Wanting to start a monk on new TLP, but don't know how to pull

I've played EQ for a very long time now, but I've NEVER played a monk. Ideally I'd like to just DPS, but in groups I can understand why that might not be possible. So if I need to pull stuff, I'd like to learn and figure out how.

Does anyone know any guide/videos that are really good and solid on how to pull, tips and tricks, etc?

Thanks!

In classic, Magic resist are your friend. Get Mend past skill 100 asap for long pulls. Smithing to 112 for Antonian Javelins. There won't be many camps where you can pull too many mobs. Try stuff, Wipe, Fail, Succeed, Enjoy life!

monks aren't needed to pull anymore than anyone else

"monks pull" is an excuse lazy people cling to in modern eq where everyone can pull now. Splitting is for next to 0 raids, or when youre alone and can only solo a mob at a time...but back to the point, pullers are anyone, runspeed preferred. Monks are a top dps id rather keep my top dps'ers in camp but it doesn't matter

the most ideal situation is everyone crawling constantly, clearing room by room, that way you can claim mobs easy vs a solo puller in another group who has better agro tools...but lazy drug addict loser nerds play eq and wont crawl they want mobs brought to them and they use nonsense antiquated playstyles to keep their laziness flowing.

If you just pull one mob at a time, about what % do you stop fighting and go pull another? If you're chain pulling and have CC and healer has good mana, how many is too many?

It looks like it costs over 5pp to make one combine of 4 javelins while that doesn't sound like a huge deal if you pull 500 mobs in a grind session that's over 500p even if you throw 80% of the time.

Is the only other option just walking up to a mob and hitting it, or getting proxy aggro after standing there for ~5 seconds?

You will just learn as you play. Oh this group is killing fast I should start pulling another mob at 70% or this group is slow I should wait till the mobs at 30%. Same thing with chain pulling its all based on the group and how well they play.

You get Throw stone at like lv 1? Which is a combat ability. It has very low range though. The Javelins are mostly for pulling Raid targets. It gives you a dly from throwing the spear till it hits the target and getting agro, giving you a longer distance and space to maneuvre.

For every 1 monk that I've seen that knows how / is willing to pull, there are 5-6 that are just "dps monks" that autoattack mobs and do damage. Groups will take either because of how stupidly strong they are.

And you don't need a monk for pulling anything in the group game, just have literally anyone body pull 1-4 mobs and kill them with the inflated dps numbers. If you are in an outdoor zone you are better off having someone like a ranger or even a caster class use a low level nuke to pull by range, it's faster. A wizard running around Sro pulling crocs with burst of flame back to the group where the monk is killing mobs is way more efficient than the other way around.

In a group, the casters are going to want a melee to pull so that they can med. So, I don't really buy that monks won't be expected to pull. Monks and Bards are considered pullers. When the group is deciding who will pull, I immediately look to see if we have a monk or bard. After that I rule out who shouldn't pull (Enchanter with charm pet, main healer, magician). I think many others do too. Usually the group can come to a consensus.

I do think you could make a case to your group that your dps is better killing mobs than pulling. A ranger, druid, extra tank or back-up healer are good options IMO. The tank gets a head start on keeping aggro if he pulls. Just don't expect a pet class or the main healer to pull. A lot of other classes can pull well, but some groups will just be looking for a puller and will invite you into that group for that specific role. I read what some others wrote about dps only monks or not being expected to pull and I don't think that will fit with most pick-up groups. If you play monk, some will expect you to pull. It is a defining role for the class.

If I am a caster in your group, whose function is directly tied to the blue bar, I am going to be pretty ticked off if you suggest that I should pull because you consider yourself a dps only monk.

To be more specific, let's look at three zones you will likely to be grouping in on a new server.

