Tagging mobs in DEs

[sync]

I keep seeing people talking about tagging mobs in DEs. What is required to tag a mob?

[Delias]

If you do enough damage to a mob (one or two hits is usually enough) you'll get full credit for killing that mob and will get full EXP/loot. It's to prevent killstealing and promote helping people kill stuff.

[Cattleya]

And the reason you see people talking about it all the time is that this way of tagging causes DEs to just become a competition of "Who can tag the most mobs", a competition which AoE classes tend to win. Those without quick AoE don't like this fact

[mafao]

All you need is a Guardian with Staff

[Kelimbror]

Every class is capable in one way or another, depending on what weapons you are using, etc. It's really in your benefit to only try to get a couple of hits on 'trash' at DE's and move to the next glob of mobs. If you aren't moving, chances are you are going to die soon anyways.

[Deleted]

Does he not mean using Ctrl + T to allow using 'T' to assist?

[Deleted]

Does he not mean using Ctrl + T to allow using 'T' to assist?

That's usually called targetting, tagging in MMOs is usually to describe getting a hit on a mob so that you get credit as explained above.

[Deleted]

That's usually called targetting, tagging in MMOs is usually to describe getting a hit on a mob so that you get credit as explained above.

ah, okay, thanks.

[Lucas Ashrock]

That's usually called targetting, tagging in MMOs is usually to describe getting a hit on a mob so that you get credit as explained above.

Maybe i musenderstand. IF it's not CTRL+click (targetting) how you "tag" I never see a zergroup doing anything during a DE, neither target

[Profyrion]

I was under the impression that loot rights were random and required only a minimum threshold of damage done to qualify. I usually don't get loot on mobs that I hit once with an autoattack. But if I land at least one cooldown on it I can meet the requirement -- then RNG kicks in. This is just a guess but it feels like roughly 10-15% mob health is the threshold. I will often get loot rights on somebody else's kills that I joined late on and only managed 10-20% damage (based on mob health at moment of first damage contact).

I'll also sometimes not get loot on kills where I engaged first and did nearly 90% damage, but the corpse sticks around indicating the person who helped me has loot.

There's not really any "tagging" in the traditional sense.

[Vespian]

All you need is a Guardian with Staff

Thief with a shortbow usually works as well. Absolutely love certain DE chains. I end up with ~ 20-30 bags, a selection of blues and whites, the occasional green and the rare "rare", also, 50-70% of a whole level. The only time I use melee is on single targets and bosses/champions, so I get gold instead of bronze

Maybe i musenderstand. IF it's not CTRL+click (targetting) how you "tag" I never see a zergroup doing anything during a DE, neither target

Tagging simply means: deal enough damage to a target (I actually believe this to be a single hit, since I often get loot with shadowshot as my first and final attack), so that you get loot.

It's a chance. Not all mobs drop loot for all people.

[Deleted]

I was under the impression that loot rights were random and required only a minimum threshold of damage done to qualify.

You need to do a minimum threshold of damage to qualify for experience and loot, but the loot is random for everybody. If you and I both did ~50% damage on a mob, I might get loot and you don't, you might get loot and I don't, or we might both get loot on the body. Or neither of us do. Whether someone else gets loot or not does not affect if you get any loot, or what loot you do get.

You could see it this way - if you get any experience for the kill, you've also qualified for the chance of loot.

---------- Post added 2012-09-17 at 10:42 AM ----------

Thief with a shortbow usually works as well.

I'm assuming you mean the "bouncing projectile" auto-attack thing? Lots of professions have that. Thief shortbow, mesmer staff, elementalist staff (air) and ranger axe, off the top of my head. I guess you could also count the engineer rifle with their AoE explosive shot.

[Vespian]

I'm assuming you mean the "bouncing projectile" auto-attack thing? Lots of professions have that. Thief shortbow, mesmer staff, elementalist staff (air) and ranger axe, off the top of my head. I guess you could also count the engineer rifle with their AoE explosive shot.

Choking Gas and Cluster Bomb are tons better, since the arrow only bounces 5 times. Choking Gas has a relatively fast release, so you'll actually hit all targets if you aim accurately enough. Cluster Bomb flies slow and usually takes the overhead approach, so I'd only recommend it on slow moving and or stationary targets.

The Choking Gas itself is often enough to tag all the mobs. The bouncing arrow is just a bonus. Also, the Mesmer staff only bounces tops 3 times. Not sure about the others.

[Deleted]

Every class is capable in one way or another, depending on what weapons you are using, etc.

Well every class is capable of tagging a mob, the issue being certain classes can tag many mobs very effectively (ranger, guard, warriror, etc), whilst others can't and rgardless of their set-up will end up with much less loot (Mesmer for example).

[Vespian]

Well every class is capable of tagging a mob, the issue being certain classes can tag many mobs very effectively (ranger, guard, warriror, etc), whilst others can't and rgardless of their set-up will end up with much less loot (Mesmer for example).

Mesmers could use utility skills, as well as the Staff nr5. Just rotate the CD's.

[Deleted]

Mesmers could use utility skills, as well as the Staff nr5. Just rotate the CD's.

LOL, in any event with a lot of people you will end up with far less loot on a mesmer, because you lack AOE, the AOE you do have is often a small area (GS number 3) and much of it does not do enough damage quick enough to register as a tag (e.g - chaos storm the staff number five, also a 30 sec cooldown) when there are a lot of people at event warrirors/guards/rangers,etc are wiping out the mobs too fast.

Which also impacts the highest damaging AOE mesmers have mindwrack, which of course requires you first to get up the clones then for them to run to the target, which in the meantime leaves you praying that a warrior or two doesn't charge over to your target and instgib them (in two button presses) making your clones disappear.

All that matters for tagging mobs in a busy DE is good burst AOE (piercing/bouncing shots aren't bad either, but again needs a class that burst, not bounce codnitions like a mesmer, which won;t do enough damage before the mobs are dead to register a tag), preferably with a low cooldown and with a large target area, this is apparently going to come as a shock to you, but not all professions are equally blessed in this area.

Which is why the OP sees people talk about tagging rather more than you might expect.

[Vespian]

this is apparently going to come as a shock to you, but not all professions are equally blessed in this area.

Alright, I checked with skills and your utility shots indeed don't allow you to farm as efficiently as, exmpl, a Thief.

[Grelsha]

DEs? Can someone enlighten me? Understand the concept of tagging but not the
Dynamic Events - got it - and beaten to it

[Sting]

dynamic events

[Absolutist]

Cluster Bomb flies slow and usually takes the overhead approach, so I'd only recommend it on slow moving and or stationary targets.

If you can get right up against the mobs, cluster bomb works wonders if you release it early. Especially if you have an earth sigil on it :P can get up to 4 or 5 stacks of bleeds per cluster bomb i think.