ZOS, Why is companion aggro not fixed?

fizzylu · October 2023

Number_51 wrote: »

Fennwitty explained it pretty much how I remember it being explained by ZOS years ago, back on page one, here. There is no Threat/Aggro/Taunt Table like in other games I know of.

Yeah, I've actually seen that before and some other theories on how aggro works.... the problem is, it doesn't seem to actually function like any of the things I have read. For example, what Fennwitty wrote about APM. There is absolutely no way a companion is getting higher APM compared to the majority of players. Then I saw another post about someone saying it's the "amount of hits", meaning something like templars jabs would build more aggro than let's say a sorcs c-frag. If that's the case.... why wasn't my friend, a templar, able to easily take aggro from my Ember in the example I gave? That boss was on her for a solid 4 minutes and it never swapped off of her until she was dead. The only aggro theory out of the ones I've tested that somewhat proved to be accurate is the idea that enemies will prefer targets closer to them. There have been many times my friend, whose templar is more squishy than my sorc, has had aggro and standing directly on an enemy while I attack them usually gets them to turn their focus to me instead. But other than that.... nothing adds up. And if it truly is just complete RNG, then that's nonsense and something needs to be changed to prevent things like companions and sorc pets from getting absolutely destroyed by adds other than slotting a hard taunt.

Necrotech_Master · October 2023

fizzylu wrote: »

Number_51 wrote: »

Fennwitty explained it pretty much how I remember it being explained by ZOS years ago, back on page one, here. There is no Threat/Aggro/Taunt Table like in other games I know of.

Yeah, I've actually seen that before and some other theories on how aggro works.... the problem is, it doesn't seem to actually function like any of the things I have read. For example, what Fennwitty wrote about APM. There is absolutely no way a companion is getting higher APM compared to the majority of players. Then I saw another post about someone saying it's the "amount of hits", meaning something like templars jabs would build more aggro than let's say a sorcs c-frag. If that's the case.... why wouldn't my friend, a templar, been able to easily take aggro from my Ember in the example I gave? That boss was on her for a solid 4 minutes and it never swapped off of her until she was dead. The only aggro theory out of the ones I've tested that somewhat proved to be accurate is the idea that enemies will prefer targets closer to them. There have been many times my friend, whose templar is more squishy than my sorc, has had aggro and standing directly on an enemy while I attack them usually gets them to turn their focus to me instead. But other than that.... nothing adds up. And if it truly is just complete RNG, then that's nonsense and something needs to be changed to prevent things like companions and sorc pets from getting absolutely destroyed by adds other than slotting a hard taunt.

usually in most cases from my experience, if there is no taunts involved, the target primarily tends to go after the first person or creature which did dmg at least initially

after that they seem to shift to what is viewed as a higher threat/priority

if im on my dps with a healer companion for example, if i lead the fight and am the first one to dmg the boss, the boss will usually "stick" to me the majority of the fight unless i stop attacking for a little while, at which point the companion even being mostly a healer and only light attacking will do more dmg and be seen as more of a threat

from what ive seen, the enemy prioritizes the one who dealt first dmg to them (any kind of dmg) and then if no taunts involved, shifts to the creature dealing the most "direct" dmg (they seem to more heavily prioritize direct dmg over dot dmg, especially with the dots ticking so dang slow now for the most part)

fizzylu · October 2023

@Necrotech_Master I've actually tested this, haha. I run content with my friend a lot, I usually lead and engage first. Even if I'm the one to attack first.... some enemies will just run right to my friend even if they haven't attacked. It's wild. I've also experienced this same thing with companions. I can engage, do my damage, my companion would have done nothing but pop a self buff.... enemy will go to them. Like I've said, it doesn't add up. I've tested everything and tried so many different tactics.... there is no rhyme or reason to aggro from my experience. I'm also even a direct damage build, so.... yeah, it's not making sense. Which is fine, it's not the end of the world and I feel like we're getting a little off subject or just going in circles now. The main and only point is for whatever reason, companions and sorc pets are treated like priority targets by enemies.... and that should not be happening.

Necrotech_Master · October 2023

yeah every once in awhile, the enemy does something bizarre like that, i find that kind of stuff happens more with regular mobs than big bosses, the big bosses (WB or dungeon) generally are more consistent for me (unless the boss itself has attacks that ignore taunt like the final boss in arx corinium or direfrost keep who regularly ignore taunts to attack a random target)

at least companions are immune to the mechanic in direfrost keep so you dont have to worry about them healing the boss back to full health because their ccbreak was on cooldown lol

The_Boggart · October 2023

It's the amount of distance to travel.
With ember in delve she pulls aggro, retreats and I have to go way back to loot the corpse makes the delve 3 times the distance.

