Why is tanking so rough for new players?

[magdahmhara]

Dps should watch their enmity, too and wait for the tank to establish theirs. Waiting for the tank to smack the mobs around is always a good idea.

[Ultimatecalibur]

Common mistakes I often see or hear newbie tanks make (the first one is even in OP's post):

1. Using Provoke to grab peeled targets. Provoke only sets the users enmity to current highest +1, it is the skill used for tank swaps not holding or recovering targets. Tomahawk/Shield Lob or an uncomboed Butcher's Block/Rage of Halone is a better way to get peeled targets back.
2. Only using Flash or Overpower once on a group.
3. Failing to Combo.
4. Failing to Maintain buffs/debuffs. Keeping the Maim buff up is important for Warriors and Marauders.
5. Using Cooldowns to early. Popping Fight or Flight before you pull or when you are Flashing wastes several gcds worth of extra damage/enmity.

[Sapphic]

Couple mistakes I often see or hear newbie tanks make (the first one is even in OP's post):

1. Using Provoke to grab peeled targets. Provoke only sets the users enmity to current highest +1, it is the skill used for tank swaps not holding or recovering targets. Tomahawk/Shield Lob or an uncomboed Butcher's Block/Rage of Halone is a better way to get peeled targets back.
2. Only using Flash or Overpower once on a group.
3. Failing to Combo.
4. Failing to Maintain buffs/debuffs. Keeping the Maim buff up is important for Warriors and Marauders.
5. Using Cooldowns to early. Popping Fight or Flight before you pull or when you are Flashing wastes several gcds worth of extra damage/enmity.

1)Using provoke to pull back peels is fine as long as foollowed by a shield lob, or even an uncombod RoH/BB.
2) 2-3 times when pack together and random ones thrown in during based on how much AE/overheal is going on.
3) sometimes its faster to gen fast hate with a couple of uncombod RoHs or BBs than going through the full combo.
4) buffs are situational, preferably when you taking big hits, or if you know the fight, in preperation. Soemthing that just takes practice.
5) sometimes you want to pop FoF as you pull if the DPS are gung-ho XD Fast blade>CoS>Savage Blade> Spirits within>RoH is a nice way to get a huge burst of enmity on pull with FoF. Obviously weave CoS and SW between the GCDs. But pretty much only on bosses. Not packs.

[Ellatrix]

Overpower and flash efficiency on grouped mobs are relatively little apart these days. There's little reason to swap to marauder/warrior to level up through dungeons.

Except the part where Overpower does damage. Making it completely superior in every way.

[Fornix]

Couple mistakes I often see or hear newbie tanks make (the first one is even in OP's post):

1. Using Provoke to grab peeled targets. Provoke only sets the users enmity to current highest +1, it is the skill used for tank swaps not holding or recovering targets. Tomahawk/Shield Lob or an uncomboed Butcher's Block/Rage of Halone is a better way to get peeled targets back.
2. Only using Flash or Overpower once on a group.
3. Failing to Combo.
4. Failing to Maintain buffs/debuffs. Keeping the Maim buff up is important for Warriors and Marauders.
5. Using Cooldowns to early. Popping Fight or Flight before you pull or when you are Flashing wastes several gcds worth of extra damage/enmity.

Provoke can very well be used, and more reliable than tomahawk or shield lob even, it's simply a matter of timing though. Build up combo, then provoke and finish off combo.

Combo on packs these days is no longer necessary. If you can replenish your own MP effectively you can just flash your entire way through trash. Obviously DPS will have to DPS effectively for this, and use as much AoE skills as possible. Not single target nuke.

[Fornix]

Except the part where Overpower does damage. Making it completely superior in every way.

That is only interesting in terms of kill speed. In terms of threat generation however there's very little difference these days. Flash now, just like overpower, generates sufficient threat to keep mobs on the tank without necessity to really do much else if anything.

[Sapphic]

Except the part where Overpower does damage. Making it completely superior in every way.

Muh Flash damage! :P

[myahele]

Well SE did increase emnity generation for gld/pld this patch

[Ultimatecalibur]

Provoke can very well be used, and more reliable than tomahawk or shield lob even, it's simply a matter of timing though. Build up combo, then provoke and finish off combo.

Yes, but the enmity gained by Provoke is usually less than the 360/576 enmity gained by a single Shield Lob. Provoke will fail if the Peeler manages to generate enmity before you manage to hit the target, something that is a common occurrence with AoE spamming healers and dps.

Combo on packs these days is no longer necessary. If you can replenish your own MP effectively you can just flash your entire way through trash. Obviously DPS will have to DPS effectively for this, and use as much AoE skills as possible. Not single target nuke.

I've seen newbie tanks in dungeons up to thousand maws spam uncomboed Savage Blades...

[Fornix]

Yes, but the enmity gained by Provoke is usually less than the 360/576 enmity gained by a single Shield Lob. Provoke will fail if the Peeler manages to generate enmity before you manage to hit the target, something that is a common occurrence with AoE spamming healers and dps.

It's not the provoke's enmity to rely on. It's the savage blade combo finisher to rely on. Which is significantly harder to peel off once more than a single shield lob is. If a tank shield lobs something away, it's very easy for a DPS' next move to simply peel it back off.

And the latter is indeed what may often happen. It's a shame that the game itself doesn't have a decent way of naturally teaching tanking throughout the job quest line.



I've seen newbie tanks in dungeons up to thousand maws spam uncomboed Savage Blades...[/QUOTE]