For technical reasons, the last updated and edited version of this FAQ is on TSW official forums. Check it there. This one will be updated very soon.
http://forums.thesecretworld.com/showthread.php?t=39880
TSW Monsters rating, powers, and symbols
TSW uses two ways to indicate the relative power of monsters AND also provides information on the specific abilities of a mob by a set of icons.
The specific abilities of a mob
- When you target a mob, at the bottom right of your hud, you see the name and lifebar of the mob and, sometimes, a series of orange round icons. If you move your cursor above those icons (and it's highly recommended to do it!), you'll see tool-tips describing specific characteristics.
For example, you may be informed that the mob is immune to a category of debuffs, or that the mob needs to be weakened many times in a given delay or will become very powerful, etc.
The further you progress in TSW, the more chances you have to encounter mobs with specific abilities, even if they are not bosses.
Sometimes, this will force you to change pour selected powers or even your equipment. Don't run into those mobs head first!
The power and difficulty of the mobs
- So, TSW uses two ways to indicate the relative power of monsters.
These two ways are relative and based on YOUR own ESTIMATED power (as there is no levels in TSW).
The estimated power is mostly based on the various ranks you got in various powers and on the ranks of items you have equipped. The formula, if any, is not known.
The word TSW Developers use to speak of the “zone” of power reached by a player or a mob is “band”. For example they says that “the mob is in the same band as you” or that “the mob is 3 bands above you”, etc.
The two ways to indicate the difficulty are:
- - a symbol, on the left of the name of the mob
- the color of that symbol
- - a symbol, on the left of the name of the mob
- The color of the monster's name itself ONLY indicates if the mob will aggro you or not and how easily.
- - White name means no aggro
- Green name means aggro
- Red name means heavy aggro (possibly from a longer distance).
- - White name means no aggro
The Symbols
- They are, sorted by increasing difficulty:
- - 3 small dots
- one big dot
- one skull or more
- crown
- skull with crown
- crown + skull + wings
- - flag near the icon: a mission target that can be anything around crown and skull difficulty
- star near the icon: a rare spawn mob, usually around crown and skull difficulty
- - 3 small dots
- 3 small dots: minor mob belonging to a group of similar mobs. Attacking one will always make its friends attack you. (Systematic “social aggro”.)
* Big dot: normal mob, stand-alone and single. But social aggro exists so if you attack a mob that is too close to others, those others mobs will attack you too, most often.
* Skull(s): a major mob, above regular ones, “elite”.
So, for example, a yellow (see below about colors) skull mob is stronger than a yellow "big dot" mob.
Number of skulls (or half skull): how powerful the mob is. Usually a "one skull" mob is not a big issue solo if you have roughly the same level of power (white symbol or below, yellow)
Compared to the vocabulary in some other games, one skull indicates more or less a mob like "Elite" (SWTOR, CoH,...), Lieutenants (CoH...), or a boss more or less soloable (AO), a mini boss,...
One skull mobs are NOT like AoC "Epic" mobs (which are NOT soloable unless you are way above their level).
* Crown: a boss, usually named mob, sometimes used as missions target. Harder than a "one skull" mob. Not necessarily harder than a "several skulls" mob, but with often more tricks or more resistance to your own tricks.
* Skull with crown: a major boss, “elite boss”. Can be a serious challenge solo, or possibly an impossible task.
* Skull + crown + wings: World bosses. Theoretically require a group of 5-10 people with appropriate gear for the zone. At the time of writing, World bosses are possibly still being balanced.
* Flag symbol added: it's a roughly a crown / skull mob but it is the goal of a (or your) mission. Usually not too hard solo if you are strong enough for the zone.
* Star symbol added: Rare spawn mobs. They are roughly crown / skull mobs and are supposed to be solo-able and drop Blue items usually. They seem to be like 3-5 per zone.
Some examples: in Kingsmouth: The Reawakened (Father Appleby), Soloman's Omen, Mr. Freezie ; in the City of the Sun God: the Emissary of the Dead Nations ; in Carpathian Fang: General Blasius ; and many more
Symbol Colors
- The range is green >>> blue >>> white >>> yellow >>> orange >>> red.
- Green: much weaker than you (several bands below you)
Blue: weaker than you
White: roughly same strength as you (same band)
Yellow: stronger than you, moderately (yellow and orange colors are not always easy to differentiate)
Orange: stronger (yellow and orange colors are not always easy to differentiate)
Red: clearly stronger (3 or more bands above you)
- Green: much weaker than you (several bands below you)