Ok, I've looked and looked, and I just can't seem to find a decent answer. But it seems like a 50/50 chance that when you're fighting one of these guys, that at random, the tank (usually me) just drops. No warning, no text explaining what happened, nothing. Can be near full health, and just drops. The only thing to go buy is the damage, but it's still only in the normal range (3.4k or so). It's happened to me about a half-dozen times now. This is just beyond frustrating. So I'm coming here to ask for advice on this. Is there any way to prevent this from happening? Are these actual "death touches"? What's the strategy used by most to avoid this turning into a tragic end (wipe or evac)? I love this game, and I've been having a wonderful time since returning about a week ago. But this stuff is just nerve wracking. There's gotta be a way to avoid it or something.
Which mobs are you experiencing this with? I've got the Hunter achievement in the House and Grounds, and I've never noticed such a thing.
I'll have to look them up. Most recent one was the PH for "Raze". Called "a mangy rotdog". The other night, it happened quite a bit down in the dungeons on the lower floors. It's also happened with the named dogs out in the yard as well.
You said you have been back a week - what lvl are you & are you still wearing equipment from when you left - some Names hit really hard now and flurry & quad - if you listed how much HP you have it might help Talar
At the moment, the character in question is 87, with 45k hp. I've been working on upgrading his gear the best I can with HoT stuff. The majority of the problems happened though when he was a fresh 85 having just completed the J5 merc quest. If it's my knowledge that you're curious about, I've played EQ since 1999, but I've been gone a LONG time. My knowledge at this point is pretty much just basic, since so much has changed. Yes, the 85's are overwhelming, but we are making due. I think I've discovered what might have happened. See, we set the roles for the group, which makes the healer merc wait until the puller is back with the pull before throwing out any agro inducing heals. I did it again after this post, and ended up with a group of mobs on me. HP dropped down to around 40%, and the merc just sat there. No heals. So, I've stopped doing the whole roles thing. It's working a lot better. Also, now that I think of it, it seems like every time we've had this death thing happen, we've had an add or two. It could be just the combined dps of the mobs at a special time, to drop me. I will definitely keep my eye out for any messages, and keep you guys updated on it happening again though. Thanks still for taking a look.
Make sure your healer merc is set to Reactive. If it's Balanced, it'll wait until your like 60% to throw a heal, which can sometimes be too late depending on what you're fighting. On Reactive, he/she will heal more often (and inefficiently, so watch their mana). If you're in a group and getting killed by dmg spikes, you also might want to consider popping a second healer merc also set to Reactive. I do this when running Valley dailies with my high 80's alts because my monk tank gets "bruised" otherwise. Some of the nameds in HoT have nasty procs. The Executioner has an 18,000pt DD that can do a number on a 45k HP tank.
Very good info! I didn't realize any of that. But I will defiantely be utilizing this "Reactive" setting from now on lol. That should help tremendously! Thanks!
Your cleric merc will by default sometimes cast spells like complete heal... In the 10 seconds it takes to cast bad things can happen. My suggestion: Block Ineffective Spells on yourself AND pets EQ players—>Character Button—>Blocked Buffs—> Type in the following EQ players—>Character Button—>Blocked Pet Buffs—> Type in the following 1. Complete Heal (Outdated and slow cast) 2. Promised Recuperation (Good spell, but not when your hit hard for 7-8k+) 3. Devout Elixir (Heal over time) With those 3 spells blocked the merc will now cast the following spells: 1) Devout Light (10k heal) 2) Frenetic Renewal (13k heal with some cure components) 3) Elixir of Expiation (Group Heal Over Time. Helpful against the AE’ing mobs) 4) Twelfth Night (low HP quick heal)
I copy and pasted that from http://pakcafaneq.wordpress.com/blocking-spells-helps-your-cleric-heal/ The white text is a pain that i do not know how to change
Unfortunately, those of us who box and use a merc cleric AND tank, you can't block spells on a merc. Just toons and pets. And for text color issues on the boards here: Paste first to Notepad, or some other editor that doesn't support font colors. Then paste to here. Font color problem solved Tat
As soon as you mentioned the yard named... As others have mentioned, the "special abilities" of some of the first floor named are quite nasty when you're close to 85 (you'll end up ignoring it at higher level). Gristle, for example, has an ability that lands a 3 tick DoTs that hit for 6k on you which on top of the incoming DPS can seem like quite the spike if you don't notice it. Huge AEs, etc. abound. There was one named I was fighting in Miragul's Nightmare (T3 HoT zone) that was putting up a 6k undispellable damage shield which if you're meleeing at the time means you're dead (and that includes the mercs and pets if applicable). I find it helpful to look up the named on a site like Allahkazam if I'm not familiar with them "just in case" they have some nasty surprise like that waiting for me. -- ~N
Could also be client side lag. There were times when I got clobbered in HoT with a raid geared lvl 95 druid pulling for alts. 75k hp and the weaker def of a leather priest. Go from full health to dead of nearly in no time at all from a LB mob. Scroll back and no messages to show where all that damage came from. Was a lag spike on client side during which mob flurries and gets a couple free rounds in unopposed. Each hit is only 2-3k, but if you didn't see that you were hit 15-20 times during the spike just the end result it looks like a death touch. This is why you want a merc on reactive, they are server side also and so respond to the damage there rather that what you see on client. They start healing during the client side lag rather than after you are already dead.
