Let's Talk Tanks

[Shurrikhan]

I was speaking more along the lines of things like pulls, pushes, immobilizations, and the like.

Actual flank/rear type stuff seems the kind of thing a tank would open up rather than exploit themselves, but for the sake of argument, what if tanks had actions that created this windows of vulnerability that they themselves may not be able to exploit but the party can? It might even be the defining feature of a less offense oriented tank, creating a vulnerability on one of the target's 4 facings (Front, rear, left flank, right flank), and you coordinate around a team to really abuse it.

For instance, it lasts for just one action, so the action that hits it you want it to match in characteristics as much as possible. Auto crit, resource refund, +potency-per-hit, that sort of thing.

Ahh, my mistake. I'd like to see that, too, but I doubt most bosses would seem vulnerable to being kicked backwards or the like. Would love to see that on smaller mobs though.

Heck, I'd love it if even dealing with 5 mobs at a time felt like a fight to survive by keeping them in front of you, constantly stopping attacks or outranging them mid-swing (similar to a snapshotted zonal AoE but without an indicator; we already have several ingame examples), kicking them back or even immobilizing them into friendly fire, etc.

As to the second point, I prefer as little as possible arbitration "by type". If something works on a DPS, it should work on tank, just that much more or less so based on the actual factors in question (AP, potency, Defense, etc). I'm working out an AI system that builds around the idea of making enemies function more similarly to how they appear, rather than each enemy just being an oddly decorated, friction-less cylinder, which may provide what you're looking for. It makes use of sub-units (some targetable, some strikable only via interception -- and therefore via positioning) such as left foreleg, right hind-leg, head, tail, etc, and a complete rehaul of enmity that should make coordination feel far more necessary and rewarding without relying on anything arbitrary. It's pretty long, though, especially if I provide its context, so it'll be at least another few days in all likelihood.