What to do when the mage doesn't take advantage of a bear's beckon?

**WhoIsThis** · 03-19-2011, 05:03 PM

I'm currently leveling my bird and to my increasing annoyance, I find myself when I am playing in random games where people don't seem to coordinate very well. There is a "noob" bear perception, but I have found that in the sewers, the proportion of bears that seem to tank properly is greater than in any other level of Pocket Legends. I haven't witnessed as many bears that run into the middle of a crowd and stomp the mob all over the place. Nor have I witnessed as much beckon "pinball" as before.

However, the problem is often not the bear, it is the mage. Now that I am not playing mage as much, and levelling my bird, I have found that often when a reasonably skilled bear plays, the other players seem to fail to realize what has happened when there is a competent bear player. The bear has just beckoned the entire enemy group of perhaps 5-15, taunted it, and possibly stomped (smashed) them into a wall. Yet I have found that there are many mages who do not open fire immediately with fire blast/hot flash and lightning, nor do they debuff (seeing so many possible targets that could be affected).

What to do as bird and bear? It seems that this is not an uncommon occurrence. I have tried casting thorn wall and blast shot/cruel blast, but it this is not anywhere nearly as effective as an int mage unloading everything they have.

**Australia** · 03-19-2011, 05:20 PM

As soon as the party your running with is formed, notify the mages of this and tell them to unload all AoE spells when the warrior beckons or stomps

If they still fail to do so, warn them once or twice and then kick them if the failure continues.

**Echelong** · 03-19-2011, 05:24 PM

Originally Posted by Australia

As soon as the party your running with is formed, notify the mages of this and tell them to unload all AoE spells when the warrior beckons or stomps

If they still fail to do so, warn them once or twice and then kick them if the failure continues.

Its not that easy because the combo if not done properly can push the mobs on different ways and then the work the bear did pushing them to a wall would be for nothing. Normally I use lightning and debuffs first if there is a bird because of thorn root/lightning combo and then I unleash the frost/fire storm (hot flash) combo. This has work fine so far but birds help a lot when they know how to play and Whoisthis is a good one on both mage and bird.

**Moogerfooger** · 03-19-2011, 05:38 PM

Yes, nothing annoys me more while on my bear to taunt/beckon then stomp an entire group of 3-10 mobs against a wall, and a random mage (none on this thread so far) just stands there and auto-attacks.

Speaking of that...what annoys me even more are people being careless with their AoE attacks that set off live traps; there are a large number of players completely oblivious to this. I go way out of my way not to taunt or stomp near live traps for the benefit of all of the party (boom) but I see tons of - sorry to pick mostly on mages here - of mages just letting loose with fireblast in heavy trap areas. I asked one 54 to be careful pls, and the response was "Why? What do you mean?"

/facepalm then explained.....

**Necrobane** · 03-19-2011, 05:52 PM

Oh, but something I find MORE annoying is bears that group mobs over fire traps, or archers and mages that freeze mobs while a bear is still rounding them up. *Cough* *Cough* Mitsiun *Cough* LoL jk, but it is really annoying.

**MITSUISUN** · 03-20-2011, 03:44 AM

Originally Posted by Necrobane

Oh, but something I find MORE annoying is bears that group mobs over fire traps, or archers and mages that freeze mobs while a bear is still rounding them up. *Cough* *Cough* Mitsiun *Cough* LoL jk, but it is really annoying.

Sorry Persistant, I am getting better with the "round-up" bears in Stronghold lol
It takes a little to get use to, I am a bird who just run like a chicken chasing mobs

I dont get to play with many bears / pally often so have limited round-up experience.

But the other night Benaorn opened up my eyes to a brand new roundup experience. And met a crazy full int mage Onameazalur that ran so fast that beyond that I have grouped with in every single map. I seriously need to start playing outside of the box.
This game is getting more fun for me lol
Will need to group with you more often so I can learn more =)

**Formora** · 03-20-2011, 08:42 AM

Originally Posted by MITSUISUN

Sorry Persistant, I am getting better with the "round-up" bears in Stronghold lol
It takes a little to get use to, I am a bird who just run like a chicken chasing mobs

I dont get to play with many bears / pally often so have limited round-up experience.

