I’m breaking this up into six sections, based on the different aspects of Pulling. These sections more or less answer what, when, how, and why. Okay, enough on the intro.
[li]Section One: Know Your Enemy
You probably thought I’d start with “who can pull” or “how can they pull”, but the most important thing when you’re out there all alone is what to pull. When selecting the next target for your party you should consider several things:
A) Know the area you’re in.
[li]Do undead/time related mobs come out at a certain hour?
[li]Is there any ledges or one-way cliffs you can run off?
[li]How complicated is the run back to your camp?
[li]Are there hidden entrances?
[li]What about the environmental conditions?
[li]What are other parties doing?
All of these are important, and I’ll give you a few examples. The pond in Qufim is a great example. You can pull crabs and worms all day long(though you’ll not pull many worms). But come 20:00 you had better get yourself to the ice floe in the middle, or you’ll be banshee food. As far as watching out for cliffs or such, let me tell you it is no fun to run off a cliff (becoming separated from party) and have the merry little mob follow you to your eventual demise. As far as the third point goes, there are times that you’ll have to go halfway across a zone to get a pull, dodging little tiny cliffs and grass paths you have to follow to get from A to B and back to camp. Here’s a little secret: mobs don’t care about some of those obstructions. The little bluff you’ll have to dodge can sometimes be scaled by a pursing mob. Pathways in the crawler’s nest – no problem to that worker crawler you just pulled. As far as hidden entrances go, I can tell you this: If you’ve ever panicked looking for the entrance the first time you pulled something back to the Hidden Room in crawler’s nest – you know what it is like to be truly alone. I have watched a few pullers spend too much time running into solid wall when the entrance was just to their left or right.
Environmental conditions matter for a few reasons. First off, visibility can become an issue. When it becomes foggy out, it becomes that much harder to your target – or what my be near your target. But the more important reason to be aware of Environmental conditions is much simpler: Elementals. If you pull with magic (more on that later), I’m especially talking to you. Also, since wise people tend to leave elementals the hell alone, they will wander. Once they start doing that, there is no telling where they’ll go.
The final point here – and the most important – is knowing what other parties are doing. You’re going to be out there more often than the rest of your party members. You’ll get to see what the other pullers are doing. Are they being careful? Are they constantly pulling stuff that is almost killing their party? Are they pulling mobs that if/when it kills their party if might kill yours? Barring NM’s, the part you need to think about pulling is getting a single mob your party can defeat back to your camp. Beating another puller to the punch on something that can eat your party without a fight is dumb
A very large and important – but unspoken – part of pulling is scouting. Knowing what is available to pull is a big part of your job too.
B) Know your enemy!
[li]What level is it?
How does it [C]heck?
[li]Does it Aggro?
To what does it Aggro?
[li]Does it Link?
Does it cross-species link?
[li]What is its Aggro Display?
Noise?
Movement?
[li]Spawn timer
NMs
Deadzone
When it finally comes time to head out and find something to pull, you need to think about a few things. For example, without checking any guides: which is a higher level: Elder Quadrav or an Emerald Quadrav. Both have the same max level, but one has a much tighter level range. (Elder: L42-L49, Emerald L45-49). If you’re a party of 42’s pulling low to mid Elders you might get lucky with an Emerald or two, but then it could go badly. If you’re camping an area, you’re going to be there a long time. Brush up on the local wildlife – before it eats you. Every puller has at his/her disposal the best tool for evaluating a pull. It’s called: Check. If you’re not sure about a target, it is really a lot easier to click control-c for check (or button whatever) than “yes” for “allow yourself to be raised now.” An exaggerated worst case, yeah, but just making a point.
