The Fine Art of Pulling.

[ellestil]

The purpose of this article is to discuss the gameplay known as pulling. It isn't so much intended for experienced pullers but more for the player coming here that will be a first time tank, and therefore will be required to do some pulling in his/her gameplay experience.

Pulling defined is when a player gains aggression from a Mob and leads it back to his group. A puller is the one designated to be the first to draw this aggression and start the engagement. There are several ways in which this can be accomplished. Those are...

1. Bow pulling
2. Ability pulling
3. Proximity pulling

Aggression (Aggro/Hate) defined is basically when the mob turns to attack you. If it is targeting you, you have aggro. If it is targeting the wizard, they have aggro. Aggro begins when one of three scenario's are in motion. The first is doing damage. If you do damage to a mob, it will turn to attack you. The second is proximity, if you come within range of a mob so that it detects your presence, it will turn to attack you. The third is called social aggro, if you attack a mob near another mob, the second will recognize the attack on it's partner and also come to attack you.

I will also discuss several pulling scenario's with advanced tactics that may come into play. But first the general three types of pulling I mentioned earlier will be discussed. Keep in mind that pulling in a game also depends upon the A.I. mob design within the game itself. It varies from game to game, and Vanguard may have it's own quirks, but in general, the types of pulling discussed here will work in most MMORPG's, including Vanguard.

Bow Pulling:

This type of pulling basically has you equip a distance weapon (bow, throwing weapon, etc) and hit the mob from afar, causing it to turn on you and run to your position. This type of pulling is common in open areas, where mobs either roam around spread out, or are not social. If they are not social, they can be standing right on top of eachother and the second mob will not recognize your attack on the first mob.

Your goal is to pull one mob, let it come to the group, kill it, then grab the next one. It is a fast means of pulling and is good for fast xp. Some scenario's where this is prefered is when mobs are a higher level than you and you do not want to risk having more than one mob attack the group by standing close to them. It also is a fast way to pull. If mobs are social, but roam, you must time your shot to hit the monster when it has moved far enough away from the others so as not to draw the attention of more than one mob. It is generally not preferred to try this pulling method in unkown areas that are higher level than you, people have pulled entire areas by using a bow. Know your enemy before you shoot and what it will do.

Ability pulling:

This method is similar to bow pulling, but uses one of your abilities like taunt to pull. The advantage of pulling with an ability is that usually you can gain more hate from the mob by using your ability vs using a bow or throwing weapon. This helps you as a tank keep the aggro on you instead of having the mob turn on softer targets. There are times when you must get closer to the mobs using ability pulling than with bow pulling. Therefore it is general used in open spaces with congested non-social mobs, and larger dungeons.

Social aggro must still be considered here. If the mobs are social, you cannot pull one that is standing near another with a taunt without drawing both. If mobs are not social, just be aware of their proximity detection distance, since you will generally have to get closer to the mob than a bow pull to use your taunt/spell. This pull type can still be fast xp as long as you don't have to run long distances in order to reach the mobs.

Proximity pulling:

Proximity pulling or body pulling requires you to enter a mobs detection radius so that it turns to attack you, then dash away back to your group without engaging the enemy until it is safely away from its brothers. It's a "catch me if you can" tactic so to speak. Body pulling is almost always used in close quarters areas, areas where mobs are highly social, areas where mobs are close together and bow/ability pulls are dangerous, or generally when your unsure of mob behavior in a given area.

The key to remember about Proximity pulling is that you cannot engage the enemy, and in some cases let them engage you, until you are safely away and at a safe distance from other mobs. In some games, mobs are not social when a target is pulled and is chasing you, but has not engaged or been engaged (damage dealt or taken). They ARE social however, if you damage the mob near them, or if the mob damages you. So you must slide into the targets detection range, then dash away back to your group once you have it's attention. Some games give you a heads up about entering a mobs detection range. That is, the mob turns to face you with a slight pause, or it's head turns to look at you before it gives chase. That one second pause is all you have to get running back to your group.

