Fencer Archive
Thread: Aggro Management...
Please post your strategies in a serious Xpgroup concerning aggro management...
As we all know being the main tank in the game so far is kinda suicidal - k, unless you've got a super good healer or three and the best armor out there- let's face it, we usually leave tanking/aggro to CH pets when the group is taking on high con mobs. The other night a person in my Fencing network sends me a tell frustrated as hell because he keeps getting killed in the group and everyones not happy when the healers are getting aggro from constantly having to heal him.
My suggestion to him was...
-Throw on some armor if you got it.
-Use a faster blade and don't spam special attacks very often, which might lead to a bit lower Xp but hell you're alive and you haven't caused healers to get aggro from healign ya....
-Let the pets tank a few hits before using any special attacks.
-Savebigger special attacks when the mob is close to heathand/or for whena healer gets aggro (taunt here would help to)
The basic concept is that whatevers doing the most damage, typically gets aggro - heals are kinda like that too when healers heal for too much...anyways, I learned that from playing another mmorpg and the same concept seems to apply here.
Cheers
If in a group with a medic...
1.) Get yourself the best entire suit
2.) Make an armor macro to quickly remove and put on armor for healing purposes.
3.) Get yourself the best dps sword you can get. You may want faster also so you can do more special moves if absolutely necessary.
4.) Have the medic/doctor buff you if they can.
5.) Don't use any special moves unless absolutely necessary. Except for taunt if it's needed.
6.) Hit away!
The aggro doesn't work the same as other MMORPG's in my opinion.
Here is a trick I use with a Pet. Let the pet attack from about 20m away. Assuming that the creature doesn't just turn on you there, the pet will tank. Then close to about 4 to 5m. Then start attacking. It seems that the pet is "closer" so it tends to keep the agro. Assuming that the Mob does not move, you should be fine.
Becareful since it is only 1 meter between being safe and being chutney.
-gustavef
"2.) Make an armor macro to quickly remove and put on armor for healing purposes"
Could you show an example of this macro Bazik? it would be extremely helpful...I know attack macros adn such but I've never heard of an armor one 
As far as aggro management is concerned in comparison to other mmorpgs, I was kinda refering to DAoC...the melee concept is somewhat the same it's just in SWG you have more ranged attacks (ie Rifles)...but the concept is still there I think, bigger damage dealer = aggro sponge
Gustavef, no kidding.. 1 meter difference from life or death...
Subtil_Serpent, you can supposedly use the following macro to remove or put on your armor. I haven't tested it yet but I will soon. You could probably edit it and make another one to put on your favorite clothes. You can put your armor on the 5th toolbar pane, and put the macro on pane 1. The macro will make it switch to pane 5 and back to 1 automatically. It seems the panes are numbered 00-05 instead of 1-6. (or is there 8?)
/ui action toolbarPane04; /ui action toolbarSlot00; /ui action toolbarSlot01; /ui action toolbarSlot02; /ui action toolbarPane00;
You can put your armor on pane 5 , then put the macro on pane 1.. then you can hit the macro and it will switch to pane 5, remove or put on your armor, and return to pane 1
As gustavef said, there is DEFINITELY a relationship between how close you are to a creature/npc and how likely you are to get aggro. I've been hunting mercenaries on lok with my pets a lot lately, and I've found that with npcs, if you are farther away than your pets, they will NEVER go after you. The only times I get hit are when the npc does a spin move that hits everything around it, or if they start moving and I'm not quick enough to keep my distance.
Not really sure how medics/healing falls into this, but it sounds like they can pull aggro from farther away. It's also possible that the healers are inadvertently getting too close to a creature when they are trying to heal people (assuming they aren't a combat medic using ranged heals).
I must say trying to figure out aggro in this game, after coming from DAOC where there was practically a formula, has been frustrating. But it seems to be almost entirely based on proximity...
Jomam - Fencer/Master CH, Scylla
Any news Magickal?
Btw, /follow seems to put me in 1m of the target every time soI have yet to try that pet aggro trick...hard to break that habit after playing DAoC for so long heh.
Somebody asked for an armor macro?
I do it like this:
put all your armor on hotkeys on like the last hotbar. On the first hotbar (where you spend all your time), make a macro like this:
/ui action toolbarPane05
/ui action toolbarSlot00
/ui action toolbarSlot01
/ui action toolbarSlot02
/ui action toolbarPane00
In this example, the user interface switched to toolbar Pane 05, then hit buttons 00 through 02, then switched back to Pane 00.
You might have to play with the numbers a bit to find what numbers reference what pane and button.
I did the same thing with my weapons too. For example, I have a button that will equip my Pistol, then switch to a Pane with all my pistol moves. I have one that equips my stun baton, then switches to a Pane with my fencer moves.
You might also try making a lunge macro that equips your dagger (low HAM), does a lunge, then equips your Curved Blade again. Keep in mind that if you equip a weapon and then do a combat style, you might have to put a pause in between so that the server knows you have a new weapon in your hand before it fires the attack.
Have fun! If my memory is bad on the macro commands, someone correct me please 
Washu
Additionally, here's a great link on the armor macro question:
http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=game_guides&message.id=17597
Washu