Flash of Light

[Maurk]

Blind is still sending mobs running away even in melee range ocassionally,
and still cann't be used to break mezzes like they used to (using root now).
Unless this is how blind was supposed to work then let me know..
Because I used to break mezzes fine using blind several months ago.

I just wiped my group earlier in seb and had some nice loot rot after I was using blind while a mob was chasing the cleric but was in melee range with me.

[Danth]

Currently, the mob will run away if it is blinded while its primary target is not in melee range. This has negative implications for using Flash of Light to gain aggro off a ranged class; it should be safe to use for holding aggro once you already have the mob on you.

That's how it is on P1999 currently, not a comment on whether it's correct.

In general, Flash of Light never was very safe to use when everyone was running around due to netlag.

Danth

[williestargell]

i'd like to know how you're using root to break mez?

[Fromage]

i'd like to know how you're using root to break mez?

He means rooting it before he breaks mez, instead of blinding then breaking mez.

I've also had blinded mobs run like hell a few times, i now wait til i've landed a stun or two before using it.

[One Tin Soldier]

Ok, I've been fighting in unrest with my paladin, using flash of light to hold agro as a good pally should. Most of the time it works like I remember from the old days on live but once in a while the mob will take off running even though I and sometimes other group members are within melee range fighting the mob.

The last couple days I've grouped with a wizard among others and I've noticed something. The blinded mobs only seem to run when he hits them with force shock, a nuke with a stun component. I have no idea why but I'm positive there is a correlation.

Earlier today I was grouped in unrest most of the morning. I was using flash of light in almost every fight and not one mob ran. Then the wizard joined us and before long, BAM, there goes the mob running like crazy. Afterwards I scrolled back and sure enough the wiz hit it with force shock right before it took off running.

Again, I have no idea why that spell should cause this to happen but I'm sure it did. Maybe it has something to do with the stun component of the spell? At first I wondered if there was some knockback effect throwing the mob out of melee range but other people told me that wasn't it.

Anyway, maybe one of the devs could look into this please. Flash of light is so important to paladins it's depressing to think I might be unable to use it for fear of killing my group.

[Danth]

"The blinded mobs only seem to run when he hits them with force shock, a nuke with a stun component. I have no idea why but I'm positive there is a correlation."

You lost aggro while the mob was blinded to a group member (the Wizard) who was not in melee range. When this happens on P1999, the mob will flee. Force Shock, being a combination stun/nuke, likely generates very high aggro.

Flash of Light, for whatever reason (and there are many potential causes), doesn't make things stick to the Paladin like glue on P1999 in the near-overpowered manner that it did on Live. Life can be tough until you get Stun at 30.

As for the current fleeing behavior, I can't recall whether it's accurate or not, because the spell generated such ridiculous hate on Live that I virtually never lost aggro (even when telling the group to TRY to pull it), certainly not often enough to remember 10 years later. That may well be correct. Bottom line, don't use Flash of Light on P1999 if you may lose aggro to someone who isn't in melee range when a fleeing mob will wipe your group.

Danth

[One Tin Soldier]

You lost aggro while the mob was blinded to a group member (the Wizard) who was not in melee range. When this happens on P1999, the mob will flee.

Ok, but it shouldn't work like that. Back in the day as long as anyone was in melee range of the mob it wouldn't run away. It didn't have to be the person highest on the agro list.

[One Tin Soldier]

I don't want to bitch and moan about this a lot so I won't post about it again after this unless there is some reason to continue the discussion but I feel a need to express just how sucky this is.

I played my pally again some this morning with the depressing realization that I shouldn't use flash of light when I'm grouped with anyone who might draw agro from range. Well, using it to prevent casters from being attacked is pretty much the whole point of using it in the first place. So basically there is no reason to even memorize the spell anymore.

I am now having seconds thoughts about even playing the paladin because flash of light was always such a key spell for paladins. Paladins being unable to use flash of light is comparable to a druid being unable to use snare or a magician being unable to use his pet. The insane agro it generated and the ability to basically forbid blinded mobs to run over and start hitting a caster or healer was the saving grace of playing a pally over a warrior.

Yes, eventually pallies get stun to help with agro but, damn, this just ain't right and it's definately not classic.

