How exactly does enmity work in the lore?

[Jandor]

I always imagined that if we got a TV show based on the game the tank characters would physically get in the way of enemies so that they have to be dealt with.

[Twailaith]

My headcanon is that techniques like Rage of Halone and the Butcher's Block combo are simply fighting techniques designed to force the enemy to pay attention to the tank. Both involve heavy and unsubtle wild swings that are rather ungraceful when compared to the sleek movements in the dps combos.

Lore for RoH could be something like:
"Rage of Halone, as the name suggests, is originally a sword-and-board fencing style developed and perfected by the Knights of the Ishgard during the span of the millenia of the Dragonsong War, designed to be used against dragonkind. By forcing the dragon's attention towards the heavily armored and shield-bearing knight, the dragon exposes it's vulnerable flank to the lances of Dragoons. Centuries of use has seen this technique and it's variations spread and be adopted across every corner or the Aldenard continent, adapted not only towards dragonkind but to foes of all shapes and sizes alike."

[Fiaryn]

Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

Or in this case, an abstraction necessary to cultivate team based gameplay.

[LilLemay]

I've always had the thought that "emnity" is a sort of wavelength that's transferred whenever you use an action, a sort of wavelength that resonates with the target's soul/soulstone etc that just really really pisses them off

[TinyRedLeaf]

Since we're still on the topic, sometimes, real-world analogies are best for figuring out the "realities" of game mechanics.

In this case, think of all the defender roles in team sports, for example, the defenders of football (aka, soccer), linebackers in American football or the defensemen of ice hockey. These are players who don't typically make it to glamorous scoreboards, but are nevertheless highly valued for their ability to tackle, take down and draw fouls from attacking players.

...which, in a nutshell, is what a "tank" is, in an RPG like this.

(Although, to be sure, the prestige is reversed in RPG-land, with tanks typically getting more kudos than damage-dealers. To me, that's not fair, but oh well. )

And to extend the analogy further, think of healers, bards and machinists as the "midfielders", the team members who don't usually do the scoring, but provide the essential tactical support that makes offensive play possible.

And, of course, the strikers are your run-of-the-mill damage-dealers, who are perhaps as much a prima donna in RPG-land as they are in real professional sport.

[mb52139]

There really are, very few cutscreens where the rest of our party even exist. Sometimes our party of adventurers are mentioned, but most cases... it seems like we the WoL solos everything.

[The_NPC]

well I think its attacks laced with mental argmenting magic's that cause enemies to "focus" there attention on the Tank due to how much of this "tuining" their causeing, all things emit this "tuining" hence why Tank classes have a way to amplify how much they emit thus causing a mental breakdown in "Priority Identification" for any & all ppl/Mobs being afected by the Tanks argmented waveforms of mental energy... think if it this way if u see something u'r mind says "Hay thats scares the crap outa me watch it & kill it PLEASE!" then u will do just that outa fear & self-preservation this is what Tanks cause in their enemies with their attacks in Tank stance (a DPS or healer can distrupt this if they cause the same effect by doing to much, IE: Gaining arrgo). Arrgoless enemies just have enouf mental control that a Tanks "Jedi mind tricks" don't work on them is all.

This is my therory... which I probably came up with on the spot once

[zaviermhigo]

In 1.0 the lore for Gladiator, GLA purposely wore shiny gear and fabulous things to draw the attention of the enemy. I assume its just like other rpgs at that rate, the heavy, shiny, armor attracts the enemy's eye, whether its beast or human, in my middle of the battle its like "AHH SHINY ATTACK", and only the smarter beast/humans don't go straight for the tank. I think this has literally be the lore for enmity since D&D.

[Anova]

I think the tanks just wield the largest, meanest-looking weapons. Who would you be scared of more? A man with 2 knives, a man with a magic compass, a man with a pistol, or a man with a greatsword? A properly swung greatsword would technically do the most damage (more than a single shot from a handgun anyway), if we were looking at this from a strictly realistic standpoint.

As for enmity, I always think it's just a measure of how much you're blocking the enemy's way to other targets, or how threatening you appear to the enemy.

[HaelseMikiro]

The level 5 Gladiator quest actually has this 'mostly' covered IMO. It has you use the /me emote to command the enemies attention. Although we obviously don't use emotes during combat (yes, there are people who do anyways) it does show that tanks have gone through training on methods to make themselves the focus of attention, and probably give the illusion that we are the greatest threat to them, and so must be destroyed first.