PDA

View Full Version : Threat Mechanics



Irconfuzed
03-02-2011, 07:30 PM
Can any of you technical players out there describe the threat or aggro mechanics in this game? In my past experience as a tank since way back at the beginning in the EQ days, knowing the design of the threat system always makes you a better tank.
For example say each mob you encounter has an aggro list. This list would be blank until you wander close enough to get within aggro range. At that point your name goes on his list, and since it was previously blank you're at the top. That means he rushes you. Now here comes this enchantress who slams the mob for 800. At that point you've only done a minor amount of damage so this enchantress goes to the top of the list and now you have the job of somehow making up for that massive amount of threat this enchantress has accumulated through pure damage. This is where i get confused and would like to know the mechanics at work here...
Lets say this aggro list works by assigning a numeric value to each action taken against it. In our previous encounter, lets say we're at the point where our tank has accumulated 20 points of threat through damage. Our enchantress has accumulated 100 with damage alone and the gap between our tank's threat and the enchantress is growing more by the second. Our tank casts Taunt... Now, say taunt lasts 10 seconds but has a cooldown of 15 seconds. When cast it takes the warrior's threat value to 1 point above the enchantress for it's duration. But after 10 seconds our poor tank's threat drops back to 20 and the enchantress goes back to the top of the list and our squishy gets pummeled for 5 seconds until our tank's taunt comes off cooldown.
So, how do bears offset the threat from damage by other classes? We can't compete with that level of damage. So, you would think some of our attacks would have an additional threat modifier to help us keep up with the dps in our group.
Is this the sort of aggro system we have at work here? Thanks for any help you guys can offer in helping me understand what I'm up against in this pretty impressive little MMO..:cool:

Physiologic
03-02-2011, 07:34 PM
Aggro/threat mechanics are still up in the air and there's no concrete answer at the moment. You can look here for some insight though:
http://www.spacetimestudios.com/showthread.php?19742-Aggro-Taunt-theories.
http://www.spacetimestudios.com/showthread.php?19943-Archer-and-aggro

I believe when you first damage an enemy, an aggro value is placed. Anyone who tops that aggro value gets aggro'd next. I believe how Taunt works is that it tricks the enemy/boss into thinking you topped off this particular aggro value.

This doesn't work 100% of the time unfortunately, but a good majority of the time. There's some unknown factor in DPS that also accounts for aggro which has been looked over extensively without any good conclusion.

Irconfuzed
03-02-2011, 08:14 PM
Thanks Physio, those are the threads I was too lazy to find. I'm kind of disappointed that there seems to be so much confusion. I've had fair luck at holding aggro so far by using walls and our stuns to keep multiple mobs contained, but taunt still feels unreliable. An aggro system based on pure damage values, and a tank with no abilities to layer threat, sort of makes our job seem shallow.

Physiologic
03-02-2011, 08:37 PM
Taunt like all skills can miss and even when cast it can easily be taken away if a bird or mage does slightly more damage than the aggro value. It would work much better if lets say bears get 100% aggro when the taunt buff is active but thats not the case. This gets more complicated when there are two bears taunting at the same time - we have seen cases in which taunt was cast by two different bears, hit Gold Fever, and I was still aggro target.

Irconfuzed
03-02-2011, 09:07 PM
I agree. At the least taunt should put the tank at 100% aggro for the duration of it's effect. The time in which taunt is putting the tank at an artificial 100% should be the tank's opportunity to increase his "real" aggro to a level above all other party members so that when taunt drops our aggro doesn't completely drop with it.
But, I must say though..I'd love to see a new system for tanks to show off their skills. It just has to be reliable in my opinion. You can be a great tank for dungeon run after run...but drop the ball, and thats what is remembered. A good tank works hard to break through the n00b image we endure thanks to so many who choose warriors for their cool looking two handers and play them like a dps. If we can't be confident in the class' ability to do the job, it takes away from it somehow.
But at the moment I'm having a blast. And the depth of the gameplay has been suprising. I'm just stumped on the threat issue from my experience so far.

Irconfuzed
03-02-2011, 09:22 PM
According to you guys' testing it seems our only option to sustain aggro past the effect of taunt is through higher dps than the rest of the party. Either that, or assign a damage value according to the highest dps, and threat doesn't change until another target exceeds that value. It makes sense. And coupled with our other tools, it may be as good as it gets. I haven't reached level cap yet. Is end game tanking very fulfilling?

Physiologic
03-02-2011, 09:50 PM
According to you guys' testing it seems our only option to sustain aggro past the effect of taunt is through higher dps than the rest of the party. Either that, or assign a damage value according to the highest dps, and threat doesn't change until another target exceeds that value. It makes sense. And coupled with our other tools, it may be as good as it gets. I haven't reached level cap yet. Is end game tanking very fulfilling?

Ironic you bring that up bc one of PL's veteran players just created a thread about it (http://www.spacetimestudios.com/showthread.php?20495-Can-the-Bear-be-saved). IMO an awesome bear is just as useful as a bird or a mage. If you're an average or below average bear, you're sorta in the screwed department :/

Irconfuzed
03-02-2011, 10:10 PM
That's an eye opener...thanks Physio.

Irconfuzed
03-03-2011, 11:19 AM
Has any other tanks out there noticed any trends or anomolies regarding the aggro system?