Akisohida · October 2023

Rofl.
I just ran into a group killing Trapjaw.
They had him at HALF HEALTH when I joined in; Ember managed to pull aggro.

That's kind of whack, that the healing staff/skills can pull aggro that massively.

Necrotech_Master · October 2023

Akisohida wrote: »

Rofl.
I just ran into a group killing Trapjaw.
They had him at HALF HEALTH when I joined in; Ember managed to pull aggro.

That's kind of whack, that the healing staff/skills can pull aggro that massively.

edit: thinking of wrong boss lol, so removed my comment

TaSheen · October 2023

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

Akisohida wrote: »

Rofl.
I just ran into a group killing Trapjaw.
They had him at HALF HEALTH when I joined in; Ember managed to pull aggro.

That's kind of whack, that the healing staff/skills can pull aggro that massively.

trapjaw being one of the public dungeon bosses in root sunder ruins? there was a group there and it wasnt dead immediately? lol

must have been a lot of low level people doing really low dmg lol, no wonder ember was pulling aggro lol

I think Trapjaw is the wamasu in Glenumbra near the Lady Laurent/Stibbons site.

Necrotech_Master · October 2023

TaSheen wrote: »

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

Akisohida wrote: »

Rofl.
I just ran into a group killing Trapjaw.
They had him at HALF HEALTH when I joined in; Ember managed to pull aggro.

That's kind of whack, that the healing staff/skills can pull aggro that massively.

trapjaw being one of the public dungeon bosses in root sunder ruins? there was a group there and it wasnt dead immediately? lol

must have been a lot of low level people doing really low dmg lol, no wonder ember was pulling aggro lol

I think Trapjaw is the wamasu in Glenumbra near the Lady Laurent/Stibbons site.

i think your right, i was getting it confused with "rustjaw" (the actual public dungeon boss) lol

TaSheen · October 2023

Hey, a "Rustjaw" could also be considered a sort of "Trapjaw", y'know?

Akisohida · October 2023

TaSheen wrote: »

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

Akisohida wrote: »

Rofl.
I just ran into a group killing Trapjaw.
They had him at HALF HEALTH when I joined in; Ember managed to pull aggro.

That's kind of whack, that the healing staff/skills can pull aggro that massively.

trapjaw being one of the public dungeon bosses in root sunder ruins? there was a group there and it wasnt dead immediately? lol

must have been a lot of low level people doing really low dmg lol, no wonder ember was pulling aggro lol

I think Trapjaw is the wamasu in Glenumbra near the Lady Laurent/Stibbons site.

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

TaSheen wrote: »

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

Akisohida wrote: »

Rofl.
I just ran into a group killing Trapjaw.
They had him at HALF HEALTH when I joined in; Ember managed to pull aggro.

That's kind of whack, that the healing staff/skills can pull aggro that massively.

trapjaw being one of the public dungeon bosses in root sunder ruins? there was a group there and it wasnt dead immediately? lol

must have been a lot of low level people doing really low dmg lol, no wonder ember was pulling aggro lol

I think Trapjaw is the wamasu in Glenumbra near the Lady Laurent/Stibbons site.

i think your right, i was getting it confused with "rustjaw" (the actual public dungeon boss) lol

Yeah, it's a world boss in Glenumbra.
I was doing a skyshard run and found people attacking him.

katanagirl1 · October 2023

So I finally got around to leveling up Ember, she is the first ranged companion for me since I know anything but frost staves pull the boss and reset. I got her an ice staff.

The problem I have with her and ice staff is she stands back so far that at least one of the mobs, and usually more of them, go for her and they get pulled out of the dots I put down and drag out the fight.

I summon her on my main toon which is stamina melee build so that is probably relevant.

The funny thing about her is I don’t think she has ever died, though I have only run her in public dungeons so far. I guess she is the only non-pet sorc build that is viable, lol.

Belegnole · October 2023

Brakkish wrote: »

alanmatillab16_ESO wrote: »

Treat companions as if they are the type of player that does a boss fight with one eye on the damage meter and one hand down their pants when they see the DPS number and always stands in the stupid because moving would "waste a GCD". Once you are used to that then they become far less of a problem.

This made my day, and was worthy of a drink-spit-moment if there ever was one. I laughed so hard. ..cuz true.

Ah, gawd.....I can't unsee it.