But the other night Benaorn opened up my eyes to a brand new roundup experience. And met a crazy full int mage Onameazalur that ran so fast that beyond that I have grouped with in every single map. I seriously need to start playing outside of the box.
This game is getting more fun for me lol
Will need to group with you more often so I can learn more =)

You're too nice sometimes Mitsui

You have nothing to apologize for. A good bear would have mobs grouped and ready to be killed by the time his teammates got there, instead of blaming others.

Also playing a bird isn't as easy as SOME people might think.

**MITSUISUN** · 03-20-2011, 09:39 AM

Originally Posted by Formora

You're too nice sometimes Mitsui

You have nothing to apologize for. A good bear would have mobs grouped and ready to be killed by the time his teammates got there, instead of blaming others.

Also playing a bird isn't as easy as SOME people might think.

Nah it's no blame, I was just trigger and fire happy bird lol

Persistent is awesome bear that I got to now love hanging out with. After all it's really the personalities and character quality that makes this game fun. Even if I had to fever bomb you just to make a point and slow you down to 56

**neko** · 03-21-2011, 09:19 AM

Originally Posted by MITSUISUN

Sorry Persistant, I am getting better with the "round-up" bears in Stronghold lol
It takes a little to get use to, I am a bird who just run like a chicken chasing mobs

I dont get to play with many bears / pally often so have limited round-up experience.

But the other night Benaorn opened up my eyes to a brand new roundup experience. And met a crazy full int mage Onameazalur that ran so fast that beyond that I have grouped with in every single map. I seriously need to start playing outside of the box.
This game is getting more fun for me lol
Will need to group with you more often so I can learn more =)

Narilover (56 warbird) introduced me to that sort of play a couple of weeks ago. He'll pot up a tank and speed elixir and let loose a barrel of laughs. It's quite the eye opener for the uninitiated.

This is a pretty good thread that Attack started. As a tank-in-training noob, I appreciate all those points that he and other vets are firing back and forth.

**WhoIsThis** · 03-19-2011, 06:38 PM

Originally Posted by Moogerfooger

Speaking of that...what annoys me even more are people being careless with their AoE attacks that set off live traps; there are a large number of players completely oblivious to this. I go way out of my way not to taunt or stomp near live traps for the benefit of all of the party (boom) but I see tons of - sorry to pick mostly on mages here - of mages just letting loose with fireblast in heavy trap areas. I asked one 54 to be careful pls, and the response was "Why? What do you mean?"

/facepalm then explained.....

Depending on the situation, it may be worth the risk of casting a fire blast near firetrap - especially if the probability of a death is high anyways. The Stronghold fire pit area in particular can be overwhelming as can the Catacombs. The best time to cast is right after the fire trap has gone off. Feel free at that point to cast directly over a fire trap, to use all AOE spells. It is generally safe to cast if you don't see a small flame from the fire vent either. in other situations, it is important for mages to remember when casting that not all players are going to have say, mana shield (even other mages) when they cast.

**Moogerfooger** · 03-19-2011, 07:31 PM

Originally Posted by WhoIsThis

Depending on the situation, it may be worth the risk of casting a fire blast near firetrap - especially if the probability of a death is high anyways. The Stronghold fire pit area in particular can be overwhelming as can the Catacombs. The best time to cast is right after the fire trap has gone off. Feel free at that point to cast directly over a fire trap, to use all AOE spells. It is generally safe to cast if you don't see a small flame from the fire vent either. in other situations, it is important for mages to remember when casting that not all players are going to have say, mana shield (even other mages) when they cast.

I was talking about people using taunt/fireblast/blast shot indiscriminately near live fire traps when it is not a total necessity....I mean, we are all guilty of inadvertently doing it sometimes by accident, but I mean just constant AoE around dense fire trap areas. I often hesitate taunting until the trap has gone off, or using blast shot while on the bird.

