Protect? Really important? Low level content

[ArcheDragon]

This has been really great! I love hearing all of the opinions and reasons.

I'll definitely switch Blizzard 2 out for Aero. I think Aero is more powerful if I'm not being lazy lol. I'd also never considered changing my cross class skills around in dungeons due to the cooldown.

I agree with those that say that sometimes the best way to keep somebody alive is to remove the threat. I just changed my setup to Cleric Stance, Aero, Swift Cast, Protect, and Stoneskin. This doesn't address the main issue but I'll explain.

Cleric Stance, to me, is a no brainer. I'm a firm believer that if we are having serious issues in dungeons prior to level 20 then the tank is running naked. Eos can solo heal that no problem, and has done so on many occasions. Aero is extra damage in dungeons where Eos can still solo heal for the vast majority of the time. I put Swift Cast before Protect because in the event that somebody is killed it isn't reasonable, to me, to assume the minor mitigation of Protect would have saved them and Swift Cast can finally res people (after 28) and it has more general applications (instant heal, heal on the move). And Protect is before Stoneskin because I imagine more people would cry at 40 without protect and it is marginally better than stoneskin, imho.

I think it is important to note that, if I understand protect correctly, protect mitigates very little damage for dps and healers as it is based on the defense value of the target.

Using protect is one skill you cast and are done for the rest of the dungeon. It's just laziness not to cast that at the start. It's not like it's something that requires constant vigilance.

But it isn't, necessarily, just a single cast time that you have. If it isn't on your cross class list at that level then it is a long wait before you can even heal. How valuable is minor mitigation compared to the mitigation of killing the enemies faster? I frequently, in low level dungeons, put out dps very similar to that of the dps classes. It comes down to asking yourself "Will I die without it?" because those dungeons can be completed much faster without it in those cases. It might seem odd but since low level tanks have low defense compared to high level tanks, protect might actually provide less mitigation than the pseudo-mitigation of more dps. Just ask Square Enix because they obviously understand this. They just released a healer whose sole focus is supporting the group to do more damage and end fights quick so that they don't need stronger heals. Even if they have the balancing a bit off at the moment.