Thf always puller?

[TaruPuffin]

hello everyone,

Sorry for the newbie question, I was wondering if the thf is always the puller? I just started playing and so far love the class however I don't like pulling. I guess it's the fact that I am new so I don't know my surroundings, which mobs are okay to pull, which mobs baf or their aggro ranges, and the fact that the party is just waiting on my slow butt. From the guides I read it looks like pulling is one of our main duties is that correct?

Thanks in advance!

[Eohmer]

Re: Thf always puller?

More than likely you will be in a party with no Ranger, so yes, you'd be on pulling duties. Don't let it bother you so much though. Most parties are ok with telling you what to pull and what to avoid, which aggro, link, and which don't.

[Ameroth]

Re: Thf always puller?

Yes, THFs are quite often asked pull.

Does that mean that you'll always be the puller in every party you have forever? No. Probably not. Just be prepared with arrows/bolts/throwing weapon in every party.

[Armando]

Re: Thf always puller?

What they said. Always assume you will be. If there's no RNG, COR, or second THF in the party, you're the puller.

[Omniblast]

Re: Thf always puller?

Get a cross bow and some bloody bolts. Level up that marksmanship. You'll thank yourself later when you can drain some HP from them. Oh yeah and Acid Bolts are better to pull with I think. (I'm not a thief, sorry I'm not quite certain.)

Oh if your hard up for cash, a Boomerrang type weapon is better for pulling. Always carry both.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Thf always puller?

A THF that does not pull is like a DRG that does not Jump. BRDs and CORs may come along and be willing to pull, but always expect CORs to be less-than-willing.

[Lunaryn]

Re: Thf always puller?

It can vary. I actually had an awkward time starting out because up to about level 25 none of my parties would let me pull (I don't mean that they told me to stop after a few pulls, I mean they didn't consider it in the first place, or only let me pull after strong objections from the WAR or SAM or DRK they asked to pull). So actually learning pulling was a bit rough because by the time I could pull much I was already expected to have a lot of experience at it. (edit: I wonder if this had something to do with my being THF/WAR from 18; THF was my first job to 30... After 30 I went /RNG and had good luck with that, ended up going mostly /NIN eventually once I got Utsusemi.)

A RNG is usually the presumptive puller when present, and in some situations BRD may be preferred to pull (no experience w/ COR on this), and certainly there are other jobs who can pull if they have the equipment. However, from about 40 on it seemed like I was puller in at least 75% of parties I was in.

A decent boomerang would be a good investment if you're concerned about running out of Ammo, particularly since you can pull well enough on a miss anyway (I've been using Wingedge as a fall back ranged weapon for ages, despite an abysmal Throwing skill; also came in handy for skilling Throwing for the sake of NIN later on). Marksmanship is worth some investment since status bolts can be pretty powerful, but early on, expect your ranged accuracy to be fairly bad; there's a reason why RNG goes /NIN and dual-wields Archer's Knife at 28. If you plan to make much use of status bolts, not only are you going to want to try to keep Marksmanship capped, but you're going to want to swap in Bone Ring +1 / Beetle Ring +1 / Horn Ring +1 / Marksman Ring / Bowyer Ring / Scorpion Ring +1 / what-have-you when ranged attacking. If you level Alchemy, Bolt Heads are good skillup recipes, so it's easy to amass a huge stockpile of bolt heads in the process that will supply you with many bolts for a long time with a minor investment into Woodworking.

[Eauijhkuu]

Re: Thf always puller?

Speak not such blaspheme.

You will remove such vocabulary from your lips, and repeat after me three times the following line:

I am a Thief, and I love pulling.

Better to have your marksmanship capped at each level should you decide someday that you want to attempt a solo feat, of by then only crossbow bolts will increase your chance of survivability.

Please please please please please please dont' become like these LV 75 THF who don't have their marksmanship capped at all. (As to how you even get to that level without capping either marksmanship or archery is beyond me)

Keep Marksmanship capped. You will benefit from it heavily later.

Trust me.

