Threat / Aggro

[Beez]

This post is kinda in response to the 1.7.1 changes where the Devs have said they want to switch the gameplay away from casual. I think the Devs have done a decent job of weeding out all of the things that allowed less skilled players to be in the game (GCD – so you cant spam spells, Level requirements on zones, etc). But one of the major flaws I still see is that you just zerg yourself thru a dungeon. Now obviously if you are in a premade team and you wont experience what I am about to say as much. Most PUG grps just run into a group of mobs and kill them very quickly. But there is no ‘tank’. So a mob will bounce around from player to player based on combo’s/crits. But the issue is threat management. We have gear that is meant to be burst (crit/hit/ dmg vs regain/dodge).

I believe that some gear needs to made for tanks that includes a threat bonus. I know on boss fights with a bear spamming taunt and doing all his other attacks, with my 51 bird I will wait 10-15 seconds before starting (attempting to let him have aggro). But the issue is that after one rotation of skills about 80% of the time he will be on me. So I die and get a rev and continue attacking but my threat apparently has not reset from my death and he will be right on me again if I get a good combo /crit. Now I made my bird for the dmg (my mage had to go pally with fury to live and my bear is sewer set) its just amazing to me that the focus is on so much else other than the actual game mechanics. The following is just a list of ideas.. And please I don’t feel like reading any flames about this. Yes I know how to play, yes this is regarding PUGs and not pro teams – which I am not going to bring my bird to a pro team till hes full raid :P. It’s the fact that even with skilled players in PUGs Threat and aggro is a constant issue.

Threat should be readdressed.
Items should be geared to provide addition threat.
Dying should reset threat.

[Mr.Wallace]

In the rare occasions when I wear str gear, I really have a hard time gaining aggro. Spamming taunt, rage all the time, still a bird has to take the damage. And I have my shiny 180 armor just to look good.
It's totally different of course with dex gear, then I don't really have a problem getting aggro, unless a more threatening dex bear is there (Hi Urrsus!) or someone potted damage.

So by my experiences I agree, to allow str bears to tank for the team, they have to have a chance to gain aggro easier than now.

But maybe I'm just doing it wrong, maybe there are tricks to gain aggro better when being str.

[Arterra]

I use a special round up method to get aggro as a pally and have the mobs killed before they become a problem for the rest of the group. I have to admit, if I could get gear that made me sticky to mob attacks, my group could clear dungeons like crazy.

At bosses too I'm always splitting the aggro between the resident bird and pure int Mage (I switch to int for bosses, and it annoys me that even with weaker skills I keep grabbing the boss attention) I would like to keep rotating offensive spells and not keep a finger of pots...

[Beez]

Exactly,

Like I said my bird can gain aggro in a second even if i do not attack till the boss is at 75%. I am not sure if there is a Threat cap or even if there is a Threat meter that lasts a whole boss fight. But often I have to kite a boss so he doesnt pew pew me with 80 armor.

And Wallace, I agree the fancy 'tanking' armor is for looks because of the missing hit and crit bonuses... Something additional needs to be applied to gear, or something applied to skills for bears that want to tank (even make this a talant point thing by putting points into this increases the threats of ur slashs so you can go dps by not putting points in this or adding points to tank).