How to Help Tanks in Dungeons 101.

[Sheer]

snip

I sort of understand your post, but I think I may have misconstrued some of it, so feel free to correct me:

If you're the tank, worry about the boss above all else. If the boss starts going for other party members, you're probably going to wipe - especially if it's the healer. They can take two, maybe three (if you're really lucky) hits before they go down. From there, in terms of adds, I suggest trying to get as many as you can, but it's not necessary in lower-level dungeons since most DDs can handle them if it's just 1v1. If your party members have 3-4 MoBs on them, you need to pick up the pace and start getting the adds' aggro. I personally try to take every MoB's aggro without losing that of the boss as soon as I see them.

As a tank, the order in which you kill MoBs doesn't matter as much as making sure that you keep their aggro. Marking allows the DDs to focus which MoB to kill, but again, in low-level dungeons, I haven't run into a case where marking MoBs in a boss fight was essential - usually there was only one or two MoBs (except for Halatali, but those MoBs died in one or two hits so it didn't matter).

Long story short: In low-level dungeons, try to aggro the adds whenever you can, but don't lose the boss.

[CrisGer]

great that is exactly the kind of advice i was looking for. Dont need a road map if we know what to do in general. I did what you say, jumped on the boss as soon as i could and kept at it and that was what got us thru i am pretty sure. I was afraid i was not doing enough about the others, but i see that i was probably not ...so will focus on keeping them mad at me as much as i can. It is hard if they are all over and i am facing the boss in one area and there are secondary enemies running around here there and every where but i will try. thanks again.

[icceti]

not to be rude or anything. i like the fact that this post encourage marking.

but i find it strange that it's the healer's fault for trying to keep the "tank" alive... 3 mobs, 3 hits, hp is down to a 1/4. and i am talking about low lvl dungeon. sastasha, tam-tara, copper bell. so yeah, perhaps it's not because healers want to spam cure, it's because the "tank" is just so squishy. why else would healers want to smash their keyboards...

maybe add one more fact to this tips post. encourage your tank colleagues to be more mindful of his/her gear. ff probably doesn't have a very noticeable gear difference for tanks... but that doesn't mean it's someone else' problem when something happens.

[Sheer]

not to be rude or anything. i like the fact that this post encourage marking.

but i find it strange that it's the healer's fault for trying to keep the "tank" alive... 3 mobs, 3 hits, hp is down to a 1/4. and i am talking about low lvl dungeon. sastasha, tam-tara, copper bell. so yeah, perhaps it's not because healers want to spam cure, it's because the "tank" is just so squishy. why else would healers want to smash their keyboards...

maybe add one more fact to this tips post. encourage your tank colleagues to be more mindful of his/her gear. ff probably doesn't have a very noticeable gear difference for tanks... but that doesn't mean it's someone else' problem when something happens.

I would hope everyone is being mindful of their gear, not just tanks or healers.

[CrisGer]

This remains the best thread for helping Tanks and Gladiator/Paladin type players help others and how to help them. I am glad we have this info tho share with all.

[Guammasa]

The only thing that drives me insane on runs while I'm tanking are the DPS that just ignore marks. 3 mobs, mark them 1, 2, and unmarked....unmarked starts going down first. Ask the dps to please follow the order of marked targets only to have a snide reply or be totally ignored. Sometimes, and my personal favorite, is when they use the auto translate to feign language barriers yet they're marked English speaking on their character search.

On top of your great guidelines to starting people out on their tanking journey it would also be good to remind future tanks to be patient and remember that there are people out there that do things just to give others a hard time, just as well as there are those out there that can't follow directions or roles if it were to save their own life.

[CrisGer]

those are good reminders. I had not realized we could do a character search that is an interesting feature..how does it work? I am waiting for my copy of the game in the post so have to rely on the forums and posts for info.thanks for the reply it is helpful as are all of these. When you leave an enemy unmarked to you go back and mark him once the first targets are downed? I was not sure if we could go on marking ad invinitum...but supposed so. but was not sure if once Mark 1 was dead if Mark 2 would change to Mark 1

[Sheer]

On top of your great guidelines to starting people out on their tanking journey it would also be good to remind future tanks to be patient and remember that there are people out there that do things just to give others a hard time, just as well as there are those out there that can't follow directions or roles if it were to save their own life.

Indeed, I've noticed that some people don't follow the marks. But unless it begins to really hurt our party, I don't care too much - they'll find out what happens the hard way in higher level dungeons when they don't follow marks.

I had not realized we could do a character search that is an interesting feature..how does it work? I am waiting for my copy of the game in the post so have to rely on the forums and posts for info.thanks for the reply it is helpful as are all of these. When you leave an enemy unmarked to you go back and mark him once the first targets are downed? I was not sure if we could go on marking ad invinitum...but supposed so. but was not sure if once Mark 1 was dead if Mark 2 would change to Mark 1

You can search for characters on your server; it's a basic player search function for MMOs. As for marking targets, you follow them in numerical order. If there's three targets and one is marked "1", the second is marked "2", and the third is unmarked, you kill the first and second MoB and then the unmarked MoB.

[CrisGer]

thanks, and re the marking, so the marks dont change once they are set, when Number 1 dies number 2 stays number 2, just wondered about that. thanks. will have to research the dungeons i have not done yet so that i will know what to look for and mark in advance.

[Bixby]

thanks, and re the marking, so the marks dont change once they are set, when Number 1 dies number 2 stays number 2, just wondered about that.

Correct. The only way markings change is through player action.