Aggro and Mages: Ride the Line

Now that I am into this bloggin thing I feel the need to get a couple of posts down to get SOME material down so that all of you knowledgeable peeps out there can give a shout out and share/provide tips and info to us to make the game more enjoyable. I know that I have learned many things from blog sites, fellow guildies, pugs (not that often but it DOES happen) and so on. So today I would like to talk about aggro and the monkey on our mage's back.

Having played a fire mage for the first three years ans still somewhat leaning on my prowess with the flames, I know that mages, espicially fire, are spikey little critters that seem to all of a sudden to be fighting the tank for superiority on the aggro list. My motto that I coined about 2 years ago goes like this: " A dead mage has no aggro; nor do they create dps." You can make the effect of aggro a little less if you do a couple of things preemptively.

1)Invisable-dumps all aggro from the mage. On the surface it seems like that this would be the end all-be all of the worry of aggro. But try casting it when you have 5 scorches up ticking damage, a POM pyroblast ticking off damage, and any other little trick you may have up your sleave. The 5 seconds that it takes to cast and then go into invisability now seems forever. I suggest casting it once or twice during LONG boss fights. That way you can always open up and not worry too much. You may take a little hit on the dps meters but see above mentioned motto.

2) Mana Shield- not an aggro dump but it is a way that if you get aggro, this might buy you a little time to cast invisability. I have successfully used this when I have become a little bit of an, uh, overacheiver.

3) MANAGE YOUR AGGRO- This is the most surefire way to never get your fire little buns into trouble with aggro. Yes I know that we all want to put out the damage but, again, see my motto. Give the tank, espicially in a 5 man group, some time to build up aggro. Dont cast your big ticket spells right away. COMMON sense ppl. I dont want another repair bill. Fat chance, huh?

4) THreart meters-there are several out there that work. See what your guild supports.

5)Know your toon-this should be self evident but is it? Do you know your playing style? DO you know what each spell does? Is it a DoT or straight damage? Your team my depend on you having and embracing this knowledge.

I have played with people that really dont care when they start casting, what they cast, who is in the party, etc. In our guild, in a 5 man, the quote, "You spank it, you tank it" is often uttered to those you challenge the aggro of our tanks. Nuff said.

Babygorn
Rock On!