Guild Wars 2

Hello there guardian bro’s

Last night I ran COF story mode. I found it much much harder than exp p1. I felt like all the bosses and mobs were targeting me more than anyone in my party(not sure, could just be my perception though because I was getting killed a lot). I am wondering if I was being targeted by bosses more since I suspect I had more toughness than my party mates.

I read on wiki aggro is mostly determined by proximity and threat level based on damage inflicted, but how much influence does toughness have?

Currently I am using the shout based altruistic healer build 0/0/30/30/10. My stats are
Attack:2900
Crit chance:38%
Toughness: 1800, armor:3000
Health:15000
Healing:340
Im wearing a mix of knights and valkyrie armor with all knights jewelry.

Does anyone think it would make a difference if I used a different build without many points in the valor line? Or if I wore different armor and jewelry without toughness(which would cost a lot of gold)? Or do I just suck at this game?

Thanks for any input.

No one really knows; it’s mostly speculation. For some bosses, both high and low toughness is considered high priority in some aggro AI speculations.

you found it harder than cof p1 because it actually is, cof p1 is by far the easiest dungeon path in the game

It could be possible, while capping camps the Guild claiming NPC runs always behind me, (we run arround in circles whyle every just watches…).

High toughness and rather low HP are thought to draw quite some aggro. You have both of them, although with an AH build, you should not die very often.

So maybe I should try new armor set with more vitality and healing and runes doing the same?

As Arc said, it’s mostly speculation. I have almost the same stat but on the lower side in toughness & health (much higher in critical chance & critical damage), and I don’t draw aggro that much while others having lower toughness & higher health than mine (like zerker mesmer) got chased by bosses. But I’m sure of one thing that if your position is always in front of him like “take me, take me, you idiot”, he will be sure to go after you.

Cavendish.2168:

So maybe I should try new armor set with more vitality and healing and runes doing the same?

Rather learn when to use protection and dodge rolls in the best moments.

It’s speculation, though from my own personal experience, on my sylvari guardian, in Twilight Arbor dungeon, it seemed as though ALL the hits were being aimed at me. They seemed only focussed on me actually. I probably had the most defence though, being as pretty much all my gear was Knight’s.

All in all, I think high toughness makes you more of a target versus NPC’s, but that’s just from my own personal experience and opinion.

Speculation, but, when my group runs into a WvW camp I instantly get ALL the agro on my guardian, but almost none on any other toon. I play it as a strength now, I just pull them all in and aoe the crap outa them.

Musty.3148:

Speculation, but, when my group runs into a WvW camp I instantly get ALL the agro on my guardian, but almost none on any other toon. I play it as a strength now, I just pull them all in and aoe the crap outa them.

I can confirm that too, with ~3200 armor (with shield) I get insta-targeted when in same case, usually I’ll get there with staff (for speed buffs) and I can stand around without drawing aggro, but at the moment I pull my shield out and get near its on my tail 99% of times — which is nice in turn as rest can just stand by and watch me running in circles till timer expires More or less is the same for PvE.

As for OP — I built my guardian for that, with high armor and all other utilities we have its relatively easy to stay alive and play “anchor” (not tank) for your team.

It varies by mob. Some mob AI goes for tanky players, some goes for squishy players, some goes for the closest player, etc.

nekitten234:

Musty.3148:

Speculation, but, when my group runs into a WvW camp I instantly get ALL the agro on my guardian, but almost none on any other toon. I play it as a strength now, I just pull them all in and aoe the crap outa them.

I can confirm that too, with ~3200 armor (with shield) I get insta-targeted when in same case, usually I’ll get there with staff (for speed buffs) and I can stand around without drawing aggro, but at the moment I pull my shield out and get near its on my tail 99% of times — which is nice in turn as rest can just stand by and watch me running in circles till timer expires More or less is the same for PvE.

As for OP — I built my guardian for that, with high armor and all other utilities we have its relatively easy to stay alive and play “anchor” (not tank) for your team.

Isn’t anchor just a codeword for “tank who can’t draw aggro”?

Higher toughness certainly draws more aggro.

Do an experiment. Go to any dungeon and run with 3200+ toughness.

Then run it again with 2800.

You will notice that you will have all the aggro with 3200.

If your saying you notice aggro with 2900 then 2800ish must be the cutoff. I barely get any aggro with my 2800 set. But my group says they prefer the 3200 toughness set…. it takes all the pressure off them especially during fights like lupi

Toughness do generate aggro but it isn’t the only thing. Proximity, dealing damage, even equipping shield do it as well. And if you stack toughness you can’t do enough damage. Also, different mobs have different ai.

On the sidenote, I’m quite curious how you can get 3200 toughness without using any forms like lich form.

haviz.1340:

Toughness do generate aggro but it isn’t the only thing. Proximity, dealing damage, even equipping shield do it as well. And if you stack toughness you can’t do enough damage. Also, different mobs have different ai.

On the sidenote, I’m quite curious how you can get 3200 toughness without using any forms like lich form.

I’m not sure what you mean by “forms” but to get 3200 toughness you can run full knights with dolyak runes and full knights jewels. When I made my guardian the first time I heard go Knights for starting set and move from there. Crit is 40%+ but damage power is very low and health is around 15-16k depending on weapon

haviz.1340:

Toughness do generate aggro but it isn’t the only thing. Proximity, dealing damage, even equipping shield do it as well. And if you stack toughness you can’t do enough damage. Also, different mobs have different ai.

On the sidenote, I’m quite curious how you can get 3200 toughness without using any forms like lich form.

I assume he means armor, not toughness.

+boon duration and soldier gear

0/10/30/30/0, altruistic healing, larger symbols, symbols heal all…. my main weapon is hammer, off set it mace/shield

I draw a lot of aggro. I also noticed I’m getting better drops too. When I had lower power and higher healing, I was getting kitten drops(blues only). Now that I have higher damage output I’m starting to see yellow/epic items for loot.

I know what he means, I’m trying to make him correct himself.

Oh I see what you did there.

Post edit: 2k toughness draws more aggro then 1.65k toughness from my experience. Try it and I believe you will see the same.

Cavendish.2168:

Hello there guardian bro’s

Last night I ran COF story mode. I found it much much harder than exp p1. I felt like all the bosses and mobs were targeting me more than anyone in my party(not sure, could just be my perception though because I was getting killed a lot). I am wondering if I was being targeted by bosses more since I suspect I had more toughness than my party mates.

I read on wiki aggro is mostly determined by proximity and threat level based on damage inflicted, but how much influence does toughness have?

Currently I am using the shout based altruistic healer build 0/0/30/30/10. My stats are
Attack:2900
Crit chance:38%
Toughness: 1800, armor:3000
Health:15000
Healing:340
Im wearing a mix of knights and valkyrie armor with all knights jewelry.

Does anyone think it would make a difference if I used a different build without many points in the valor line? Or if I wore different armor and jewelry without toughness(which would cost a lot of gold)? Or do I just suck at this game?

Thanks for any input.

I think your stats are fine for what you want to do, and I have even less HP than you do, but I can survive in CoF story. From your post, it looks like this might have been your first attempt at story mode, but from your build, it looks like you WANT to get mob attention. At least, when I run pretty much the same build, that’s my intent. Unfamiliarity might have been the factor here.