P.S. - Acid Bolts on enemies like Crabs are a godsend. And then you can laugh at those people who thought you were going to hit for 0 damage.

[711rocks]

Re: Thf always puller?

Ya acid bolts vs crabs = welfare dispel.
Bloody bolts are nice for farming, and blind and sleep are always useful to carry.
However; I would say carry a lot of +stat ranged weapons for different situations. For example-if pulling where acid bolts proc, use xbow. A lot of the ToAU mobs refuse to get defense downified by acid bolts (seriously like 1/15 proc), in this case maybe use a lightning bow+1 just for the dex (if you're still pulling) For not pulling (if maybe a brd or rng is) try using stuff like a bomb core or fire bomblet. If you need more acc and can't afford a bomblet use a CCB+1/2 (depending on your area-I really only use that for TPing Kirin and once in a lufaise meadows thf pt)
I do find that I like using xbow the most though, even if acids don't work, just because each one that lands is 10/11% TP and some extra damage to your DoT.

[ItazuraNhomango]

Re: Thf always puller?

My brain is not working; why would people use a RNG over a THF for pulling?

I loved it when not pulling on THF, because I could pre-charge SATA without worry about able to get the critter back before SATA charge depletes, but it seemed to have made more sense for THF to disengage early to go find new target than to make the RNG do that.

[Eauijhkuu]

Re: Thf always puller?

Don't sub throwing for bolts.
Bolts are your friend. Always.

[Malacite]

Re: Thf always puller?

THF is the game's 2nd best puller (NIN was actually designed to be the premier pulling class >.>b) and as such should be ready and willing.

It's actually not a great idea to have RNG do it all the time. People only make them do it because well, they'll always have a ranged weapon. RNG has an E in evasion though, where as THF and NIN have A+ and A- respectively and abilities to help get away.

Sure, RNG can use shadows, but against fast mobs like raptors and puks it won't save you for long.

[Magoo]

Re: Thf always puller?

Since I started playing again back in March (my thf was level 57 at the time), I'd say that I've been asked to pull in 95% of my xp/merit parties. Generally only bards should be pulling over a thief, and in my personal experience thf tend to get invited to parties moreso for their ability to pull (when no bards are available) than for their ability to put out damage unless the thief is known by the person doing the inviting so unless you have a bard friend to static with you'll need to get used to the idea of pulling.

Thieves have better evasion, flee and, in an emergency, perfect dodge to survive long pulls and possible links until the CC gets them under control. It is definately beneficial for your party for you to have marksmanship capped (for acid bolts) at least until the mid 50's while you are primarily fighting beetles and crabs. Once you begin leveling on the ToAU mobs which generally have lower defense, going out of your way to stick a defense down is a waste if it doesn't stick on the initial pull (although you should still pull with acid bolts). It is still to your benefit to keep marks capped for soloing though, since bloody bolts and sleep bolts allow you to solo mobs that you wouldn't stand a chance against otherwise.

At least one person in your party should be able to tell you what mobs to pull at your camp, whether they are aggressive, if they link and, just as important, how they link. For xp mobs in general:

- Crabs do not link
- Beetles link by sight
- Crawlers link by sound
- Bats link by sound
- Flies link by sound
- Spiders link by sound
- Beastmen link by sight (except for quadav which are sound)
- Greater Colibri link by sight while all other colibri do not link
- Puks link by sight and sound
- Imps do not link

The main difference between sight and sound linking is that sight mobs will only link with a mob you pulled if they are looking at that mob, while sound mobs will link with your mob just from being near it. So you can pull a beetle that is standing right next to another so long as the second beetle never looks at the one you pull.

[Eohmer]

Re: Thf always puller?

[System Message: You are not allowed to post URLs as you have not yet contributed sufficiently. Please try again at a later time.]

Tsk tsk!

[Magoo]

Re: Thf always puller?

Tsk tsk!

I'm sure it is in place to avoid spam which is fine, but preventing spam by posting a system message instead that is essentially spam kind of defeats the purpose.