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GF vs GF Companion Aggro

visnsgcvisnsgc Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 0 Arc User
edited May 2013 in The Militia Barracks
Curious if any of the other Guardian Fighter's are having issues keeping aggro from the GF companions, I have every feat that some how pertains to threat or threat creation. I am currently lvl 21 and I find myself struggling to keep aggro vs the companion - I consider myself a competent player but this is a practice in masochism..
Post edited by visnsgc on

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    elspethtirelnwelspethtirelnw Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 200 Bounty Hunter
    edited April 2013
    Threat generation seems to be an issue in general. I have the same problem on my level 50 GWF, despite focusing on threat generation feats and encounters. Granted our pool of available abilities in regards to threat generation is lesser than that of a GF, but either class when specialized in threat generation should not be experiencing these issues.

    In the case of GWF - Even with the 25% threat boost on Daring Shout and Come and Get It, neither ability draws any significant amount of threat as they do not seem to be designed for that purpose at their core. Hence, the 25% boosts likely have no effect at all. That or it's simply broken.

    We also have another Feat that increases threat generation of Sure Strike on critical hits by 25% - this also does very little to draw threat. Partly due to the reduced base damage of the at-will or the lower damage associated with a tank spec (or the general nerf the class received this past beta weekend). Or again - maybe threat generation is simply broken.

    The point is - I can't function as a backup tank on a GWF due to the broken threat mechanic. I didn't really suffer from these issues when playing a GF up to 35 on BW2, although that was due to the half decent AOE taunt the class had access to. Outside of that, threat generation was still a bit iffy. Then again it seems that, after beta 2, threat issues have become more of a concern in general. This is an issue for all classes in some way shape or form, as far as I can tell.
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    vernedndvernednd Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 215 Bounty Hunter
    edited April 2013
    As a GF geared to tank with every point I can put into increased threat I run into similar issues. I can focus on one strong mob and I struggle keeping it from running after dps and clerics. This is spamming all my taunt and increased threat powers. Ironically all the trash mobs stick to me like glue with the aoe taunt. I was wondering if it was an AI thing vs threat issue.

    Cheers!
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    adozuadozu Member Posts: 477 Arc User
    edited April 2013
    at high level the real threat comes from the trash mobs escorting the bosses anyway, if you can glue those to you you've done your job. bosses have very powerful attacks but also very easily avoided if you only need to worry about those. (big red circles/cones that come 3-4 seconds before the attacks are a pretty easy tell, a mob of trash mobs rubberbanding to you is far worse)
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    healhamstahealhamsta Member, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 572 Bounty Hunter
    edited April 2013
    adozu wrote: »
    (big red circles/cones that come 3-4 seconds before the attacks are a pretty easy tell, a mob of trash mobs rubberbanding to you is far worse)

    Nerf lag.
    Lag is overpowered!
    D:<
    Delve loot murdered my TR, DC, & GWF. Nerf Plox:
    I know that it sucks to no longer get gear to sell from the Dungeon Delve chest but it was truly overpowered.
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    adozuadozu Member Posts: 477 Arc User
    edited April 2013
    that's not really the lag, trash mobs at wills just don't give you time to dodge. (it's not "really" rubberbanding most of the time, it's just that some attacks go off with no real chanche to dodge them)
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    rokuthyrokuthy Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 179 Bounty Hunter
    edited April 2013
    As I said after BW3, there's either an issue with the game's static threat tables, or GF's aren't really intended to be traditional MMO tanks (meaning, we aren't supposed to have aggro 100% of the time, just be able to manipulate fights in short bursts). If the vision for the class is for us to be a full time, traditional tank, then we need to be given a passive threat boost (in the realm of 50% passive threat on all damage/abilities).
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    drakedge2drakedge2 Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited April 2013
    Well the GF companion can sit there doing nothing but blocking and holding aggro of the boss. Meanwhile I am doing the 1v1 challenge ability that is supposed to lock them into one on one combat with me, and spamming taunt, over the shield slashing taunts, marking the target etc doing everything in my power but i can't hold a boss to me as well as the companion can.

