PoF: annoyingly huge aggro radius

[NonNonBiyori.1428]

There is a MP in riverlands that is in the awakened section. you access it by using the jackal sand teleport. The exact moment you you get intot he first room there are 4-6 mobs in there and they all aggro onto you, and sometimes the sand teleport saves you from the traps, but onve you're down they all come at you.

[MrWubzy.3587]

I agree that the range is too large. There's also the issue (especially on Forged-type mobs) that they'll reset their patrol (as in walking back to their previous position) and then immediately re-aggro you and run back to your position even though you're standing well away from them (sometimes larger than 2,500 range).

[Zionka.6897]

Agree with aggro on foot is out of hand. I was on foot navigating a bunch of scaffolding things, came to a wide cave I wanted to investigate. I've been playing this since day one, and I know ranges, and when I can and cannot be sneaky. All that is out the window in PoF. I should still be allowed to be somewhat stealthy to avoid certain death, it was always a part of the game for me. Now, the only choice is hack my way in, and sometimes I'm just not good enough for that. Please stop taking some of the fun out of exploration with this aggro range, Anet :(

[Llethander.3972]

The aggro radius is similar to all areas of Orr, it's just far more noticeable because of the saturation of aggressive mobs in most areas. Just a personal observation.

[MFoy.3284]

Agreed. PoF aggro range/spawn is one of many things I'm finding less than fun.

[Ashantara.8731]

@Llethander.3972 said:The aggro radius is similar to all areas of Orr

That is actually true, come to think of it!

@Llethander.3972 said:it's just far more noticeable because of the saturation of aggressive mobs in most areas.

I believe you are right. The combination however, as you observed correctly, is it what makes it deadly and annoying. I hope they will tone it down in future patches.

@hellsqueen.3045 said:The mounts are too easily destroyed by them, mounts need some extra health or toughness across all mounts because honestly whether I am on the mount or not, I am not staying there to fight them. [...]

Oh yeah, the constant "forced dismounts" is making the use of mounts for the purpose of traversing areas faster redundant.

@Zionka.6897 said:All that is out the window in PoF. I should still be allowed to be somewhat stealthy to avoid certain death, it was always a part of the game for me. Now, the only choice is hack my way in, and sometimes I'm just not good enough for that. Please stop taking some of the fun out of exploration with this aggro range, Anet :(

So much this. :+1:

[tinchpinch.8651]

I gave a huge thumbs up to this thread (well it's equal to the other thumbs, but in my mind it's huge), but I decided to add my 2 cents. I was just trying to do a vista near Maculate Fringe and there at least 3 groups of mobs on what feels like meters distance and also on a platform you have to jump on. I had to fight all of them cos I was constantly attacked which really annoyed me and they respawn back so fast. Now I have no trouble of fighting mobs but the sheer annoyance of them constantly poking my character (to avoid more common phrase here). I couldn't even enjoy the vista animation, I immediately pressed Esc and waypointed away. Why bother creating all this beautiful environment if you can't enjoy it? I cannot express how irritated I am. And it's not just there, it's everywhere.

[Nikal.4921]

I was thinking yesterday how, well, kinda cheated I feel of any exploration in and admiration of the PoF zones. I cannot take a second in almost any place, including standing at hearts and many vistas, to admire the view. It's a constant must stay mounted and on the move at all costs (which means very little gathering). This is not conducive at all to exploration. You just want to be done and out before you're mobbed or danger reappears.

Speaking of PoF mob behavior, I was standing among some buildings in Elon Riverlands, well away from any mobs. In any other zone, I'd be completely safe. Instead, some locust from the other side of a field aggros on me. I start fighting it, then it disengages and flies, invulnerable, back to its position. Then it re-aggros and comes back. I start fighting it and it leaves again, once again invulnerable. This would have gone on forever I guess if I hadn't taken my leave. Of course I had to hoof it on foot because I am "in combat" even as the locust is well away. I have experienced similar in other areas with other mobs.

I hope aggro radius is looked at, and yes, mounts toughened up a bit. I am surprised added toughness wasn't at least in the masteries tbh.

[Ashantara.8731]

@Nikal.4921 said:I was thinking yesterday how, well, kinda cheated I feel of any exploration in and admiration of the PoF zones. I cannot take a second in almost any place, including standing at hearts and many vistas, to admire the view. It's a constant must stay mounted and on the move at all costs (which means very little gathering). This is not conducive at all to exploration. You just want to be done and out before you're mobbed or danger reappears.

