Help in Instances Please - pull too much aggro

[SparkiUK]

This is my 1st character, now level 60 afflication warlock. I've not really bothered with instances to now as been levelling quite quick to 60 and instances just took too much time. However, now I'm slowing down a little and did Scholomance today as part of the dreadsteed quest, along with a level 56 priest, level 70 warrior, level 59 rogue and level 59 hunter and me, but although i kept away from the action whenever i applied my DoT's I pulled aggro? Why. Can someone advise on what to cast and when. Use Imp on passive, then on Mobs i cast UA (sometimes), Curse of Agony, Corr, Siphon Life and if still alive Drain Life. Dark Pact back to full Mana. On multiple mobs just at Curse of Agony and Corr to each. Is this wrong. Died loads of times and feel such a noob (which i am). Gear is Ok, with +260 spell damage, though health is only 3,400. Can sacrifice +damage for Stamina but told that's not what to do for afflic?

Help and advice appreciated.

[Dizzidemona]

Well,.... 260+ spell damage for a level 60 is very good actually~!

How the heck you pull aggro from a level 70 warrior is a wonder to me.
I have a few questions for you how ever?

Are you dot'ing up ALL mobs?... or just the one that the warrior is tanking?.
It's usually a safe bet to dot up the main tank's target. If you are still pulling aggro however, .... wait till you see 2 - 3 sunders on the mob.

If you are DOT'ing up ALL mobs that are not aggro'd right away, ...then yes, ...you will get TONS of attention/ hurt/ and armor repair costs.

having Imp on passive is good, .....you can dark pact and helps the other members, ...but how much crowd control your party has makes a big difference as well. (ie tank, sheep, banish, ..etc)
It would also be a good idea to start learning how to get seduce down pat. This form of crowd control against humanoids makes the warlock who knows how to get this form of crowd control down well highly valued. especially in the higher level outland dungeons.

my preferred cast on the main target is UA, Curse of Agony, Corr, SL.
On multiple mobs, ..Curse of Agony, corr, SL.
You're not really doing anything wrong here. Maybe just learning which mobs to DPS,...and if it should be done right away or not. I also can;t speak for the rest of your party. A tank who is not specced to tank can cause all sorts of problems. When this happens after 5 or 6 pulls and it becomes apparent that the tank "can't tank" , ...i pull out my Void walker as main tank.

hope some of this helps.

Cheers~!
Dizzi

[Carlinda]

I think your +damage is great! You could probably use some more stamina but your imp blood pact should help increase that during instances. I have the same tendency to pull aggro, too... especially if I'm really on the ball about casting sequences. I've found that it's best to make sure you're only dotting up mobs that have already been claimed by either the tank or offtank.

I typically tab through the mobs until I've found one that has some health gone and start dotting. (This also prevents the dreaded dotting of the mob that was outside of the original pull and then he brings all of his friends with him to the fight = wipe!) Your casting sequence is fine, but unless it's a boss, I wouldn't even bother with UA if you're fighting trash... I've been in groups where half the mobs were dead before I could even cast a UA. Some locks would say don't dot at all during trash, just shadowbolt.

It is also entirely possible your tank isn't a great tank. Or he's not specc'ed and/or geared for tanking. If you feel like you're starting to pull aggro, just slow down for a few... pull out your trusty wand if you must dps or just chill out for a minute and let those who should have the aggro re-gain it. You don't always have to be casting to be doing your job correctly. A dead lock does far less damage than a cautious one!

[qwwerty]

It's not uncommon for this to happen when in a PUG. especially if you used candianpimps gearing guide. I almost always DOT all enemies on tank when they charge me I usally DC, yoyo DL and they are done. When you finally get with good group where the tank knows his job it is hard to steal aggro. I kept getting the top damage on meter till I got a good tank! now I just sit back and churn-n-burn. But carlinsa is right, I know it sounds crazy but sometimes you have to slow down your damage because people get furious when your stealing aggro at higher levels. Your going to love soulshatter!! : )

[Nekrotic]

Essentially make sure you are only attacking the mob the tank is targetting, an assist macro can be helpful for this. Also, maybe wait a bit before attacking. Perhaps consider using your Curse of Shadows instead of Curse of Agony and lead with it. Curse of Agony takes a long time to work anyway. Just going CoS, UA, Corrupt and then maybe DL or SBolt. This will slow down your aggro generation a bit and you'll still do fine dps wise. Most of your dot's probably don't finish anyway, especially Curse of Agony, so more burst damage with bolt is helpful on trash mobs.