    Its either we're broken, or the tank companion is OP haha.
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    blargtarbakblargtarbak Member, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 7 Arc User
    edited April 2013
    This isn't WOW ppl! Which to me is very refreshing. Don't expect to run in and AoE tank everthing, u have to think tactically, dps and healers need to kite, interupt and focus dps trash. Played B3 and found that focusing on Elites and Bosses i could gain agro 80% of the time or more if i was smart with CD's ... leave the trash to the rest of the grp, unless someone is getting overwhelmed then u can pull a grp off a player briefly, protect them from the hard hitters .. see y'all in Open Beta :)
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    drakedge2drakedge2 Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited April 2013
    Oh for sure, I am used to SWTOR tanking lately, you couldnt tank everything there either. What we're saying is that the companion tanks better than the player just by being there.

    They need to drastically increase our threat so that we're able to tank better than a companion.
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    blargtarbakblargtarbak Member, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 7 Arc User
    edited April 2013
    I get the point Drakedge .. but surely 'companion agro' just mimics the general agro u experience with a full party. It might even improve ur reflexes and make u a better tank!! Working as intended mebee :)
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    mewbreymewbrey Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users, Neverwinter Knight of the Feywild Users Posts: 517 Bounty Hunter
    edited April 2013
    I play as a cleric, but I notice when some one else brings a man at arms in dungeons, it will rip from a tank and then the mob turns and wacks the dps players... I hate seeing man at arm companions in dungeons, they lead to people getting damage unintentionally via cleaves.

    I tend to switch to control wizard or Greatweapon fighter(sellsword) companions in dungeons.
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    blargtarbakblargtarbak Member, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 7 Arc User
    edited April 2013
    I get the point Drakedge .. but surely 'companion agro' just mimics the general agro u experience with a full party. It might even improve ur reflexes and make u a better tank!! Working as intended mebee :)
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    drakedge2drakedge2 Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited April 2013
    Yeah Mewbrey if we could only get all other people to not use tanking companions in dungeons runs would be a lot smoother. Especially since tanking is so directional in this game.
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    daggnardaggnar Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 10 Arc User
    edited April 2013
    Same issue. Keeping aggro is impossible right now. When someone brings the tank companion, there is nothing I can do to get aggro.
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    dtrain69dtrain69 Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited April 2013
    Glad it's not just me.

    I consider myself a fully capable tank but when i have my companion out it is nearly impossible to get agro off him due to his threat generating strikes.
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    unjustbladeunjustblade Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 91
    edited April 2013
    Noticed this as well. Target is tab marked, under the effects of Enforced Threat WHILE I'm Crab n' Stabbin'... NOTHING peels threat off those guys.
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    teapotguruteapotguru Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 16 Arc User
    edited April 2013
    I have noticed their instant aggro too. I used this as an advantage numerous times and left the tank companion on his target and I took care of other mobs. Few times I was able to pull the aggro back after aoe taunt + crab stabbing. Unfortunately, the companion tank doesnt seem to stick to just the one target so this system is inconsistent. In boss scenarios, he only seems to momentarily attain aggro. This was only up to level 35 on my GF.
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    santos1978santos1978 Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited April 2013
    I am glad this isn't wow first off, but I did play WoW and tank in that and while I don't expect it to be like my druid tank to roar and grab everything and swipe spam to win, I expect that players that can spec into a certain aspect of gameplay be more viable than an NPC. That said their is a difference from NPC Tanks and player tanks. While I cant comment on threat from bw4 as I wasn't a part of that test weekend, I can comment from bw3. During BW3 a friend and I played almost exclusively in a group, he was a DC while I was a GF.

    When he had his tank companion out while we were in quest dungeons almost 70% of the time I was fighting to rip threat off of him. I know that we were never in any danger of dying but some of us long time MMO players that are use to tanking and having total control found this to be a bit annoying, though I took it as practice of fighting for threat with an over zealous dps in dungeons later. I don't mind having to fight with other people for threat, and I take it as a challenge, and unless the threat issue becomes an issue where it causes wipes I really don't care to much.

    I have seen some comparisons to SW:ToR since where you relied on a bulky DPS to hold part of a pull while you tanked the harder hitting mobs. Same is true in Neverwinter, as a tank you don't want to worry too much about the regular mobs as much as you want to grab the harder hitting elites, but their in lies the problem. Companions can easily handle these adds while you grab the boss or other stuff but they are NPC so they don't function the same as a player obviously, and while running quest instances I have seen many a time when fighting for threat against an NPC tank the mob start casting an AoE reticle on the ground and the NPC tank just stays in it and eats the dmg. So while it is nice to have them in a run with you as backup they aren't to smart and you really cant depend on them. They might have a group of adds on them one sec but stand in the "fire" and then when they die all those adds are going to run right to the DC. Again I don't know what changes were made to DC threat or even companion threat for the matter in BW4, so my point might be mute.

