Smites and Coldfires

Darth Marth

Darth Marth

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Jan 2006

USA Midwest

Order of Celestial Guardians II [OCG]

Me/Mo

What is the deal with them fighting each other, and even themselves? They're allied most of the time, but they kill each other and deny me drops randomly.

Malice Black

Site Legend

Join Date: Oct 2005

it has always like been like that..i think its prety funny when they have a scrap

Brianna

Brianna

Insane & Inhumane

Join Date: Feb 2006

they want eachothers ectos and ghostly staffs

Poison Ivy

Poison Ivy

Forge Runner

Join Date: Jan 2006

Toronto

Hopping

Mo/A

^And storm bows

Btw, have you guys ever seen a Coldfire drop an Ecto before? I know I havn't.

Darth Marth

Darth Marth

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Jan 2006

USA Midwest

Order of Celestial Guardians II [OCG]

Me/Mo

But what sets them off? And why do Coldfires always attack the SS Necro?

Malice Black

Site Legend

Join Date: Oct 2005

they go for the softer target

Boone

Boone

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Mar 2006

Mo/E

Coldfires don't drop ecto's, I read that somewhere. i think Gwiki

shadow39365

shadow39365

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Nov 2005

England

Angels Symphonys [AnSy]

Coldfires are notorious for having universally sh*t drops...so yes, no ecto, i also read that somewhere.

As for them fighting each other it's generally random, probably Anet's attempt to deny you of Ecto, like their attempt to stop UW farming with the oh so powerful Dying Nightmares. You can tell its a trick by Anet when you see the Smite Crawlers killing each other, watching that happen is painful, especially when it's 2 on 2 and practically a stalemate

Aggro Control has gone a bit iffy since the factions release, you don't always need to be in the aggro range of the enemy, if the monk doesn't tank right and semi body block the enemy at first they go right past him to the necro, the idea of the monk to tank is to do it as you would a warrior, go in there and hit the enemy with your melee weapon like your FFS axe, the enemy taking damage puts the aggro on to YOU, thats how its done, and have the necro come along a couple of seconds after you have them tanked, seeing as you won't be moving the aggro won't break (the tank moving breaks aggro completely).

Some enemies are aggroed without going near them, take Kanaxai at the end of the Deep, he starts running towards you before you enter his aggro range, i expect what sets off this fighting is your approach...

milias

milias

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Nov 2005

Defected back to America

Me/E

Personally, I think it's a bug, but yes, it's always been like that. When you're on a Smite run, that's the last thing you want to see, because as the above poster said, Coldfires don't drop anything good, whereas Smites occasionally drop ectos.

Darth Marth

Darth Marth

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Jan 2006

USA Midwest

Order of Celestial Guardians II [OCG]

Me/Mo

This is getting infuriating. I have only one theory about what could set them off, and I wanted to check it before I send a bug report to ANet. Could the Smites somehow be unwittingly damaging Coldfires or other Smite groups with Zealot's Fire somehow? The only reason this doesn't make sense is because they're allies, and I doubt Zealot's Fire would affect other allies...

Deacon Roswell

Deacon Roswell

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Sep 2005

San Diego

Absence of Evidence [AoE]

When you see a group fighting, just go kill them. Have the necro put SS on them and watch them all kill each other. You get drops if you participate in the killing! That's what my partner and I do.
As for why they fight...who knows? Maybe one said something bad about the other ones sister. Just because they're all smites, doesn't mean they are allies. I've seen grawl fight each other at Kings Watch. It happens all over.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Darth Marth
...And why do Coldfires always attack the SS Necro?
When do they ever attack the SS Necro other than when he's the only one alive or standing right next to them spamming skills? I do smite runs every night and hardly ever get attacked. Knowing that I will rarely be attacked gives me the ability to use 2 superior runes and have less than 400 health and not have to worry. Maybe your SS aggros before the monk or stands way too close?

Hand of Ruin

Banned

Join Date: Jul 2006

Quote:
Originally Posted by Darth Marth
This is getting infuriating. I have only one theory about what could set them off, and I wanted to check it before I send a bug report to ANet. Could the Smites somehow be unwittingly damaging Coldfires or other Smite groups with Zealot's Fire somehow? The only reason this doesn't make sense is because they're allies, and I doubt Zealot's Fire would affect other allies...
I don't think that's how it works. Only NPC's of the same spawn location/species are allies. All other NPC's in the area are simply "friendly" (much like tame-able animals. They CAN be the target of attacks and spells, but are not naturally aggresive towards you."

If you aggro several different Mobs, they will all Target YOU, because you are the one who set off their aggro. However, if a mob uses AoE spells, and you manage to break all the aggros while those AoE spells are in effect, they may effect a "friendly" mob, and in turn set off the aggro for that friendly mob, and then a war breaks out.

