Schooling Scholomance

[MongoJerry]

This is indeed the definition I'm going for - basically any mob that couldn't be CC'd or who adds itself into the mix during battle. :)

OK, I think you're running into one of those cases where you are doing something smart but that it looks the same from the outside as what a dumb person would do. I run into this all the time when I use Mind Control in groups. I like to use Mind Control in situations where there will be two uncontrolled mobs in a pull. For example, let's say there will be four mobs in a pull. One can be sapped by our rogue and one can be sheeped by our mage. That leaves two mobs open to attack our warrior. In that case, I like to mind control one of them, reducing the enemy damage output by half, and use that mob to attack the free mob that the party is trying to kill, allowing me to provide some offensive power without using any of my precious mana.

This is an effective tactic that can really help a party. Nonetheless, nine times out of ten in pickup groups, someone will plead with me not to use Mind Control. I'll ask why and receive answers ranging from horror stories to bizarre tactical reasons why not, but they basically all come down to: 1. We're not used to it. We just want our priest to heal. 2. I saw someone use it once and they sucked.

In your case, I think you're doing something that people aren't used to and are mimicking something that people who suck do. People who suck spread damage around to multiple mobs. The most effective party is one that has as much of its damage output as possible directed at one mob at a time. So, by breaking away from the pack and fighting a different mob than your party, you are acting like a sucky player who doesn't understand the concept of damage concentration. What the priestess in your group may not have realized was that after a couple of hits, you then went back to fighting the same mob as the group, and therefore, you aren't that kind of sucky player.

I would answer your question on what to do this way:

If we are talking about expected mobs in a pull, then you should let the warrior tank all of them. You should not break away and try to aggro some of the *expected* mobs. Instead, you should focus on the same mob that your party is attacking. In fact, often in partys I'm in, the paladin is often considered the "primary assist" person. That is, it's the paladin who chooses the mob to attack and everyone else assists off him to know which mob the party is going to concentrate on. If you're worried that the warrior wouldn't be able to handle all the damage from all the mobs, then you can cast that seal on him that splits the damage taken with you.

What happens if mobs don't behave and the warrior can't taunt the full pull onto him or her at the start? Don't panic. Other classes have things they can do to protect themselves. Priests can Fade, for example, severely reducing their aggro for 10 seconds, and mages can Frost Nova to keep mobs at bay. If you really feel the "soft center" needs some help, then I suggest that you cast that seal that reduces a person's aggro by 50% on the priest and/or mage. That is a very useful seal and will buy plenty of time for the warrior to gather any stray mobs to him or her. Meanwhile, you can keep banging away at whatever mob the party is supposed to be focusing on and help kill it, thereby reducing the overall power and threat of the pull.

Now the grey area comes when there is a true add -- like say a patrol came into a area or someone mistakenly aggroed another group of mobs. Then, the situation isn't quite so clear. If you can hit the add a couple of times quickly and then go back to the original target, then, yeah, that'd be cool. In fact, if you want that job, I would suggest telling your group that. Perhaps after a battle when you've done that for the first time, say "Btw, if we get an add mid-battle like that, I'll take care of rounding it up so it doesn't attack our priest" or something like that.