Of Tanking and WoD

[Mahri]

Bad thing about being a tank: Long queues because you only need three per 24 people.

Good thing about being a tank: You probably have something to actually do, much like in ST, whereas in LotA you ran around, stood around, stood around and pushed buttons, fell asleep.

Bad thing about being a tank: Good luck getting tanks to communicate so the start of each raid you three can just eyeball each other and your respective gear and disposition to try and figure out how much of a freakin' problem they're going to be.

Good thing about being a tank: No competitors for your loot.

Bad thing about being a tank with everything but the chest piece: It's on the last effing boss and empirical evidence shows it has a roughly .000003% drop rate.

Good thing about NOT being a tank: This tank will stick with you until the bitter end every time!

Thank your tanks.

[Colorful]

I already thank my tanks by giving them (and healers/exceptional DPS) my commendations. Every game I ever try tanking I end up panicking (even in easy content) and sweat like like it's 40 degrees outside, so good job.

[radioactive_lego]

*sigh*

Off tanking?

[Mahri]

*sigh*

Off tanking?

What

what is this even

All I know is Infuriate+Unchained+Berserk+Overpower+Provoke ad nauseam.

OH

WAIT

That's that thing where someone else taunts the Wolfsbane!

THE THING THAT NEVER HAPPENS UNTIL YOU YELL ABOUT IT

[Bigcat9715]

I'm new to tanking, and I like it, but I also kinda hate tanking raids. It feels weird having 3 tanks and you have to roll a dice to see who's tanking the next boss, or in my case be the first guy charging at the boss with a small army backing you up.

[Ophie-Mio]

I finished leveling my WAR about three days ago now. It was my first tank class in any MMO I've ever played. It's nerve wracking. @.@

However, my first major tank experience came from WoD where I just kinda stood around for like, the first two runs and then was blessed with two other lazy tanks who just didn't want to pull so I had to step up.

Bad thing about being a tank: Good luck getting tanks to communicate so the start of each raid you three can just eyeball each other and your respective gear and disposition to try and figure out how much of a freakin' problem they're going to be.

I had a run this past Sunday where this happened. All three of us eyeballed each other and they came to the conclusion that because I was only i108 that I was not up to par and therefore ignored me completely. I would grab adds on the side I was on (having moved into the spot I wanted to be ready) and then the other tank would come over and pull them off me with provoke and such and leave the other side to beat up on healers.

They then only asked each other which of them would tank certain bosses...

The entire time I was like, "Whatever, I don't mind being the background tank" but then I kept pulling hate from them even out of Defiance. When one of the tanks died to Angra Mainyu, it went straight to me and I tanked it fine until my healers died and then it went wild because the other tank was no where close to us in enmity. So they excluded me even though I was fine and actually kept accidentally out dpsing them and stealing aggro.

Bad thing about being a tank with everything but the chest piece: It's on the last effing boss and empirical evidence shows it has a roughly .000003% drop rate.

This was my bane... The body just would not drop.

Every game I ever try tanking I end up panicking (even in easy content) and sweat like like it's 40 degrees outside, so good job.

This is literally me. I'm a wreck inside whenever I tank. I'm nervous and the pulls are so scary to me. I always imagine that I pull a boss and it's just gonna go wild while I fight for hate. It's always a surprise when I pull and the boss just stays put on me. @.@

[mosaicex]

JP DF's way

A takes left
B takes center/MT
C takes right

If B is new or not well geared enough they can ask other tanks to MT

Good thing about weekly lockout : You can roll greed and get pretty much anything you want (I got tank chest piece as DRG)

I must admit, I thought everyone did this. >.> Isn't it kind of logical to divide up mobs/bosses according to party position? Though a new transfer to my FC was surprised at how organized CT was on a JP server...

It's only logical. But then again, I've heard some ridiculous stories about tanks trying to out-aggro each other in CT, surely just a myth hopefully.

The EU way for WoD seems to be this exactly, except for Cerberus. Cerberus goes:

The composition just kind of sticked from the previous CT raids, but both do work well enough, I guess.

[Sadana]

JP DF's way

A takes left
B takes center/MT
C takes right

If B is new or not well geared enough they can ask other tanks to MT

I must admit, I thought everyone did this. >.> Isn't it kind of logical to divide up mobs/bosses according to party position? Though a new transfer to my FC was surprised at how organized CT was on a JP server...

[MaethusXion]

JP DF's way

A takes left
B takes center/MT
C takes right

If B is new or not well geared enough they can ask other tanks to MT

Good thing about weekly lockout : You can roll greed and get pretty much anything you want (I got tank chest piece as DRG)

The EU way for WoD seems to be this exactly, except for Cerberus. Cerberus goes:

A - Adds
B - Belly(get eaten)
C - Chains/MT

Unless, of course, you get that one person that facepulls everything and locks people out of the rooms... or the tank fighting for boss control... or the tank lack of control on trash rooms...

[Mahri]

It feels weird having 3 tanks and you have to roll a dice to see who's tanking the next boss, or in my case be the first guy charging at the boss with a small army backing you up.

This is a legit gripe, but hard to reconcile. Nobody really wants to communicate intent beyond ready checks and just charging right in. I've run it so many times now that it no longer feels worth it to try. Just assume you're the MT. If someone steps up and keeps aggro steadily, particularly the bosses, then it's fine to step out and turn off Defiance/turn on Sword Oath and just whack things, but be ready to switch back into tank mode if that one dies.

Now then, there's also the situation where you've got things under control but another tank suddenly decides they want it instead, but I'm i110 and if I go all-out I can make an i130 PLD look like a chump.

Well, aggro-wise.

Mitigation-wise, well, uhhhh Hey thanks healers you guys are great.