Noob/Amatuer Tank Requesting Assistance

Ive never really played tank in any mmo nor was very good at it. However, I wanted to take the opportunity to use the cross class system and make my secondary Job as a tank. My Job is Warrior and I have some nice tools to work with.

So far, Ive put in about 80+ straight hours into practicing, researching and evolving as a tank. I cant say that Im good as I do make many mistake and still making them. Ive created macros for healing, enhancing and combo attacks, so that shaves time for keeping aggro.

There are times when the healer would help by using that water attack to knock back a thrash and put them to sleep. But some would know back my #1 thrash causing me to be confused on why im not attacking and the bar still has life.

Now Im asking for assistance with things that I should look for specifically as tank role that I have or have not mentioned (below).

The things I learn so far is that

• To maintain TP and MP control vs other class that only maintain TP or MP.
• I need to keep aggro as much as possible.
• Get aggro for all mobs even the weak ones (never expect much from DPS)
• Protect the healer and maintain mob aggros
• Highest possible armor per level
• Spam emnity attack on Mobs that suffer from ADHD
• High Strength (Evasion) and Vitality using gear and jewelry (I still dont know whats the best there is out there at lvl 50)
• Marking the enemy before the DerPS attack (created a macro for this)
• Oh, most important, Dodging AoE.. which is really simple against 3 mobs but anymore it gets hairy.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DeathFiend

• High Strength (Evasion) and Vitality using gear and jewelry (I still dont know whats the best there is out there at lvl 50)
• Marking the enemy before the DerPS attack (created a macro for this)

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STR - I read somewhere gives an EXTREMELY minimal boost to mitigation, most people at this point are saying VIT is the way to go. Even more so as a WAR I would wager - I believe its still up in the air until the math gets done.
MARKING - I thought I'd use this form to share my favorite macro for marking -

L1: /mk off <t>
L2: /action auto-attack <t>
L3: /wait 2
L4: /mk Cross <t>
L5: /party {{ASSIST ME on <t> }} || Marked with "X" ||

I just pop that macro every time I'm on a new target, and I have found a lot of success getting people to assist - it also sets the precident to wait until my assist is called and my mob is marked to start attacking. Which means, with his macro, I get 2 seconds to get a handle on Enmity production.

My thoughts on strength: I wonder if stacking some extra strength isn't a good idea not for mitigation purposes, but to help with enmity generation? I've put a few extra bonus points into it as I've been leveling and while not huge, I've had an easier time of holding the mobs' attention than people seem to expect. Also, according to a chart I saw it looks like all the bonus enmity from abilities is a direct multiplier of the damage dealt. Flash being the exception, since it deals no damage.

I also have my own noobish question to pose. A lot is being made about warriors and their endgame viability. I've decided that's something I probably need to see for myself before I'll know the truth of it. What about the general leveling experience of marauder vs gladiator? Does anyone feel there's a disparity between the tanks while leveling? Does the mauauder/warrior level significantly faster because of its increased emphasis on damage?

I'm new to tanking myself and during phase 3 I didn't even realize gladiator, let alone warrior, were tanks. I started with GLD in phase 3 because I wanted the class with the sword since in games like this that's what I usually go for. When I found out GLD was going to be tank I switched to MRD not realizing that was a tank also. Once I started playing it I immediately noticed a difference in DPS vs the GLD, which also fueled my false belief that I was playing a dps class. Anyway I would believe that a MRD would level slightly faster since it is able to dish out more dps than a GLD, nothing significant though. But then again, I think a lot of that also has to do with the player. And in this game there's also fate grinding which I think kind of dispels any notion of out-leveling others based solely on class.

as far as warrior vs glad goes on leveling, It seems that warrior/marauder does have higher damage, which equals faster soloing. This doesnt make much of a difference as most of your leveling comes from fate grinding, which is where i think warrior really has the advantage because of his spammable aoe.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DaveDMA

as far as warrior vs glad goes on leveling, It seems that warrior/marauder does have higher damage, which equals faster soloing. This doesnt make much of a difference as most of your leveling comes from fate grinding, which is where i think warrior really has the advantage because of his spammable aoe.

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You really only need to get on the threat list for fate credit, which Flash is amazing for.

Or just dungeon grind. Doing fates might be faster but dungeon grinding can help perfect aggro management etc. Personally i been dungeon grinding war and pld. If someone is sleeping mobs tell them to wait till after you overpower(war) both pld and war i find it better to double aoe overpower(war) or flash(pld) at start on mob packs. While doing this you can also mark targets at the same time.
Hate can move before you cycle skills between mobs if no one is sleeping. If no one is sleeping cycle your target and watch the threat bar.
l
imit.

example: will use war. #1 #2 #3 refers to targets.
(no sleep/someone is aoe'ing)mark#1>tomahawk>Overpower>Overpower(targets marked)>#1 heavy swing>skull sunder> #2 Butchers block>#1 heavy swing>skull sunder>#3 Butchers block. This pretty much ensures #2/#3 is stuck on you. If hate looks like you might lose it on #1 adjust. More you get experience the more you can tell when hate is gonna bounce and if a tomahawk will bring it back or not. If people are fighting w/e tell them to fight the marked mobs, it sounds simple but you will be surprised at some people. I see alot of "war's aoe hate is better then pld's" tell you the truth i haven't really noticed even more so if your cycling mobs. Also you can spam alot of flash since it's mp based where overpower is tp based like all of war's hate/skills.