The first three zones for your groups may be Crushbone, Unrest and Lower Guk. For these three zones, your group will just want someone to get aggro and pull to the group in a static camp. Most of the pulls will be multiple mobs and no one will want you to take the time to split the mobs. Nothing fancy is required. FD is nice if you pull a lot of mobs with a named or something, but it is not a big deal. Nor are you necessarily going to chain pull. The pulling of multiple mobs provides the benefits of chain pulling while allowing you to dps on every mob. Then, while the puller is gone the casters can med a little bit of mana. And the rogues and monks can.... um, well they don't really do anything between pulls.

My point with this, I think you will find that you will often be expected to pull. But it won't require any particular skills to do so. You certainly won't be routinely splitting your pull. The group will prefer you pull everything to camp to speed up the XP. Your greater challenge may be finding a group that is willing to let you practice splitting your pulls.

In the groups that do want you to chain pull, how fast you pull, or at what % the puller should run off, just experiment to see how close you can get a new mob to the camp as the previous target dies.

TL/DR: If you are a monk, others will expect you to pull.

^^^^^ this guy above me is the exact type of player you want to avoid and that I was talking about.

monks pulling is a class defining role? in 2001 yes...today their class defining role is how hard they hit at level 50 and avoidance and not dying to mobs by fd'ing

he says youre not supposed to split near the bottom of his post but then says figure out when to run off and get more...at this lvl youd have to hit the mob once and run off..if youre chain pulling and theres not many places to xp currently you basically are just doing "drive bys" your taking as many mobs as you can handle in the quickest amount of time dropping them of to your group and running out to get more before the next group does.

So people expect you do do something (pull) because its allegedly a class defining role but you said in your fourth paragraph about pulling "nothing fancy is required" meaning ANY class can pull and negating that it is a "class defining role".

Again this is laziness and antiquated thinking stubborn nerds refuse to give up on.

Avoid people like treeluvr he is the type who will have you killing in the lguk bedroom at 40 asking how the xp is and thanking you for coming as a higher level...hes the guy who needs to med because he wont sit asap after casting...hes the guy who plays with "valor and honor" and talks like hes king Arthur in video games like a frickin nerd. Id take him over the loser pothead drug addicts but regardless hes that type to avoid...

But hey what do I know YOU could be just like him and you two can slap each others buttcheeks talking about how mean I sound and ride your righteous horse of nicey nice eq...iousness...and run to the first female in your guild and tell them how you handled this jerk on a forum thinking you've become a stud in their eyes, when they "wow" you they are thinking of a dude like me treating them bad training them when they beg me to stop I just keep training them with mobs then I get them to their purple bar unconscious and kill all the mobs until she stands up then I train her again, I then fd on top of her while she asks for a rez and port, I log my alt wiz port her and say ill log in my cleric in zone pay me first...get paid and never log in that cleric cause I DONT HAVE ONE~~!!~~ Youre the nice guy friend zone goof, im like the fonz ill pretend to comb my hair in a mirror then say HEYYYYYYYYYY and not touch it cause im awesome.

who am I kidding im a married nerd too forget everything I said~

Your biggest challenge will be finding enough stuff to pull on TLP server.

Honestly in classic the least lazy group member will pull, people are like oh the cleric or the caster cant pull but thats BS. Often groups will benefit from having several pullers trying to "secure" mobs from other players "camps" because there's so much competition for mobs. If you're getting enough mobs sometimes people will have to sit so what ever melee will go grab some.

Any pullers, not just monks, are ultimately responsible for experience rate in their group. If mana and health is good, turn it up a bit. When people need a break or resources run low, turn it down or stop.

A corollary to this on TLP is that rare mobs are often contested. Therefore, it is very ideal to pull every mob as it spawns.

Ideally, you have an enchanter in group, and can reliably pull several mobs, using mezzes to keep them on ice as you grind each one down. In nearly any XP group situation, pulling single mobs will be undesirable.

You still have some tricks in your bag to occasionally pull out and use, especially when raiding.

1) Using walls to break line of sight. When pulling casters, if you notice any casting, run around a corner. When the spell lands, feign death.