When it comes to pulling stuff that aggros, it is important to know a couple things. Like, oh, to what it aggros? Beetles aggro to sight. Bats aggro to sound. Quadravs are blind as they are big, but goblins see pretty well through that mask of theirs. Undead go for the weak (low HP) and Elementals are all about the magicide. Your total level may also be a factor. If your tank slipped by the mob w/o aggro on the way to camp, it doesn’t mean you’ll be fine on the way back out. Finally, though you shouldn’t be resting too much while pulling, beware the ‘coward monsters’ that will aggro ANYHING that is healing. Mind you, this is potentially a case of some tiny mob really wanting to die, but be aware of that aggro type too. If you’re lining up a pull, just make sure that the monster you’re targeting (or a buddy) won’t pull you first.
Linking, it’s the mob’s version of XP Chaining, only less fun for us players. Imagine your dismay when you’ve gotten that Damselfly following you, when all of a sudden three of its buddies “Me too!” For the most part, you’ve really only got to worry about linking mobs of the same type. If a pulled mob passes within a certain radius of one of its brethren, that second target will come along. If you pull a Yagudo past another Yagudo, you get two for the price of one. If you pull that Yag past a bee, you’re not getting any extra company. This is true for many, many monsters. However, some monsters are all about killing us PCs, so if something is chasing you, it’ll want in on the action. Classic example: Exorays in the Crawler’s Nest. If you pull a crawler next to a fly, you’re fine. A fly next to a crawler, you’re fine. An exoray next to anything means a lot of “/sh Need raise(s)! at I-9.”
A note about aggro. True to the real world, a lot of our friendly FFXI mobs have a nice little range of threat displays. If you’ve ever watched some guy taking a knee and seeing a goblin suddenly change how it’s walking behind him, you’ve seen an aggro display (and the resting player get up suddenly in a shower of their own blood). But the key component of aggro is usually sound. Maybe it’s a sudden growl, or maybe it’s two quick chirps, or maybe it’s the reverse whip noise and a sudden target appearing above your stat bar – which just lost a few hit points. In short, in the times when something aggros to you, there is often some sort of indicator you have to go on.
C) Know when your enemy will be there.
Two points here. First off, if you’re killing all sorts of monsters, be aware that they may be placeholders. A placeholder is, uhm… a placeholder for a spawn of a NM that may occur at some time. The NM can’t appear unless the non-NM version of itself is removed from the spawn queue. So if you’re beating up on Billy goats all day, be aware that their big brother may be just down the road. Next, be aware that some monsters spawn according to a set clock. It may be that every 17.5 minutes, something nasty shows up. Finally, be aware of – and cautious of! – Dead Zones. If you walk into a normally inhabited place and see not a single mob in sight it means one of two things: the other pullers in the area are that efficient about pulling a mob as soon as it pops, or (more likely) some ohmygod high level person has just come through and wasted them all at once. This is actually bad news, because it means that every mob he/she killed will respawn at once. It could ruin your day.
[li]Section Two: When to Pull
This one is pretty easy actually, and it amounts to checking a few things:
[li]Party HP
This should be a no-brainer, but since a lot of people don’t have brains, I’ll say it. If your party just barely lived through a fight, don’t start another one.
[li]Mage’s MP.
Mages will usually have a set MP level they want to be at for a pull. Easiest way to find that out is to ask them. If the WHM likes to have 300 MP to keep you alive, then don’t pull at 170 MP. All your melee people could be at full HP, but if your mages MP tanks are sucking air, you’d best hold off.
Now, there are, of course, and infinite number of times not to pull. Those should be getting more and more obvious as you read this. It is also noteworthy that there is no time that you MUST pull. Dirt+face = no fun. XP Chaining is covered later, but a puller’s mantra should include the word ‘caution’.
[li]Section Three: How to pull
You’ve made it this far, and I’m almost in danger of making a few points. Now that you’re sure you’re not going to pull roving death back to your party camp, you need to decide how to do it. A quick note about the actual act of the pull: Do NOT engage the mob. This is important for two reasons 1) the most important is that your weapons out running speed is much slower than your normal running speed. If you’re going to get chased by something that wants to kill you, it’s best to run as fast as possible. 2) if you happen to press the ‘lock target key’ then you’ll find yourself not running so much towards your camp, but into the waiting jaws, claws, weapons, or spells of the aforementioned something that wants to kill you.
