WoWWiki defines the tag as damaging a mob, thereby reserving the monster or NPC for you and your party so that only you may loot or gain XP from it. It also turns the status bar of the mob gray to other players to indicate that it has been tagged by another player. Rufushonkeriv asks an interesting question over at LiveJournal, however, about kill stealing and how it can happen in World of Warcraft. The tagging mechanism, which isn't present in more than a few MMOs, is supposed to prevent kill stealing in the game.However, the poster asks how a mob he has tagged is sometimes tagged away from him and explains how, when attempting the same thing, he only ends up killing a grayed-out mob faster. It is quite possible that the poster uses a DoT spell to get a mob's aggro, only to lose it to another player who deals damage with an instant cast spell. Lag can also sometimes explain how a player might think she damaged a mob first, only to have it turn gray when another player hits it.
Technically, the first player to damage a mob tags it -- it isn't the player who has aggro or the player who first cast a non-damaging spell on the mob (such as Mana Tap or Hunter's Mark). There is some confusion as to the amount of damage needed to secure the tag. For example, if a player damages a mob for 1 point and a second later another player hits it for 1,000... who tags the mob? In theory, it should be the player who hit the mob for 1, because she damaged the mob first. The mechanic is pretty straightforward but in some cases players are confuddled through a mix of lag, lack of understanding about the tagging rules, and just plain old bad luck. As a rule of thumb, when tagging, hit it fast and hit it hard!
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
5-12-2008 @ 2:13PM
GamerCrusader said...
One of the worst tagging methods is when you are fighting an outdoor boss and two people come up to help, one figured out that if anyone wants any part of the loot they need to help heal, so they do. What the other person does is start to aggro other things into the area which will immediately get aggroed by my totems (I am a shammy), I drop totems trying to save myself and the healer panicks.. we both die and the guy who did it ends up finishing off the mob I was targetting initially. The mob wen't from 100% to less than 10% health from me and the healer but this one other person steals the kill through underhanded means.
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5-12-2008 @ 6:15PM
Unmei said...
2 alliance tried that on me and a few others. :) Durn proceeded to wtf pwn them then reset. lol
5-13-2008 @ 4:38AM
jrb said...
but how does tagging work with XP? We've all heard of the record lvl 1-70 or 60-70 levelling, done via tagging, and then getting non-groupies to kill the mob.
I tried to help a friend level using this method, and although she got xp, the xp was massively reduced even though i wasn't in a group.
5-12-2008 @ 2:28PM
peaglemancer said...
POM Pyro, for when it absolutely positively has to be tagged first.
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5-12-2008 @ 9:50PM
Bixxi said...
POM Pyro has flight time, Fireblast is faster.. you'd lose to a druid using Starfire.
5-13-2008 @ 1:36AM
peaglemancer said...
Good point, I concede.
5-12-2008 @ 2:32PM
Arras said...
on my prot pally I had a demon in Blade's edge to about 60% for the banishing demons daily - a rogue (of my faction no less) comes up and proceeds to 1) tear into the mod (i thought, oh nice he's helping..but no...) and 2) drag it to his portal. He not only gets loot from the mob, but also gets credit for the banishing and I lose out on both.
I decided to hang up my pally on that day and level my warlock. Never been so furious at a person before in my life.
So, yeah, kill stealing is possible - blizzard makes it really difficult, but you can do it
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5-12-2008 @ 2:55PM
Rob said...
Ah, the other thing that people used to do in Blade's Edge would be (while you are trying to get demons) fly around and get all sorts of flak, then land next to you briefly, then take off again. Result is a whole ton of flack coming down and killing you. Real nice people. Only had that happen once though (and they sped away before I could figure out their name and report for griefing). This was on a non-PVP server.
Additionally, whats with all the people in the Isle of QS flagged for PVP, and sitting around near the quest givers? I see it every day, sometimes more than one. If I wanted to PVP i would go to a PVP server. I'd rather just have the flag disabled until you go into a BG, saves everyone trouble.
5-12-2008 @ 3:15PM
pantear said...
If you try to right click the quest giver and accidentally right click the PvP-enabled person, you get PvP-flagged and insta-killed by the guards.
5-12-2008 @ 5:30PM
Rob said...
Ah thanks. What kind of idiot would get his kicks this way anyway? Its just like skettis used to be, just like blade's edge. I'm so happy those zones are deserted now.
5-12-2008 @ 6:15PM
Oldbear said...
The same idiots that find it fun to corpse camp... I play PvP for the PvP, but some people need to be slapped.
5-12-2008 @ 2:33PM
blackwolf675 said...
I've done it on accident sometimes, where I'll be on the other side of a hill and can't see someone lining up to fire.
I usually apologize.
There have been nights where I've only been able to keep kills by 'shocking as I run up.
Far too many people will tap as they run by just before my LBolt hits - making sure they get the tag, but I have to do the work.
Hubby had a pair of lazy punk hunters following his warlock while on his daily one night. When he told them to stop, they laughed at him and said to pull faster.
So he did.
He pulled half-dozen mobs with a non-damage curse and /Fear'd them away all after the hunters clipped the tags. When half the zone came back to zerg the hunters, they threatened to report him for "griefing".
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5-12-2008 @ 7:18PM
neoimmortal said...
Thats great, good for your husband.
5-13-2008 @ 12:27AM
Kurgann said...
Hahaha! Awesome. =D
5-12-2008 @ 2:33PM
Dessux said...
Skillcoiling a melee class' mob just before they get to a mob is quite funny because not only do you tag it but the mob gets feared.
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5-12-2008 @ 2:42PM
brent said...
As a mage, its not kill stealing as much as just dominating an area that tends to really bother people.
If we are doing kill dailies and aren't grouped not a chance you are getting an in-range mob before i am.
I always toss an invite to get dailies done faster to anyone in the area that is competition.
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5-12-2008 @ 2:49PM
matt said...
Icelance ftw!
5-12-2008 @ 7:43PM
Lars said...
I still don't understand to this day why people don't group up for quests... Kill x mobs is a perfect candidate to group up and get it done faster, rep grinding also perfect, and just most dailies in general. I often ask people if they want to join up and grind rep faster or do whatever quest we both seem to be doing, but 90% of the time they refuse. It just makes me think "why are they playing an MMO?" --I guess they don't acknowledge the second "M" is for MULTIPLAYER... I mean seriously, I group up in many other non-MMO games more than I do in WoW.
5-12-2008 @ 3:08PM
Anuriel said...
Power Word: Shield. Shadow Word: Death or if you have to
Shadow Word: Death, Renew, Power Word: Shield.
And for the priest wannabes out there mind flay should work as well.
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5-12-2008 @ 3:20PM
Ryan said...
Rank 1 moonfire ftw!
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