Commando Archive

I find grouping an unenjoyable experience on a few different levels.

First off, if I am in a group that might comprise of pets/droids, it seems that I automaticly gain agro from any MoBs. Does anyone have any idea how agro works?

Second, when I am grouped with ranged folks I can hardly get in there before the mobs is running here or there, and I have a heck of a time just landing punches before the MoB dies...

any ideas to increase my effectivness in a group?

Thanks,

Munkie!

Yah I'd definitely say grouping sucks, but I'm ok with that. I'd say just try and get in there first before everyone starts shooting. Or ask them to let you attack the mob before they shoot, then you can get some exp.

But, I never group.. so don't listen to me

Yeah, the part about the mob getting attacked by 10 pets...until you land 1 punch and it turns on you is rather annoying. I was killed by Tusken Kings roughly 5 times in an hour because of this. The king would be attacked by cats, lizards, cu pas, etc. And I land one punch. To hits of his baton and I'm cloning. No experience for me.

The other part...well, wait by the ranged people and see who it charges and then get in front of that person. When the mob gets close, cue up a lunge or knockdown to stop it in its tracks. You can then commence to pound on it.

If your goal is to be able to melee and not get hit, the only way is knockdown.

Aggro is a joke in this game because it seems they wanted to steer away from the eq style of play with a tank, healer, melee, and caster etc. Which would be fine I guess but they also decided to make it so everyone has 1000ish HAM which means 1 hit from anything over 100 will kill you.

So, i'm not sure how much help this is... but there really isn't anything you can do short of knockdown, you could use lunge I guess to catch up to the mob.

That being said there is no "rhyme or reason" for a mob turning on you (ala EQ with a hate list). Then I would ask if 2 TKA are punching on the MoB who does it go for, the uglier TKA, or the one doing more damage?

Honestly, any target that is dead before you get to it is not a mob worthy of a group's time and you could probably solo it. If the entire process of choose said target and getting everyone to attack it takes place and seconds afterwards the mob is dead, it just wasn't worth your time. Try hitting up groups on some of the higher up planets. Also, you might wanna stick to around 6 or so peeps in a group instead of 10+ which I think is just stupid, unless going after extremely high end mobs. It takes alot less effort to get 6 people to do something in common than 20 people.

I agree with Grimror on that one. If you're fighting things that are dead before they get to you, it's probably time to move on to harder mobs.

Regarding aggro, I find that I'm an aggro magnet even with other brawlers in the group. I think it has to do with 1) being at very close range and 2) hitting very quickly. This is yet another reason I don't like grouping so much. I have to concentrate on timing knockdowns and HAM management, while everyone else just 'zerks or spams specials becuase they know I'm going to be the one taking any damage.

Strangely, if I'm grouped with my droid, the mobs always seem to make a point of killing my poor little mouse droid before concentrating on me. Here I am, a 7 foot tall lizard beating on them with a vibroknuckler... Quick! Kill the small squeaky thing!

Mr. Heavy, all you gotta do is keep your droid in town while your're out and about. =p Still get the groupage bonus, and you don't have to worry about your little bud getting aced.

The creature agros the person who has done the most dmg to it. In your case since you are with other riflemen it may be a few different things.

1. You have a very good rifle and you do more dmg than all your friends

2. You are the only one using a rifle

3. The other people in the group are starting off with status shots like knockdown, root, debuff, dizzy or stun that do not do very much dmg, but help out the group a lot, while you as a rifleman start off with hs or snipershot since your role is dmg dealer.

You have a few options. What I do is start off with an intimidate shot and a warning shot (I'm pistols too so this might not be available to you), but you should be able to find some shot that does little dmg, but adds a state effect that will help the group. While you are doing this, make sure the tanks hit the agro as hard as the can, when it is 1/4 dead, unleash hell. When it is about 3/4 dead it will still turn on you if you are in a small group, but you should be able to drop it before it gets close. If you are pure rifle start of with a kneecap shot. that has low dmg and will help the entire group out.

Another trick we found that might not work anymore is for the rifleman to shoot 1 concealshot and then just sit there. The rest of the squad can go up and kick the crap out of the creature and it won't attack any of them untill it finds the rifleman that is under cover, then it will switch to whoever has done the most dmg. This isn't fun so I have only used it a couple times and haven't tried it since the 3rd so they may have fixed it.

Grabbing a less powerfull rifle might also work, but who wants to nerf themselves just to not get agroed.

I'm sure there are more options available to you, just remember that if you are hitting the creature harder than anyone else, that creature or npc will want to eliminate you as a threat first, and since we are pretty vulnerable while holding a rifle they stand a good chance.