[Mountaineer]

Yeah its still....so random...I cant figure it out. Sometimes it works, sometimes it makes the mob flee, even with mellee and/or pets attacking him. I've tried to see if I can make some sort of thing i can replicate, but I cant. I just cant figure it out :-/

[Danth]

I agree with you entirely Tin Soldier. The current situation with Flash of Light (and, honestly, aggro in general) sucks. I can only tolerate playing my Paladin in short bursts before annoyance sets in and I need time off from here. Nonetheless, things are what they are for the time being, and it's better to know what to expect than to be caught entirely unaware.

Danth

[Maurk]

As stated before, when a mob is blind it runs as if feared unless something is within melee range in which case it sticks to the closest character like glue.

It's an ultimate agro tool because it doesn't actually matter where everyone is on the agro list. It basically works like root (when in melee range) except that the tank can still position the mob as he/she sees fit as long as you are moving slowly enough for the blind mob to stay within range.
^^ How it should be working amirite??

Still having the issue with mobs fleeing as if feared although they are in melee range, from something like a wizard nuke or not having enough aggro when It's cast.
Breaking mez on a blinded mob is still having this issue.

[Cfullard]

Flash of Light on live worked like this. If cast on a mob while it was meleeing you, it did nothing. If you cast flash of light of light on a mob and then took a few steps back it worked somewhat like a fear and the mob ran around. The difference in Flash of Light and fear is that flash of built a huge amount of threat when used on a mob and if you didn't step away from it. Even then, it built a huge amount of threat when flash of light wore off.

[Motec]

RE stuns, you're probably pushing it out of melee range = it runs.

[Odeseus]

How I always remember blind working was a way to lock agro once you had it and were in melee range. I often used it as a shaman to tank all the way into PoP. Cast slow, then a DoT and then chain blind for agro lockage. Even a necro doing max DoTs couldn't pull agro unless blind was resisted for a round or two.

However, it only worked to lock agro if you already had agro and were in melee range. If someone else had agro and you blinded it, the mob would lock onto that person. Ideal way to help a tank hold agro if he was having issues. Just force people to wait a tick for him to get agro, then spam blind to make sure he didn't lose it.

If the mob is blind and the person it is latched onto moves out of melee range, it acts as a fear and causes all sorts of havoc. At least that is the way I remember it functioning.

[vossiewulf]

RE stuns, you're probably pushing it out of melee range = it runs.

What he said. Smite also does this. Any caster spell that moves the mob and you're at edge of agro range = mob booking away in full fear mode. Best thing is to stand right on top of the mob you're fighting and it won't happen.

[Maurk]

When a mob is blinded, anything that has aggro that is in melee range would get attacked before the mob goes fleeing off.
for example, I could sit back and blind a mob while something else (like a warrior) tanks the mob, much like if I was rooting.
This is how blind has always worked from what I remember,
and was changed with no patch notes many months ago.

Guessing it was a fix, just wanting official word is all.

[Maurk]

RE stuns, you're probably pushing it out of melee range = it runs.

Not the problem.

[Ektar]

bump.

Happened to me 3 times the other day, and it's making me look BAD. cannot allow this.

I used to use flash of light in hate and fear after a mob had been mezzed by an enchanter like 50 kazillion times. And, to be clear, I mean hate and fear on p99. a SINGLE cast of blind kept it on me (or someone else in melee, if I wasn't tanking). If I allowed blind to run out without renewing it, it would sprint like the fucking wind and wreck the enchanter. Something happened since I quit, obv~.

[Webwolf]

bump.
I used to use flash of light in hate and fear after a mob had been mezzed by an enchanter like 50 kazillion times. And, to be clear, I mean hate and fear on p99. a SINGLE cast of blind kept it on me (or someone else in melee, if I wasn't tanking). If I allowed blind to run out without renewing it, it would sprint like the fucking wind and wreck the enchanter. Something happened since I quit, obv~.

I can confirm this, I used to be able to use blind to break mez and also combine blind with stun to generate huge threat and now it's just broken and the mobs will randomly flee, I just stopped using blind all together for aggro which led me to discover yet another problem... very low aggro on stuns.

Stun, Holy Might and Force are generating extremely low aggro compared to what they used to on live, I remember being able to tank on raids on live using only the lvl30 stun which I remember being told generated similar aggro as Disease Cloud does for SKs. Here on P99 I am forced to chain cast all my 3 stuns on raids in order to keep decent aggro on a raid environment, or even in groups where there is a monk with a high proc rate.

[xcyberpeenixx]

Flash of Light is still going ape. Has anyone confirmed a fix in upcoming patches at all?