Does Tank Stance mean you're "bad?"

[Ironos]

Just had a VA run where on the last boss a BRD pulled and none of the tanks (I was SMN at the time) could pull aggro off the DPS and Echidna just bounced around everywhere. One of the DPS yells at the tanks, calling them a number of slurs as well as being bad. I notice one of the DRKs turns on Grit and maintains aggro for the rest of the fight. Then at the end of the fight one of the healers says that Tank was "bad" for having to use tank stance to build aggro. Now, I'm not sure about gear discrepancies, but I do know the DRK was using the 180 upgraded law weapon, and most of the DPS that I saw had their 200 weapons.

Anyway, got a bit off topic there, does using tank stance to (at the very least) build aggro at the start and then turning it off if you want/need to dps more really mean a tank is "bad?" I just find it kind of backwards that a tank using tank stance is apparently being bad.

[kensatsu]

It's better to turn Grit to take agro, and then turn Grit off if you wanna push dps. he can just do 2 aggro combo on grit to be sure he have enough aggro for a while. and then turn grit off.

Because of the multiplier: if what i read is correct when you do an aggro combo with grit n you get your damage x7,5, and grit ff your damage x5.

with 180 weapon he need to do it, i do it, with my war i pull do an aggro combo n defiance and then go delivrance for the rest of the fight.
with a 208 dps like a dragon i need to turn unchainded before. i got to loose aggro early if i don't get enough aggro after the pull with my drg FC mate^^.

The dark can have the 15% buff via dark aura and get a lot of potency with the aggro in begining, 300 potency + 15% (x5 by the aggro multiplier) but to say it's enough to not turn grit to take aggro, it's still safer to do this way for me.
Turn On grit before pull, stay safe

[Ashkendor]

Using tank stance doesn't make you bad. Knowing when you need to use it is actually part of being good.

[Donjo]

Using tank stance doesn't make you bad. Knowing when you need to use it is actually part of being good.

This. One thousand times this. No, one million times this!

If anybody tries to convince you that using a Tank Stance makes you bad, you just need to stab them. The best part is that this will kill them - because they aren't in their Tank Stance!

[Jamillion]

No, using tank stance is not bad. It actually probably improved the overall DPS for a number of reasons as well. Sounds like you got grouped with some morons.

[Rampage]

Im DRK and have just come back from a cpl month hiatus. I have just this week geared up enough to be able to go into VA. My first run was rough because DPS kept pulling, apparently waiting 10 seconds to clear up who is MT, OT etc is too much for some people. Although I had read guides etc it was still very rough. I had to leave grit on through the raid since most DPS had better gear than me and were pulling in several directions etc before I had a hate lead. Im sure people said I was bad. But really if people are being stupid theres not much you can do.

[Ironos]

Using tank stance doesn't make you bad. Knowing when you need to use it is actually part of being good.

Thanks, I always followed the same logic. I just seem to run into the people who believe that if you aren't in SwO/NoGrit/Deliverance 100% of the time, you're bad.

[Bashum]

I start most pulls in defiance by default. If after one storm's eye/bb combo I am well ahead on enmity, I'll switch to deliverance and stay there for the rest of the fight, unless some upcoming mechanic/tank buster requires me to switch back. 2 non berserked combos in tank stance are not going to change your overall dps much in the grand scheme of things, and allowing your dps to go balls out right from the get go is worth that minor self-dps loss imo.

[Brian_]

I think the perspective in this topic is wrong. Being good is not knowing when you need to "use" tank stance.

By default, tanks are in tank stance. Being good is knowing how you can use your offensive stance.

You don't start in your DPS stance and figure out when you should be in your tank stance. You start in your tank stance during progression and should be actively analyzing damage intake and mechanics to figure out when it makes sense to swap to deliverance / sword-oath / grit-less.

[The_Last_Dragoon]

Don't the tank stances either increase HP or reduce damage? There's very few times where having your tank stance off is a good idea since the healer can put out a LOT more dps than a tank, and if you don't have that mitigation then they can't do so.