Brayflox's Longstop (Hard) SpeedRun Problem

[ThirdChild_ZKI]

I want to believe that, Nalia. I really do. Sadly, the first time I tanked BHM (admittedly, dragging my i80-something tank out of suspension), I had an i90-something Bard that pretty much made the assumption that it was a speed run and surged ahead. I'm not petty enough to just let him get killed, and I actually did have an interest in running it that time (the minion, I think). At the first boss, he flies ahead and starts the fight, so I follow with some enemies in tow (a bit spitefully, I admit), and start doing what I do as a tank. Someone else, lightly comments "lol, you're supposed to lock them out". . .

. . .Until then, I had NEVER done a mob lockout. Didn't even know what it was or how to do it. Sure, I figured it out quick, but do you see how this speed-running obsession essentially teaches/enforces bad mechanics? While I'm not new to tanking, imagine teaching that to a fresh 50, or even a newbie tank. Imagine that he learns "this is the way it's supposed to be done", and carries that forward into other content. Does it still make sense? Does "Why aren't you doing this thing you don't know about that completely defies the basics of how your class is played?!" make any sense?

It's no big deal really. People learn/adopt/create bad mechanics all the time. Hell, I'm known to experiment with things (with a well-geared, premade party, well aware of my crazy ideas beforehand) but I see the potential for more harm than good. Fresh 50 healers that only know to use Medica/Medica 2. Tanks that assume/attempt speed runs with everything - specific dungeon mechanics be damned. DPS that only know to aoe. . . Sure, I'm making some pretty extreme cases, but we've almost all seen it already. Speed runs might be a necessary evil, but it's starting to become more evil than it is necessary.