Here are your choices on how to pull
[li]1)Ranged attack:[All] This is by far the safest and most reliable method. You see a mob, and you shoot it with something; an arrow, a bolt, a bullet, a pebble, a Tsar’s Egg (nooooooooo!!!!!!!). This takes very little time, you can do it at any point (provided you have the ammo) and it requires no MP.
Recommended pulling weapons are: Pebbles (by this I mean any small object meant to be thrown), bows (all projectile weapons), boomerangs (any non-consumable ranged weapon)
There are a few things to consider though. First, know the range of your projectile. The time it takes to edge into range of throwing (after getting out of range errors) may interfere in your pulling rhythm. Second thing to consider is that you must remain absolutely still while using ranged attack. This is not the best method if you want to pull something and start running right away. Final thing to consider is the “Twitch.” In a recent patch, there seems to have been a small bug introduced. This causes your avatar to change direction just slightly every once in a while. This naturally happens most often when you’re lining up a shot.
[li]2) Provoke:[War05] This is a potentially dangerous method. Yes, it is true that it is a quick ability that allows you to quickly pull a monster. However, I’ve seen provoke have an undesirable ‘side-scatter’ or ‘shotgun blast’ effect on monsters. This ability is much better used to maintain hate control while in combat (true, it does have a 15 second recharge). This is not an optimal choice for the person out there all alone trying to bring the mob to camp. Also keep in mind that it may interfere with your party’s tank establishing hate control at the fight’s beginning.
[li]3) Chi-blast:[Mnk41] This is a great way to pull monsters. In fact, you don’t even need to be even facing the mob when you use this ability. This ability has two downsides. First, is its long recharge. 3 minutes is not all that long, until you compare it to the 8 or so seconds for a bowshot, the 15 seconds for provoke, the 10 seconds for a spell… you get the picture. The other limiting factor is the range. While not quite whites-of-the-eyes range, it’s definitely a little close for comfort some times. I’ll also say here that while it is great fun indeed to boost a Chi Blast to orbital weapons scale damage (my best is a lowly 182), it defeats the purpose of a quick, reliable pull, and it interferes with hate.
[li]4) Spells:[Various] It is unlikely that white or black mages will be pulling, so this section is for Dark Knights, Red Mages, and people with a mage sub. This can work. You’re allowed a bit more movement that with a Ranged Attack, and the “Twitch” won’t get you. However, you’ll need MP to pull this off. Also, the ending animation of your spell going off leaves you unable to move for slightly longer than other pulling methods. Give yourself a little extra run time if you pull with spells.
Now, there is a fifth way to pull, that I don’t really recommend, but it has its place:
[li]5) Zero Range Pull:[All] You take your weapon out and whack the monster from right next to it. This has its disadvantages. First, you’re weapons hot – so your run speed is slower. Two, you and mob are running at same speed back to your camp – it’s going to get a lot of licks in while it hits your back. Since you’re likely not a meaty HP god, these extra HPs of damage means you need to get cured a lot more during the upcoming battle. Guess who gets the hate for that? That’s right, the WHM - who is not going to like you when your pet monster starts eating their head (White mage? Oh, how divine! I’ll have two. *chomp* *chomp*). Oh, that extra healing takes MP too. MP your tank will need more than you should.
Now, all that being said, the zero range pull (ZeRP!, or *wham!* as I sometimes call out to my party), has its upsides. First, if your pull distance to camp is minimal, it is good. Second, it’s fast and sure. You hit only the mob you want, and it comes with you. This can be a useful technique for getting – or keeping – an XP chain, but it really pales by comparison to what else you have available.
I should also mention that you should NEVER sneak-attack pull, Weapon Skill pull, Sneak Attack-Weapon Skill pull, or do anything that causes a massive amount of damage when you first pull the mob. Again, it interferes with initial hate management. Big numbers look pretty, grass doesn’t.
