Question from a healer

[MrBockbagok]

For the OP. I am glade you're interested in learning how tanks work, it will only make you a better player. As a GLD you should have no issue holding two mobs, providing you get 3sec at the beginning of the fight to get some threat going. Three to four mobs gets a bit tricky, depending on who you got as the rest of your team, but shouldn't be an issue.

This is what I do, it's not the the only way or the best way, but it works.

Typical 3 mob pull.

Shield lob
Flash
Fast blade
Switch target savage blade
(After level 26) switch target RoH
Flash
Back to target one using what ever combo I need. Switching to other mobs to see the threat meter. If its low or on someone else I use SB or RoH on it.
When the first target is almost dead I use my shield lob macro and continue.

Use flash when it's needed. And if you lose threat, provoke, flash combo on him. If needed shield lob

[Urthdigger]

First off, the biggest thing I can recommend is to give tanking a try. I feel that everyone should level a tank, healer, and DPS class for the sake of knowing what those classes are and are not capable of.

To answer your question though, tanks DO have a number of enmity generating abilities, but when a mob runs off after a DD, especially a ranged DD, getting hate back can be a problem. They can't just stop what they're doing on all the other mobs to chase the monster around. However, the only ranged enmity generation a tank has both have their problems: Provoke only puts you slightly higher on the hate list than the DD, meaning it'll be back to chasing him if he does anything on it before you do, and it has a whopping 40 second recast. Shield Lob/Tomahawk cost around double the TP of any other attack, and require that the level 15 class quest be done. That's not a humongous requirement, but it does mean tanks who've just hit 15 and can join dungeons now may not realize they should pause to do their quest first, and quite a lot of legacy players may not be aware that there's a point to doing class quests besides xp and gil.

Due to the above issues, the most effective solution to getting hate back on the tank is actually something the DD can do: Drag the monster over to the tank. Then he can easily use flash, overpower, or tab over to it and use a combo to get hate back. If the DD is running around in the mistaken belief that it makes him dodge attacks more (It doesn't, it really really doesn't), the makes the monster quite difficult to hit with melee if chased down, and depending on positioning and number of monsters can make targeting it for a ranged attack more difficult.

In an ideal world, the tank wouldn't lose hate in the first place, but stuff happens. Sometimes the tank is new and needs encouragement, rather than being yelled at. Sometimes, it's a case of overzealous DDs who don't attack the tank's target, or who start AoEing everything right at the start of a pull. When this happens, it's the job of both the tank and the person who pulled hate to get it back where it belongs.

Of course, sometimes you get the tanks who don't know what they're doing and can't listen to advice. You can yell at them.

[Cuppycake]

I should of clarified that I have tanked in several games and I feel that has made me a better healer now. I just saw a pattern of tanks not doing to great so I for myself wanted to find out of there were any issues before I started talking crap haha. I probably will wind up leveling a tank at some point but its no longer my play style.

All great info and advice so far. Glad to see the tank community is willing to learn and teach others. I think if more people browsed the forums during server downtimes instead of spamming the login we would all be a little more knowledgeable in game lol.

[Eclipsed]

The truth of it all is in the link provided earlier. Even with a .6 modifier, an add that pops in the middle of a fight can be very difficult to control. If you as a healer happen to pop a medica2 and crit for 1500+ on an entire party or raid it is quite possible that a tank cannot even generate enough enmity within the mobs lifetime to get it back. An overzealous dps can easily end up tanking with a few lucky crits or if they jump on a mob as soon as it spawns as it takes a tank 7.5 seconds (possibly less if they have tons of skill speed gear) to do a full combo rotation, which usually works out to be only slightly more threat than a single rotation of a good dps.

[Ariyn]

You're only marking one target? That's horrible.

Mark at least three. I have a vertical hotbar with all 5 numbers and I assigned it to SHIFT+1 through SHIFT+5.

Do you really need to mark more then 1 target? The only reason to mark is if things need to die in an order. I do the same and only mark a 1 since that's what I want my dps to focus on at the start. past 10 seconds into the fight they could all pick a seperate mob and I wouldn't care.

To each his own but you do not "need" to mark anything more then a 1. More then that is just your preference because you would rather be lazy and focus 1 target. Wait till you get to the higher levels and your dps all have aoe's and multi dotting ...

[Devilair]

Marking shouldn't be necessary except for when a specific target needs to be downed. Dps should learn how to /assist instead. Would also help if they didn't start attacking the exact second you do, especially with multi mob pulls. Let the tank have like 5 seconds(since that global cd is so long)before you start your wtfpwn dps I can't stand blm's that just start aoe the second I throw my shield and wonder why they are getting beat on. I've only had one blm so far that would sleep a target. I love that flash doesn't wake them up either.

You go tell the SWARM of dps guys to learn use /assist. xD nevertheless, i would LOVE them doing so, but as long as they play with the brain set to OFF, i'd rather mark every target and spare me some headaches

Regardless, what people seems to not understand with the "UUH I MARK ONLY ONE MOB CUZ THEN I HAVE THREAT ON EVERYTHING", it's not even about that, it's more of a polished execution which also makes the clear incredibly faster and smooth. Dunno, maybe i'm ocd about being a tank lol

[Stalkster]

It takes like 3seconds to mark 3mobs. I don't see it being much different then marking 1 at a time, time wise. But i think where getting off topic.

[IndigoHawk]

Tanks lose aggro because of bad tanks, DPS, and healers.

In a recent dungeon, DPS attacked different targets even after I asked them to attack my first target and marked it. I adapted by holding aggro on 2 out of 3 enemies. I could have held all aggro if DPS were more skilled.

I mark a target if there are adds or confusion about which enemy to attack. (Using a shield lob + mark macro may be a good idea if the group has trouble coordinating.) Marking isn't necessary when DPS attack the tank's first target and assist the tank working through enemies weakest to strongest. Healers can help with aggro by waiting a bit on the first heal (to let the tank establish general aggro) and using the appropriate level of heal (to not generate unnecessary threat).

Tips
- Monitor enemy threat indicators. Ease off to avoid aggro.
- The long GCD requires coordination to avoid aggro. It may take a few seconds for the tank to complete threat skills to reclaim aggro.

[Alkimi]

For later on, try not to cast Regen on the tank before or during a pull. It works strangely in this game in that every tick of Regen generates enmity towards the WHM, so if a tank uses a ranged attack to pull a bunch of mobs you'll notice them all immediately lose interest and head your way.

Once the tank has used Flash or similar AoE ability it's fine.

[Fiosha_Maureiba]

For later on, try not to cast Regen on the tank before or during a pull. It works strangely in this game in that every tick of Regen generates enmity towards the WHM, so if a tank uses a ranged attack to pull a bunch of mobs you'll notice them all immediately lose interest and head your way.

Once the tank has used Flash or similar AoE ability it's fine.

Seconding this so much. Try to avoid using Regen on the tank toward the end of the fight. If they run into the next group of enemies, factoring in some shock factor and lag, the enemies AoE enmity will not snag the enemies in time and they'll be on you.