Game Mechanics: Taunt Skill

[Nagrak]

Ok, so...

I am not quite sure as too how big of a "bug" this is to be considered, but it is definitely an issue that would be very beneficial if resolved.

So being a tank, a warrior specifically, I am to sustain a sufficient amount of aggro. From level 1 all the way to my current level, I have noticed that I have been able to gain absolutely no aggro from taunt. (yes, my skill is maxed for my level.)

I have done some testing with a fellow warrior friend of mine, who decided to pull a mob, stand there and do nothing, while I stood there and used several taunts. After three to five minutes, I was still unable to gain any hate towards the monster.

The only way I am capable of gaining any hate as a warrior is through pure dps, which makes holding aggro very difficult in a dungeon or open area.

[Jify]

Odd. This may be warrior specific? My ranger is able to pull aggro of casters, tanks, healers, etc with taunt. His is also maxed.

[President]

Ive posted about troubles before, something I noticed again last night.


Level 13 Warrior

Level 10 Enchanter with his lvl 8 pet.

We pulled two bandits, I off tanked one while the pets killed the other. I had the one I was offtanking down to about 50% with a little help from a shaman when the pets killed the other bandit and went to mine. Enchanter pet pulled it off me in about 3 seconds.

[Feittin]

I looked at the code on project eq svn for Taunt while I was looking into Endurance today, and learned a few things. This is only relevant if p1999 hasn't modified the Taunt logic from what was on project eq. I am playing a warrior I find that sometimes I can taunt mobs off others, and sometimes I cannot. So I am not sure if I am seeing the exact same results as you.

Here are the elements I looked into that make up taunt:

1. Hate Added From Attacking - Every attack adds hate even if the attack misses, is blocked, etc. The hate added is according to the the maximum weapon damage. This also includes DW and DA, so if you do two attacks, then your hate is bumped up two times that round according to weapon damage.

2. Taunt Skill - Taunt performs different logic depending on key conditions:

Move to Top of Hate List
Conditions:
A. Not already at top of hate list
B. Targeted mob is not at 20% hp or below
C. Mob's level is less than your level

If conditions A, B, and C above are all met, then there is a probability that you will move directly to the top of the hate list. This probability increases depending on the level difference between you and the mob.

int level_difference = level - who->GetLevel();
if (level_difference <= 5) {
        tauntchance = 25.0;     // minimum
        tauntchance += tauntchance * (float)GetSkill(TAUNT) / 200.0;    // skill modifier
        if (tauntchance > 65.0)
                tauntchance = 65.0;
}
else if (level_difference <= 10) {
        tauntchance = 30.0;     // minimum
        tauntchance += tauntchance * (float)GetSkill(TAUNT) / 200.0;    // skill modifier
        if (tauntchance > 85.0)
                tauntchance = 85.0;
}
else if (level_difference <= 15) {
        tauntchance = 40.0;     // minimum
        tauntchance += tauntchance * (float)GetSkill(TAUNT) / 200.0;    // skill modifier
        if (tauntchance > 90.0)
                tauntchance = 90.0;
}
else {
        tauntchance = 50.0;     // minimum
        tauntchance += tauntchance * (float)GetSkill(TAUNT) / 200.0;    // skill modifier
        if (tauntchance > 95.0)
                tauntchance = 95.0;
}

Add Hate
Regardless of whether the conditions to move to the top of the hate list above are met or not, an additional amount of hate is always randomly added for yourself when you use Taunt. This is a random value multiplied by your level.

who->CastToNPC()->AddToHateList(this, (MakeRandomInt(5, 10)*level));

So basically it means that warriors should always press taunt whenever it is available to add hate, especially when you are fighting even con mobs or higher. It also means that when fighting blue or green cons, there is a chance that no matter how much hate others have registered if you walk up and taunt the mob you will immediate be at the top of the hate list. For even and higher mobs...just keeping on spamming. Can anyone confirm p1999 source for taunt is similar to this one?

I should add that the above is just considering hate generation from the warrior. For the full picture we would have to look at how hate is generated for casters and how mobs react to their hate list, since there could be something that is causing the hate to not work as expected in those areas.

[scumbag]

I think Nagrak's test shows that it's not working like the code in the default eqemu. I've definitely noticed my threat generation sucks even though I'm somewhat twinked out. I'll do some of my own tests later when the server is back up to verify.
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[Shin Noir]

Scumbag, what level are you?
His conditions and formulas essentially say this: As you gain dual wield, double attack, and have a higher base level, your taunt skill will increase not just by the skill number, but by raw power too.
As a newbie, it will be unreliable, because the formula makes it better as you level. When lower levels your best bet is to kill blues and even con for more reliable taunt, but even then it isn't the most stellar. Once you get higher, it will be better.

In my memories Warrior taunt always sucked until they got proc weapons in olden days. SK and Pally had superior aggro (spell generated taunt) for the longest time, we just couldn't tank as well so it was a trade off, especially lack of disc defensive.

[scumbag]

My warrior is level 23 and I am dual wielding:
Main hand: silvery war axe
Off hand: minataur axe

[emubird]

I would not base any conclusions on pet taunts, versus character taunts.

Pets in Project 99 are superpets, and do not seem at all in line with what they would have been in early classic, at least. Pet taunt, in particular, is much overdone.

I have not noticed any problems in groups with warrior taunt, specifically. Melee taunting seems to work, or at least it generally keeps hate away from our healers and casters. Players in our groups do not usually overdo things, however, to generate massive hate.

I wonder if some players are expecting their melee characters to behave as they did after taunt and hate changes had been introduced with the PoP expansion. After PoP, it was pretty hard for casters to pull hate off a taunting tank unless they seriously tried to do so. In classic, it was different.

[Jify]

Sorry.. I'm going to nit-pick this. Not trying to hijack! <3

Pets in Project 99 are superpets, and do not seem at all in line with what they would have been in early classic, at least. Pet taunt, in particular, is much overdone.

Ahem. Pets are bugged, they do not duel wield, only double attack. They have NO TAUNT. It's useless, only thing that keeps agro is pet stun + DD. I've pulled agro at 60% casting a lvl 4 DD (at lvl 29!). This makes it particularly difficult to play pet cleric (but generally, the pet casts enough DDs to get agro). Duel Wield is the big one, pets are doing 50% of the damage they should be lvl 29 and up.

<3

[Shin Noir]

Originally Posted by Jify [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

They have NO TAUNT. It's useless

I disagree. "Taunting attacking, master". That's taunt. and it works.