Tank Talk

He opens up a bottle of a 1977 Henri Jayer Grand Cur while reading a "Tales of Beedle the Bard", an original by J.K. Rowling. He looks over to you while he fills his glass with wine and set the book down. A twinkle in his eyes marks as he adjusts his monocle. Flipping open his Time-Lord Fob watch he looks at the time. "Oh, I'm sorry", he said calm with a pepping grin. "I didn't see you there, Old Sport"; a regular Gatsby.

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XD alright well let me get real. As much as I would love to say that Tanks have it made, the simple fact is, we've got a lot of problems. There aren't that many of us, so needless to say, our egos are massive. Mine is; hell mine was before this and it's only increased. But with that aside let me just say a few things that I think would make my life as a tank just a little bit less stressful.

-Enmity Color support -

As we all know, Enmity is displayed in "Colors" on the screen for the healer's and dps. Though it isn't as accurate as those 4 - 8 bars we're enslaved to, they only help the dps. It serves almost zero use to us. This color coded charm could be used to help benefit the tank with just one added color. "Black". Yes I know, it's not a color, but please, work with me here, will ya.

Well, Mr.Tank —you're probably asking yourself—, what will this new "Black" do? Well, Old Sport, it will provide me with the knowledge that I have 1K+ Enmity over a DPS or Healer of course. This way it will save us from having to scroll between enemy after enemy after enemy over and over just to make sure we have full enmity on all our targets and that none of our targets are close to being pulled off. But why 1K, you might be saying. Well simple, no one can hit over 1k in one move besides the healer that is. So Black, for a tank, will mean "Safe". If someone drops into the red, I'll be able to switch to that enemy, find out who is doing what by looking at the Enmity bar, and fix it accordingly.

Any other tanks, or others feel that this should be implemented? Please, leave a comment and maybe suggestions your own improvements to the tanking life. . . I'm on a horse.

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You can edit your first post after posting to avoid the 1k character reestriction. I really prefer numeric values for emnity.

Indeed. Jolly good show, Old Sport. *Adjusts Monocle*

I never use the color coded hate meter, I'm not sure a new color would change that.

I don't think a new color is needed. I do think the system is messed up.

Red: the monster focuses on you.
Orange: the monster attacks another player, but you may still get the focus of the monster back easily.
Yellow: the monster attacks another player and it's harder to get the focus back.
Green: the monster no longer care about you and is on a rampage.

Please note that 3 out of the 4 colors means the tank has lost the focus of the monster. Seriously, why? Why not:
Red: monster is fully focused on you
Orange: you are close to lose the monster
Yellow: WARNING! monster has a new target
Green: monster don't care about you.

That would make more sense.

I don't use the color icons at all. The bars on the Party menu are much better indicators. In fact, I think I disabled the little enemy bars that have the color icons. It's just unnecessary to me.

Trust me, no tank uses the color Coded meter. However. having to switch between enemies and wait that 1.4 second delay between aggro display is kinda aggravating. I'd rather just look to the left, see that one of the enemies has moved from Black to red, and target that enemy. It'll makes things easier when you have to pop your cooldowns and time silences or stuns. One less thing to worry about... Well 4-8(Times #enemy) less things you have to worry about. But your Input is very useful.

How many times have you lost Enmity because a Bard was attacking something that wasn't marked, or a healer used their Medica too much and you were clueless until it was all too late? Personally, I'd like to say "Never", however it does happen, and having this small thing added would bring it to zero.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by LloydShade

I don't think a new color is needed. I do think the system is messed up.

Red: the monster focuses on you.
Orange: the monster attacks another player, but you may still get the focus of the monster back easily.
Yellow: the monster attacks another player and it's harder to get the focus back.
Green: the monster no longer care about you and is on a rampage.

Please note that 3 out of the 4 colors means the tank has lost the focus of the monster. Seriously, why? Why not:
Red: monster is fully focused on you
Orange: you are close to lose the monster
Yellow: WARNING! monster has a new target
Green: monster don't care about you.

That would make more sense.

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AH good, old Sport! Perhaps they could make that an option for when you're tanking. However, those colors DO mean other things to other people too. It may confuse more people than help. Instead of changing the colors meaning, adding one or even two will allow a benefit without harm.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Alerith

I don't use the color icons at all. The bars on the Party menu are much better indicators. In fact, I think I disabled the little enemy bars that have the color icons. It's just unnecessary to me.

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True, but what if I told you, instead of clicking between each enemy to make sure you have full aggro, you only had to look to the left? I use a PS3, So it is much MUCH more difficult for me to search through each enemy to make sure the enmity is on point.

People should use the color coded enimity window, it's the easiest way to target stuff.

Colour coded bars are actually much better than tab or mouse over to accurately target a mob.

I also think there should be more indication between "I have you" and "I lost you". It's too bottom heavy atm.

I suggested this in the qol thread. Dont think anyone read it though.

I feel that more people agree that "Red" isn't good enough when you're a tank. It just doesn't feel safe when you're the tank. It doesn't let you know HOW MUCH until it's far far too late.

Maybe an inverted option where "Green" means you have enmity and "Red" means you don't. This can be an option to toggle on and off for tanks.

Well I think we should try to make this thread stand out then, don't you, old sport?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by VoxInaBox

I feel that more people agree that "Red" isn't good enough when you're a tank. It just doesn't feel safe when you're the tank. It doesn't let you know HOW MUCH until it's far far too late.

Maybe an inverted option where "Green" means you have enmity and "Red" means you don't. This can be an option to toggle on and off for tanks.

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I must respectfully disagree.

When people are in that red, that means that people are pushing their DPS or healing hard...and I still have hate. That means my party is going all out to the best of their ability and I'm still pushing the hate threshold higher and higher and my party is right behind me, taking advantage of that enmity I'm creating.

Alerith, the red doesn't include any indication of your party's contribution.

That may sound grand on paper, Old Sport, but that seems more like a "Single target" kinda thing. If you're against a single boss, I would agree. However, when there are multiple enemies breathing down your neck, and you want to make sure your team is safe, what say you then? I find information is power, and I aim to keep as much of that power on our team.

Say you're in a fight, and you have enmity. You're in the black with the four adds around you, and still in the red on the main boss, your focus. Suddenly, you notice that one of your little beasties are now in the red. How strange? You Click on them and notice that the bard had miss clicked and is now attacking the add. This information would not have gotten to you so quickly if not for that "black and Red" indicator. You now inform your teammate of his misstep and you are back on track.

This knowledge would benefit everyone on your team, as well as expand the potential of a tanks skill to micromanage enmity.