@devs or someone with evidence. What does the puller role in a group actually do? Just a /assist shortcut? It's been alleged to do a lot of things and I assumed it increased exp range but I just don't know if that's true.
Mercenaries generally don't follow a player with the puller role. So a cleric won't heal an out of range puller monk and get agro, for example.
Please dont /assist off the puller. If I want to split a couple mobs I may do some tricks to mob A so that mob B comes. If you assist off me you will pull mob A. Better to use /xtar 1. That way you will always tag the mob that is on the agro list and not the one I dropped.
Oh right no no, I don't go grabbing anything that isn't clearly like. In camp. Unless circumstances arise that dictate I do something different, at least. I was just using that as an example of potential functionality, which seemed an odd thing to do. Seems you agree!
Puller role definitely does not increase the experience range (i.e. how far someone can be from the group and still get experience on the kill). When someone told me that on Oakwynd, I politely did not laugh at them but, I often play a bard and have definitely lost XP/loot when I was away from the group exactly in the same way with or without the tag. I've even been the master looter while being the puller and I still didn't get the loot or the XP. The puller's merc might or might not follow the one marked as puller. If it's not following the puller, the merc might also not follow the group either. Apparently it's not a bug either way. The healer merc will definitely heal the puller if they take damage at any time if the merc is within range of it's reaction radius. If the merc followed the puller, that might be away from the group. If the merc is not following the puller or the group when the group moves, the healer might be out of the reaction radius from everyone. I am constantly checking the map now for the group position and my merc position any time I am marked as puller and the group moves. If the puller's merc doesn't follow the puller's group in addition to not following the puller, the puller might need to suspend and unsuspend the merc while not being marked as puller any time the group moves more than a very short distance (and this is apparently not a bug or unwanted behaviour... and might not happen in all zones). Puller can make is easier for the main assist to monitor to be able to decide on what to tag incoming. Puller can make it easier for a healer to know who not to heal too early in a pull* But mostly it is a visual designation so that the group knows who is doing the pulling so you don't have 2 or three in the group pulling to create chaos. *A puller might get a hit or two before the tank can transfer the agro and that can be a dicey time if a puller is intentionally minimializing the agro they have. A heal during the hand off could make the hand off as a beeline to the healer, or debuffer, not the tank. When it's a thing, a puller might also be intentionally taking the first death touch or massive debuff or whatnot so it doesn't land on the tank.
The puller's "role" is to pull ... how many are "inc" depend on the puller and group makeup. Mezzer in the group bring it. No mezzer - let the puller thin the crowd. Assist of somebody else. Here's the problem with mercs, they have a mind of their own. If you have puller on and are running between camps, there is a chance the merc won't be where you think it is on inc. If you don't bring the inc to the merc, they may stand there and not do anything. Side note with a mezzer from my chanty - let the chanty do their job with multiples inc.
The puller tag is for using a puller while having a tank merc. If you don't designate a puller while having a tank merc out and on auto assist- it will run way out wherever something was aggroed instead of staying with the healers and group.
The puller tag affects and is useful for all mercenary archetypes. For instance, a healer mercenary isn't supposed to (and in my experience doesn't) heal a character marked puller until they are within the camp radius, however the mercenary determines that. This can be problematic if the tank is fighting far enough away from the group with the puller tag, the mercenary will stop healing the tank. If Auto Assist is toggled off, the healer mercenary still heals, but it enables the use of the Call Assist button, which is supposed to tell the mercenary it's ok to heal the character marked puller when they are outside of the camp radius. If someone with a mercenary is marked puller, their mercenary also won't follow them. But if they are summoned, their mercenary will also be summoned to them and then won't follow them. If it's summoned far enough away from the rest of the group, it will just stand where it is.
Part of pulling is to know how far you can get. Giving unlimited range to exp for someone marked puller means you can just PL someone sitting at zone in.
That, too. The times I have been out of range was when the group got an add while I was pulling from further or was rejoining the group after having to leave the zone or was joining them late.
when i am puller my job is to grab as many mobs as i can find and try to kill my group. i usually fail though
Wow guys, thanks for all the feedback! I'd always heard things but was always dubious and now I think I've got it. Appreciate yall!
