Newb Questions

[Defenlok]

I am new to the game and started a tank thinking it would be similar to other MMO's I played....I was wrong.

I am learning slowly the Gladiator/Pali role.

I seem to have issues with multiple mobs and holding agro. I got yelled by a player, he told me not to sleep targets? What does sleep mean?

Any tanking advise would be greatly appreciated. Sorry if this post is in the wrong location and thanks in advance.

[Lithera]

It sounds like that guy may have been talking to the CNJ or THM in your group who may have been trying to sleep monsters while he was AoEing (were they an ARC/BRD or ACN/SMN?). Not only is sleeping useless if a DPS or both are AoEing, it generates unnecessary threat which can keep you from holding the monsters. The best way to handle multiple mobs with GLD/PLD early on is to shield lob to pull then fire 2-3 Flashes as soon as the monster group is around you. After that just cycle through each monster and use your Rage of Halone combo. If there's a THM/BLM in the party making sleeping monsters an option you can discuss that as well but it has to be communicated so the other DPS knows not to AoE the monsters. Marking the monsters is also important if they are being slept. YOu should get in the habit of marking if you aren't already even if the DPS ignore them.

[Nictuswolf]

Flash.

Flash is your only friend in life.

Abuse him.

[WhiteWindHD]

Holding threat in this game as gld/pld B L O W S until you hit 40 and get the shield oath stance and even then it's not very fun. Once you get your 3rd combo move try tab targeting between the multiple mobs and split your combo's where they're needed. For whatever reason SE refuses to address the threat issues for lower level tanks and then wonder why no one levels one. once you're 50, with a bit of gear it gets ALOT better. You basically just have to suffer through it and keep your gear maxed out.

[Lithera]

Holding threat in this game as gld/pld B L O W S until you hit 40 and get the shield oath stance and even then it's not very fun. Once you get your 3rd combo move try tab targeting between the multiple mobs and split your combo's where they're needed. For whatever reason SE refuses to address the threat issues for lower level tanks and then wonder why no one levels one. once you're 50, with a bit of gear it gets ALOT better. You basically just have to suffer through it and keep your gear maxed out.

Yah with Duty Roulette filling low level dungeons with level synced Level 50s it can be difficult to hold threat sometimes for sure.

[Defenlok]

"i just noticed the New player below this" Sorry

Anyway, "Marking" What i have been doing is if there are 3-4 mobs on me I mark one as a primary so i can con through the others to maintain "threat". Is there a science to this?

I just want to get this right!!! Some players are just down right brutal and want to hang my mother for my tanking skills....

[Nayto]

I just want to get this right!!! Some players are just down right brutal and want to hang my mother for my tanking skills....

Tanking is the most stressful job... at the same time the easiest.

Tell them your new. If they leave, just leave also and DF it again. You have a VIP pass for a reason. And visit the tanking forums on guides on how to do AoE threat rotations.

[WhiteWindHD]

It's honestly more the games fault than yours. Seriously just hang in there and make the push to level 40. Do your 40 quest to get Shield Oath and things will get alot better.

[Nutz]

It's nice for everyone involved if you can mark the mobs (I usually do 1,2, 3, etc. leaving the final mob unmarked) quickly. People will get annoyed if you take a while on it, so basically just try to do it while pulling or at least mark 1 while you pull and get the others up at the start. It's not really necessary, but it's what I like to do as a tank, mostly because it's what I like tanks to do when I'm a DPS (haven't played a healer yet).

GLA/PLD has a much harder time holding hate against groups than MRD/WAR because overpower is so much better than flash for threat generation. All the same, riot combo is for mana, rage of halone for threat (single target), and flash generously when there are multiple enemies. A THM's aoe sleep can simplify this a bit, but it isn't a tactic many people use.

EDIT: in low level dungeons (anything below 50 that is) it's not at all uncommon to be paired with level 50 players who are level synced to basically have the absolute best stats possible at that level. Basically this means that you cannot have better stats than them, no matter how up to date your gear is, even with HQ and melds/ overmelds (if anyone ever bothered to make this sort of thing). On top of that, frequently you won't even be at the max level for the dungeon so it becomes very difficult to hold threat against them. Don't worry too much about this. They should all be aware of the situation and as the tank you have the power to control the pace of the dungeon. If they don't wish to cooperate you can get another group with minimal trouble.

[Ecks007]

Holding threat in this game as gld/pld B L O W S until you hit 40 and get the shield oath stance and even then it's not very fun. Once you get your 3rd combo move try tab targeting between the multiple mobs and split your combo's where they're needed. For whatever reason SE refuses to address the threat issues for lower level tanks and then wonder why no one levels one. once you're 50, with a bit of gear it gets ALOT better. You basically just have to suffer through it and keep your gear maxed out.

This is mostly for the OP, but I quote you because I feel your initial sentence is not correct.

Holding hate is actually pretty easy, even at the lower levels (it's pretty much the same thing though). The trick is using your skills in combination with your available targets while dispensing some flashes when needed. Spread out your threat increasing attacks to your secondary or third/fourth mobs instead of just focusing on your primary target. This seems to be a hard thing for a lot of inexperienced tanks to understand and get right. I've seen level 50 i80-i90 Paladins who never learned these simple mechanics, and what happens is if you're in a group that does aoe damage (or one dps that doesn't seem to want to attack the same target as everybody else) then your dps pulls aggro from you and makes things generally more difficult than they need to be. A good healer and at least 1 good dps can offset a poor tank's lack of aggro management if they can notice and respond accordingly to what's happening. This is something I've had to do many times when I've hopped on my Whm to do Low level and High level Duty Roulettes, even back when I was leveling my Pug/Mnk and Lnc/Drg concurrently I experienced this.

Maybe I was lucky but I learned how to tank well by watching the good tanks I leveled up with on my first class/job, Acn/Smn, and remembered what they did. Now, I haven't leveled my Gld or Mrd up very far but on either when I had run dungeons on them the players I had in my parties seemed to be amazed at how well I held aggro.

Yeah, it's extremely different than how just about any other MMORPG works it's tanks (which tends to be: TAUNTFLASHPROVOKE, dps, [or toss in some self cures depending on the game] rinse & repeat). But after coming to understand it and how the combo skills work, it's actually not too bad. Just takes a little getting used to at first.