[li]Section Four: Talk to your party!
Okay, stating the obvious time again. When you’re pulling, you’re pulling back to your party. They have a vested interest in knowing that you’re coming back. You’ve found the target, it’s okay to pull, and you’ve pulled it. Now… just let the party know. Really, it’s that simple. Set up a few macros. Here are a few examples:
The fundamental basic:
/p Rdy? (or Ready, or Ready to kick mob ***, or whatever just see if people are ready to go)
A good improvement
/p **** Preparing to pull <t>. Pulling in 4 seconds.
(give them 6 seconds and look out for “NO!!!” or “WAIT!!!” or “PLD is still AFK!”)
Nice and basic:
/p <call(some number)>I have pulled <t>. Returning to camp!
A bit more information, showing smooth operation
/p <call(soft chime type $)> Clean pull of a <t>. Incoming!
Maybe you had to go a long ways to find something:
/p <call(soft chime type #)> Long distance pull of a <t>. I’m on my way, but may need a bit of healing by the time I get to camp.
If you’re getting a bit more hurt
/p <call – buzzer sound or something else loud> Coming in hot! This <t> is kicking my @#%@#, get ready with healing and provoke!
Bad news!
/p <loud call> WARNING!! *LINK* Mages, get ready with sleep for on secondary target!
Now since you’ve made such careful study of the area, you can also give your party an estimate of how long it’ll take you to get to camp. If you know it’ll take you 10 seconds to run back to camp after pulling the mob, let your party know. It’ll give the mages up to the last second to rest, it’ll let your tank get provoke ready, it’ll give your other tank time for one last swig of water, in short people will be extra ready.
/p <call> Pulling <t> 15 seconds to camp.
And then just count down the time at reasonable intervals (no need to cover every second). By 5 seconds or so, the party should be able to see you. Mob will be close to tank’s provoke range, and it’ll work well.
Maybe it’s:
/p Pulling <t>. Helluva long pull 30s to camp
Talking to the party and making sure they’re reading is good, because you have to remember one thing. When you’re out there pulling, there’s only one *** on the line: yours.
[li]Section Five: XP Chaining – All that glitters...
...has been the end of more than one or two adventuring parties. XP chaining is great. I won’t go into the mechanics of it too much here, nor will I go into the formulas. What I will say is this: You’re the Puller. The party leader should be competent enough to say whether or not to go for the XP chain, you got to make it happen. This is when two things I’ve said previously are important 1) knowing the area you’re in and having scouted it for mobs and 2) your pulling method choices. As the times for subsequent XP chains get shorter and shorter, your pull style may get a little less eloquent. In other words, if you’re chaining for XP, and the mobs are CLOSE, then it may be okay to walk over and hit your target from point blank.
But by no means should the XP chain be the priority. The priority is killing stuff, not the other way around.
[li]Section Six: When it all goes wrong (or ‘Oh @#%@^...’)
It’s going to happen. If you’ve been careful all along, watching monsters, avoiding links, knowing what aggros and how, you’ll go a long, long time before something goes wrong. But, it will. You’re going to pull off more than you can chew. Either that or random chance is going to take note of you and rub you out.
For good pullers, the mistake comes in one of a few ways:
[li]Rogue Mob: Another party got wiped out by a mob and this newly freed mob is linking with your pull target
[li]Pop-spawn: Maybe it’ll be next to the mob you just pulled. Maybe it’ll be behind you. All you know is that when there was once one…now there’s two.
[li]Spell drop: Your sneak or invisibility just wore off – right next to the biggest mob in the zone.
[li]Human error: you messed up. Maybe you got in aggro range, maybe you had a bad macro. It happens
[li]Monster ability (sleep, bind, etc…something that stops you from getting back to camp)
Now admittedly, there are multiple scales of in trouble. The first thing to do is not panic. Okay, I’ll admit when you hear the noise of something (or many somethings) aggroing you it’s scary. You really want to run/hide/escape/panic. Well, if you don’t panic, then your chances of living are better. Once you’ve not panicked, see how badly you’re screwed.
