Pet not holding agro on AOE encounters

[toofy]

I am a level 25 necro using the Undying Adherent (adept 1) pet w/ the master II defense buff.  I have noticed since leveling from 23 and using the Tellurian Recruit (adept1) thru level 25 that this pet doesnt seem to hold aoe agro very well.  When fighting beetles (level 23 3VVV arrows) in TS I pull agro with one cast of seism (ad1) even if I wait for the pet to solo one of the beetles.  I didnt seem to have to wait so long when using the TR pet.  Does anyone have any advice on the best way to fight groups of mobs? Thanks, Stealen <div></div>

[Tharangus]

<DIV>Be careful with Seism.  This is spell will effect targets outside of the encounter, which is why you probably drew aggro.</DIV>

[Xalmat]

Correct, Seism is a Point-Blank AoE spell. It will hit <I>every</I> target near you, including ones you aren't currently fighting.

[Azha]

That or the zombie is just terrible at holding aggro on a group, which seems to be what I'm seeing.My suggestion: Micromanage your zombie. Have it attack each of the members of the group individually before you seism.

[Zyle]

<div></div>I also noticed that Undying Adherent does not hold AE aggro as well as Tellurian Recruit.  But notice also, that UA does have different abilities than TR.   I beleive this is by design and, of course, a different strategy is needed.   I just find that if I give my pet a little more time before I engage does the trick.  I pretty much stopped using seism unless I am killing easier mobs.  It is just not as beneficial as it was in earlier levels.   IMHO. Also be care of swarm of rats.  Trying to use them to off tank can have disasterous aggro effects; even on periphereal encounter mobs.  I tend to send UA in, let him gain aggro of the encounter, send in rats, have UA switch targets, assist UA.   The rats tend to make quick work of the initial mob with no ill aggro effect on me, and the UA tends to hold aggro on the rest,  At 25 I can easily and repeatedly solo  20^^^ Heroic Singles and 18^^^ Heroic Groups with this strategy.   I am sure there are other ways, this is just mine and the overall aggro rarely causes me trouble. Frehl <div></div><p>Message Edited by Zyle on <span class=date_text>10-19-2005</span> <span class=time_text>10:43 AM</span>

[Tharangus]

<DIV>My experience with TR post LU13 is non-existent, so I cannot really comment much on its abilities in its current form.  Pre-LU13, I had to use the micromanagement strategy of hitting everything until I got Boon of the Lifeless.  Spamming that to keep ol' Stitchy in the hate queue was very power intensive and I am glad that they changed that.  It took a little bit of trial and error on my part to find the hate threshold myself.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Here is something that you should keep in mind for encounter AoE's.  This is something that I ran into with my rotting thrall in the Feerrott (might be an issue in other zones, don't know).  The grouped encounters there tend to spread out all over the place.  It usually takes a few seconds for all them to gather together from the initial hit.  If I fire off locust swarm BEFORE they all get within range of my RT, guess what?  They will go after me.</DIV>

[toofy]

I am aware of the pbaoe effects of seism and I was just refering to the mobs in the encounter. 2 other oddities I have noticed when using pets: 1. I can send the pet into a group of 5 (encounter) and 4 of the mobs will head straight for me without casting anything. The pet  will get agro eventually but it usually takes a few seconds. 2. When I use seism on an encounter, once my pet kills its current target it runs back behind me with protect me and protect itself turned off.  Almost like I had agro'd my own pet with a pbaoe spell.  Very annyoing. Thanks for the feedback. <div></div>

[Anganos]

<P>I dont know what your guys fuss is about, but my pet can hold multiple encounters just fine thank you!</P> <P><IMG src="http://eq2images.station.sony.com/000/000/901/499.jpg"></P>

[Tharangus]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> toofy wrote:<BR>I am aware of the pbaoe effects of seism and I was just refering to the mobs in the encounter. <BR><BR>2 other oddities I have noticed when using pets:<BR><BR>1. I can send the pet into a group of 5 (encounter) and 4 of the mobs will head straight for me without casting anything. The pet  will get agro eventually but it usually takes a few seconds.<BR><BR>2. When I use seism on an encounter, once my pet kills its current target it runs back behind me with protect me and protect itself turned off.  Almost like I had agro'd my own pet with a pbaoe spell.  Very annyoing.<BR><BR>Thanks for the feedback.<BR><BR><BR> <BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE><BR> <DIV>1.  Always happened pre-13.  Post-13, haven't seen it at all.</DIV> <DIV>2.  Let me re-read that... yeah... you said protect me and protect itself off.  Isn't it doing exactly what you told it to do?  I can understand that being a problem if you had both of those turned on... but that sounds like the expected behavior when those are turned off.  So, unless you meant something else that sounds about right.  Now, on that note, I have seen my rotting thrall reposition itself after killing one but I have yet to consistently reproduce this behavior or figure out exactly why it does that.</DIV>

