Don't use caltrops...?!?!

Now see, that's the team that needed to invite my elec/ta troller. I'm always astonished that I don't *instantly* get a team invite as soon as I log that toon on.

And, no, on a team, I wouldn't bother with any scattering or KB unless all hell breaks loose. He should be glad I wasn't there with my mind/storm rofl. He would do his silly "herding", get 'em all bunched up around the corner, then... $h!% flying everywhere. hehehe.

But no, seriously, it is possible to "hall sweep" with hurricane, and the mobs really can't do anything once they're blowing around in the corner. Some teams don't like it though, and some teams don't even like hurricane to act as a "squishy shield" in the back, even though it makes wipes almost unheard of, as long as all the ranged folks stay back in it.

It's a shame when my MM henchmen know how to play better than a good deal of players. And also, they aren't whiny little be-hotches.

Sounds like he didn't have taunt. Heh, I bet he didn't have air supe either. Yeah, next time maybe the leader will decide to support the local Controller community a little bit. A soloing troller is a terrible thing to waste. And TA is NOT weak in the right hands. Sorry, but I had to say that.

(Cliffs Notes version: Caltrops are great. Just use your powers intelligently. Don't be anti-productive when using your powers.)

Maybe it's just me, because I herd (it's easier to control aggro if you get it first and keep it than it is to stand there taunting everything that's out of range of your aura, hoping nobody dies while you wait for Taunt to recharge...) ALOT. I mean ALOT. Since I have five powers that depend on enemies being in a clump around me to be useful (Specifically, Against all Odds, Soul Drain, Dark Consumption, Salt Crystals, and one other that escapes me at the moment. You could also count Shield Charge, to an extent), I find it incredibly annoying when said enemies start scattering away from me, and I have to continually taunt them off of the squishies. If they die before they start killing the squishies, great. That's wonderful. Caltrops are great. Seriously. I'm honestly not being sarcastic here. If your Caltrops are helping keep aggro off of the squishies until the mob is dead, go for it.


That said, what I find even more annoying are controllers that are Immobilize-happy. If your tank is clearly herding a mob (or mobs, depending on size), and doing quite well at it, PLEASE, FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THINGS HOLY, wait to Immobilize half the spawn until they are around the tank. Don't get me wrong, I love Controllers. Really, I do. Immobilizes keep enemies clumped around me until they die. Holds are even better. However, Immobilizing half a room's worth of enemies wherever they happen to be standing, which happens to be out of the range of your only tank is NOT being useful. It's hurting the team as a whole. Same goes for Location AoE slows, like Quicksand. Putting one down on the other side of the corner from the tank, before the mob, dropping the enemies to a dead stop out of reach of the tank is being anti-productive. Be smart when using your powers.

All that said, if mobs start scattering off of me and attacking squishies, I *may* politely (yes, politely, and generally only once) ask you to either place your Caltrops elsewhere, or wait until I have more aggro built up. If you don't, fine. I won't complain, I'm likely not the one dying. (Unless, by some freak chance the only person with a heal on the team is a Kin, and your Caltrops are repeatedly pushing the Kin's target for the heal away from the team, THEN I would complain...) It's a game, I'll get over it.

Sometimes, herding is useful, like if there's a big, open room with multiple spawns. Or even just to help a team find their groove. A lot of times, everyone is eager to help, but they can screw up and die. It happens. My controllers do end up on the floor every now and then, especially against some of these new mobs that are just ridiculous.

It is generally safer to herd, because the players are on their "own turf" when the mobs arrive, instead of flying / running around in the room trying to figure out what to do. When the mobs just start running players all over the map, that's what creates lolwipes. And that's why I've developed a "stand and fight" playstyle, even on squishy characters.

So, when I said before that herding was silly, I just meant when it's not really necessary, like for every little cluster of 4 or 5, when there's nothing else close by. Actually, caltrops *could* be used to make mobs clump together more, by a skilled player, who can stay calm under fire, and that would benefit a lot of different players' abilities, like RttC, AAO, Conductive Aura, etc.

That's really making me think about having teams be ready to "wall" the mobs if they're scattered out too much. Whoever has freezing rain, caltrops, rain of fire, etc, throw them out *behind* the mobs, and everybody just stay near each other in the middle. Sure would be good if there was a power in the game called "Ring of Death" or something, that has a big radius, and sort of pushes mobs into the center.

But, everybody gets nervous sometimes and makes mistakes, pushes the wrong button at the wrong time, gets too much agg before the tanker does, etc. Heck, I did a mish yesterday with, I mean, Wall To Wall Carnies... my hands were shakin' lol.

Maybe I have a different definition of "herding"... My version of herding is running at +4, gathering everything in sight that I can (usually going above the aggro cap) into one spot so the Corruptors/Defenders/Blasters can obliterate everything at once with AoE's, and moving on to the next mob. AoE's are awesome. Herding everything in sight into the same spot so you can hit more with each AoE makes AoE's more awesome. Fulcrum Shift on every mob is just icing.

All in all, I would say that the vast majority of your team is going to be more effective (and hence, faster) if the enemies are clumped into a tighter group. Does it take the tank five seconds to herd everything into a group? Sure. Are your Corruptors/Defenders/Blasters (and even Controllers and Dominators) going to be more effective because of it? Of course.

Tanks are obsolete.




*incite rage*