2) Have the tank tag your pull. Bring mobs nearby your group, but not close enough to proximity aggro. Have the tank shoot any stragglers with an arrow. When raiding, it is often handy to have 2-3 monks. One to pull, the other(s) to tag stragglers.

3) Watch your Out Of Combat timer. When standing from FD, an hourglass means all mobs have forgotten you. Crossed swords indicate aggro. It's possible the mob your group is fighting is the one that hates you. If you need to test this, move away from the group when standing up.

4) Throw Stone discipline can sometimes be used to pull mobs without aggroing their neighbors. This is all situational and best learned in-game.

5) If the mob you're pulling aggroes the wrong person, such as another puller, sit down. This will increase your aggro noticeably.

And this guy did not read my post.

Just a couple of examples.

Right I said nothing like that...

The only difference there is that I stated that the puller will kill the last mob and then pull, whereas my critic said that he would leave before the last mob died. My most recent experience on Agnarr the puller finished killing first.

How about another one.

Yep you got me on that one... Oh wait.

The fact is that I did not disagree with asdfqwerty's first post except to point out the situations in which someone in a group should not pull. Namely pet classes (which is prior to /pet hold at these levels) and the main healer. And in fact when I said about making a case that the monk might be better off dpsing, I was specifically thinking about the comment,
"Monks are a top dps id rather keep my top dps'ers in camp" which I thought made a lot of sense..

And the last one

Just to point out the question I was answering.

My answer is pretty much what Mrjon3s said.

He talks about how I am probably not going to be medding, when I point out that one consideration as to who will pull will be if a caster should be medding.

The fact is that he does not know me, except I disagreed with him. I don't know what set him off; maybe he had a bad day at work. I don't know his most recent experience, but I was leveling up on Agnarr last month in the very zones the OP will first go to and we had issues finding pullers. They get burned out and need a break or they log out and we need a replacement. Monks fill that role better than a pet class. And the main healer needs to med. No one should disagree with that.

And I did not want the OP to feel that being a prima donna "dps monk" such as what Bobbybick described, who refuses to consider dirtying his hands with pulling, will not be a problem or cause people to wonder about him. But I think the OP gets that since he said "Ideally I'd like to just DPS, but in groups I can understand why that might not be possible".

I think the real problem is that I dared to have a different opinion based on my recent experience at the levels discussed on the most similar server. I probably should have ignored the personal attack, but I had the time to reply.

Pulling is nothing more than a mental state...it is about wanting to pull vs the tools.

There is also group pulling vs raid pulling.

Monk pulling is not really about "splitting" any more... it is about add control. You pull and then realize you got extras your group cant handle.... FD close to camp and have someone tag when it is safe.

There are rare split moments were you need to coordinate, but overall the game is easier and you just go with it. The key is knowing what your group/raid can handle.

Pro-tip #1 - When the chanter says AFK... that is code for pull 8+ mobs...

PS, Also pullers rarely get a break... so if you AFK a lot... don't be responsible for pulling. One time during classic, I pulled Hamlord for 24 straight hours... I only was able to get up twice... both times I planned it by pulling like 8 mobs in camp and then going ... okay this should keep em busy for 2 min.

loving this thread, will contribute my 2cp...

Pulling ability is based solely on your willingness to take mobs others have "claimed" but are not clearing before you get there. If you are willing to do this for your group's XP benefit, you are doing it right. Class doesn't matter, I have literally pulled with every class at one point or another. Just don't be an AFKing idiot and you're fine... pull everything you see, non stop.

My wiz pulls quite a bit. Staff of temperate flux ftw!

Necros and chanters are the best pullers by far until bards get fade, so just go ahead and smack mobs in camp and tell your silkies to just go grab 3-4 mobs.

You should probably take some anger management courses.

Confirmed wizards have the best pulling tool in the game for like 15 expansions.

Casters that refuse to pull because they "need to med" after every fight are wastes of space. Just because your class uses mana doesn't mean you get to sit on your and contribute almost nothing to the group.