Guild Wars 2

From the my other post on here you might have seen I have been trying to create a good Greatsword Tank style build with my ranger.

In terms of survivability it works great and really enjoying it, but at times ive found it hard to keep aggro on a group of mobs. Or the other day I had aggro on a champion and a dps spec ranger pulled it off me and I couldnt seem to get it back even with regular use of quickness to cause burst damage.

Anyone know how the aggro system fully works in GW2, I know theres some rules based on distance to a player closer to the target will be classed a bigger threat, then its based on damage, and certain rules like guardians produce more threat by default and also read a shield wearer will cause more threat also.

Just wondering how as a GS ranger I can get mobs to keep wanting to attack me, a lot of the time it seems to work fine and ive had a full pack of mobs stuck to me.

Maybe that ranger just had much better gear and pulled aggro, and the other times its been AoE pulling aggro.

Would something like the flame trap be better to grab the mobs?

Current build.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fMMQNBhODbkoKyuvyxC1OQ0ewJLd+/Ba5ZIK/fxH3NB

I recall people discussing if gear stats plays a role in aggro. Not sure if that was confirmed though.

Imo, aggro is completely random on this game. Mobs don’t chase the one who does the most damage or anything, they seem to attack randomly…usually the first target they see and then they switch targets.

There are several aggro system in GW2, depends on the boss, like the closest one, the most resistant one, the weakest one, the first one who attacked the boss, etc… There is no tank like we could see before, accept that.

Strange though i thought like others in the post had an intersting fight last night and yes wish i had takent better notice of the guy kittings class.

Champion troll, guy got there a little before me and started kitting it arround the small island, jumped in with lynx pet and bow then switched to sword torch tossed in the torch aoe the lynx bleeds and bounced along auto attacking as we ran in circles now maybe my bleeds and burns wernt enough to out damage the guy in the lead but even with rampage as one the troll just ignored me

There may not be a class that can stand and tank but some thing this guy was doing had the troll chasing him like he was a sophomore cheer leader

Sleepy.2647:

Imo, aggro is completely random on this game. Mobs don’t chase the one who does the most damage or anything, they seem to attack randomly…usually the first target they see and then they switch targets.

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

There seems to be some sort of system but its not the typical system.

From what ive read in places it seems that if the target has say a strong melee skill and a weaker ranged skill they will prefer to attack melee targets.

So someone in melee range will get attacked more than a ranged, unless the ranged suddenly does something that gets the attention like a big spike of damage or AoE damage etc, its then seen a bigger threat.

Also I believe if you had a melee character with high armour next to the target and then a light armour user walks into melee range, the target see’s they are easier to kill and trys to take them out.

A lot of this im reading from various posts on here and on other forums so dont hold me to it.

It would be nice if Arena Net gave a more detailed version of the aggro system at some point.

Also they said that you shouldnt be able to stand and take the damage like a classic tank and it was more about kiting and evading etc but on my ranger I currently have Toughness and Def combined to get 3k armour, and 21k health, combined with a friends heal specced elementalist, I can pretty much just plant my feet and take a good few mobs on at once, or even a champion, I have to kite a bit to get health back at times but only if I get caught by a big attack, often you can see these coming and roll back then go back into melee range.

The aggro system must have changed. The same mobs I was fighting two weeks ago that practically hugged my bear are now chasing me around nonstop. I wouldn’t mind but the bear has more vitality and hits harder than me..feels like the mobs are picking off the weak..

I’ve played 100 hours of ranger and I am absolutely certain the aggro mechanics have changed. First they put half your DPS and HP into a pet, and then make the HP part useless because it can’t hold aggro…

voidelysium.7285:

The aggro system must have changed. The same mobs I was fighting two weeks ago that practically hugged my bear are now chasing me around nonstop. I wouldn’t mind but the bear has more vitality and hits harder than me..feels like the mobs are picking off the weak..

I’ve played 100 hours of ranger and I am absolutely certain the aggro mechanics have changed. First they put half your DPS and HP into a pet, and then make the HP part useless because it can’t hold aggro…

Or your gear has gotten better, which is some of the worst thing a ranger can do in this game. Just take off all you gear for a few mobs, and see if you notice any change.

For all the “there is no tank class” comments.
I’m not asking to be able to tank for the sake of creating a face tanker. I just wanna keep that stupid spider/crow of mine alive without having to trait beastmastery.

I’m playing with drake in dungeons for a while, and they are pretty good to survive in it (except with “OS” boss of course), thougness + self heal + ranger heal skill is really nice (and I never take more than 5 points in BM)

Xander.4539:

voidelysium.7285:

The aggro system must have changed. The same mobs I was fighting two weeks ago that practically hugged my bear are now chasing me around nonstop. I wouldn’t mind but the bear has more vitality and hits harder than me..feels like the mobs are picking off the weak..

I’ve played 100 hours of ranger and I am absolutely certain the aggro mechanics have changed. First they put half your DPS and HP into a pet, and then make the HP part useless because it can’t hold aggro…

Or your gear has gotten better, which is some of the worst thing a ranger can do in this game. Just take off all you gear for a few mobs, and see if you notice any change.

Wore level 60 gear instead and tested. Same old mobs from multiple levelled zones, pet holds aggro like a champion. Seems like armour rating is factoring more into aggro now. One more reason Ranger’s design in its current form should be heavily amended. And no, ANet, I don’t mean give us light armour so pets can hold aggro better o_O