About to start 8 man dungeons, advice?

For 4 mans, I'm used to leading the pace and giving a brief overview before each fight, as there is usually a new player along. If I'm new, I read up and watch a video before hand so I know what I'm getting in to.

I realize for 8 mans, I likely won't leading the pace as the other tank will probably be more experienced. There are probably expectations and etiquette I'm unaware of, but I'd like to hit the ground running. What should I know? Advice?

I had my first taste in Cape Westwind trial, which involved me asking if I should MT or OT. Moments later, the other tank rushes in, starts the fight. I go OT then to handle the adds. The fight is over within two minutes, apparently being far more trivial than other trials. I can see why there was no coordination needed for that.

As a Warrior, you are the defacto Off-Tank. Get used to that.

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Originally Posted by dragonseth07

As a Warrior, you are the defacto Off-Tank. Get used to that.

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I'm raising up paladin as well (at lv 50 right now) so I have options. I'm behind in MSQ since I'm running that with a friend that doesn't play as much as me, so I'm just now getting to 8 mans. I don't really mind if I'm acting as MT or OT, and I'll be switching between PLD and WAR often (not in the same dungeon of course). I'm mainly concerned with how group dynamics work with 8 mans, as it's very new to me! All my previous tanking has been small group where I'm the only tank.

Well. Judging from that CW run you talked about seems like you pretty much have it all down. OT helps with extra damage and adds just like you did there. You might need to adjust to certain situations in different instances though im sure you know that. My number one rule, is dont play aggroball with the other tanks. Last thing you want is mobs and bosses cleaving and aoeing your mates.

Gotcha. Well, the most important thing to learn is how to tank swap, in my opinion. This is the thing that PUG's have a nightmare of.

The current MT needs to leave their tank stance (if it's on), and not use aggro combos. The OT needs to turn on tank stance, Provoke, and follow up with aggro combos to secure enmity. Ideally, you can lead with a 1,2 before the swap so you can 3 right after Provoke to really nail it in.

The goal is to get the boss on the new tank as quickly and efficiently as possible. There are lots of bosses that need tank swaps. Learning how to do it is critical.

8 man trial coordination typically is: OT or MT, if there is adds that spawn at the same time calling west/east adds, provoke swap at x number of debuff, and for WAR using the opposite path/eye in a double WAR situation if you want to maximize damage. For a good portion of runs there won't be communications, from my experience this is either because the trial is simple and you just default picking up adds or the tank thinks he is hot stuff and chaos ensues. :)

Anyone know what the first dungeon is with a tank swap needed? Castrum Meridianum and The Praetorium don't seem to need tank swaps from what I've read. I'll make sure I have some sort of 'please take over' and 'I'm taking over' macros to announce that stuff. I read somewhere else that tanks usually do that.

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Originally Posted by Rinari

Anyone know what the first dungeon is with a tank swap needed? Castrum Meridianum and The Praetorium don't seem to need tank swaps from what I've read. I'll make sure I have some sort of 'please take over' and 'I'm taking over' macros to announce that stuff. I read somewhere else that tanks usually do that.

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most dungeons arent gona be 8 man youll mostly do eight man in trails , raids, or like a twenty four man raid. If you doing hard mood trails only their wont be a need to a tank swap, so if your not in hw your first tank swap will be on ravana and after that you want have to worry about it until the end of hw on extreme primals. The only other time you will need to do tank swaps would be if you did sync extreme primals for arr otherwise you want see it til the end of hw.

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Originally Posted by Rinari

Anyone know what the first dungeon is with a tank swap needed? Castrum Meridianum and The Praetorium don't seem to need tank swaps from what I've read. I'll make sure I have some sort of 'please take over' and 'I'm taking over' macros to announce that stuff. I read somewhere else that tanks usually do that.

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Titan EX, maybe? It has a forced swap due to stacking debuffs on Titan's target.

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Originally Posted by bswpayton

If you doing hard mood trails only their wont be a need to a tank swap, so if your not in hw your first tank swap will be on ravana and after that you want have to worry about it until the end of hw on extreme primals.

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Can't remember any point in story mode Ravana where you need to tank swap. Pretty sure tank swapping only currently exists in ilvl synced stuff and current end game EX primals/raiding (even the current EX primal doesn't require a tank swap when you can just run 1 tank + 1 healer).

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Originally Posted by SpookyGhost

Can't remember any point in story mode Ravana where you need to tank swap. Pretty sure tank swapping only currently exists in ilvl synced stuff and current end game EX primals/raiding (even the current EX primal doesn't require a tank swap when you can just run 1 tank + 1 healer).

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When I ran it I was just told to grab argoo when he soloed me out on his off tank attack. So I didnt ask questions so I guess its not a must then

I did Castrum Meridianum last night and it was pure chaos with people running everywhere and robots exploding. I guess everyone outgears Castrum so heavily that it's trivialized as well, even with sync. I mostly rushed to keep up with the other tank and tried to keep adds off people that weren't him. Bosses are all pretty much 'tank and spank with OT handling adds', so I worked the adds. I think the party would have been just fine without me doing anything though!

The Praetorium is next. Hopefully I can get to that tonight. I'm hoping I'll have little bit more to do there, but I'm guessing it will go about the same with people just sprint through relatively trivial content. I guess I was a bit worried about nothing. The game is going to take it's time ramping up to actually needing to focus on mechanics again.

Probably late to the thread, but pretty much everything pre-HW except some EX primals is now trivially easy.

Depending on fight,

Overall; know your job, CD, and have appropriate decent gear. ASK Questions if needed. Depending on fight, unless your going blind and agree to it, review video to get an idea of mechanics. Make sure gear is repaired and use food as needed.

As a tank;

Know your role, ex who is MT who is OT
Are there any special mechanics, example need to switch off MT after a move or Adds popping.

As a Healer;

Know your CD and have reviewed that fight before hand unless your going blind. Depends what your doing.

As a DPS ;

Know mechanics, try to make it easier for healers avoid attacks.