To all you mad scientist types out there, this is a call to Experiment! This post suggests a series of experiments in that hopes that players will not only try them and post their results; but also to post their observations and to modify the experiments to give the best results possible.
Let's assume that, ignoring rescue moves,
Aggro = F(damage, hate from skills, aggression from skills, distance, level, healing, buffs, ebufs, current target's current hitpoints).
So, to understand aggro all we have is one equation with a bunch of unknowns. There are possibly other factors such as race and class how the target feels about your race and class; those could seriously complicate matters, so it would be good to get a big variety of data.
Gaining Hate
If two people did exactly the same amount of damage, all other things being equal I wouldn’t expect aggro to change. For agro to switch, the second ally must exceed the damage by some factor. For example, if Knat does 100 pts damage, to get aggro, Kocoa might need to 110 points of damage (so, to switch aggro you'd have to do 110% the damage).
Recording Results
The easiest way to record results is to take a screen snapshot. But, before doing that you'll want to click on your combat log and increase the height to show the full combat contents. Also, be sure to hit "C" to bring up your character screen and have the "Equipment" tab visible so the defense, AC, character level, class, and current hit points can all be seen. It's best to select targets and skills so the entire experiment doesn't take more than one screen's worth in your combat log. You can also use "/reloadui" inbetween tests to clear previous combat out of your log.
Experiment 1: Aggro Switching - Melee Vs. Melee
Requires: 2 people to do physical damage only, standing as close as possible to a yellow target.
Procedure: Person 1 starts a melee attack and does some damage (say 25%). Stop attacking. Record results. When person 1 stops attacking person 2 starts melee attacking. When aggro switches to person 2, they stop attacking and record the results.
Analysis: Add the total amount of damage each person did and divide the second person's by the first - for your levels and classes this should be the % dmg required to cause a switch.
Experiment 2: Aggro Switching - Melee Vs. Ranged Melee
Requires: 2 people to do physical damage only, 1 critter.
Procedure: All parts start with person 1 initiating a melee attack and doing some damage (say 25%), then stops attacking and records results
Part A: Person 2 stands at 10' and fires a ranged weapon until they gain aggro. Records results & range.
Part B: Person 2 stands at 20' and fires a ranged weapon until they gain aggro. Record results & range.
Part C: Person 2 stands at 30' and fires a ranged weapon until they gain aggro. Record results & range
Part D: Person 2 stands at max range and fires a ranged weapon until they gain aggro. Record results & range
Analysis: Add the total amount of damage each person did and divide the second person's by the first at each range.
Experiment 3: Aggro Switching - Melee Vs. Magical damage
Requires: 2 people, one that does physical and 1 that does magical damage.
Procedure: All parts start with person 1 initiating a melee attack and doing some damage, then stopping and recording
results.
Part A: Person 2 stands at 10' and launches spell damage until they get aggro. Record results & range.
Part B: Person 2 stands at 20' and launches spell damage until they get aggro. Record results & range.
Part C: Person 2 stands at 30' and launches spell damage until they get aggro. Record results & range.
Part D: Person 2 stands at max range and launches spell damage until they get aggro. Record results & range.
Analysis: Add the total amount of damage each person did. and divide the second person's by the first.
Experiment 4: Aggro Switching - Melee Vs. Healing
Requires: 2 people, one that does physical and 1 that does healing.
Procedure: All parts start with person 1 purposely dropping their health 50% then initiating a melee attack and doing some damage, then stopping and recording results
Part A: Person 2 stands at 10' and heals Person 1 until they get aggro. Record results & range.
Part B: Person 2 stands at 20' and heals Person 1 until they get aggro. Record results & range.
Part C: Person 2 stands at 30' and heals Person 1 until they get aggro. Record results & range.
Part D: Person 2 stands at 40' and heals Person 1 until they get aggro. Record results & range.
Analysis: Divide the total amount of healing by the total amount of damage, this should give an idea as to how healing relates to physical damage in terms of gaining aggro.
Experiment 5: Aggro Switching - Melee Vs. Buffs
Requires: 2 people, one that does physical and 1 that does buffing.
Procedure: All parts start with person 1 initiating a melee attack and doing some damage, then stopping and recording results
Part A: Person 2 stands at 10' and buffs Person 1 until they get aggro. Record results & range.
Part B: Person 2 stands at 20' and buffs Person 1 until they get aggro. Record results & range.
Part C: Person 2 stands at 30' and buffs Person 1 until they get aggro. Record results & range.
Part D: Person 2 stands at 40' and buffs Person 1 until they get aggro. Record results & range.
Analysis: This is tricky, is it the amount of mana expended, the number of bufs, how much the buff changes the targets attributes? Hopefully some pattern can be deduced from the data.
Experiment 6: Aggro Switching - Melee Vs. Debuffs
Requires: 2 people, one that does physical and 1 that does magical damage.
Procedure: All parts start with person 1 initiating a melee attack and doing some damage, then stopping and recording results
Part A: Person 2 stands at 10' and debufs the target until they get aggro. Record results & range.
Part B: Person 2 stands at 20' and debufs the target until they get aggro. Record results & range.
Part C: Person 2 stands at 30' and debufs the target until they get aggro. Record results & range.
Part D: Person 2 stands at 40' and debufs the target until they get aggro. Record results & range.
Analysis: This is tricky too, is it the amount of mana expended, the number of bufs, how much the buff changes the targets attributes? Hopefully some pattern can be deduced from the data.
Experiment 7: Aggro Switching - Melee Vs. Hate
Requires: 2 people, one that does physical and 1 that does hate.
Procedure: Person initiates a melee attack and does some damage, then stops and recording results. Person 2 launches hate skill until they get aggro.
Analysis: Divide the total amount of damage by the total amount of hate; this should give a ratio of damage to hate.
Subject: Experimenting with Aggro 
Tue Feb 24, 2009 11:02 am
