Warrior Improvement Questions

[Ouza]

Before I start please, no bashing, please be kind, I’m getting a lot of hate in dungeon runs (daily duties to buy gear) and I don't need more “you are a terrible tank, please quit.” or “if you were my girlfriend I would beat you and refuse to let you play games”

I've been tanking for close to 5 years now on a variety on MMO's, (LOTR, Wow, Star Trek, Starr Wars, etc) and I prefer tanking and am better at tanking than other classes. Though I will switch over to dps or healer to help/train new guild members. However, I LOVE tanking. I love taking agro. I love protecting the group. I feel better knowing the party is protected from agro and damage.

I am a Warrior level 50 for nearly 3 months and il 82 (takes a long time when you work full time to save for gear, sorry). I adapt my combo moves to the group and focus on where I don’t have agro or am about to lose agro, I watch ALL the bars of all players health, enmity.. I mark for newbies, I used to use flash and provoke, etc.

[Ouza]

Currently I dropped flash and provoke in favor of Savage blade and Hay maker for the enmity/damage combo. I have no problem getting agro and very rarely a problem with losing agro. My problem is that either I take agro from other tanks, or that melee Dps gets angry that I move out of AOE's, especially conal AOE's, even if I move right back into place.

I get a lot of, you are a horrible tank” comments and here is why:

1. they want defiance off because WAR or my item level automatically designates me as OT and therefore I have to be 5th DPS ALL THE TIME
2. WAR or PLD wants me to main tank and gets angry when they get agro off me
3. they want me to toggle defiance on and off at their will
4. WAR and PLD gets angry if I continually take agro off of them (and it even happens when defiance is off)

[Ouza]

5. Healers and Dps get angry if I lose one enemy out of a mob to their DPS moves. (especially DRG and MK) hey I try to get it back and sometime lose the whole mob just trying to pull the ONE enemy off them because they are freaking out
6. MAR are not tanks
7. MAR are for DPS
8. 8-man dungeons only needs one tank, not two so please stop tanking (apparently Syrcus tower teaches us this, I haunt been there, I don’t know)
9. My ilevel is lower than others, esp the tank, so I am not allowed to tank
10. they want defiance off so I shut it off then get angry it isn’t on
11. I leave defiance off to let the other tank be main and they get pissed and want it on (and then sometimes get pissed I take agro off them)
12. they want defiance off but get angry I cant get agro very well (really, no no seriously)
13. they don’t want me OT'ing the adds, I'm supposed to Dps and reduce agro as much as possible
14. WAR is not a tank, quit trying to be one

[Ouza]

15. haha your a lalawhathoosit, definitely not being the tank. Die lala die, we must sacrifice lala's
(or die you damn lalafel, die and stop trying to be a tank)
16. I’m not supposed to use buffs or healing moves when tanking that's the healers job. So stop using “convalescence” “thrill of battle” “blood bath” “berserk” “feather foot” “foresight” or whichever one they decide its not okay for tanks to use
17. I’m supposed to spam overpower and do no damage
18. I’m supposed to spam provoke and not deal damage (or “flash,” I hate those who insist on only “flash”)
19. I’m not supposed to use “tomahawk,” or I am.. not sure which now..
20. I'm only supposed to use “skull fracture,” “butchers block” and “sunder” (or others say I am not at all to use them ) Same goes for all other moves.. UGH
21. I shouldn’t mark targets, nobody in the party is going to follow my target marking... (and they don’t)

[Ouza]

when tanking I try to keep a good rotation of agro moves and forward targeting. When in parties of 4 or less my main job is keeping all agro and doing DPS second. However, I have a hard time pulling agro off of mobs which are out of my targeting range when the DPS or healer pulls the whole room of mobs and then leaves me to die. (telling me I’m a bad tank)

I have a hard time tanking ALL adds when also tanking a main boss in a dungeon. Many parties want me to stop agro'ing the main boss and focus on gathering the mobs and then tell me I am lazy or a failure when I refuse to stop taking the main boss or ask them to bring them closer for me to use a conal“overpower” to pull them in. they tell me I am lazy and a bad tank for NOT leaving the boss and going to DPS adds with them.

[Ouza]

On 8-man dungeons I have even worse issues. I pull agro off the other tank, MAUR or PLD with higher iLevel than me. I do take off defiance, but still have the issue. Then, they get angry when try to only use DOT moves or if I let a “savage blade” slip through. They also get angry when, with defiance off, I still get agro easy or when I don’t! And sometimes I have a hard time just doing damage and also pull enmity easy. So I get screamed at that I need to leave the party. (today I finally did, when I was told there was no place for two tanks in an 8-man Castrum) and sometimes when I have defiance off I have hard time getting agro no matter what I do and they get angry I am not pulling the other mobs, but still want me to leave defiance off and NOT TANK, I’m just supposed to pull the mobs close and leave.

[Ouza]

When I do what many ask, that is use moves that take high TP use, and I run out of TP because I’ve spammed it, they get mad at me I cant get agro for the life of me. (well yeah you screamed at me to spam a move that eats TP, what do you expect!)

so I try to play my character my way and be balanced with my moves so I don’t run out of TP, keep myself healed, keep agro off everybody else an also do a nice set of damage. I have fun when I can bounce agro back and forth with another tank, I find that part really fun, apparently they don’t.

[Ouza]

Please be nice and helpful in your responses, I am trying to be a good tank and make everybody happy. I don’t claim to be the best and I know there is a learning curve. I just want to be good and learn to be better. I find it difficult, when I am doing the duty roulette and seem to get the same dungeons over an over, to be told by other tanks, healers, or DPS that only their way of doing it is right and every other group I’ve met is bad and has been doing it wrong. I do at least 4 dungeons per day, sometime a lot more. EVERYBODY ELSE cant be wrong and a bad player. I've pulled many through high level dungeons and trials without a single death or with only one or two strays dying, therefore I cant be that bad, right? (sorry, the forum wont let me post more than 1,000 characters at a time.)

[JarinArenos]

Okay, starting from the top...
0: cross-class skills, do not cross-class savage blade. Savage blade is a joke without the combo bonus. There is literally no reason to use it over Heavy Swing > Skull Sunder. Likewise, you'll always have something better to spend your GCD on than Haymaker. Go back to Flash (optional but useful) and Provoke (only way to tank-swap when necessary)
1-4, (and all other comments about Defiance) keeping defiance off if you are OT is simple courtesy. Just remember to flip it on if you need to pick up adds. I know you lose more functionality than PLD does switching to sword oath, but that's just what you have to deal with. And if you're taking aggro without it, look at why. Is he picking up adds that you should be catching? Is he having to move the boss and you're not letting him? Is your tank just that horrible?
5: Life as a tank. *shrug* Do your best. Remember, flash doesn't break your combo, so weave it between your main aggro combo.

[JarinArenos]

8: Yup. You're there for adds and off-DPS. And keep your aggro at second on the list, so you get the boss if the tank dies.
9: Yup. Unless you're in a fixed group, that's how tank/OT is almost always determined. And if it's not, you're a WAR (and better at picking up adds) so you still often get OT. It's not universal, but it's common enough that you have to live with it.
10-12: see 1-4.
13-19, and all others about people giving bad or conflicting advice: Ignore them, read guides, learn your class mechanics.

20: Most people stop bothering with target marks late game. Only notably useful when there's a particular mob you want to die first. Otherwise, it just slows things down.