Hi all fellow Pally's !! After successfully being a MT up to my current level (32) and priding myself on keeping all aggro and other group members alive, I had a night to forget in Zek yesterday...... As it was my 1st visit to the place, I was wanting to ask fellow Paladins if there is something I need to know about Zek ?? I was in a grp who were all around Lvl32 with the exception of our only healer (Who was Lvl30).... Now in 80% of all fights, I lost aggro from at least one creature to the Lvl30 Fury, usually losing the whole creature group to him (Imagine my embarressment). The issue was clouded somewhat by a couple of nutters in the grp who refused to let me get aggro by letting rip before i had attained enough aggro to keep them on me - But they were lvl32/33, doing some serious damage. And everytime they "pulled" while I was about to - I managed to get the aggro back immediately, and then maintain it with the usual Taunt/Blinding Light/Shield Bash (Or grp bash). But as soon as the Fury cast a heal - I was left on my tod, taunting thin air !! Any ideas anyone, or have i just become a crap Tank overnight
There are some aggro bugs in Zek, I noticed - depending on what mobs you face. The panther / cat type mobs have this problem most apparently. It happens on the gnolls in TS. For some reason heals give the healers aggro especially if you've just killed a mob. I can't really explain it that well on the board. Just keep trying to taunt and that's all you can do.
The EXACT same thing happened to me, EXACt same level. I was so mad, and embarassed. I first thought it was a couple of really bad pulls, but, it went on for hours. To the point i wasnt allowed to tank anymore So of course i was mad, frusturated, and rolled an alt. However while playin my alt i ran into a high lvl paladin and talked to him, he told me to do a few things, that i found a little odd, but it worked. So after listenin to him, i went out and bought Knights stance app4, blinding light adept 3, redemption adept 1, and prayer of devotion app 4. He told me to use Knights stance instead of Shining Beacon unless i asbolutely couldnt keep aggro, this being because knights stance increases defense and chance to block, while shining beacon increases defense and hate. Obviously if you're already keeping the hate, more block rate is better. So after following all his advice, he told me these lvls were very hard on us paladins, and to keep trying this tactic. Now before i had taunt, AE taunt, cast divine inspiration, blessing of the penitent, and keep taunting, while doin damage. Now i tried, taunt, AE taunt, Prayer of devotion. That little line right there was enough to keep aggro all of the fight almost every fight w/out even hitting the mobs. Our best tool for aggro seems to be Prayer of devotion, since its a group buff and generates TONS of aggro. There hasnt been a time i havent been able to pull a mob off someone with taunt + prayer of devotion, and if that doesnt work, Oath Strike. The only exception to this is: if someone group buff's before you cast prayer of devotion, they'll get aggro most likely no matter what. and, theres the aggro reset bug of course, where when you have multiple mobs in 1 pull (like 3 orcs come together) and kill one and the aggro resets. You cant beat that, so dont feel bad. Darkfyre - 35 paladin
There is, in fact, a commonly known agro bug. While engaged with a group of mobs, after one dies agro is completely reset. Imagine have a dot heal on you and also being hit with a large heal while the agro resets, it's hard as heck to get agro back. There are ways to defeating this in group encounters however. Really you have to figure it out for yourself, but hitting tab (cycles to next mob in an encounter)right before a mob dies helps you gain agro. Save your shield bash until the first mob dies, immediately hit it and you might find a bit more success. Have the dps in the group make an assist button rather than just targetting the tank. This means they will actually kill the mob while you make your mob switch, and will guarantee the mob dies while you're cycling you're taunt to save the healers. Bunch of stuff you can do until the agro bug is fixed, assuming it will be, just a matter of trial and error (a.k.a. xp debt
Aha, i played in Zek with my monk char as tank a month ago or so and i kept loosing aggro in a really strange way also, thanks this might shed some light on that issue i had also.
i don't know if it's zek's mobs though... i have had the worst time keeping mobs off druids, being warden or fury. somehow they just draw more aggro than other healers. i have a good friend who is lvl 25 warden *5 lvl below* me and i can never keep the mobs off of him. templars, on the other hand, is my favorite. awesome healing, never an aggro problem, even when they are quite a few lvl higher than me. i love you templars
If a fury casts their thorns (damage shield) during a pull, it will almost always generate irreversible hate. I have a fairly constant Fury group mate and I always wait for a thorn refresh before the pull. I'm sure, like others mentioned, buffs of any kind should be done prior to the pull unless the caster is the MT.
Furies and wardens both have this problem. We have a warden in our Guild who will invariably start to get pasted to the wall in a fight. It seems if she uses her regens, we don't have nearly the problem, but when that Arch-healing comes out, I'll end up working my butt off to get aggro back.
Thanks to all for the invaluable info above.... I have not had problems since - And I think this is due to using Divine Inspiration instead of Shining Beacon, and definately due to using Prayer of Devotion when aggro is lost to another Grp member, it works everytime !! On another note - I have yet to find any Pally Spell/Skills higher than Adept I on the Market, do any of you fellow Paladins know of a Tradesman willing to make such items for me ??? Again, many thanks for all the help...
Your best bet for getting Adept III powers is to get the rares yourself, either harvest them or buy them from players off the market, and then find an alchemist on your server that is willing to the combines for you. You can find a list of alchemists on your server by using this site. http://eq2.strobe.org/simplefinder/ I think the alchemist get Adept III powers from the advanced alchemist scrolls (loot drops not bought from the merchant) and the powers on the volumes are the same level as the volume. So for example if you want Oath Strike Adept III(level 28 Paladin Spell) I am pretty sure the Alchemist has to be at least level 28 and has to have scribed advanced alchemist volume 28.
Just to throw some of my odd experiences into the heap, I honestly wouldn't take it too hard if I were you. Aggro has on occasion shown some really random behaviour. The oddest to date has to be when I was farming through greys in CoB to get the Specter of Ire. I was grouped with another player, who was also after the same thing. We're both high enough to grey everything in the zone so it was no problem. He went AFK briefly - during which time I engaged a group of 4 ire minion/warlock types. After I killed the first ire skeleton, the other three tore off down the hallway to hit my AFK groupmate. He was not only AFK and hence hadn't done any interaction at all with the fight but he was quite a hefty distance away. It wasn't just a case of they turn around to hit him - they ran a hundred feet the instant the first of their group died to attack the other guy. We had spread out to cover different areas to get maximise spawn farming efficiency. Aggro is a finicky thing. Sometimes I wonder if it's aggro being finicky or it's some weak stab at NPC AI. I've noticed sometimes out of the random things NPCs may say, one of them gives what looks like an order, like "Attack the healer!" or "Attack the warrior!".