**WhoIsThis** · 03-19-2011, 07:35 PM

Originally Posted by Moogerfooger

I was talking about people using taunt/fireblast/blast shot indiscriminately near live fire traps when it is not a total necessity....I mean, we are all guilty of inadvertently doing it sometimes by accident, but I mean just constant AoE around dense fire trap areas. I often hesitate taunting until the trap has gone off, or using blast shot while on the bird.

That I agree with. One tactic that I have found useful as archer is to target the trap before anyone gets close. Works best with crossbow for the long range.

Getting back on topic, this is a serious breakdown in team dynamics - the inability to coordinate attacks together. If the bear is in front and caught in the aggro, the bear will often die if left unassisted or at least have to burn up several health pots.

**azulflame** · 03-20-2011, 04:46 PM

thank you. that has caused me about fifty deaths. a careless mage lets loose a fire blast on a fire trap, and the whole party dies. I have also had them do it next to barrels. very annoying

**WhoIsThis** · 03-20-2011, 05:02 PM

Originally Posted by azulflame

thank you. that has caused me about fifty deaths. a careless mage lets loose a fire blast on a fire trap, and the whole party dies. I have also had them do it next to barrels. very annoying

Keep this thread on topic please - you've already made a flame thread in the mage section on this.

Edit: I don't mean to single you out on this one, but I do want to keep this thread about solutions when the mage doesn't do their part. Cruel blast and thorn wall only do so much, as does smashing the crowd into a wall.

**neko** · 03-24-2011, 09:33 AM

Originally Posted by Moogerfooger

Yes, nothing annoys me more while on my bear to taunt/beckon then stomp an entire group of 3-10 mobs against a wall, and a random mage (none on this thread so far) just stands there and auto-attacks.

Speaking of that...what annoys me even more are people being careless with their AoE attacks that set off live traps; there are a large number of players completely oblivious to this. I go way out of my way not to taunt or stomp near live traps for the benefit of all of the party (boom) but I see tons of - sorry to pick mostly on mages here - of mages just letting loose with fireblast in heavy trap areas. I asked one 54 to be careful pls, and the response was "Why? What do you mean?"

/facepalm then explained.....

You know, this has become my biggest annoyance, too. As Urrsus, I was in a Catacombs game when a 55 bear taunted next to a firetrap, killing both of us. He had xp and a ratio that made me think he was pretty experienced. I mentioned to him to be cautious of that. He responded with an LOL and booted me, "Sry man"

ACK!

So now, unless I know the players, I'll almost never cross a firepit with a group. But to be fair, until I started to spend more time in these forums and ran the maps with you guys I wasn't aware of those common pitfalls. Hopefully in time more players will be aware of the same, sooner for the rest of our sake.

**Echelong** · 03-24-2011, 09:42 AM

Since this thread is still alive I just want to let a few people know of why mages don't do combos in catacombs, Roach and Goblin. Those little gooey mobs are immune to our freeze, so that means no combos other than nature strike and also most bosses are either immune or highly resistant, been this one of the reasons I use frostbite then ice storm before fireblast. But naturestrike is a very powerful combo, so practice it with fellow birds.

**NECROREAPER** · 03-26-2011, 06:53 PM

There's nothing more than I hate than a Mage that doesn't to their job (stomp bears come close though). It's weird though since I'm not a tank but I tank anyway.

I absolutely can't stand when mages dont heal me when I'm taking the hits for them. I always feel compelled to say "the least you guys could do is keep me alive so I could take even more hits for you..."

Suckin noob mages

**Necrobane** · 03-19-2011, 05:49 PM

I got sidetracked when I noticed that the first people to answer are all in the farming group

. As a bear I notice this a lot, and its bl00dy annoying. There is only so long that I can keep a mob against a wall or in a corner for, so when mages don't act on them or an archer doesnt thorn wall straight away it often feels like a waist.