how do I minimize threat?Follow

do I just stop casting or what? I don't want it to look like I'm not helping out.

got done with a sfk run earlier. had some aggro problems. in the early part I can handle one elite by myself so no prob. handling arugal by myself wasn't going to happen. but without me these guys couldn't kill anything. it was a bad pug run, lots of dropouts and we had to fill in. trying to go at it with 3 people. in the end the warrior had on all red gear for the arugal fight. that didn't help with his threat generation I'm sure. I waited till about 95% before I opened up. Around 70% arugal opened up on me. I quaffed a potion, stopped casting and bandaged (go no healing from the 2 priests in the party). waited a little while long then opened up again around 20%. Arugals hate seems to shift alot, she killed the druid in cat form and one of the priests, but I managed to take her down with one last fireball just as she was turning on me again around 1 or 2%.

I'm fire spec btw.

Indeed, however, if you don't have a tank with KTM, this won't help you. So my suggestion is to put two points in Arcane for the talent that reduces threat on Arcane spells. Then, when you crit, count out a second(one-onethousand) and cast AM.

Or, if you have a paladin in the group, require that they give you Blessing of Salvation.

BoS is godly.

AYE AYE! Arcane missles is a great way to go. Fire ball once then scorch then 2 arcane missles the 1 second between, rinse and repeat. Add fireblast when instant damage is needed or when tank threat really starts to climb drasticly ahead of you (still trying to keep up with tank...my favorite pastime) I can usaully keep just right below the tank threat on ktm with this which is my goal....as much damage as possible w/o pulling agro. Once you get invis at higher levels this makes it even easier since u can pop it when you generate too much threat. BTW I dont have the points in reduce threat in arcane tree...wish I did but this still works for me. I'm 42/19/0 best of luck and with practice you will be fine.

seems to me that you didnt have a very good tank to be honest...nor a priest..

ive learned that most people don't get ktm or other such programs till the higher levels at least for me none of em ever really had it.. since your low levels and can pop invisibility + pyroblast to lower threat with still contributing damage my suggestion would be to switch to your wand if you still want to help the group dps, also if you do pull aggro stop attacking and run to the tank, alot of casters just try to run and end up dead

but a priest not healing their other party members and a tank losing aggro that easily at ANY level is just stupid unless they're a decent amount of levels under you

Managing threat really isn't that hard. I am NOT good with computers in the whole add on sense. Really, I suck. I manage threat just fine without one though. Although I am glad when I am on my friends comp, it does help a good amount. Here are some keys for lower lever instances like sfk, sm, rfd:

-Don't pull. Ever. The threat you gain from being the initial puller is something a tank needs to have. I know, I have a 70 prot war. Pulling the main mob with with my ranged weapon is better than you nuking with pyroblast.

-Wait, be patient! You can't see the big bad guys running after the tank and start spamming your spells. The tank needs to build threat first. At lower levels, it's hard. Wait a few seconds, at least until a sunder armor is on.

-Don't use instant casts. Save instant casts for runners. Nothing tears threat away like burst damage. Firball crit plus Fireblast crit = dead mage.

-AoE only non elite mobs, unless told otherwise. AoE = ******** of threat.

If you do pull aggro, use abilities to your advantage. Frost Nova was invented for a reason. That couple of seconds is all a tank needs to regain threat once lost.

If you're in higher level instances and you still have trouble managing threat, pfft. Shame on you.

This isn't entirely accurate. While it does drop "Aggro" you retain 100% of the "threat" you had before. If you pop ice block, then come out and so much as look at a mob funny before the tank has time to pass you in threat, you get smooshed.

it truly depends on how much threat you have gained and if the mob is tauntable. What if you pull aggro on another mob because you mis-targeted? While ice block helps, truly the best release of aggro is invisibility (too bad it takes seemingly forever to go invisible).

things are went a bit better in rfk. pugs generally go better in higher level instances, though not always (i had problems with warlocks using fear and aoe's in SM when I was playing a healer- not to mention not using dot's- grrr). Plus rfk isn't like the sfk boss. the sfk boss turns party members hostile so that's going to shift aggro, and we had a tank who's armor wasn't completely damaged as well.

I was happy I did not pull aggro on any of the bosses. Granted I was only level 30, and one of the lowest in the group. But I did pull aggro from the level 36 pally tank a couple times. On the big boss i wated about 1 1/2 seconds between fireballs a few times. Later on I'll get a threat meter if I find tanks are using it.

Only problem was they weren't letting me sheep before pulls. I tried doing it after pulls but consecration was breaking sheep. I love being a fire mage and dealing insane damage. But crowd control is still #1 priority, and topping damage charts (I don't even have them) isn't that big a deal.

another problem is conjured water sucks. worked well in low levels, but my mana pool is so high even my new upgrade at 30 isn't enough to replenish my mana pool. it's like 1335 mana when my mana is close to 3000. I may have to buy some high quality water for instances. And I did go oom on the final boss fight in rfk, but he was dead just as I went oom.

Edited, Aug 18th 2007 1:53:25pm by thrashering

oh I have no desire to pull with sheep. Just stems from the problem that paladins can't "pull". So most of our fights were with him body pulling. or just fighting in place. no place to use sheep.