Darth Marth

Darth Marth

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Jan 2006

USA Midwest

Order of Celestial Guardians II [OCG]

Me/Mo

Quote:
Originally Posted by Hand of Ruin
I don't think that's how it works. Only NPC's of the same spawn location/species are allies. All other NPC's in the area are simply "friendly" (much like tame-able animals. They CAN be the target of attacks and spells, but are not naturally aggresive towards you."

If you aggro several different Mobs, they will all Target YOU, because you are the one who set off their aggro. However, if a mob uses AoE spells, and you manage to break all the aggros while those AoE spells are in effect, they may effect a "friendly" mob, and in turn set off the aggro for that friendly mob, and then a war breaks out.
So that means my theory could be true? And I'm not talking about mobs attacking each other while I fight them; they just start randomly fighting before I even get a chance to reach them. And Deacon, you're very lucky if you haven't seen the Coldfires specifically go for the Necro. Other monsters only attack the Necro if they haven't reached me yet, and it happens much less often, but Coldfires will break aggro from me even after having attacked me for a while if the Necro aggros them. Both of these problems don't make any sense; unless the Necro has less AL, shouldn't the enemies always atatck me if I aggro them first?

EagleEye33

EagleEye33

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Nov 2005

In a House...duh

Untouchable Heroes

R/E

ive seen coldfire drop blackdye before, probably the best drop ive seen from them. Though since thats probably not gonna happen a lot, most people skip them now

VGJustice

VGJustice

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Jul 2005

Tyria, cappin' ur bosses

Boston Guild [BG]

R/W

The BEST thing I've ever seen a Coldfire drop was a key. Once. Black Dye would be an excelent drop too, but you could get that from an Ascalon Devourer at the same probability.

Coldfires are crap for drops. Just skip 'em.

And to be honest, Smites arn't even good for Ectos anymore. I've only ever seen a Smite drop an ecto ONCE. I've gotten all of my ectos from the Blades. And I do mean ALL of my ectos.

darkMishkin

darkMishkin

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Jul 2005

UK

Servants of Fortuna [SoF]

Mo/

I always get irritated that monsters don't fight eachother more often. Why are all the Scarabs, Hydras, Devourers, Horsemonsters in the desert such good buddies when they surely must compete for food. Come to think of it, there is no way a sustainable ecosystem there. And just how do those Mesmer Squids fly?

Yakumo

Yakumo

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Nov 2005

UK

Hearts Of Fury [HoF]

R/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Darth Marth
And Deacon, you're very lucky if you haven't seen the Coldfires specifically go for the Necro. Other monsters only attack the Necro if they haven't reached me yet, and it happens much less often, but Coldfires will break aggro from me even after having attacked me for a while if the Necro aggros them. Both of these problems don't make any sense; unless the Necro has less AL, shouldn't the enemies always atatck me if I aggro them first?
Doing UW runs as a SS Necro, I've attracted unwanted attention from Coldfires. I'm not 100% sure why, but I have a feeling that it might be to do with a spell being used such as Desecrate Enchantments.

If I dropped SS and Suffering, all is well. But if I use Desecrate Enchantments on the Coldfires, more often than not it will draw their attention to me. It's just something I've noticed, but I've not tested it out properly to see if it is the case.

Perhaps check with your Necro to see if DE is being used on the Coldfires, if so, don't do that for awhile and see if the Coldfires stay on you.

makosi

makosi

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Mar 2006

"Pre-nerf" is incorrect. It's pre-buff.

Requirement Begins With R [notQ]

Me/

There is one mob of Smites that are hostile to everything and therefore upon noticing any other creature, they will attack. They are outnumbered so the chances of them clearing out the Ice Wastes are virtually nil and the Coldfires' Maelstrom owns them.

Mr Crapsicle

Mr Crapsicle

Academy Page

Join Date: Sep 2005

Consortium of Evil Monkeys (CeM)

An ecto from a smite just once ? Nutty. Lately, I see one from a smite probably every other time in. Certainly not as reliable as the Ataaxes, no, but consistent to be sure.

I do like to mix it up when visitng UW. Sometimes 3 or 2 man trapping, sometimes 2 man monking.

And yup, there is one group of smites on "hyper patrol" that will latch on to the first live thing they encounter.

shadow39365

shadow39365

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Nov 2005

England

Angels Symphonys [AnSy]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Deacon Roswell
Maybe one said something bad about the other ones sister.
yes, like Mr Materazzi the Smite trash talked about Mr Zidane the Coldifre's mum and then Zidane headbutted him... who knows

Timmy Shinobi

Timmy Shinobi

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Jul 2006

OGF Ohio Geek Fest

W/

Dying Nightmares dropping a demonic remains = 20g
Smites dropping an ecto = 7k
Coldfires dropping a re8 15% always -5 energy = 200k
Wathcing Smites and Coldfires beat the heck out of each other = priceless

Darth Marth

Darth Marth

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Jan 2006

USA Midwest

Order of Celestial Guardians II [OCG]

Me/Mo

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr Crapsicle
And yup, there is one group of smites on "hyper patrol" that will latch on to the first live thing they encounter.
So it's not random? How do you know?