Speaking of PoF mob behavior, I was standing among some buildings in Elon Riverlands, well away from any mobs. In any other zone, I'd be completely safe. Instead, some locust from the other side of a field aggros on me. I start fighting it, then it disengages and flies, invulnerable, back to its position. Then it re-aggros and comes back. I start fighting it and it leaves again, once again invulnerable. This would have gone on forever I guess if I hadn't taken my leave. Of course I had to hoof it on foot because I am "in combat" even as the locust is well away. I have experienced similar in other areas with other mobs.

I hope aggro radius is looked at, and yes, mounts toughened up a bit.

I usually hate to quote so much only to leave a short comment, but you truly nailed. :+1:

[Rauderi.8706]

@Nikal.4921 said:I was thinking yesterday how, well, kinda cheated I feel of any exploration in and admiration of the PoF zones. I cannot take a second in almost any place, including standing at hearts and many vistas, to admire the view. It's a constant must stay mounted and on the move at all costs (which means very little gathering). This is not conducive at all to exploration. You just want to be done and out before you're mobbed or danger reappears.

Speaking of PoF mob behavior, I was standing among some buildings in Elon Riverlands, well away from any mobs. In any other zone, I'd be completely safe. Instead, some locust from the other side of a field aggros on me. I start fighting it, then it disengages and flies, invulnerable, back to its position. Then it re-aggros and comes back. I start fighting it and it leaves again, once again invulnerable. This would have gone on forever I guess if I hadn't taken my leave. Of course I had to hoof it on foot because I am "in combat" even as the locust is well away. I have experienced similar in other areas with other mobs.

I hope aggro radius is looked at, and yes, mounts toughened up a bit. I am surprised added toughness wasn't at least in the masteries tbh.

I had a similar issue in the icy area up north in springer territory. Fought off a literal dozen ice elementals including an elite, and yet somehow I was still in combat with nothing near me. Couldn't mount up but I had a complicated jump to do to reach some loot/objective. No aggro, nothing trying to reach me, but I had to walk all the way out and pray nothing tapped me before I could mount up and ditch the place.

The aggro radius is hell on some of the instance missions too. A smart player will do pulls of what he can manage, so that's what I do. But tapping one or even getting near one sends a cascade of everything in range 2000 of the affected mob, plus seemingly random spawns. :confused: It was even worse when trying to sneak up on the sentries for the achievement.

[Ashantara.8731]

Uhm... Currently playing my second walkthrough with my Warrior. Is it just me or did they nerf the aggro range? =)

[Menadena.7482]

@Ashantara.8731 said:

@Zaklex.6308 said:Try dismounting and standing in an area away from mobs, then move towards the mob, you'll find the aggro radius is the same

Let us assume this was true, you still can't deny that the number, respawn times, and strength of mobs on HoT maps were laughable compared to what we are facing here. It's a sheer overload of constantly being forced to engage in combat, whether you want to or not.

@Hevoskuuri.3891 said:The Jackal is amazing for covering PoF ground, you can spam blink to avoid the AoE attacks and traps.

Okay, so basically, we are facing the same issue here as we already did in HoT: The expansion only becomes fun at the point you have all the masteries (in PoF those are linked to the mounts) leveled to a certain extent (preferably maxed out). Before that, it is very, very tedious, a real pain in the behind.

I was in an event the other day with waves of mobs. There was no actual time between the waves, I just kept fighting 100% of the time.

As to the masteries, first you level the raptor to 3. Then grab the next two and level one of them to 3. Then go get the jackal. Level the one you did not level up to, you guessed it, 3 and then level the jackal to 3. Now you can level all 4 things to 4 if you want. If you decide to go for the griffon go get it and level it as much as you want with the remaining MPs. Annoying but a bit cookbook, mastery levels below 3 should do, well, something. Mastery level 4 seems less rewarding than getting the mount initially too.

[sorudo.9054]

i mostly don't die but it is annoying that some mobs have super sniper range, the forge snipers are the worst of them. (they die fast but still, really annoying)

[Menadena.7482]

@VaLee.5102 said:The agro range is ridiculously high for some reason.

And on top of that you have mobs every few meters, there's literally no place to just stop and admire the view, not even on roads, near the heart NPCs or not even near the waypoints! Kitten hyenas killing everyone afk in the Riverlands at the waypoints lol.

"Okay, an outpost with a bounty board, time to get my bearings for a bit."

"What the kitten! Who let red tagged things in here!?!?!?!"

