In Everquest mobs are semi intelligent in combat and do not merely respond to “Hate”.
Hate meaning Threat + Damage + Healing = Hate (how most MMOs now a days work, WOW, EQ2, FF14)
They factor in things like Faction, Distance, Damage Done, Implied Damage Done, Healing Done, CC Attempts, CC Lands, etc.
Faction - What the mob thinks of you, discussed below under Social Aggro Section.
Distance - How far you are from the mob, discussed below in Proximity Aggro Section.
Damage Done - This is raw damage, be it from Melee or Spells.
Implied Damage Done - This is how much you can potentially hit for. A 2 hander that can potentially hit a mob for 200 damage but misses, generates more hate than a 2 hander that can potentially hit a mob for 100 damage but misses.
Healing Done - This is raw healing from spells / potions.
CC Attempts - This is your attempt at slowing, mezzing, stunning, rooting, etc regardless of if it lands or is resisted, it generates hate.
CC Lands - This is your successful slowing, mezzing, stunning, rooting, etc.
There are 3 types Aggro you can have when you are fighting any mob in Everquest:
- Social Aggro - “I don’t like the way this guy looks, I’mma eat him”
Social Aggro is triggered merely from your faction standing with a mob, Assuming another player doesn’t have hard aggro on that mob Faction standing being:
- Scowls at you ready to attack - Biggest aggro range from faction multiplied by the mobs con color to you. Red mobs get a higher multiplier than green mobs, gray mobs in most situations will ignore you entirely unless they are scripted to not care about their own well being.
- Glares at you threateningly - Lowest aggro range from faction multiplied by the mobs con to you. Same rules apply with con, but there is a much lower base aggro range for this faction level.
- Glowers at you dubiously - Not KOS, does not apply here and is the bubble of the KOS line.
- Proximity Aggro - “This A hole is really close to me and I’m kind of lazy and tired and don’t want to walk... I hate him so I’mma smack him”.
Proximity Aggro is generated by your distance from the mob. There are various distance “rings” that exist for a mob. Based on how high you are up on the aggro list, you may be able to “pull aggro” off of the tank that lost aggro to a giant nuke or a chanter pet going crazy, if he simply is not close enough.
This mechanic allows melee classes to “joust aggro” on a mob they pulled hard aggro on.
This mechanic also makes it impossible for a tank to easily pull a mob out of a group of people once it goes loose into them, even if he has hard aggro in the pile.
- Hard Aggro - “This guy is the biggest A hole here and is close to me so I’ll smack him”
Hard Aggro is your typical MMO hate mechanic (Damage Done + Implied Damage Done + Healing Done + CC Attempts + CC Lands + whatever other minor mechanics exist that generate hate = Hate)
Is MT Hate > Your Hate?
Yes? = Tank has aggro
No? = Based on how far you are from the mob and how much more your Hate is than the MT, you may have a mob beating on you.
What the no means in this situation is, Melee classes have a harder time with not pulling aggro for various reasons due merely to distance (although belly casters evens the playing field a bit on this). Melee classes are in melee range, thus they are max possible Hate from the Proximity Aggro mechanic which means they need to know what to do because they are literally only competing for Hate with Hard Aggro. Casters / Healers could also overly piss off a mob, well beyond the MT’s Hate level and not only pull aggro, but totally ruin the position of the mob. But do not worry, there are things you can do if you pay attention and react properly.
I’m a Tank or a Melee DPS and I pulled aggro off the MT… What do I do?
Well what is really cool about Everquest is that tanks have a “rescue” ability on a very short recast timer.
What this means is that pending a successful taunt, whoever lands the taunt will jump to the top of the aggro list +
2% above whatever that Hate value was. So let’s assume the Hate generated was an arbitrary number of 1000 hate. A successful taunt would put the caster (hopefully the MT) at 1020 Hate instantly, even if they were only at 600 or 700 Hate prior to taunt landing.
