Tank asked BLM to "mark and sleep"? Is this normal?

[Raestloz]

Note the usage of "AND" in the title above, not "OR"

The story is that I was doing Duty Roulette as a BLM. Got into a party consisting of a WAR, another BLM and an SCH, landed on Stone Vigil.

The very first pull, consisting of two dragonflies and 1 drake, the tank died. To continue survival, I Swiftcast Sleep on the 3, and the tank immediately respawns to start tanking again.

After that first pull, the tank says "Hey, mark and sleep"

At this point I claimed "Mark? Marking is your job, you're the tank!" but he didn't answer. Throughout the dungeon the tank refused to deal with anything that is not punching his face (read: he ignores the other 3 party members entirely). The only skills he used were buffs, Overpower (at first contact during a pull) and Brutal Swing. Tomahawk was not used. I wondered if he did this because nobody marked for him. Search Info check revealed it's his first job.



Now, at this point I wonder if that kind of strategy is actually something people practice, that BLM leads the party instead of the tank. I play and Tiamat and most of my DF is JP party, marking is always the tank's job. Is "mark and sleep" a strategy used in E server?

[Pyreflye]

Just sounds like a bad tank, to be honest.

I've never seen anybody ask the BLM to mark targets.
The tank is the leader. He dictates the order of attack.

[SpookyGhost]

Not always a tank's job to mark.

What he was trying to say is that if you're sleeping something you should mark it so he knows not to wake it up, I assume. Usually you use something other than the 1, 2, 3 symbols (IE the chains, shapes, etc).

It's a good way of mitigating damage if the BLM sleeps but... on the other hand... it's a lot quicker just to burn everything down. I guess it depends on how competent your healer is.

[Rbstr]

If a tank dies on a single pull you usually need to start wondering about either his the healers gear or skill level.

Unless it was a fluke, like the healer dropped his drink on the keyboard or something.

[Raestloz]

Not always a tank's job to mark.

What he was trying to say is that if you're sleeping something you should mark it so he knows not to wake it up, I assume. Usually you use something other than the 1, 2, 3 symbols (IE the chains, shapes, etc).

It's a good way of mitigating damage if the BLM sleeps but... on the other hand... it's a lot quicker just to burn everything down. I guess it depends on how competent your healer is.

That sounds reasonable, but when I play usually tanks dictate which one to attack. A simple "1" on a target generally means that all attacks should be directed to that and everything else is ignored (either via sleep or bind).

Considering that he died on first pull, burning everything down sounded like a bad idea :/ no, wait, make it "was actually" a bad idea. The tank was wearing all white equipments except the AF1 armor you get from job quest lv45. The healer and me was the best geared people on the party, but for some reason his heals were... incredibly passive.

[Kitru]

Most likely he was asking you to mark your sleeped targets with the bind target icon (the ones with chains) so that people wouldn't break them. It's standard practice in most other MMOs, which is probably where he was coming from. Still sounds like a bad tank though, whether intentionally or unintentionally.

[Roffel]

If that tank is to dumb to notice a sleep that was casted then he shouldn't be tanking. I've been tanking since the beginning granted I don't mark order bc I don't hardly lose hate but when I do I get it back very quickly with no issues. You can sleep and mark the ones u slept but that tank should notice what has happened and should be aware of everything around him 90% of the time. Even with war he should have flash to still aoe Aggro to not wake the mobs.

[Raestloz]

If a tank dies on a single pull you usually need to start wondering about either his the healers gear or skill level.

Unless it was a fluke, like the healer dropped his drink on the keyboard or something.

I credited that to the healer, his job title is already very descriptive after all. But I think that's for something else

[Shinkyo]

If that tank is to dumb to notice a sleep that was casted then he shouldn't be tanking

Isn't that a bit extreme?! it's pretty easy to miss it if you're not expecting it. Also, it's not just for the Tank, everybody contributing to DPS should be informed so they don't AoE or dot other mobs (assuming the group actually want to CC the fight).

But to the OP, a good tank would notice you casting sleep and start proactively marking the one HE wants to be slept (again, if that's what the group wants to do).

[Viviza]

As the BLM, and I assume the more experienced between you two, I think you're more in the wrong in this matter.

Asking something unexpected shouldn't draw immediate indignation and refusal. Asking a DPS to mark is rare, but it is certainly something you are able to do.

SV can be rough on a newbie tank and sleep can help a lot. I've recently re-learned the value of repose as a WHM in lowbie dungeons where inexperienced tanks simply cannot hold threat on all the mobs at once when healing needs are high. In a roundabout way, that tank probably had enough on his plate, was feeling stressed, and was hoping to delegate away some responsibility. Not doing so made his job harder. I know when I'm tanking and my party is not cooperating with me, I don't feel terribly motivated to give my full effort either.