[Menadena.7482]

@Rauderi.8706 said:I had a similar issue in the icy area up north in springer territory. Fought off a literal dozen ice elementals including an elite, and yet somehow I was still in combat with nothing near me. Couldn't mount up but I had a complicated jump to do to reach some loot/objective. No aggro, nothing trying to reach me, but I had to walk all the way out and pray nothing tapped me before I could mount up and ditch the place.

Oh yeah. I have lost count how many times I have been knocked off my mount and been unable to remount despite not seeing anything around me after I killed whatever. Since I have been playing a ranger this week I even checked on my pet too but no dice. I finally decided there is mystery aggro floating around the map.

[Ashantara.8731]

As I posted on the previous page, I believe they nerfed the aggro range with the last update. People seem to be ignoring this and only respond to the early posts. ;)

[Kaleban.9834]

I can confirm this as well.

I think for me the most annoying mobs are the Forged versions of Deadeyes. They seem to come running from well beyond standard aggro ranges and plink you down to under 50% health in one volley. Meanwhile you're crippled, immobilized or chilled and fall over dead before you can use a gap closer. And IF you manage to get to them, then there's 5 or so Veteran mobs like the lava wall casting guys whose walls will still bounce you away even after they've de-spawned.

[Aya.7503]

I find the harpies to be the worst. Their shots are powerful. They shoot me from far away and even when I'm on a completely different cliff, ledge or mountain, they still shoot me and I can't fight back because they to far away for my skills to reach them. They one shot my mounts all the time as well as me and when I try gliding away they shoot me out of the sky and I fall to my death. They completely cancel out my gliding.

[acapela.2468]

Jacaranda, in particular, seem to have impossibly huge aggro ranges and impossibly huge ranges on their annoying "root slap" ability (which the veterans spam on short cooldown without warning, precluding evasion/mitigation, at ranges greater than 1500, beyond the range of a trait-enhanced ranger longbow).

Sand portal to the the top of the mesa for one of the griffon roosts in Desert Highlands, you end up among normal and veteran Jacaranda, along with a tempting rich orichalcum vein camped by a veteran.

You can't just fire stability, ignore the damage and try to gather the orichalcum. Every Jacaranda on the mesa pulls to you, your stability ends, you get thrown around continuously by "root slap", and burned down in seconds by multiple overlapping AOE. If you decide to work towards the orichalcum gradually, clearing the normal Jacaranda from the edges inwards, finally tackling the camping veteran, in short order every remaining Jacaranda on the mesa will join in. They don't do so immediately, suggesting they are not linked. They seem to aggro at range, one after another (off of each other, perhaps? a kind of linking?), until suddenly you are dealing with half a dozen or more. And they respawn quickly enough that the supply even in a very local area is for all practical purposes infinite.

Have to kite continuously, try to interrupt... and like as not be ground down. A task for 2+ players, it seems. A suicide mission for many solo builds.

A lot of forged and branded seem to work the same way. Tangle with one, safely to begin with, and you end up attracting many, again with ranged AOE, and the dead respawn quickly. And I have lost track of how many times I have been one-shotted off of my mount by ranged branded attacking in unison, often at ridiculous ranges.

Have not had too much trouble with Harpies... just haven't had much need to travel in those areas.

[TheQuickFox.3826]

I agree with OP. Quite some frustration of staying in unrequested combat for too long. I ended up relogging many times just to get rid of the in-combat status.

[Ordin.9047]

The aggro radius is so huge that I can probably run an entire map and not get out of aggro, unless I stop and aoe down mobs around me.

[Lambros Augustus.6594]

Maybe if they let you use mount even in combat it would be much better. Then you can skip as you want and not have to fight 30 mobs and no one can drag more to you that you have to clear before you have to mount again. Like gliding is atm, classy.

[Ashantara.8731]

@Lambros Augustus.6594 said:Maybe if they let you use mount even in combat it would be much better. Then you can skip as you want and not have to fight 30 mobs and no one can drag more to you that you have to clear before you have to mount again. Like gliding is atm, classy.

I was thinking about such a change while doing map completion for the fifth time, this time with mounts.

It's truly ridiculous that you have to wait two extra seconds after aggro (even when the enemy has stopped chasing you!) or a condition has ended before you can mount again, while you can glide any time you want.

[Zaltys.7649]

The harpies are annoying, but at least they're rare.

I'd consider the foundry in Wabbi to be the worst. Literally ran around there for fifteen minutes, just trying to find a quiet spot so I could waypoint out. Those respawns, man...

[Wolfheart.7483]

I like it the way it is. I wouldn't want any changes to the number of mobs, their spawn rate or aggro radius.