Breakfast Topic: Who should pull?
by Dan O'Halloran 
Oct 10th 2007 at 8:00AM
WoWGrrl's main is Hunter. She pulls for her group. No brainer, right? But then she rolled up a Warrior and found she was still acting as the puller. Same with her Mage. She realized she was pulling because, well, she was good at it. In her mind, the Hunter should pull if they know what they are doing. When she pulls with her warrior, she has to build up rage and against multiple opponents, usually chase the mobs to get them off the clothies.
So the question is, if your designated puller isn't doing the job, do you pull yourself or just pull out of the group?
Filed under: Breakfast Topics, Instances
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Trunade Oct 10th 2007 8:09AM
I have a main hunter who's been around for awhile. I've never had any problems pulling, but if the warrior feels he has more control doing it himself, I don't take offense. Whatever gets the job done.
draeth Oct 10th 2007 8:09AM
When I tank and the hunter/mage arent pulling well, Ill just use my ranged to pull. I personally like to pull in groups anyways, helps me get a better start on aggro management when I dont have to taunt something off a mage.
nirikun Oct 10th 2007 8:18AM
Interestingly enough, one of our Holy Paladins (our very GM, in fact) seems to pull a lot in raids. He just jumps in there, pops his shield, and runs back. Has it down to a science, but he only does it on normal trash pulls in raids. Everything else is a Misdirect pull, unless we've no hunters.
Seper Oct 10th 2007 9:23AM
I'm resto and ill pull sometimes because the group is 2 slow.
I'm resto and i'll pull groups because the tank/hunter suck.
Depends on situation IMO.
Caribbean Oct 10th 2007 8:31AM
I have a hunter and it seems like I pull all thw time.
jaxson_bateman Oct 10th 2007 8:41AM
If the hunter knows what they're doing, then they should pull - they have all the tools to do it well. If not, the next best, most suitable person should - probably the tank, or someone who can lose the threat immediately.
Choosing the puller is about who has the best class and skill match in the end.
Exanimo Oct 10th 2007 8:51AM
While on my Hunter (Main) i pull, if more Hunters available we decide who will. (used to have a dedicated puller but when he was offline the other Hunters had to learn the pulls on the spot)
But when on my Warrior alt i often pull myself, unless i manage to bump into a skilled Hunter. In this case the Hunter decides he is going to pull by doing so, if the Hunter doesnt take action i won't ask him and do it myself.
vern Oct 10th 2007 8:38AM
As a priest, I love to fear-pull.
Vendetta Oct 10th 2007 8:43AM
I think that it all boils down to the expertise of each player.
I mean, if you have a Hunter who absolutely doesn't know how to pull, you can't expect him to be the main puller. The main puller shouldn't be confined to one class only; perhaps, if you have a seasoned warrior who has pulled many times before, and a fresh-faced Hunter decked out in greens who's pulling for the first time, who would you go for?
KaonNemesis Oct 10th 2007 9:00AM
It depends largely on the pull...
If it's a boss pull then a Hunter MD pull is usually best, without a doubt.
If it's a trash pull where finesse is required (another group nearby, pats, w/e) then either a Hunter or tank will do. Whoever has the skill and feels better doing it is fine.
If it's a trash pull where it doesn't really matter then a Warrior/Druid tank is better off just charging in and laying down some AoE threat building on the pack to start it up. I prefer this even when using CC, getting the AoE abilities in there the second beofre CC is applied (unless there is a Rogue doing CC, then it's obviously not possible).
There are other circumstances to pulling as well that require different strategies, such as packs that are going to be AoE'd down and no tank is going to be able to hold them (for very long at least). Doesn't really matter who pulls them then (though a Paladin does a pretty good job of it, no matter which spec).
Really though, it doesn't matter who's pulling, as lonog as they're competent at it. I've met many impatient Pallies, Mages, and Priests who seem to have no problem doing it either, lol.
The worse thing you can have though is not having a designated puller and having too many people trying to do it... That really messes things up. So either discuss it beforehand or just concede to the most "impatient" person ;)
akks Oct 10th 2007 9:11AM
As main tank I like to pull myself except for some special fights like High King, but back in the day when we ran MC always had a Hunter pulling everything for me.
ThorinII Oct 10th 2007 9:08AM
I agree with #1. I like pulling, but if the tank wants to do it, that's fine with me.
eric Oct 10th 2007 10:31AM
Spank it, you tank it.
evestraw Oct 10th 2007 10:12AM
You pull it you tank it is my rule
so tank pulls
Sylythn Oct 10th 2007 9:22AM
When I'm on my pally I love the CC-Taunt pulls...especially sheep pulls. It automatically sets up the mobs so that the CC is away from the tanking, the mage has a much longer range that I do, and the taunt means they're coming right at me, not splitting off to all corners.
Ahoni Oct 10th 2007 9:29AM
@11
Since I have recently started tanking with my druid I can understand this position. Every group, PUG or not, should have someone designated as the puller. Usually, its the tank or hunter. Other classes can pull just fine, but tank or hunter are the best equipped for it.
That being said, if I'm tanking, and the shaman pulls with a chain lightning, we are going to be a man short for the rest of that fight, as I am not going to bother trying to pull everything off him. If you are NOT the person designated for pulling, don't pull. If you do, you die. This also goes for rogues who stun lock mobs I am trying to pull into position. If I am trying to pull the mobs over here, and you stun one of them before they get here, have fun.
Purzel Oct 10th 2007 9:42AM
My main is a hunter, and I can and will pull if I am asked to. Some situations just scream for a hunter to pull, while in many cases it doesn't really mater much. And on many bosses, everthing around the boss is clear anyway, so the tank can just charge in and I use Misdirection to just add to his initial aggro instead of pulling with it.
But there is one thing: On group pulls, I generally prefer the tank to pull. I can stand back, lay a trap and when the tank pulled, I will just pull my chaintrap-victim out of the group. That way, I can make completely sure that the mob I want to be trapped will be trapped exactly where I want without having to worry about others breaking it.
Matthew Rossi Oct 10th 2007 9:45AM
@14
As a tank, I let folks like you die and start looking for a new healer.
Hanako Oct 10th 2007 9:49AM
As a hunter I love pulling but it's not what I live for. In my opinion whoever knows the instance should pull.
Breklin Oct 10th 2007 9:51AM
As a tank, I always pull on trash while we do a MD pull for boss fights. Why?
Because when I pull, I have the tiniest bit of aggro on all the mobs I need to tank, they start hitting me, I build up rage, start generating more aggro, and so on. As soon as a mob needs to be pulled off someone it has the potential to mess up the pull, usually because people freak out when they have aggro.