02-22-2005, 10:08 PM
Artega,Feb 22 2005, 03:08 PM Wrote:Unfortunately, damage is the way to hold aggro right now. Defensive Stance sacrifices damage output, and that means you're MUCH more reliant on skills to contain aggro, rather than sheer damage output.
Obviously, this is fine if your party wants to wait thirty seconds or so for you to get a Sunder or two on every mob in the pull, but that just takes too long.
My party frequently has two mages. A pull works like this: I use Charge, and use the rage generated for a quick Whirlwind, then a Dem-snare combo. The mages charge in and spam IAE and/or Blizzard interspersed with Frost Novas and Blinks. The mobs die, the Priest has about 80% MP left, the Mages have about 35% MP left. I start a new pull, and the Shaman and I proceed to kill the mobs while the mages drink. The mages get up after they're done drinking, nuke whatever's left, and rinse and repeat.
I honestly think that using a heater and beater isn't productive. Some swear by it, but it is MUCH easier to hold aggro with a standard 2H setup. The way my group clears the instances might not be the "correct" way, but it's DAMN sure faster than the "correct" way.
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Artega, you're probably sick of hearing me ask for a better way to hold group agro, and as you prescribe the same cure each time, you're wondering why I haven't taken it.
Well, I did try it. My current build is (effectively) Arms/Fury, and I swapped in a nice 2hander, Corpsemaker, to test this strategy. The verdict is such:
It's not bad, but it doesn't solve my problem, and it doesn't play any 'better' than my shield strategy. I kill faster, but I need significantly more healing, and pulling with charges gives my starting rage and a free hit at the cost of a safe pull. My damage output is nice, but it only speeds life up against weak monsters...
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Ultimately, I think what you don't realise, or choose to ignore, is the fact Defensive stance is given a significant boost in hate generation (10% base I think) to compensate for its reduced damage. Until recently, I didn't notice how well this helped things, but after doing Razor Fen Kraul a few times with overzealous mages, I began to notice a pattern. I could hold agro on my main target in some of the instance's required multi pulls, but if the mages went ahead and AoE'd at the start of the fight, the monster would be pulled off me regardless of what strategy I was using...
Ultimately? The easiest way for a warrior to keep multiple target hate is for him to pull, use his AoE hate generation, and for the healers and nukers to hold off a few seconds. Defensive stance helps this because a) the Warrior is generating equally good hate while dying slower and B) (unconfirmed) Abilities generate more hate.
Maybe your method is working for you, Artega. It's not the only way.
Men fear death, as children fear to go in the dark; and as that natural fear in children, is increased with tales, so is the other.
"Of Death" Sir Francis Bacon
"Of Death" Sir Francis Bacon