Tanking Bone Dragon at the Edge

In my LS we call the Edge method "Handicap Mode".

1) Melee running into Poison
2) Melee DPSing Dragon in poison due to awkwardly small platform.
3) All healers/Mages/RangedDPS being hit by that circle AoE because there is only one other platform for them to stand on.
5) Healing people on the other side of the room is no fun.
6) Takes longer to kill because Skeles are being dragged across the whole arena, and losing DPS trying to not stand in poison.

I just cant fathom why would anyone ever tank it north. It's not like dragging skeletons or facing it north is hard, or even dangerous.

I've yet to tank it there and see no benefit to it...unless all the dps are either bards or blms.

I've never had an issue with being able to dps down the skeletons when having him tanked in the center. As long as your tanks only put one per platform and your dps move around to kill them as needed, no issues. Just don't stand in front of the boss unless you are the tank.

I find this thread more interesting than the encounter itself. People are correct in saying that the data centers each have a "preference" on which strategy to use. In other words, each data center has its own subculture (as someone previously mentioned). For each subculture, their strategy works fine and they believe that their way is the best.

"Never been in a group that tanked him in the middle. A tank tried to once and the /a chat started raging at him to move north."

"I've seen 1 tank in about 20 CT runs attempt to tank the dragon at the edge of the arena. He was shouted down for being a complete dumbass and trying to troll the raid."

Our data center tanks him in the north and I've seen the same thing. Someone tried to tank him in the middle once and people started yelling and we wiped. It wasn't because it was a terrible strategy - in fact, I think the center strategy makes more sense. It was because people weren't familiar with it or didn't believe in it.

It's interesting seeing how people learn it one way and then try to point out how the "other" strat is stupid.

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Originally Posted by O-Deka-K

Our data center tanks him in the north and I've seen the same thing. Someone tried to tank him in the middle once and people started yelling and we wiped. It wasn't because it was a terrible strategy - in fact, I think the center strategy makes more sense. It was because people weren't familiar with it or didn't believe in it.

It's interesting seeing how people learn it one way and then try to point out how the "other" strat is stupid.

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As a fellow Excalibur player and tank main, I can confirm. Every run I've been on we drag the dragon to the north edge. I've tried to tank in the center (after explaining where it's being tanked and what to do with the ads) and got yelled at (and that's just putting it nicely).

Whatever floats people's boats, the alliance wants the edge, fine the edge it is. The alliance wants the center? Fine the center it is. Neither is wrong or right.

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Originally Posted by Errors

As a fellow Excalibur player and tank main, I can confirm. Every run I've been on we drag the dragon to the north edge. I've tried to tank in the center (after explaining where it's being tanked and what to do with the ads) and got yelled at (and that's just putting it nicely).

Whatever floats people's boats, the alliance wants the edge, fine the edge it is. The alliance wants the center? Fine the center it is. Neither is wrong or right.

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Agreed. I personally like the middle better. Our data center goes middle but I've seen it both ways. Nothing crazy wrong with edge but I think there is more cons, and more possibility of cons on edge method. Just do what the almighty /a wants, better then causing rabid groups of 23 people after your neck.

I prefer center because dps get back onto boss faster after skele stage, while it may make skele stage easier, it doesn't need to be easier. They already die well before getting to the dragon, so why not make the fight a tad faster keeping him center.

With that said, I've only seen him tanked at edge twice, not sure what one of the above posters meant "only 3-4% tank him center"

The times it was tanked center, the tank was not yelled at either, group just went with it.

Anyone else from Legacy server that tank on the edge? or is this non legacy server thing?

Can Data center mix Legacy and non legacy?

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Originally Posted by MrSmiley

With that said, I've only seen him tanked at edge twice, not sure what one of the above posters meant "only 3-4% tank him center"

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Data centers! You're on "Aether". The poster you're referencing is on "Primal". You'll never see each other.

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Originally Posted by MrSmiley

The times it was tanked center, the tank was not yelled at either, group just went with it.

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That's pretty cool.

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Originally Posted by Synapse

Anyone else from Legacy server that tank on the edge? or is this non legacy server thing?

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Excalibur (Primal) is legacy and it's edge tanking for us.

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Originally Posted by Synapse

Can Data center mix Legacy and non legacy?

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Yes. Aether (center tanking) and Primal (edge tanking) have two legacy servers each (Sargatanas/Balmung for Aether, Excalibur/Hyperion for Primal), with the rest non-legacy. Chaos has one legacy (Ragnarok) and the rest non-legacy.

Chaos does edge tanking. I prefer the idea of centre though