some yellow ones once and a while. Just get an earth pet (for the hp's, youll need them) then back up, fire bolt them, usually you can just back up and get 3 off before it even gets to you, then have it hit you once then your pet will jump in. Then you just sit back and blast with bolt or blades.

3 bolts before putting pet on it then being able to back up and continue to bolt/blade? At level 8!
March 2000

Originally Posted by http://web.archive.org/web/20010911124520/http://eq.castersrealm.com/playguides/VIEW.ASP?ID=924

cast both burnout and flame shield on your pet, and pull an orc. sit back and nuke his ass, and he will drop within 20 seconds, doesn't matter if he cons yellow or not. if you happen to accidently pull another orc and have low mana, use it up nuking it and then run in and melee while pet regains hp. this orc will also die if you don't screw up completely-don't underestimate your pet.

Nuke the mobs ass off (He's talking about using the Water pet for this, so no root) and then run up to melee so your pet can regain hp.

March 2000

Originally Posted by http://web.archive.org/web/20010911115249/http://eq.castersrealm.com/playguides/VIEW.ASP?ID=854

I find that the water pet(highly under-rated imho) works great in this respect. Unlike fire that has no hp, but big dmg, water has decent hp(second to earth), and does more dmg than earth by alot because of it's spell. Using the water elemental I can take yellow cons with 50% mana. I usually pull, then send pet, then burn down to 20% or so, and start medding. Keep an eye on the pets health though, and if it starts to get whipped on, stand and throw a burn as needed. I normally start fights with 50%, and end with 20 or more, unless the fight goes bad, and I have to burn extra to keep the pet alive.

Burn the skeleton down to 20% and let your pet finish it off while you're sitting and medding. Using the water pet, so no root.
March 2000

Originally Posted by http://web.archive.org/web/20010911122538/http://eq.castersrealm.com/playguides/VIEW.ASP?ID=753

For all you lvl 8 Magicians out there an easy way to get from 8-12 is hunt the Drakes/Earth Eles/Harpies/Rogue Clockworks out in front of the Mino Caves... don't worry about grouping since us Magicians have pets we can do it easily, what you do it use your bolt spell to pull, maybe hit it once or twice as it comes to you, then send your pet and stand back and blast. You might want to make sure you have a good pet (White con or Yellow con at 8.) Great Experience, also useful with Enchanter and Necromancer. Happy Hunting.

I'm really seeing a trend here. Nuke happy mage still = not pulling hate off their pet. Even chain-nuking a mob as it runs up to you and their pets are pulling hate right off them.
March 2000