Maybe the land worm got you:
/p Ack! I got bound/slept/slowed at <pos> by the <t>. I need some help!
Maybe it’s just one add (additional target, link, etc). Think, can the party take two targets right now?
If so, TELL THE PARTY!!!
/p <loud call> WARNING!! *LINK* Mages, get ready with sleep for on secondary target!
Now, on your way back to camp, just be really careful that you don’t get any MORE trouble.
Usually though, it goes much worse than that. You’ve managed to get aggroed by a lot of citters, a big and nasty critter, or a lot of big and nasty critters. You should NEVER run back to your camp. After looking it over you realize you’ve got one of two choices (maybe a third)
[li]1) Run for the zone: This choice should be used with caution. The primary reason is that many parties make their camp at a zone line. This is a risky practice on their part because people can do exactly what you’re may do: drop a ton of angry mobs right in their midst. If it looks like you CAN safely zone your problems, then send SHOUTS!. Yes, people will get annoyed “Gob train to zone!”. But annoyed is better than angry, which is what people are when mobs show up without warning. Frankly, we’ve all been there when some idiot drops three pugs into our camp. *screwdriver* *screwdriver**screwdriver*. We’re dead, and the idiot is in next zone “/t sorry!”
However, in reality you will rarely get to zone mobs. That leaves….
[li]2)You’re going to die. The best thing to do here is to take all your mobs into an area remote from the spawn areas, turn to face them, spit out a bloody tooth, and bring it on. Without the melodrama of the last bit, what you need to do is bring the mobs to an area where they don’t naturally spawn that is not too far from your camp – and then die. Go down swinging at least, in fact I recommend that. Eventually, the mobs will return to their various spawn areas and your party will be able to come raise you. Yeah, its not great to be dead, but it beats killing the party. I’m not going to say that it’s noble and people will remember that you sacrificed yourself to save them – but they will remember that you didn’t kill them. That’s the important part.
As an ultra-remote third possibility….
[li]3)Now there IS a third option, but it requires a lot of synchronization with the party. As thieves are often the ones pulling, you have one chance: Perfect Dodge. It lasts 30 seconds. Know what else is 30 seconds? Escape, Tele-Mea, Tele-Dem, Tele-Holla, etc. If it looks bad, and you and your party have it together it is possible to get away without dying. What has to be remembered here is that YOU have to hold the attention of everything you brought with you until the spell is cast. No one can heal you, no one can help you fight. Again, you’re all alone. If you’ve not a thief (or a Paladin using invincible, but if you’re a Paladin what the heck are you doing pulling anyway?!),… well the only choice you have is to try to lead the entire mob train around like Noah and his animals and time it that you arrive back at your camp just as escape or teleport is cast. Of course, even if you’re successful, you’re potentially leaving a ton of angry monsters near other players. Bad idea.
[li]Section 7: Wrapping it up
Okay, hopefully this hasn’t been too much of me rambling, and that it has proved useful. Maybe just a few more people out there will become better pullers (which admittedly might limit my target choices if you’re pulling near me). So finally, after all this risk for hand-delivering exp to other people, what do you get? Well, you get a ton of skill ups, usually in the form of evasion. Mine is maxed. You also get a slightly easier ride in combat. In exchange for sticking your neck out at the beginning, a good tank will take the hate from the puller. So, for your initial risk and damage taken, you get a good payoff. Finally, if you do your job, people will remember you. Experience Points are beyond precious. Better than gil! If you have 2 billion gill for all the items you want – you’ll not get them if your level is not high enough. By being the person who hand delivers this mana, you’ll be remembered. And, if you go down and go down alone, you’ve protected their experience points once again. You win (well, aside from the dead bit). Remember the phrase “all dressed up and no where to go?” That’s what a prepared party is without a puller.
Okay, enough. Take care, good luck, and stay away from my mobs.
P.S. Critique and comments welcome.