This method is generally slower than the first two methods, but an experienced puller can prox pull quickly as their skill increases. In some cases it is safer to pull by this means, but keep in mind that you must be aware of how large the mobs aggro distance (and if it overlaps with another mobs range). You also at times need to literally inch your way up to the mob to pull only one sometimes. Running is not always your friend, and impatience can get you and the whole group killed.

Advanced Scenarios:
There are times when you simply cannot avoid pulling more than one mob. Depending on your group make up, this may be dealt with several ways. If you have a crowd controller in your group that can mezmerize/stun a mob, you may pull both mobs at once, letting your groupmate incapacitate one while you kill the other. Then you kill the second. This works with mez, stuns, roots, traps, etc. Basically anything that stops the second mob from joining in the fray. If you can handle both mobs at once without fear of dying, simply pull both and kill them without stopping one.

There are times when a casting mob is involved. Be aware that casting mobs general do not engage in melee to begin with, but start off their attacks with magic. If this is the case, even body pulling may not help you. You will run into aggro range, get his attention, then begin your run back, but the caster mob while stand in his place and start casting. If the mobs are social and he is within range of the others, his casting will initiate the social rule and all mobs near him will come. If any a roaming area, be aware of this pause to cast and allow extra room between mobs before you pull a caster. It raises the chances that you will not get social aggro from other mobs. If it cannot be avoided, use crowd control on melee mobs nearby and kill the caster first.

Some games AI have a social code that allows one mob to detect that another mob is targeting you (even if you have not damaged it or taken damage from it yet ) and will join the fray IF the pulled target passes in front of it or near it. Be aware of this when pulling if this type of social AI is used.

When pulling, there are two ways to return to your party. Turning around and running back, or backpedaling. Situations may dictate one over the other. For example, if you are body pulling a mob thats a short distance from your group, simply move forward to gain aggro, and backpedal straight back. Taking the time to turn around in this scenario may cost you time, time that the mob can hit you and therefore draw social aggro from others. If the pull is a long distance and over crooked terrain, it is better to pull the mob, turn around, and run back to your group. Nothing is worse than backpedaling into a hole or getting stuck on something and still being out of healing distance by the time the mob engages you. In crowded areas, be aware of not accidentaly backpedaling into another mob that came behind you.

Finally, you must keep in mind how fast mobs respawn in an area. If you are pulling in an area that is highly congested but deep, and you go from short pulling distances to long pulling distances, be aware that eventually the mobs closest to the group that you killed first will respawn. You don't want bad respawn timing to wipe your group.

Well, there you go. I wish you a very successful career in your tanking ventures. The art of pulling is just a part of the tanking job, but it is a key function that if done well, will net you praises from group members, and invites to future groups. Just remember to know the area as well as you can, know your mob also, and make the safest decision first before trying something risky. It is never looked down upon to start off pulling conservatively before moving up to more aggressive pulling against an untried area or mob. Cheers!

Ellestil

[Xarothiell]

Fine article! I'll add in a few more pointers for the pulling.


1. Incoming Hotkey.
Sometimes when you pull one too many, either the puller or the group has to react. CC is a good way but normally it's the puller's job to give a head's up to the group.

A simple hotkey saying, "Target is incoming" is a normality I'm sure. Depending on game structure and how agro is, hotkeys are questionable. For example, EQ1 there are roaming single mobs and there are mobs that are linked by spawn points (ie. 2 mobs spaced out, even if their agro radius does not overlap, pulling one guarantees the other).

For EQ2 you can basically know how many mobs are coming so hotkeys are not necessary.

What I meant by hotkey is if VG's agro system is somewhat like EQ1 (and I sure hope it is), then having a hotkey is good. I would normally spam the hotkey depending on how many mobs are pulled. This is to ensure the group is ready.


2. Knowing Your Character When the Crap Hits the Fan.
For myself when pulling, I have two separate hotkeys. The Incoming key and the Add key. I would always inform whoever's tanking to assist my initial target when possible. If there are any adds, I'll target and gank the Add key so the group can assist off me for faster CC on the add.