(For Tanks Only)
What this also means is that tanks can artificially ramp aggro off of each other in
2% increments if it is done correctly. This should only ever be done early on in the fight and only if it is coordinated or you could ruin the CH rotation and wipe the raid. If you don’t know if you should be taunting, do not taunt. The only other time you should ever press taunt without thought as a tank that is not MT, is if the mob is loose in the raid. Besides that, stay away from this button.
(For Tanks Only)
Now that I got taunt mechanics out of the way, what do you do when you pulled aggro as a tank or a melee DPS?
Well assuming you did not want the aggro (you were not saving someone squishy from dying or ramping Hate for the MT) You should simply back up 4 steps (this could be more based on how big the mob is, but just target the mob and watch him) to put yourself out of Proximity Aggro and allow the MT a few seconds to pass you on the hate list and establish more Hard Aggro than you have.
If you have backed up 4 steps and the mob moves with you, you are well beyond the MT with Hard Aggro and now can drag the mob around, drag it back to where it should be and wait a few seconds and try again. NEVER back up into the casters / healers when doing this, or you could move the mob and then lose it to proximity aggro of a caster and wipe the raid or at the very least ruin positioning.
I’m an Enchanter with a charmed pet and I pulled aggro off the MT… What do I do?
As an enchanter, your charmed pets will be doing upwards of 4 to 5x raw damage / implied damage over anyone else in the raid. On trash mobs this doesn’t matter too much, your pet will just tank and the MT can use your pet’s aggro ramp to his advantage to build Hate way over what a normal PC player can ever generate.
If you are fighting a boss though, depending on if it has the mighty buff on it, YOU will be tanking. A good enchanter knows its pets limits and is watching aggro constantly. A good MT is constantly watching for aggro changes and is timing taunt to be instant cast on the second that aggro is switched to take that aggro over and maintain position, heal priority and keep everyone safe. If you back your pet off as soon as you notice your pet’s Hard Aggro has surpassed the tank by enough to rip aggro away and make the mob come to you, you can generally avoid taking any damage because the MT will have either hit it for a bit of damage, procced a weapon or successfully taunted. In this case, wait a few seconds and send the pet back in and just watch carefully for aggro for a bit.
If the mob actually makes it to you, do not just stand still. Unlike other MMOs, we have Proximity Aggro. If you are standing in range of the mob, the tank has to actually BEAT you and your pet for Hate before it will switch back to the MT, if you back up slowly (1 - 2 steps at a time and watch the mob’s target) you can take far less damage, or maybe even no damage and get the mob back on the MT.
I’m a Ranged DPS and I pulled aggro off the MT… What do I do?
Similarly to an Enchanter with a pet… any Ranged DPS (caster or a ranger that is not eating DT’s and wants to pew pew) you should not have a problem unless you generate so much Hard Aggro that you rip the mob away from the MT… but if you do, practice the same method as above and slowly back up 2 steps at a time and watch for an aggro switch. You should never run around in large circles trying to live. You may run out of range of spot heals or drop Proximity Aggro on someone else and not the MT and get them killed. Slow steps are how you transfer aggro back safely.
I’m a Healer and I pulled aggro off the MT… What do I do?
I’m not really sure how you pulled aggro off the MT but maybe the tank got hit for 90% of his health, got stunned so couldn’t provoke or auto attack and you CHed before he swung a single weapon. In this case the pull is probably pretty messed up so you need to practice the above steps of slowly backing away until you are out of range enough for the MT to get the Hate back and then continue to back away to give him space to pull the mob back to the proper tank spot.
FOR EVERYONE
If a mob is ever loose in a raid next to you and the MT is there picking up aggro. As soon as you see he / she has aggro back, slowly back up 5 - 10 steps to allow him to pull the mob back to the proper position. This applies to Tanks, Healers, DPS both melee and ranged
The MT would have to sit in the group for 45 seconds building uncontested hate to reliably pull the mob out of the Proximity Aggro range… or you could all back up 5 - 10 steps and let him easily just walk back to the correct spot AND the mob will follow without question.