[Twisti2]

I have experience the same on some occasions.  I send pet in to a group of 5 mobs and 4 come straight after me.  I am guessing its because taunt was resisted?  But even then, why do they not keep attacking the pet cos its the only one with hate at that time? Will try and do some experiements tonight to see if i can replicate the problem. Not sure about the seism issue.  My pet does strange things sometimes, but I don't know if it has done that before. <div></div>

[Rhannnn]

<DIV>I'm (at lvl25) experiencing exactly the same thing. In multiple encounters (2 out 3 fights) serveral of the mobs come towards me just after i've send my pet in. I'm using an adept3 pet and have defence (at M2) on him. Even with solo encounter it happens once in a while.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>For sure this didnt happen with my level 10 pet (also on adept3)</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Has something been changed ?</DIV> <DIV> </DIV>

[Goodwill]

<div></div>I have the same problems as you <a target="top" href="../view_profile?user.id=22537"><span>toofy</span></a>.... 100 %<div></div>

[Traigus]

The pets have a ranged attack now.  if you send in pet at range i'tt whomp 1 from far away (the rest will come for you) then the pet will taunt them off. If you are too far from pet, or if there are LOS issues between pet and some mobs, the AOE taunt will not grab them. Pet pulling from very far away can lead to splitting mob groups a lot of the time. Sending pet in from close to mobs works ok. I've had best results by pulling mobs to me (I tend to use snare or a root). Once I am hit, pet will lead off with taunt attack because he is too close to ranged attack the mobs.  I had UA for 2 levels after the CC before I leveled up to RT levels.  (both adept I). Didn't have aggro problems as long as I made sure all enemies were close enough to pet to be taunted when it runs in (after its first ranged attack). -T <div></div>

[Uanelven]

<div></div>I dunno I'm reading all these posts and nodding but imo it is working well.   If I'm thinking about what I'm doing then my zombie holds agro like a champ on everything.    If I am wreckless and ae straight off then I would expect some attention tbh.    Even then it is pretty fast for the zombie to taunt them off me.   The bit about distance I think is important, just as its important with a real tank. Honestly,  I don't think there is much to complain about these days as far as agro is concerned. <div></div><p>Message Edited by Uanelven on <span class=date_text>10-20-2005</span> <span class=time_text>03:46 AM</span>

[Catodon]

I haven't fooled around with the tier 2 and 3 pets and Protective Brace a whole lot since the revamp, but based on my limited experience, I suspect the regenerating ward component of Protective Brace is giving aggro to you rather than the pet, much like the problems with regenerating wards that  certain shaman buffs have.  If the pet takes hits before it lands its taunt or big attacks, then the aggro gets transfered to you and you can have the whole encounter on you from the start. Once you get Grisly Brace (lvl 28 iirc) you'll be fine, as the ward is replaced by a reactive lifetap that holds aggro on the pet wonderfully. Until then.... you might try splitting the encounter by rooting mob A, using fear or snare on mob B, sending pet against mob C, and then burning down B while pet kills C, and killing A at your leisure.  Nice thing about this kind of approach is you can use the grim pet in offensive stance for much faster killing since you don't have the whole encounter beating on it. <div></div>

[toofy]

Thanks for all of the advice. I used said advice by adjusting my a tactics by sicking the pet on each member of the encounter before casting any aoe's.  I also used root and fear in situations were the pet was taking too much damage or agro was transfered to me before pet could taunt.  Things ran much smoother. I still think that there is a bug somewhere between pbaoe's andor pet agro vs encounter.  Maybe it is the ward, but I am glad to hear I only have to deal with it until level 28. Thanks again. <div></div>

[Rhannnn]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> toofy wrote:<BR> Maybe it is the ward, but I am glad to hear I only have to deal with it until level 28. <BR><BR> <BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE><BR> <DIV>Well said. Just my thought too <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></DIV>