Guardian MT Guide for others.

[MastikFantastik]

<DIV> <DIV>I can sum this up easily and not make it lengthy. <FONT color=#66ff00> Everyone</FONT> (well not everyone but seems like a large portion) assumes that Guardians get instant agro and that they can go nuts right off the bat with damage or buffs etc... as the mob is comming into the group.  As this is on the Guardian messge board I am not sure many others will see this.  But I have come to learn from grouping with people that know what they are doing,  I rarely lose agro.  The only time I can say that I do if I am stunned or mezzed/sleeping (silence type spells), charmed, etc...  where I can't do anything at all except stand there or attack my own group (charm). </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>So here are some of the things I have learned and I wanted to share so you can let you group mate know what they are doing right or wrong in the case(s). First off forget DPS, etc... if you worry about you doing dmg you are not the MT. Also keep in mind this is more or less for dungeon crawling/raiding, but can be used for reg party hunting. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#3333ff>Scenario1. MT is the puller.</FONT>  </DIV> <DIV>1. Pull the mob(s) with a taunt if you can.  Use you INC button on each pull. you do have one don't you? Yes you have a bow but it does little to really agro the mob(s). Heck use a group hp buff on the inc mobs really hate that. </DIV> <DIV>2. Make sure you are taunting.  It sounds weird but a lot of people stop (so I am told). </DIV> <DIV>3. Call for people to start up the attack. (That means who ever is going to attack to attack) buffs etc can be casted as well. Now this is guardian specific. if there is more than 1 mob and sometimes it helps even if its only 1 use HTL (Hold the line). Yes you are rooted, but it makes it darn challenging for you to lose agro.</DIV> <DIV>4. Jill the mob while the MT is still taunting. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#3333ff>Scenario 2 MT isn't the puller.</FONT> </DIV> <DIV>1. Once mob(s) is inc MT (Guardian in a lot of cases) and isn't to the group yet hit a group buff.  HP is always a good choice to anger mobs. </DIV> <DIV>2. As the mob(s) are in range use your taunts. </DIV> <DIV>3. Taunt until mob(s) are on the proper MT/OTs.</DIV> <DIV>4. Call the attack MT. Use HTL here as well.</DIV> <DIV>5. Kill the mob(s). </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I have found this way there is very few deaths other then the Mob(s). Now forgive me if this post/guide seems a bit obvious, however I have noticed that just because I/We(Guardians) think it's obvious that others will not think it is. Also if you find that certain member(s) are still getting agro then watch what they are doing? Are the waiting for the attack call? Are they trying to take agro by mashing all the high agro moves and taunts?  If that is the case let them know that they shouldn't be, after all you don't want to spend more power taunting the mob then it takes(not that you're being lazy just want the power incase of such things like adds, repops, etc..). If they persist in doing it let them have the agro and see how well they handle it over and over.  If the group/raid wipes, and they try to tell you that you weren't doing your job you can tell them that it wasn't the case and that you warned <insert characters name here> to pay attention to what they were doing, and they didn't.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I'll give you an example of a good group I had the other night, I was in Nek Castle.  The group was made of : <FONT color=#ff0000>36 Guardian (Me),</FONT> <FONT color=#6633ff>36 Zerker,</FONT> <FONT color=#ffff33>34 Monk,</FONT><FONT color=#66ff00> 35 Mystic,</FONT> <FONT color=#66ffcc>31 Warden,</FONT> <FONT color=#ffcccc>37 Swashbukler.</FONT>  </DIV> <DIV>Apart from the Monk and the Mystic I had not grouped with any of the other till then.  I told the group how I wanted things to go down.  Thus the pulling scenario (it was # 1 in this case).  After the first 3 pulls to get peoples feet wet, we didn't stop pulling once that night it was chain pulling all night. The only down time was AFKs, or LD's. Not 1 death that night until Lord Everling when the Warden had logged for Real life reasons, I was the only casulty of that fight and I almost made it through, with only the Mystic healing/warding me with EVERY Mob in that encounter on me. So my example is just so you can tell others that yes it can be done.  (And yes I know most mobs in the castle were blue and green). But I have done similar thing in RE where the Mobs were yellow and Higher.(Not the same group though)</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Hope that this helps out new guardians, and any others that are trolling our boards for guides/ideas. I know myself I am always looking for info on how to improve, and what other people(s) ideas are on how things should take place.  Yes this was the <FONT color=#ff0000>short </FONT>Vesion. </DIV></DIV>

[English Da Gua]

<P>   Well I will add my 2 cents. THIS IS IN TEMRS OF GRINDS NOT RAIDS....</P> <P>  First of all this is not EQ1, I hardly ever use an INC button. Why?? Cuz I know when to pull, what to pull etc. Inc buttons are hardly needed honestly...As the MT and / or puller, you should be aware of what your group can handle and the groups pwr / HP etc, as well as repops around you.</P> <P>   I pull with anchor, it has an amazing range and saves time. It takes a while to run to a mob and taunt you know, and in a grind time = exp.  While the mob(s) are running that distance I can cast a high hate buff (either commanding presence or Braksans). BTW the more a buff does the more hate is produced. CP and BDR add a ton of things to group and RTB as well. Just examine a spell and the more it does the more hate is TYPICALLY produced with it. Vindication, an offensive attack, is a good measuring stick for this.</P> <P>   Calling out an attack..well I guess that is preference. I have never had an issue with aggro though as I usually establish it quick enough that no one takes it with an initial huge attack.</P> <P>   Also, NO ONE, should be casting buffs during a fight unless they want aggro...they have a long duration for a reason. Do this out of battle. If it is some amazing short term buff, then it needs to be done RIGHT b4 pull since intially mobs use alpha skills, or after a while during the fight as you said.</P> <P>   Oh and another thing. If you are the MT and a guardian, you should be pulling. You have entrench / anchor and these are great pulling tools as well as a good damage reducing spell.  Pulling establishes intial aggro as well, which should be what the MT strives for. Now that being said, if you do not know the zone, don't be egocentric, there have been times when I entered a new zone and I asked lots of questions about social aggro, wanderers etc. And, if it was better for the group and there was an expert there, I let him pull if he wished until I learned the ins and outs of the zone.</P><p>Message Edited by English Da Guard on <span class=date_text>03-30-2005</span> <span class=time_text>11:14 AM</span>

[MastikFantastik]

<DIV>Good point on the fact you should know what the group should be able to handle.  However there are some cases (and that more what I was thinking of when I wrote it) that you have never been there, or mob area agro is screwy (ala Nek Castle).  </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>As for the pull tactic nice to see. I am using general terms such as taunt etc... and not specific moves, because I am enteding it for all levels of use. As for the inc button that is not overly useful for single group but can be, as for raiding it really does help because it will make sure people are alert. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>The call for the attack is something that is useful once again more or less for raids. That is for when there is multiple groups of people all chewing their fingers to the bone in atticipation of unleashing fury on a target. That way there is sufficient agro on the MT that others probably won't steal it. </DIV>

[English Da Gua]

 Oh and I totally agree. Like I said that was more or less info for a grind, or group exp where people are typically (you would hope hehe) paying attn. I think that was well written, and obviously the strats that go into a raid vary significantly from a grind. Just wanted to give my 2 cents on a grind since there are prolly more people doing grinds and crawls then raids, for the moment at least =P <p>Message Edited by English Da Guard on <span class=date_text>03-30-2005</span> <span class=time_text>11:22 AM</span>