It sucks to be a wurm when you're a monk

I found it rather sucks when you become a wurm if you're of the monk class. I've found w/ anet's constant AI tweaking that once again the enemy mobs aggro hard on the monk in a party. This usually isn't a problem for me when I'm playing w/ my regular monk skills, but it does really suck when I'm playing as a wurm in the later areas.

With a party of 8 wurms, everyone has the same skills and the same high hp, however I've noticed that if I charge the huge enemy mobs together with the rest of the party, they still prioritize their target based on your character's class. Thus I become the aggro for enemy focus fire, which makes wurm life a bitch when their heal skills are rather lacking, and the #2 and #3 skills take so long to use. I've noticed the hench monks are usually targeted next after I go down.

Generally I've found that I have to either hang back and let someone else take fire first or run away and do virtually nothing my wurm is low on hp. WIth 3k total hp it take forever to regen. If I charge back in the mob invariably all focus fire on me again giving me virtually no chance to use the hp regaining attacks. While dp doesn't effect the wurm, it does suck once you pop out of the wurm w/ 60dp because you were a monk in the wurm.

I've grown to hate the wurms because of this lopsided aggro. All wurms have the same skills, hp and abilities, yet I'm singled out by AI monk hate. And I don't get my monk skills to keep myself alive, so it's either die repeatedly and accumulate dp, or sit out of the action.

It's sort of like playing the dragonball arena games, but imagine if whenever you were in range, every enemy player would immediately target and attack you.

If there is an enemy that can be knocked down, you heal by using Tunnel then Bite. Otherwise you back out of earshot range and use Wail.

I've never noticed an AI prioritizing problem inside wurms except for that they like to continually target the first person in aggro range. Also, most mobs shouldn't be a problem for 8 wurms except for the Sandstorm Crags, in which case you kite their spells.

I agree with Savio, so your problem in wurms is that the humans will always get targeted and spiked/die first because they usually lead the charge Killroy Stonekins style. And don't accidentally go through the entire Desolation with a Cap Sig in place of Junundu Wail, not that I did.

A simple work around to this would be to start off using your ranged attack (wand, bow, etc). That will give the others a chance to close in and gather agro. After that, you can move on in and do the smash.

All in all it took me a little while to figure out the worms but now I love running around in them. I think the worms are a great addition to the game.

Even if they do mob you, is really that big a problem? If you don't aggro to much, worms can kill a group in under a minute easy! If you get in trouble just use the fast movement skill(5?) and wail out of aggro.

It's not really being a player, but several factors.

Often it's health. Although all wurms get 3k health, mobs still target the one with least normal health.

Class preference. AI doesn't see wurm skins, they see players and their classes. So usual targetting rules apply. Interrupts, shutdown for casters, run away from melee, but not from ranged, etc.

Squishies also get prioritized by melee, and your melee will run charge into mobs wammo style.

There might be a few more, but it's hard to say which, and how they combine.

As a monk I've found NF much more playable by keeping higher than usual health (when playing with henchies). While for most part 420-460 health is enough, upping it to 490-510 for NF makes things easier, not because of more health, but because you're targetted much less. This applies for all classes, although as ele 455 seems to be enough, and 380 turns me into spike magnet.

All of this applies only when playing with henchies/heroes. With real players it won't matter most of the time.

I noticed the same thing. With a team of henchmen I stand back and order them to attack. The monk henchmen followed by the elemental one get hurt the most.

Also when I play a monk in a wurm, they all attack me, while the other characters don't get hurt. To the AI they see a monk in melee range, and completely ignore other classes. What they should see is everyone has the same armour and health and looks the same, but they don't.

what does junudu wail do again? i thought it only rezes dead wurms within earshot? i've only done 3 missions w/ the wurms so i'm not that familiar w/ all their skills yet.

and i don't even go charging into melee anymore after the first time i got mobbed lol. First time - wow, I'm in a wurm, 3k hp! nice, i'm gonna go clean up! Little did I know lol..

So yeah, just being in melee range even if i'm the last one to join the fray invariably causes the enemy melee and interrupters to come after me. That also makes sense when i use skill #2 and #3 why they often seem to be interrupted w/ their long ass cast times. Also annoying is the other party members will kill off my target before i finish casting #3 for the heal.

So if i'm getting hurt bad I'll back my wurm off, it's rather lame since I'm forced to run away using #5 but the ranged attackers and spikers are still attacking me, and the rest of the party just gets to wail on the mobs. Damn it, I'm not the party's aggro tank!

I thought it would be fun w/ wurms because you have more damage and more hp and you can feel like you're trashing the enemies.. a change of pace from monking. But nope, it's no different.. you're still hiding out in the back lines most of the time to keep from getting killed. With your skill bar full of stupid touch and pbaoe skills you can't use... /sigh

It happens to me as a wurm and im a Warrior, but im happy about wail cuz i still have full hp after, anyway i always use wurm seige when i feel that charging in is retarded

Quote: Originally Posted by saphir

Send your party heros....Wurms ahead of you first. Problem solved.