Is My Squire Supposed To Tank For Me?

[Illyakuran]

<DIV>So I dinged 40 last night, equipped my new armor, scribed my spells, summoned my squire, and rode back towards the docks in EL. While still outside the ward someone goes running by me with a pack of 4 goblins in hot pursuit. So I nuke one of them and engage the Runnyeye Seer. I kill the seer and attack one of the Mercenaries. As I do I see that at least one of the goblins is attacking my squire instead of me. I finish off the second goblin and attack the third one as my squire pops out of existance (well, virtual existance anyways). After a couple of other fights against multiple goblins I noticed that the squire had a health bar and that it was partially depleted so I targeted the squire and triggered a heal spell and healed him/her/it. It could have been damaged by AOE spells or attacks instead of having been directly targeted.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>So is this the normal behavior of our level 40 fun spell?</DIV> <DIV> </DIV>

[Troodon]

All fluff pets, familiars, squires occasioanlly do this.While poking about the Condemed Catacombs, regularly when a wizard would gain aggro his familiar would gain aggro of him, tanking for a while.

[FieryFurnace]

I've noticed the squire will get angry when hit by some AOE power but the squire never actually attacks the mobs. I've also seen my squire die from taking too much AOE damage.

[Troodon]

I imagine that we rarely see the squire tank as we're constantly generating hate. A Mages first reaction to gaining aggro is hopefully to stop generating it, hence the increased probability that their familiar will take aggro off the mage. They do have a limited number of hitpoints and it isnt by any means guarunteed, but in situations where aggro from groups of mobs can hit unexpectedly (the Condemed Catacombs spring to mind), a caster's can be a very handy buffer. Just dont expect to see any Mage trying to solo using their fluff pet to tank, its an occasional life saver rather than a reliable means to avoid aggro. <div></div>