Tanks using their enmity combo while being OT

[Syzygian]

Okay so here's a scenario.

WAR and DRK are fighting a thing. DRK is MTing outside of Grit after having established enmity with a 3-4 GCD Grit opener w/ Power Slash, dropping Grit afterwards. Both are now in their DPS stances. DRK is contributing proc-DPS and has access to Blood Weapon and Blood Price MP, WAR is getting all their cleaves, full Berserk uptime, and keeping Storm's Eye up, with Butcher's Block combos in between.

DRK is dealing 1200 sustained DPS (accounting for having Storm's Eye from the WAR).

WAR is dealing 1200 sustained DPS.

Both are of equal gear and identical Attack Power.

Now lets say, for the sake of this instance, that 200 of that WAR's 1200 DPS is from BB combos. Given the modifiers of Skull Sunder (3.5) and Butcher's Block (5.5) we can average out that that 200 DPS from the BB combo is modifying that fraction of their DPS by a factor of 4.5x. Any number really, will work here, these don't need to be accurate to prove a point.

Lets say that in the opener, the DRK generated 20000 points of enmity (damage dealt*any modifiers). The WAR generated 10000.

Now, with them both dealing 1200 DPS but the WAR dealing 1900 TPS (threat per second), in well under a minute, the WAR will catch up with the DRK's lead.

So, the WAR can either allow the DRK to maintain their lead by using SE in place of BB, unless SP is needed, and deal 1190 DPS instead of 1200, or, knock the DRK down to 1150 DPS by forcing them to use Power Slash more than is optimal.

I'll also note that the use of Power Slash is not only a DPS loss but an MP (and therefore further DPS loss) for the DRK, whereas repeated SE usage means Maim and the Slashing debuff are less in danger of falling off should there be a few seconds of downtime for a mechanic, which is a potential DPS gain for the WAR, as well any other users of slashing damage.

Letting the WAR MT (outside of arguably the opener as many people have said) in this scenario is also a DPS and mitigation loss for the raid. There are likely to be fewer Fell Cleaves, no Reprisal (therefore less mitigation) or Low Blow procs from the DRK, and no Blood Price returns forcing a more restrictive rotation. Arguments stating that so-and-so should just MT are fallacious and assume a premise that was never put in place, which is that there is some ridiculous gear discrepancy rendering these numbers moot, and posit that if the WAR must sacrifice any amount of potency it can only be due to a lack of skill or gear on the part of their MT, which is needlessly antagonistic and also categorically untrue. Are you not hitting the peak of your personal DPS by a couple dozen points of damage per second? Perhaps. But is that more important than a net-loss for the -group-? You may see it as you being forced to play suboptimally but know that you risk forcing another player to play exponentially MORE suboptimally, thus a net-loss for the group. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one.

That being said, WAR is still a tank and any tank should know how to read enmity meters, and therefore, they can know at any given time if it is in fact safe to use a BB combo for extra DPS, and can easily come to the conclusion that if their enmity has reached a level where the meters between them and their MT are scarcely a pixel apart, the responsible thing for them to do in that scenario is to stop generating excess enmity. It is an extremely small sacrifice to make for the sake of the group and is NOT your MT's fault unless you are in pug content and the MT very clearly and demonstrably does not know what they are doing; and even then, in the interest of getting oneself OUT of the DF and moving on with one's day, my recommendation would be to not troll the guy and just work around his inadequacies, a wipe followed by you lecturing him won't teach anybody anything, it'll just piss people off and lengthen the period of time that they're stuck in the duty finder with you.

You and your party are not supposed to be fighting for a clear against your MT's enmity, you're fighting for a clear against the boss. Pull together, not apart, kill the boss, use ALL of your tools and judgement to make that happen as cleanly as possible; you are not an island unto yourself if you're in a party with 7 other people.