10 steps to being a bad PLD

[Luci_Snow]

I'll add a 14th: eating avoidable casts. In AK, the first boss regularly casts Void Thunder that can be dodged by just running behind the boss during the ability's 3 second cast, and I've seen *so* many PLD tanks just eat it because "the healer will take care of it" (it's the only major source of tank damage in the entire fight; if you avoid that and interrupt Mind Melt, like the tank *should* be since it's on a 30 sec CD just like Brutal Swing, the healer can DPS pretty much the *entire* fight). The blob boss in WP is the same: it casts Fire, which just so happens to be 90% of the damage the tank will take, and it can be completely avoided by just running behind the boss.

This. It's certainly something that most tanks don't pick up on.. Atleast not immediately. There is also the same issue with Slip Stream from HM Garuda.

[Grailer]

i don't bother with marking targets. its not a great idea, but most of the people i run with now are relic black mages/bards that spam AOE until something dies.

pretty pointless to target what you want to kill first when your killing all targets at once.

another step to being a bad tank: you eat AOEs. all of them.

Target one , then if you lose agro at least you can blame DPS for not hitting marked target hehe

[kro]

A good PLD stands still so the melees can output their full damage.

[Garnatian]

Following up Provoke with Halone really isn't a good idea. It's better to use Savage first so you can use Halone straight after, otherwise you simply generate less burst threat.

[KittenJitsu]

^^ Wall of text overboard. Put a TL;DR under them. Cause girl, 12 gods know I didn't read all that.

[Leiron]

^^ Wall of text overboard. Put a TL;DR under them. Cause girl, 12 gods know I didn't read all that.

You make me sad...

[C-croft]

I thought Void Thunder was a spell so it would hit not matter where you are. Thanks for the knowledge Kitru, now I can stun his other garbage.

[Kitru]

I thought Void Thunder was a spell so it would hit not matter where you are.

It *is* a spell, actually. It's just that most spells can be avoided by breaking LoS with the target and, because LoS is determined from the front of a target, you can break it by running behind them. Up until the patch where WP started giving myth tomes, you could actually avoid Everyone's Grudge by running behind the boss (though it was *really* hard since Grudge had a super fast cast at that time; only times I managed to avoid it were when I was prepared for it and started running through the boss before my client registered the cast even beginning).

The single target casts that hit you regardless of where you're standing are less common than those you *can* dodge. A safe rule of thumb is that, if it isn't a fundamental major mechanic of the fight (like Everyone's Grudge) and is single target, if it has a cast bar, it can be dodged by breaking LoS/running behind. A fair number of other abilities like that are "near instant" casts that just barely flash the cast bar, which you *can* dodge, but it's nearly impossible because the cast is so fast.

[Leiron]

Interesting, didn't know you could dodge the void thunder/fira by going behind.
I just...slap it with a stun/silence.
Get a sandwich after.
Good to know I can do that with my Warrior.

[Murakami]

I agree on all points,except the Number 1.
From what I've noticed people do not seem very inclined to communicate;
Most people : DPS start to pull mobs
Healer or DPS change my order of the monster marked
DPS who spam AOE skill
ecc

I tryed to explain all this is not really good,almost time i was insulted or treated with silence.
Now i really don't care about the behavior of the other party members,i simply try to do my best for keep alive all.
i'm sure i will get better with the time,not sure about those player,who play the game with nonsense just for evade some boring times.
(Please forget my english)..