    The hardest thing I ran into was in LotMD on the last boss, around level 30ish, I could keep the boss on me 100% of the time but the adds that would spawn would immediately run at the DC. I cant remember the spell name that I used but its the one that reduces your parties incoming dmg and you take some of it. Which was fine but the DC was basically running for his life and the rest of the DPS couldn't kill the adds fast enough. It could have been underpowered dps or incompetent dps but after a few wipes it was apparent that what we were doing wasn't working. I actually enjoyed the difficulty but being hard because the devs want it that way and being hard because a mechanic isn't working are two different things. For those SWToR players, SoA on hardmode or Nightmare know what I am talking about.
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    timoweictimoweic Member Posts: 3 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    From what i can see... the guardian companions SPAM THE EVERLIVING SHISTA out of mark... overriding our own marks.

    Also, the alternate "cleave" while blocking is a very high threat generator, at the cost of wasting guard for threat... kind of stupid... I feel as if i keep running out of guard after soaking 3 big hits, not the petty quick attacks, like the ogres overheads or the other one, if i am tanking 2 of them i can manage to stab once before my guard gets wrecked.. even with spamming tides of iron (only a 10% regen... bullshiz imho) I cant seem to keep my guard up long eneough to get eneough threat out
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    timoweictimoweic Member Posts: 3 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    YES i agree.. I HATE not having threat on everything... i tanked in tera for about 2 years now. and in wow for 8 always the main tank. :/ yet these panzy NPC's spam taunt or whatever the hell... people just need to STOP using them in instances :/
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    timoweictimoweic Member Posts: 3 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    THANK YOU! you dont know how much i love you for being smart and not using the MAA NPC <3 you have a pocket tank now (hummbug@timoweic)

    I personally almost always keep out my cleric npc, not that i dont trust my healer(s) - its just every extra bit helps. less stress on you, less stress on me = winnar
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    vladiusvladius Member Posts: 6 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    same issue and is very frustrating.When I was learning to tank in this game 1st my issue was with dps players doing a lot of aggro,I dont mind loosing aggro to another player cause that may means I need to learn a few things.And thats what I did. I was missing some knowledge,I learned, and now dps aggro is not a big issue most of the time.Now,tank companions looks like they have some kind of permanent taunt lol.Doing all I learned to keep aggro from DPS players wont work for tank companions.Only time I can take aggro from them is when I taunt(just for a few secs) and when I use the 1 on 1 challenge ability.Other than that I cant take aggro from those tank companions.Really not being able to do your role because a AI npc is very frustrating.I was very happy for the mechanics of being able to use companions in dungeons, but after that bad experience with tank companion I dont want companions in instances.Of course thats not the proper way to fix the issue.I suggest that the devs take a look at tank companions and maybe nerf a bit their aggro gain.
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    ludaka89ludaka89 Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    go top tree for 100% more dps and never turn back. It's great for pvp and in endgame noone use GW as real tank ( we just dont have the treat to compete with devoted cleric)
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    khail33khail33 Member Posts: 16 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    So easy to spend 2G and buy a DPS alternate companion... c'mon stop bringing those tanks to dungeons :mad:
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    stu66ystu66y Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 6 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    Personally, I am a level 37 GF in this game. And I have experienced many of the same aggro issues some of you speak of. However, To this point in the game, I have noticed the game as a whole seems very face rolley. Maybe it's just me, but it's what I've experienced so far. I heard Lair of the Mad Dragon was one of the hardest dungeons in the game and finished it first run with 3 pugs. So, the game is quite underwhelming so far, I'm hoping that will change as I get to a higher level.. As for companion GF's stealing aggro, is that necessarily a bad thing? As a GF myself, I am 1st or 2nd in the DPS charts almost all the time, so I don't mind if other GF's take aggro from me, I'll focus on other mobs, or kill whatever he is tanking.
    Personally, I disable MY cleric companion when doing dungeons since I like a bit of a challenge, playing on easy mode isn't fun to me. But, also because a friend of mine that plays a Cleric told me that healing is much harder for him when there are a bunch of NPC's around that he has to get around to heal the important people in the group.
    All in all, the issue still remains that aggro isn't perfect in this game yet, but I don't think we were ever meant to hold aggro on EVERYTHING in the room at ALL times. It just isn't viable in certain circumstances with what we have available. Just focus on high priority targets.. Bosses, Berserkers, and the like. Hope this helps.
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