Do you have pts in imp drain soul for the threat reduction?
Do you have a threat meter to watch what you're doing?

It can sometimes take tanks some time to draw and hold aggro, it's ok to wait before flinging the spells. You don't need to get them while they are incoming. I've played a healer and personally I dislike having to switch targets to save lives and heal, especially consistently. My mana is more efficiently spent on a tank with 45% damage reduction, and other skills, as opposed to your 15%.

Most importantly you are learning so you may wipe a group and people will get pissed. Oh well, we've all done it - at least I know I have. Keep having fun and sift through the site, most everything here will make you a better lock.

[Nathan1234]

A friend of mine told me WAY back in Deadmines... every time you wanna attack something new, target the tank and hit 'F'. Then kill that thing.
That should work almost every time for you.

[gankmetoday]

Always forcus fire.

The reason why ure pulling so much is coz in grps of mutiple mobs the warrior cant grab whole of aggro of ALL the mobs at once.

When you Dot everything up ure going pull aggro form every mob except that of main target.

Besides,in a pull there is often CC ( sheep/sap etc) when you dot everything up ure going break those CC.Juz to tell ya though you didnt seem to amke that mistate.

Bascially you shd wait 3 sec/3-5 sunder on Mts target then Dot it up,Sb till its time to refresh dots,resinse.

BTW do get omen/KTML i usually go full force till the " you have passed 90% of warriors threat" , soulshatter and continue

you shdnt ever grab aggro like this.

Btw i learnt that the ahrd way,was in kara for the first time and tot " hey with 2-3 tanks i can dot everything"

Wipe on 2nd trash mob =P

[Mcgoo]

All the posts here are dead on, the only real thing I'll add is that instances are different than leveling. If you're alone in barrens you can fear something and drain it down while it runs around, this doesn't really work anywhere in instances.

Focus on the tank, as an affy lock also I consider it my "job" to make sure #1 the tank's guy is tended to. Even when there is an offtank, I pop corruption and curse of shadows on him and then go after the tank's guy. Another thing is familiarity, if you KNOW that the shammy offtank does wicked crazy damage and you'll never grab aggro, go nuts. Be wary of non protection warriors/pallies. I've had other specs tank for me, and they CAN do it.. but they don't do it as well (YMMV). I usually ask the tank his spec just to know up front.

In the end I think the sentiment here is the same, stay on the tank's guy. As an affy lock put SL on mobs who are being attacked to start (as I do), this is just more mana in the end.. I typically lead on trash with CoS/Corr/SL and then drain/SB. Have fun, and do as many as you can to get down how you're going to work it out in later instances

[Gritz]

Originally Posted by Nathan1234

A friend of mine told me WAY back in Deadmines... every time you wanna attack something new, target the tank and hit 'F'. Then kill that thing.
That should work almost every time for you.

I agree, that's the best way to ensure you're on the right target.

[Deathcoilnub]

Originally Posted by gankmetoday

Always forcus fire.

The reason why ure pulling so much is coz in grps of mutiple mobs the warrior cant grab whole of aggro of ALL the mobs at once.

When you Dot everything up ure going pull aggro form every mob except that of main target.

Besides,in a pull there is often CC ( sheep/sap etc) when you dot everything up ure going break those CC.Juz to tell ya though you didnt seem to amke that mistate.

Bascially you shd wait 3 sec/3-5 sunder on Mts target then Dot it up,Sb till its time to refresh dots,resinse.

BTW do get omen/KTML i usually go full force till the " you have passed 90% of warriors threat" , soulshatter and continue

you shdnt ever grab aggro like this.

Btw i learnt that the ahrd way,was in kara for the first time and tot " hey with 2-3 tanks i can dot everything"

Wipe on 2nd trash mob =P

Ouch, although i do something similar, if i see a tank on it... ill dot it (kara trash mobs)
did you maybe dot a shackle or 6?
would have loved to see the look on the faces of the others in the group when that happened