Hotkey examples:

-- Incoming --> [ target ]
-- Add Incoming --> [ target ] CC please!

Spells or skills could be lifesavers. Other than rescues and what not, knowing each and every spell that you have can mean life and death on a bad pull. Daze, stun, fear, snare and all that for CC.

Or worse comes to worse, if the pull is one too many and you have a class that snares in group, just get him/her to snare the adds whilst you keep agro on the mobs. This is also known as kiting and generally used in outdoor areas or in areas with a ton of space to run around. Snares would also be important for DKs since at higher levels they have a good chance of fearing mobs with their Auras.


3. Fast Pulls.
As Ellestil mentioned, pulling is part and parcel of tanking. While you can only do so much at one time, should the opportunity arises that you can pull whilst another does the tanking, I would suggest using this fast paced pulling method. You have to know the area and keep a timer beside you.

Gauge the DPS of your group and how fast it can kill off a mob, then halfway through a mob, run off and grab another one. If you time it right, by the time the new mob comes to the group, the current one is dead or almost dead. Just play around with the timing and distance. The further the mobs are, run away from the group earlier.

Also if you know how long the spawn timers on the mobs, you can keep track. That way as mention by Ellestil, you'd avoid running back into respawned mobs.

See you all in VG!

[Shawnsan]

Proximity pulling is for when you are in a clear room and can't see the inside of the next one from any angle at any range that is "safe" from the door you need to go through.

This is really a matter of knowing your agro Radius well and that you usually learn through hard and fast deathly experience.

You should ALWAYS keep the group far away from you when doing this pull style to avoid wipes.

You should ALWAYS heads up the healer that they should NOT heal until you call INCOMING %to for your target.

Skill Pulling is Fun and exciting and is an awesome way to help stagger pulls a bit for the group. This maximizes the healers mana too.

Tonight with my DK I was in a Dungeon pulling for a group of 4 (we are rebels doing 6 person content with less than 6).

I pulled alternating between needing to use the Chains (for two or threesomes to get staggered) Or torture.

The room was wonderously spacious enough that on bad repops or adds I would Chain them and then Fear them with torture on so they'd run until we could finish what we were doing,( but not very far) we all held our breath everytime I had to do that!!

I forsee when I get the blade of much stunning or one hit that I shall chain pull and STUN one. And bring the other back to be eaten alive all by its lonesome.

Pulling with a bow is something you do only when you lack ranged skills to do more.

[dancingbear]

I was talking to friend and he mentioned there are other classes that might be better at pulling.
Wondering what you guys think.
Like bard can sleep and single pull most of the time, their harmony sleeping spell reduces aggro to 0 so the links can be totally neutralized.
And also 3 other classes with FD that can single pull too.

[ellestil]

In some cases, where a pull could have an entire room come at you, that would be a great option to have the bard pull. In cases where the tank knows he can get only 1-2 mobs without adds, it's better for him to pull usually because of the initial aggro that is generated from 1st hit.

[Slowfood]

Originally Posted by Xarothiell

Gauge the DPS of your group and how fast it can kill off a mob, then halfway through a mob, run off and grab another one. If you time it right, by the time the new mob comes to the group, the current one is dead or almost dead. Just play around with the timing and distance. The further the mobs are, run away from the group earlier.

NEVER do that when you are tanking!

1.) Your healers have to chase you to heal
2.) Your DDs have to chase the mob, especially the melees
3.) Both above lead to your group running through spawns, standing in unsafe places etc.

Better :
Find an unoccupied spot or clear one for your group.
Stand still while fighting, only move to position the mob at the beginning of the fight
If a mob is in pull-range while fighting : fine, pull yourself
otherwise : let someone else pull, preferably a bard (lull,mezz,snare,charm), a monk (fd) or a ranger (snare). 2nd tank would do too.

And please dont tell me you need the initial aggro to keep the mob - thats ridiculous - simply tell your group to wait with dps til that taunt-sign shows above your head.