Should tanks ask to do big pulls?

[Kallera]

Actually got a request to NOT do big pulls during a ex roulette from a healer, citing that the tank was doing stupidly large pulls and risking their life needlessly running to the next batch that's far away, instead of dealing with what's there.

I listened.

[Natashio]

I personally don't ask nor do i check people's gear. With all the glamming, I've pretty much don't bother. I pull what I feel comfortable with, whatever the Internets demands, you can have these two middle fingers. Now the moment a healer or damage dealer runs off and head of me. Than the gloves go off and they're going to punch-in and go to work. When I pull mass, it's mass. I don't really care.

[Kaurie]

From my perspective, as a healer, no tanks shouldn't ask. It's fairly common once you get to 50 dungeons that tanks will do large pulls. If you are brand new to the game, you're eased into this by going into very easy dungeons that we are massively overgeared for. If you are not new to the game, you should be aware that tanks doing large pulls is the accepted meta.


It's pretty easy to heal through large pulls and just takes time to learn. Pre-shielding (such as adlo/stone for SCH, stone for WHM, aspected benefic/stone for AST) is great, then either regen or rouse your fairy while you DPS. Otherwise, if you are not going to DPS then just focus heal your tank. Use some AoE things to help your tank take less damage; such as, swiftcast holy to stun all mobs for 5 seconds, celestial opposition (I think that is the one) that stuns enemies, or swiftcast shadowflare to slow all enemies for 30s.

As for the group 'blaming' you, I'd need to see more chat to know for sure, but it sounds like they were just jerks. Usually if a tank pulls big and dies, the usual reaction is to just take it a bit slower. I rarely see negative chat as a result of this, and I'm sorry you got that.

TLDR Yes, tanks pull big, no tanks shouldn't ask, no people shouldn't be jerks about it if you die

[AlphaFox]

I always ask unless I know the person.

[CrystalRainbow]

My wife has explained it to me this way.

Depending on how the 1st pull goes she has a good idea what the rest of the pulls will be.

on a side note. I'm not as good as tanking as she is. So I always do small pulls but get the job done.

Time different maybe 3-5 mins between beginning and end.
However a wipe because of a big pull going sideways .. shortens that gap.

Also the older the content is the more likely she will do big pulls as people are getting over geared for it.

[Ranulf]

It's always nice to ask, as it's a nice gesture and we were raised to be courteous to others.

Though, from my experience, mass pulling tends to be a bit slower than doing 2 groups and letting your healer DPS, too or get a few AoE's off. (Assuming they land, of course.)

[Nyalia]

If you don't tell people you're new, people will assume you know what you are doing. The average tank does big pulls. The average healer can handle big pulls. The tank is under no obligation to tell you that she is going to do the thing she nearly always does and people are nearly always okay with. If you want something done differently, then it's your obligation to say something about it. I have many times seen tanks slow down when asked without complaining.

For one, I tank often, and I will always slow down if asked. But, if no one says anything, I will assume the party wants the dungeon done the way it's usually done, and that usually means big pulls.

[Kabzy]

It's worth pointing out that healers can dish out a lot of DPS themselves. So while it is nice for tanks to pull a lot of mobs, if they go overboard and pull everything to the extent that you can only focus heal, they could actually be prolonging the dungeon. Especially if the DPS aren't as capable, considering everyone is under assumptions about each other.

And a side note, the tank should definitely get the blame if they die with their HG/LD/Holmgang unused. I've seen it happen countless times, tanks are not just there to hold aggro, part of their toolkit is damage mitigation so it should be used effectively.

[Ghishlain]

I find it's important for a tank to ask their healing partner if they are okay with larger sized pulls because it shows a level of respect to their fellow party members and gauge the healer's comfort level.

With that being said, as a healer I tend to just assume most tanks are "Go big or go home" type tanks and prepare for the worst since I don't recall the last time any tank has actually asked me "Big pulls are okay?" lol

[EDIT] Also, if the tank pulls big and dies due to (1) lack of communication with their healing partner and/or (2) ain't using any cooldowns to help the healer's job, I feel the blame is on the tank unless the healer is so utterly oblivious that they forget to actually heal.

[karateorangutang]

I guess I don't understand what the big deal is. I always assume the tank will pull big and prepare for it, if they stop then I simply extend my DPS duration.

In the event of a wipe... who cares? Are wipes and a a overzealous loud player really worth worrying about?
I would like to think that it doesn't matter a lick.

Fact of the matter is, if you have a tank that is even remotely geared to pull large, your going to be healing a large pull. Whether or not it's the tank's or the healer's fault is really irrelevant. If the tank is competant then a large pull in the current dungeon structure isn't anything to worry about. We, as players, have to operate on the assumption that in DF people have a reasonable understanding of their job. If we do not then we will simply not use DF or we will become those players that this post has spawned from.