Does delay/attack speed affect aggro retention?

[fastboy21]

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

Doesn't even have to be the afk dude. Ranger tanking in vanilla is decent until the end, but in LGuk & SolB best use of Ranger mana is rooting mob on the warrior to make the rogue do more dps and the cleric not be going oom all the time. Any root is a warrior's bestest friend.

Exactly...which is why the question in this thread (about using a 2h silvery axe vs. Bladed Thulian Claws/Cold Steel Morning star) is moot. The end game discussion is totally removed from the practical question from the OP.

Both of those setups will fail consistently in a mediocre vanilla group. You'd be incomparably better off just asking (politely/diplomatically) for someone to root the mobs.

[Kaa]

Alright, so there's no way to hold aggro as a pre-Planar warrior on Green off DPS.

I have another question, if you'd prefer I start a new thread please let me know. Does proximity to the mob affect aggro? I've never heard it does but some in groups suggest it does. I.e. if the warrior is the closest (in terms of physical proximity) to the mob does this mean more aggro than if further away? I understand that when a mob is rooted it immediately uses its first attack afterward on the nearest player character, but otherwise does proximity to the mob affect aggro?

Thanks.

[fastboy21]

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

Alright, so there's no way to hold aggro as a pre-Planar warrior on Green off DPS.


Thanks.

There is a way, but the options are few with weapons. You need a proc with some aggro on it (pgt, obsidian shard...later ssoy, kisch der whatever from paw, etc.)...haste items will help you a bit also.

Typical strats:
1. Ask for roots (or use a treant staff...yuck)
2. Ask DPSers to hold off until a certain percent before nuking, etc.
3. Timing your swing, taunt, and grps DPS (ideally, you want your taunt to land right BEFORE your next attack and right AFTER someone does the big DPS move like slow, nuke, BS, etc.) If you time it right and you don't have 3 DPSs in your grp you can usually get a full round ahead of them until you miss a few times. Many warriors jam their taunt key the instant the mob turns around...but if you don't have something backing it up you'll just lose aggro again when the rogue drops his next BS even if your taunt succeeded.
4. Sometimes if I'm pulling on my green warrior I will do a few rounds of damage to the mob before bringing it back to grp, just to help the aggro. Body pulling is pretty much a guarentee that you will lose aggro.

The root thing is a pita...but it is honestly by far the most mana efficient way for a war to hold aggro by far. If I'm on my cleric I'd rather spend 30 mana on a root so that all damage gets pushed to the same warrior then have to keep healing a rogue that thinks he is doing a good job by running me oom every mob)

[fastboy21]

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

I have another question, if you'd prefer I start a new thread please let me know. Does proximity to the mob affect aggro? I've never heard it does but some in groups suggest it does. I.e. if the warrior is the closest (in terms of physical proximity) to the mob does this mean more aggro than if further away? I understand that when a mob is rooted it immediately uses its first attack afterward on the nearest player character, but otherwise does proximity to the mob affect aggro?

Thanks.

Not really...when mob is rooted it always attacks the nearest person regardless of the hate list like you said otherwise I don't think this is real issue. Being farther away might give you a second to regain aggro before the mob has time to turn, run and attack the shaman who just slowed him...but thats not exactly what you meant I think.

Sitting does matter (some old school warrs on live used to actually sit to pong the mob back to them --- which can actually work, but its a dumb strat 99% of the time imo).

[Snaggles]

As a rogue on live I always kept max distance. I’m not sure if it actually decreases aggro. What it does do is keep the mob from smearing you when someone is rooting and not explaining the strategy to the team.

So yea, max melee distance if dps. Close melee distance if tank. If caster dps not close but not too far to cause ping-pong chasing all over the zone.

[kaev]

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

As a rogue on live I always kept max distance. I’m not sure if it actually decreases aggro. What it does do is keep the mob from smearing you when someone is rooting and not explaining the strategy to the team.

So yea, max melee distance if dps. Close melee distance if tank. If caster dps not close but not too far to cause ping-pong chasing all over the zone.

On p99 proximity within the mob's melee range matters with root and blind, but seems to matter not at all otherwise. Proximity outside melee range does seem to affect how likely the mob is to take after a caster on its hate list when the caster sits (possibly what matters is whether you are close enough that the mob would agro you if kos and not already engaged, not 100% sure.)

My (possibly faulty) recollection is that proximity within the mob's melee range mattered on live. Everybody except the tank needed to be at max melee distance regardless of root. The effect was not large but it seemed that if your cumulative threat was only a little higher than the tank's the tank could hold agro by standing on top of the mob if you were standing back. Maybe. It's been a lot of years and there is no way to test it now. :shrug:

[Kirdan]

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

Alright, so there's no way to hold aggro as a pre-Planar warrior on Green off DPS.

Sure there is, pick monks for dps. Unlike rogues at this point, monks can shed their agro easily.