Singular Focus

[brassmonkeyc738]

I'm fairly new to EQ2 and I started a monk recently.  I noticed early on when I hit mobs with a shuriken or just about any attack I occasionally get an AOE effect that I hadn't intended.  Early on its not such a big deal, but I took the monk into the Rumbler Caves in Thundering Steppes and was overwhelmed several times by adds that shouldn't have been agro'd.  I've had singular focus on at all times.  I thought singular focus was supposed to prevent unwanted AOE attacks.  What am I doing wrong?  Do I need to bug this?  Or is this intended?

[Silzin]

you have probably spent points in Crane Twirl. this is where the 20% AoE auto is coming from, it also have a blue aoe proc on attack. so if there are things around you dont want to agro just turn this ability off. you dont need Singular Focus to do that at this level.

[brassmonkeyc738]

Thanks for the response.  I checked out that AA and it does appear to be the same effect that I see happening, but I'm 99% sure I haven't put any points into that AA yet (can't check at the moment, but I carefully checked the AA's I have last night). I've only put points into the first column.  So just in case I'm wrong, how would I go about turning this ability off?  Is it a buff?  If its just another attack, then I know I don't have that ability as I've never used it.

And just an FYI, I seem to remember this happening from very early on (maybe level 10) before I had spent any AA points.  It would happen about 20% of the time when I threw a shuriken at anything.  I've had times where the effect agro'd up to 8 nearby mobs that were not normally agro.  It made the game interesting at that point, but now not so much now.

[denomad]

Could just be social aggro even though the adds are not part of the encounter.

[brassmonkeyc738]

denomad wrote:

Could just be social aggro even though the adds are not part of the encounter.

I'm positive that's not the problem.  When I first started noticing it, I was getting agro from non-agro mobs in an early starter zone.  It's most evident when I throw a shuriken at a mob.  About 20% of the time I'll see the mob get knocked back and stunned for a second.  If there are any mobs in the area, they appear to get knocked back and stunned at the same time.  Sometimes these adds are out of range and they still get hit with the effect.  The other 80% of the time when the mob isn't knocked back or stunned, I get no adds.

Any way, I went back and looked at my AA's and gear.  I have a weapon that has the effect of knockback and stun on it.  I can't remember if I had a weapon with that effect on it at level 10, but its possible.  But I don't have any abilities that I can find that that give me a chance for an AOE attack like that.  And even if that was the case, shouldn't Singular Focus prevent this from happening?  I bugged this in game, but I've never bugged anything before so I wasn't sure if I gave them enough info to help.  Should I open a ticket up?

I enjoy playing the monk, but not being able to control AOE's is a deal breaker for me.  I'm hoping its just something stupid I'm doing that's easily fixable (wouldn't be the first time).

[Silzin]

brassmonkeyc738 wrote:

denomad wrote:

Could just be social aggro even though the adds are not part of the encounter.

I'm positive that's not the problem.  When I first started noticing it, I was getting agro from non-agro mobs in an early starter zone.  It's most evident when I throw a shuriken at a mob.  About 20% of the time I'll see the mob get knocked back and stunned for a second.  If there are any mobs in the area, they appear to get knocked back and stunned at the same time.  Sometimes these adds are out of range and they still get hit with the effect.  The other 80% of the time when the mob isn't knocked back or stunned, I get no adds.

Any way, I went back and looked at my AA's and gear.  I have a weapon that has the effect of knockback and stun on it.  I can't remember if I had a weapon with that effect on it at level 10, but its possible.  But I don't have any abilities that I can find that that give me a chance for an AOE attack like that.  And even if that was the case, shouldn't Singular Focus prevent this from happening?  I bugged this in game, but I've never bugged anything before so I wasn't sure if I gave them enough info to help.  Should I open a ticket up?

I enjoy playing the monk, but not being able to control AOE's is a deal breaker for me.  I'm hoping its just something stupid I'm doing that's easily fixable (wouldn't be the first time).

It sounds like an item proc if anything.  Monks are very Single target untill the very end game when we get 3 AoE attacks.  we also get 1 blue aoe proc but you said you dont have it.  Singular Focus only stoppes you from using your AOE auto, but proc's or other green/blue attackes.

