Lirix

Time for an advanced concept, what with the servers being down and all...

The easiest way to make a fight with creeps easier is to limit the number of creeps you fight. One creep is the ideal size, but that becomes a nice dream when you start talking instances. The first tool available to a party for limiting the fight size is pulling. It's also one of the most game knowledge intensive.

Pulling is a simple concept. The puller gets a creep to follow him back to his party, where they promptly take his lunch money. There are many reasons this can become difficult, and all of them involve game mechanics. Pullers have to understand social creeps, linked creeps, ranged creeps, and casters. Because creeps are being dragged back to the party, the puller must understand creep pathing and have good zone knowledge(especially of broken pathing in a zone).

The most common reason that a puller brings more than one creep home is the social(or Bring-a-Friend) creep. Creeps of this type will run toward the party while calling out to their nearby buddies to join in. These creeps only call others of the same type(orcs won't call bears for instance) but this can quickly lead to an uncontrolled fight because the called creeps normally call their buddies, who call their buddies, etc. A linked creep is a more advanced social creep; they call specific creeps whenever they see a puller, often ignoring distance.

Ranged creeps and casters are another challenge. Because they can engage from a distance, they often refuse to move toward the puller. Casters can be silenced, which will normally get them to behave as a social creep. Ranged creeps cannot be silenced because they use ranged weapons. The puller must either leave their range to get them to move in the desired direction(often difficult due to high range values on creeps) or break line-of-sight(which may not work due to a workaround for poor AI).

This brings us to zone knowledge which I can't begin to explain due to limited experience. The few zones I do have basic knowledge on would require pictures(and I mean lots of them) to even begin to accurately detail creep pathing in that environment. Suffice it to say that creeps may not always follow a straight path to the puller, and the puller must either know the zone or be ready to warn the party when a creep behaves unexpectedly. This will also tell you where to have the party wait for pulls to avoid respawns and wandering creeps.

Pullers are not limited to any particular class(or classes). The best puller for a given zone is often the player with the most experience. Different classes will have different capabilities when pulling. Knowledge of your class is, of course, not just helpful when pulling.

Pulling recap:
- Social creeps like to bring friends.
- Ranged creeps don't like to chase.
- Learn how a zone effects creep behavior to avoid stampedes.
- Remember spawnless points for pulling to.
- Don't assume a particular class should be pulling!

Why is that every time I start one of these expecting a short post, I end up with an essay?

[edit]Grammar is my friend![/edit]