very few tanks and some of them suck in dong their job

[Meklore]

Already ??????

Instead of complaining, in 4th grade english, why don't you become a tank and show the rest of us how it's done?

The game was released Tuesday and your bitching on Thursday. Relax, it's a GAME.

[Soffker]

I've been rollin around as a guardian tank. At first it was kind of difficult to keep aggro from people. Its a whole new ballgame tank wise then previous mmo's. Gotta deal with a longer GCD and threat is very sensitive. I've been practicing a lot more and i can safely say that i have no problems keeping threat. I'll mark every mob to kill order or CC (Even though havent needed CC. I'm only lvl 30) and that usually works fine. Sometimes i'll get a dps that completely ignores the marks or what i say. That is frustrating to say the least.

With that being said, Keep at it tanks. Holding aggro gets better for guardian come lvl 26 when you get Rage of Halorne. That ability is beast and i can safely say, no one has takin aggro from me unless they face pull the mobs or its the Carbunkle tanking pet.

[Laeore]

My biggest bit of advice that improved my runs is to make a macro that marks your target AND says "Please attack the marked target" in party chat. I had just a mark before, and that was good, but there was a VERY noticeable difference in DPS paying attention to the marked targets with the added blue text on the screen. Sounds dumb, but in the last six runs I've had, all DPS were on my target and my threat issues have gone down dramatically.

[tuseroni]

i have seen some good tanks (they kept aggro off people, they marked targets in order of attack, etc) i have seen some really bad tanks (one guy never used flash, just thought the only job of a tank was to run into battle first. never managed aggro, one time i look over and the healer is being attacked by the boss, i try to heal him with physik before he dies but was too late, then i took over for the healer and healed the tank and the boss starts attacking me, still no flash, no nothing, and i died. then a little latter the rest of the party died) and some kinda bad tanks (doesn't mark but at least tries to keep aggro...doesn't always pay attention)
i had one case where i was doing the healing, backup tanking with carbuncle, AND dpsing the mobs. was crazy

[Crica]

imho, if you are not willing to HELP the person learn that you are currently playing in a group with, you can just shut up and go do it yourself

ppl are NOT very willing to even TRY to learn if all you are going to do is berate them when they try, and its makes them try even LESS when you insult them when they try

yes, i understand there are people out there who are not willing to learn even when you try to help them, but in those specific cases, you should just leave the pt, because there is no helping anyone who doesnt want your help

[Quarxink]

Healers can't dodge skills and tanks can't maintain aggro and ragequit
I was in a party for aiatar and we told the tank countless times "maintain threat"
he didn't so me and the other dps (both monks) wound up taking turns evasion tanking until we beat the monsters or wiped
Then we got to aiatar and we told him to pull him away from poison pools
when he didn't do it we started shouting in party chat
when he continued not to do it aiatar got full health and we all died until he left

he also started in level 15/20 gear and said he didn't have the gil to buy more current gear
that guy makes me fear for the future of humanity

[Destinova]

As a tank when you first go in make sure targets are marked.

Rotation for PLD

Shield lob secondary target.
Flash Provoke 3rd target
Combo primary target
Flash
And you should have hate held as long as dd focuses fire

If you have it make sure you are using Shield Oath. Use other skills as necessary.

[BlazeChronic]

After reading most of this... I still really love tanking.

Archers are by far the worst when it comes to bad DDs. I mark 3 mobs every fight. If I lose aggro on '2' or '3' and it runs to the archer and that mobs life is going down, I know what is going on. I don't really feel like going out of my way to save him. That ARC then thinks I'm a bad tank.

If I lose aggro to the heals, I use voke, shield lob and a flash. If I lose aggro to a DD, and it's not our parties' current target as per marks (i.e. the one with the big '1' over his head) I let him die.

if I'm considered a bad tank because of it, so be it. Just know that I _could_ save your life, I'm just choosing not to.

[wingofbenu]

Archer here. Most tanks are bad.

Dragoon/Arcanist here,
no, most tanks dont suck, they just cant exactly hold hate when an archer/Bard or Lancer/Dragoon decides its time to go full dps burst moad before the tank has solid hate on it.

The inevitable result of which is us tearing hate off the tank at warp speed.

[Brevity]

maybe its because Im an EQ1 player, but imo, being able to assess your playstyle and your threat level to fit with the groups overall play is just a very basic skill. Unless your time is too valuable to play through the dungeon slower, because your dps is curbed by the tank, you should not put yourself in the dungeon tool, where your controll over what you get is limited.

Be flexible, dont blow the issue out of proportion. It is just a dungeon run, why on earth act like you are prevented from saving the world and rage about it. Wait longer before engaging the mobs, let the tank grab agro, stop your dps when you see your threat bar reaching full.

If you cant do that, wont do that, feel entitled to not have to adjust at all. Well, frankly, you deserve a tank who teaches you how to play, the hard way.