Wah, I don't get the aggro-lock mechanism, someone please explain with pictures

[transtemporal]

So I'm at Sorjek and we let the TWF guy bash away at him for a bit to get aggro-lock, then the melees jump on his back and I drop firewalls until I get a crit for something like 300-400 a tick. Sorjeks aggro doesn't move from the TWF guy, which is good.

Thing is, I doubt hes doing more damage in a single swing than my firewall (even with minII khopeshes) and generally speaking its been my observation that the toon with the highest damage gets the aggro, so what gives? Is it highest damage over a given period? Or does the threshold at which mobs change aggro become higher the longer one toon is hurting the mob?

:confused:

[macros123]

I am guessing you do not have a TWF with min II weapons then. The fighter should be able to do as much or more than 300 damagebetween the ticks of your firewall. The firewall only hits once every 2 seconds, roughly, and a hasted TWF gets 5 or 6 swings in during that time (someone out there will know just how many for sure, I'm certain)

In the case where his damage is too close to that of the firewall, the extra time he was left alone will help to buffer the difference.

[Strakeln]

Yeah if you want the agro you gotta add more firepower.

[kinar]

adding a 2nd firewall on his face helps...assuming you WANT to pull agro

[Goldeneye]

I imagine that a geared out twf w/ min II khopeshs could match the damage on a crit firewall - seems shocking but plausible

on the topic, can anyone explain how the firewall-on-the-head method is effective?

[kinar]

sorjek has a tall enough bounding box that he is essentially 2 firewalls tall. So put one on his feet and one on his face and double the damage

[Strakeln]

I imagine that a geared out twf w/ min II khopeshs could match the damage on a crit firewall - seems shocking but plausible

on the topic, can anyone explain how the firewall-on-the-head method is effective?It allows for more firewalls to hurt him at the same time.

[baddax]

i find this thread funny in so many ways!!
good job guys keep up the good work!

[macros123]

i find this thread funny in so many ways!!
good job guys keep up the good work!

Can't ask for help or understanding in this game without some troll being rude. Glad we could entertain.

[Goldeneye]

sorjek has a tall enough bounding box that he is essentially 2 firewalls tall. So put one on his feet and one on his face and double the damage

oh really? that's exactly what I was looking for - interesting

[transtemporal]

I am guessing you do not have a TWF with min II weapons then. The fighter should be able to do as much or more than 300 damagebetween the ticks of your firewall. The firewall only hits once every 2 seconds, roughly, and a hasted TWF gets 5 or 6 swings in during that time (someone out there will know just how many for sure, I'm certain)

In the case where his damage is too close to that of the firewall, the extra time he was left alone will help to buffer the difference.

Whoops, forgot to post this yesterday. :)

Not sure I understand the first part martella. Sorjeks aggro didn't switch, which is why I thought the guy had minIIs (or at least tierIs from the looks of them).

OK, if I understand the second part correctly:
1) aggro is calculated from the TOTAL damage caused over a certain time period (rather than the single highest number); and
2) the longer a single toon is on the mob, the higher the damage another toon would have to do to pull aggro off?

This kinda gels with what I've observed. Do you know how many seconds that aggro is calculated over?

[Noctus]

OK, if I understand the second part correctly:
1) aggro is calculated from the TOTAL damage caused over a certain time period (rather than the single highest number); and
2) the longer a single toon is on the mob, the higher the damage another toon would have to do to pull aggro off?


Correct.



P.S.:

"certain time period " = since ever.
There is no cut to like "only the last 10 secs count".

[binnsr]

You also have to take into account things like Subtle SpellCasting, WF Brute Fighting, Subtle Backstabbing and all the other means of increasing/decreasing hate that the game has .. I know I'm missing a couple, but those are the ones that I can think of off the top of my head that affect agro directly.
Intimidate is supposed to override all of those on a successful check, but I've seen some oddities lately around paladins and warforged when intimidating -- especially raid bosses.

[Ghoste]

adding a 2nd firewall on his face helps...assuming you WANT to pull agro
Except that firewalls don't stack anymore.

[transtemporal]

i find this thread funny in so many ways!!
good job guys keep up the good work!

Yeah yeah, clever guy. I admit that I played the game for 1 1/2 years before I made a melee. Even then I didn't begin endgame raiding til 6 months ago. Before that, mobs never lasted long enough for the aggro lock mechanism to be noticeable, lol.

[transtemporal]

Except that firewalls don't stack anymore.

No they don't, but in sorjek's case you can drop one at his feet and one on his head, and they both tick away nicely. Although come to think of it, I've never bothered to check my logs to make sure both are applied. Might have to do that.

[transtemporal]

Correct.

P.S.: "certain time period " = since ever.
There is no cut to like "only the last 10 secs count".

Cheers dude. I guess that makes sense. I have wondered why hitting harry with 750+ polar rays doesn't seem to draw aggro off the tanks.

Thanks to all for helping this aggro noob (except you baddax you're fired :D).

[moonprophet]

...you need a caster, or to worry about agro management fighting sorjek in SOS, I don't often say this but, .....reroll. Sorjek is pretty easily tanked. I've taken him out with a pug group with no sorc, and 1 cleric that did not have to resort to scrolls or pots for healing. As long as everyone breaks off and gets the memphits in a timely manner, you don't need to play any of the cheap agro games. Try it. You might be surprised.

[transtemporal]

...you need a caster, or to worry about agro management fighting sorjek in SOS, I don't often say this but, .....reroll. Sorjek is pretty easily tanked. I've taken him out with a pug group with no sorc, and 1 cleric that did not have to resort to scrolls or pots for healing. As long as everyone breaks off and gets the memphits in a timely manner, you don't need to play any of the cheap agro games. Try it. You might be surprised.

Hmmm, thats strange. I don't recall saying "OMG, I can't beat sorjek without a caster". This thread was about aggro-lock genius, so how's about going back to whatever bridge you came from? Cheers.

[macros123]

Hmmm, thats strange. I don't recall saying "OMG, I can't beat sorjek without a caster". This thread was about aggro-lock genius, so how's about going back to whatever bridge you came from? Cheers.


lol, well said. He was only using the SoS quest fight as an example for his question, man. Not looking for battle tactics.