Guild Wars 2

I recently heard that high armor values (and possibly other defensive scores) aggro mobs. Is this true? If so, isn’t it yet another benefit of Zerker gear?

Also, wouldn’t you be able to give people a reason to wear something other than Zerker gear if the opposite were true — mobs aggro by characters with weak armor / defenses? It makes sense that they would attack the squishiest characters first.

Whatever you heard was codswallop.

Aggro is a very difficult mechanic to explain in regard to GW2, but I don’t think there is any stat that contributes to how it works. It would appear that aggro usually goes to the first person to engage the mob, at least from the things I have experienced, but even then it is not always definite. It is too flexible a mechanic in GW2, so I really can’t suggest anything further.

ekarat.1085:

I recently heard that high armor values (and possibly other defensive scores) aggro mobs. Is this true? If so, isn’t it yet another benefit of Zerker gear?

Not a benefit if everyone is wearing zerker.

ekarat.1085:

Also, wouldn’t you be able to give people a reason to wear something other than Zerker gear if the opposite were true — mobs aggro by characters with weak armor / defenses? It makes sense that they would attack the squishiest characters first.

Well they could attack the person that is most squishy but the problem there of course is that it then completely removes any future hope of their being a tank (soft or not). This is of course a contentious topic (to trinity or not, or even to soft trinity or not), but still the change you’re suggesting would pretty much remove all value from gear with defense.

EDIT:

Whatever you heard was codswallop.

Aggro is a very difficult mechanic to explain in regard to GW2, but I don’t think there is any stat that contributes to how it works. It would appear that aggro usually goes to the first person to engage the mob, at least from the things I have experienced, but even then it is not always definite. It is too flexible a mechanic in GW2, so I really can’t suggest anything further.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Aggro
First person would get aggro, but it seems more to be impacted by damage and proximity.

ekarat.1085:

I recently heard that high armor values (and possibly other defensive scores) aggro mobs. Is this true? If so, isn’t it yet another benefit of Zerker gear?

Also, wouldn’t you be able to give people a reason to wear something other than Zerker gear if the opposite were true — mobs aggro by characters with weak armor / defenses? It makes sense that they would attack the squishiest characters first.

Some skills cause more aggro than others.

Tremor Turret for Engineer for example cause a lot of aggro.

Also Bear pet for Ranger cause a lot of Aggro.

Taunt effects place you at top of aggro.

“The aggro system is simple—NPCs will select targets primarily based on a range calculation, meaning the character or allied NPC such as minion or pet closest to the hostile NPC will hold its attention.¹ However, there are additional factors such as which characters are doing damage, and how much each character has done. In addition, not all creatures (in particular, legendary creatures) use the same A.I. for aggro; some creatures will have unique aggro mechanics.”

Basically: we have no idea how aggro actually works in all cases because it can differ from mob to mob.

Vitality and toughness factor in on the aggro calculation, as does proximity. Thumper Turret and bear pets have immense HP pools, making them aggro magnets. I’m quite certain those skills and pets don’t have any special flags to cause extra aggro.

I have had entire mobs chase me in circles purely because of my high toughness, regardless of what everyone else in the party was doing. It probably differs from foe to foe though.