Mage Pets

Hi,

I’m just back and playing the new expac and it seems they messed with mage pets. I am stealing aggro from it often and that was never an issue previously. Was there a post about this and why it got changed?

Thanks

Do you have pet taunt turned off?

Lol, nope. Rage weaps seem to help but then I have to remember to swap them out for raids.

Try doing less damage.

Are you letting it build up aggro before you engage?

giving your pet a couple seconds to build agro really makes a difference

If you pull with something low agro and let your pet (or merc) engage a while to build agro before you unleash with your nukes and high damage/agro spells it can help the pet (or merc) maintain agro better. That can help with human tanks, too.

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My bard has always pulled agro off the mage pet. I can even fade all agro and a short time later I will need to fade again. Its often enough that I made a mouse macro that alt tabs to bard, fades, then alt tabs back to mage (while boxing). This is with pet taunt on and bard subtlety on, and NOS raid pet ear. IDK how long you've been gone but this is what Ive seen for as long as my mage has been up to cap level - about a year or so.

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And that's why I keep saying than beastord's warder is a better tank than mage's pets: with extra aggro % buff it typically holds aggro better and a mob usually dies before group's bard needs to Fade Memory.

Goin back to a mage stealing aggro from mage's pet: my mages very rarely get aggro from the pet and usually it is due to some lag spike or some other fluke (like bad pathing etc.)
I usually pull with a Malo AA or Staff of viral flux debuff and usually send the pet to intercept incoming mob and cast swam pet while it is still away from melee range.
Typically, the swarm pet grabs the aggro from my main pet and lets the main pet build up aggro with taunts and proces. And in 15 seconds a new swarm pet is summoned and so on.
Very rarely I see my mage actually stealing aggro from main tanking pet + 2 swarm pets attacking the mob.
Although, bad pathing, especially in z-axis, levitating pets and bad lag can make the aggro situation really messy.

Surely you jest.

this is new to me but will try

I have always gone balls to the wall and never got aggro. There had to have been a minor tweak that they didn’t mention. Dunno

Pet taunt on and make sure servant rage pets are sent in asap. They have more aggro initially than the mage main pet ( typically) so the main pet taunt will build on top of the rage pet's aggro.

Also, never use the mage progressive (composite, etc) line of pet buffs. It decreases pur main pet aggro.

Also, proc theft of essence with an Of Many nuke before combat and after the first rage pet launches. That will probably help.

I’ve always used composite…. Will see how it goes without using that, thanks.

Thanks I didnt know that. weird

I box 4 mages and an Enchanter. I never get aggro on any of my team.

First things first. Make sure Spell Casting Subtlety is enabled. If it's disabled, you'll get a lot more aggro. Make sure you Companions Fury AA is maxed out. If you're moloing or using your pet as the main tank, you always want to max CF first. Companions Fortification is also very important to max out, it keeps your pet alive longer.

After that, taunt should always be on and equip hate swords. Most of the time I pet pull, but if I pull with the malo line it makes no difference aggro wise. I let the pet get aggro for a few seconds, then I send the rest of the pets and I nuke trouble free.

There is no big hidden secret to keeping aggro in check, do what I said and you should be fine.

This. I box wizzy, mage, chanter and I can burn my balls off without the mage pet ever even coming close to losing aggro.

Dont proc weapons damage your pet dps though? I heard they swing less often when they have procs.

I two box a 123 mage and 124 ranger. No issues here.

Thats when raidiing, with 50 players and many pets generating lag in the same zone, as far as I know pets have no proc lag issue in group situations