Are there more tanks playing now?

[Syzygian]

it was about huge aggro for me; I loved seeing the aggro bar on all the mobs and see everyone with a slither to seemingly zero aggro accumulated vs Me. Now everyone has nearly if not half the bar full, while I never end up losing aggro; it irritates me to no end. I liked being overwhelmingly high in aggro so the DPS can just let it all

Really? I much preferred the opposite. A good DPS rides the hate line without actually ripping off you. And me allowing them to get that high (because I play DRK and my hate combo is herpes) was a sign that I was pushing the best DPS I could as well. Nothing depresses me more than when I go into a duty, do a couple PS combos and then go into my DPS rotation and nobody climbs past 1/4 of their aggro meters.

[therpgfanatic]

I can see why the DPS loss would be a bit annoying to DRK and WAR that rely more on self healing. But if you are annoyed that you aren't approaching a DPS' numbers... Then why are you in the tank role in the first place?

Unless you run as a DPS class, then "high" DPS is a bonus while the main focus of the role is elsewhere. For tanks it is mitigation, positioning, and enmity. If you want to go ham and focus on numbers, roll as a melee DPS. I'm not saying great tanks won't find a way to do both, as they absolutely will, just like all people who excel in their role. That's what makes them great players.

TLDR: if the DPS loss is really upsetting to you, you may enjoy a DPS class more.

Tanks are melee characters. We literally wield melee weapons and wear armor. We gain aggro by ATTACKING the enemy. As a class that builds threat by dealing damage, why tanks care about damage should be obvious. Especially when the healers in this game can out DPS us. Yet I don't see anyone crying about how unfair it is that healers can DPS instead of just focusing purely on healing. Strange how that works.


But then, let's also consider that tanks have it the worst in Duty Finder runs. The absolute worst. It is a complete crapshoot if you will end up with players of other roles who are even semi-competent with their jobs.

I once did what was possibly the slowest dungeon run I ever have had in The Lost City of Amdapor (Hard) , with a Bard and Black Mage. Both at least i200. It was blatantly obvious that neither was doing their rotations properly, or using AoE as much as they should have. And we kept wiping on the winged lion because they couldn't burn down the holy orb, of all things.

Do you know what these atrocious players did? They blamed me because of instead of immediately switching to Sword Oath and trying to burn down the orb, I remained in Shield Oath and picked up the adds that spawned and then attacked the orb. I did exactly what the encounter is designed for, and got blamed for not doing what the DPS were supposed to be doing. They thought I should ignore the adds and just hit the orb in Sword Oath, while the adds wailed on them.

After four wipes and getting accused of being a bad tank for tanking instead of DPSing, I just abandoned the party. Massive waste of time because they couldn't play their classes right. I've got a lot of stories like this. Most tanks players do.


So yes, lack of DPS is a thorn in the side of many tanks because so many DPS players completely utterly suck and the tank cannot do much about it as our DPS output is so pitifully low. It's double worse for Paladins because we have zilch AoE ability so every trash pull is four or five times longer if the DPS suck than it would be with a DRK or WAR who at least has the ability to AoE DPS. The PLD has to single target DPS on every enemy which makes things take a lot longer.

[Anienai]

Being a few hours in, is it safe to assume that there are more tanks playing now? Just trying to gather information to see if I'll have some queue competition now.

I am still tanking with a little nin on the side.

[Februs]

Well, I haven't noticed any substantial queue differences for Tank spots since the patch. So, I'm pretty sure the number of Tanks has stayed mostly the same. There might actually be a reduction in tanks in the Raiding scene. I'm getting the impression that, as per normal with new content, a lot of people are intimidated by the mechanics of the fights. That's not really all that surprising, though.

That said, I have noticed one place in the game in which Tanks have started popping up in droves, and I really don't understand why. Lately, ever time I queue for PVP I'm ending up with a party that is full to the brim of Tanks. I don't get it. Tank dmg has gotten nerfed substantially, but suddenly everyone and their dog wants to queue up as Tanks in Seize. I keep having to swap to Dps, of all things. It's kinda making me worry that my preferred queue spot is gonna be over saturated when Feast comes out ...

[Raji_Lev]

Otherwise not touching the whole debate with a 10-foot pole...

There might actually be a reduction in tanks in the Raiding scene. I'm getting the impression that, as per normal with new content, a lot of people are intimidated by the mechanics of the fights. That's not really all that surprising, though.

Going by my experiences running Midas Normal, this seems to be the case so far. 10-15 min queues as a healer, pretty much instant pops as a tank. I was kinda trying to avoid tanking it at first due to A. not knowing the mechanics and B. my tank gear being just above the minimum ilvl (though I'm working on that).

[Kabooa]

But then, let's also consider that tanks have it the worst in Duty Finder runs. The absolute worst. It is a complete crapshoot if you will end up with players of other roles who are even semi-competent with their jobs.

Healers, actually.

[Fue]

Really? See fflogs. WAR/DRK could do 1.2k easily in any fight. PLD could do 1k easily. BUT that is if you KNOW how to do it while TANKING.

Bad tanks be bad tanks, bad dps be bad dps and bad healers be bad healers. You don't get anything challenging done if you are bad. If you are a good healer, you can keep the tank up while both the tank and you DPS. Pick your poison.

1,2k isnt even near what good dps pulls.
Not to mention those parses are done by giving the tank all the buffs and letting him stay in dps stance even if it costs raid dps.

[Mirch]

As far as I know, or at least on my server, the number of tanks hasn't change at all.

[Ultear_Milkovich]

It might be not close to what good dps can do (but MCN...) but you will feel the difference between a clear with tanks pushing 400 dps each and another one with them around 1000. When you are used to pay attention to the phases / spawns % etc it s really an obvious bonus. Anyways as tank once you get enough aggro + know what will hit you soon + know how to mitigate + checked how healers do = i see no reason to try to be proactive dps wise.

2. I dont see how a good tank would need any sacrifice from the team to dps well really. It s possible to put back Grit on for tank busters and cycle your CDs without Grit in order to let your healers dps a lot.
Also you pretty much dont need any buff to have decent dps as tank outside of WARs slashing debuff and your pot in your opener thats it.

People blame DPS tanks saying that it costs a lot to the group but so far what used to hold us back in the progression phases were dead dps hitting the floor for 0 damage and needing raises.

[bounddreamer]

Still maining tank. Still doing 7k fell Cleaves in extreme fights. Health is noticeably higher, my healers are happy. Life is good.