[brassmonkeyc738]

Silzin@Crushbone wrote:

It sounds like an item proc if anything.  Monks are very Single target untill the very end game when we get 3 AoE attacks.  we also get 1 blue aoe proc but you said you dont have it.  Singular Focus only stoppes you from using your AOE auto, but proc's or other green/blue attackes.

The monk is now level 25.  My current weapon with the proc is Calamitous Bo Staff of Authority http://eq2.zam.com/db/item.html?eq2...c3.   That's pretty much it for gear with any special effects.  What's starting to bother me is that nobody else has run across this problem before.  I guess I can put the Bo Staff away and use normal weapons to see if this stops.  If that works, then I can keep playing the monk and bug the issue as I'll have more info to work with.  I hope that turns out to be the problem as I'm not sure what else to do.

[Silzin]

Ya the weapon has a blue AoE proc. In the proc where it said "Inflicts XX-YY damage to targets in Area of Effect". the Area of Effect part of that means its a Blue AE not an encounter AE.

[brassmonkeyc738]

Silzin@Crushbone wrote:

Ya the weapon has a blue AoE proc. In the proc where it said "Inflicts XX-YY damage to targets in Area of Effect". the Area of Effect part of that means its a Blue AE not an encounter AE.

I never saw "area of effect" in the description.  The description on the weapon says "Inflicts 74 - 82 health heat damage on target".  Where do I find the description that says Area of Effect?  That might help if I run across something like that later on.

Here's the full description I was looking at:

• When Equipped: [Sundering Smash II]
  • onAnyHitTriggerOnce this spell has a 10% chance to cast Sundering Smash II
  • Inflicts 74 - 82 health heat damage on target
  • This spell can not be modified except by direct means

[brassmonkeyc738]

Never mind.  So in game, the description on the weapon itself doesn't say "area of effect".  The desciption on the ZAM website doesn't say "area of effect".  But I just checked my character on EQII Players website and I saw "Inflicts 74 - 82 heat damage on targets in Area of Effect".  So that should explain everything.  If I don't want unwanted aggro just switch out weapons beforehand.  So I guess this is intended?

So my next question (probably belongs in the newbie section), as a long time EQ monk/rogue, I could change out weapons in combat.  Does EQ2 allow changing weapons while in combat?

[Silzin]

Yes, it is easy to do. go to the ... O botten, not sure what menu it is off hand. open a macro butten and drag your 2 weapons in to it. make sure that one is set to Primary and one is set to Secondary. You can do this with other equipment slots, but the only slot of can change in combat is weapons and ranged.

O, Edit:  Make sure you drag the new macro to a hot bate some where.

[brassmonkeyc738]

Silzin@Crushbone wrote:

Yes, it is easy to do. go to the ... O botten, not sure what menu it is off hand. open a macro butten and drag your 2 weapons in to it. make sure that one is set to Primary and one is set to Secondary. You can do this with other equipment slots, but the only slot of can change in combat is weapons and ranged.

O, Edit:  Make sure you drag the new macro to a hot bate some where.

Thanks.  I appreciate all the help.  I pride myself on figuring things out on my own, but this one had me stumped.  I guess I'll have to start looking for the fine print on procs before I make new weapons.

[Luhai]

You can switch primary, secondary and ranged items in combat.

If you're going to try this in combat please remember that there is a 2 second delay before you can switch in/out another piece of equipment.

[Shredderr]

brassmonkeyc738 wrote:

Never mind.  So in game, the description on the weapon itself doesn't say "area of effect".  The desciption on the ZAM website doesn't say "area of effect".  But I just checked my character on EQII Players website and I saw "Inflicts 74 - 82 heat damage on targets in Area of Effect".  So that should explain everything.  If I don't want unwanted aggro just switch out weapons beforehand.  So I guess this is intended?

So my next question (probably belongs in the newbie section), as a long time EQ monk/rogue, I could change out weapons in combat.  Does EQ2 allow changing weapons while in combat?

not sure if you are on naggy but when we click the pvp tab the effects change how they are read... maybe that could be an issue