Guild Wars 2

Does anyone actually know how this works?

There is no real aggro system. Some mobs attack those who do the most damage, other like to chew on chars with light armor and then there are those that reset there aggro every few seconds to pick another target and so on. You get the point.

1) It seems to be proximity based. If you’ve got aggro, running away from the mob can often lower yourself on the invisible Threat chart. Though if you’ve still got aggro by a significant amount, the mob will just ignore everyone else and will chase you (which can allow you to kite the mob all over the place while everyone else shoots it).

2) It seems to be built up through dealing damage to the mob. I’ve observed that certain debuffs or penality effects can also yank aggro pretty fast, but I don’t have anything concrete.

3) Mobs will periodically aggro wipe. You won’t see much of this when you’re just soloing around. However when you’re fighting a Veteran or Champion mob that is taking a long time, you will notice the aggro wipe mechanic.

Cool thanks guys, I think they need to put it a solid system that makes sense.

Its all just too random

LONGSHANKS.3085:

Cool thanks guys, I think they need to put it a solid system that makes sense.

Its all just too random

But that’s the point of the system. ArenaNet doesn’t want a formal Trinity class role system. By making the aggro target randomly change, ArenaNet is forcing everyone to pay attention and dodge around. While you can certainly disagree with their game philosophy, the aggro systems does seem to be working as intended.

The concept of aggro is so closely tied to the Holy Trinity that it’s unlikely to change. Every class has a means to “tank” so to speak, if you’re built for it. Insomuch that if you do gain aggro from a mob you should be able to survive. The key here is body blocking, if you have someone who it setup to take the brunt of the damage they can block the target in. Otherwise you’re relying on control mechanics to keep them at bay.

Think about it really, the concept of “aggro” is unrealistic. Not to anthro things too much but from a mob’s perspective…“Am I going to keep beating up on this guy who is clearly not dying, or do I go for that squishy light armor guy back there and make theirkitten mine?”

Even when I was an MA in EQ1 60-man endgame raids, I always thought the trinity and the concept of aggro was patently stupid.

Aggro’s fine. You want to force a mob to attack you (or heal a tank who can do the same), go play a trinity game. This isn’t it.

LONGSHANKS.3085:

Cool thanks guys, I think they need to put it a solid system that makes sense.

Its all just too random

As the others already said: Cause there is no Holy Trinity in GW2 there is also no need for a 08/15 aggro system. You are dd, tank and healer at the same time.

Good luck tanking anything with an ele

Absolutely doable, you can run, doge and use defensive utility skills.

LONGSHANKS.3085:

Good luck tanking anything with an ele

You’ve got 2 dodges, as well as mobility skills on dagger and staff with a reasonable cooldown, a utility skill shield, a utility skill invuln and two from traits at 50% and 25% HP. With some changes in a setup it’s not difficult to “tank” for a moment. It’s naive to assume that you’re not going to have to do it once in a while.

I prefer it how it is now. It is far more believable than a mob that stays on whoever hit them first, or the one that does the most damage; meanwhile the healer is keeping everyone alive.

I would prefer the mobs to be even more aggressive, and go straight for anyone pumping out healing first: just like a player would do.

@Craven,

I’ve actually seen that habit displayed often while on my Ele. If I pump out a healing rain and a geyser, it’s often earned me some attention, especially on boss fights.

Tradewind.6913:

@Craven,

I’ve actually seen that habit displayed often while on my Ele. If I pump out a healing rain and a geyser, it’s often earned me some attention, especially on boss fights.

Awesome; I have seen it as well but I assumed it was random target switching. Good to know others have seen it.

Yeah I love it. Keeps you on your toes!

The concept of aggro never made much sense in SOME ways. Often with trinity based games, the tank gets threat-generating abilities which accumulates and forces the target to attack the tank endlessly. I believe this needs to be ignored.

However, I can absolutely see threat-generating abilities that force the target to attack you TEMPORARILY (maybe 2-3 seconds) with auto-attacks. This would allow a beefier character to pull a critter off for a couple seconds and allow someone else to recover. (Edit: Would also combo with retaliation effects .. and maybe confusion?)

It makes just as much sense as a “fear” effect. Instead of forcing them to run, you’re forcing them to attack. However, I see this as a temporary altered “enraged” state of mind, so to speak, and it shouldn’t work like traditional MMO threat mechanics.

I have actually drawn aggro on my ele just running by someone that was in a fight. At least twice the creature that was getting beat on by someone else decided he would rather chase me as I ran by. I was not hitting, changing attunements or even looking particularly tasty.

threat mechanics to me are kind of like exploiting poor A.I. it never made sense that a mob would sit and flail on a tank till it died without ever trying to go after someone else.This may work against mindless beasts, but surly a boss who was a general or a powerul mage would be smarter than that.

I would rather feel like i was fighting unpredictable, thinking opponants that changed up tactics and actually fought back rather than just submiting to a numbers game of threat generation.

There are threat tables in the AI as explained in the Anet blogs. It isn’t too dissimilar from any other MMO, just with tighter tolerances. I would add that it seems there is a bit of randomness thrown into it, lest anyone get too comfy standing still.

Your thief opening with mad damage will get killed.
My (ele) damage AoE opener will get me killed.
Your guardian out in front playing the tank role will keep things more controlled and everyone alive.

The trinity is here; it’s just not so rigidly defined or narrowly filled.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Aggro

however, I have noticed inconsistencies…

When me and a friend went into my personal story for example. He let me solo the boss monster. So he stood aside, doing NO DAMAGE whatsoever while I was spamming melee damage. Yet the boss monster went after my friend most of the time.. wth is going on here?

Is it opposite day or something?

Mongo.2490:

However, I can absolutely see threat-generating abilities that force the target to attack you TEMPORARILY (maybe 2-3 seconds) with auto-attacks. This would allow a beefier character to pull a critter off for a couple seconds and allow someone else to recover.

You can already use stun, knockback, immobilize, cripple, chill or fear for that.

deherch.3158:

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Aggro

however, I have noticed inconsistencies…

When me and a friend went into my personal story for example. He let me solo the boss monster. So he stood aside, doing NO DAMAGE whatsoever while I was spamming melee damage. Yet the boss monster went after my friend most of the time.. wth is going on here?

Is it opposite day or something?

Did your friend played a character with less HPs and/or armor than you? A squikittenarget gets higher priority then a sturdy one.