A question for tanks~

[Runalong]

When I first started healing back in Vanilla WoW I was taught not to heal people too quickly to avoid overhealing and therefore wasting mana. As I moved over to tanking I never really worried about my health dropping a bit as long as the healer seemed to managing OK. I guess some tanks are of a nervous disposition.

[Maelwys]

When I first started healing back in Vanilla WoW I was taught not to heal people too quickly to avoid overhealing and therefore wasting mana. As I moved over to tanking I never really worried about my health dropping a bit as long as the healer seemed to managing OK. I guess some tanks are of a nervous disposition.

But can't cautiousness occasionally be a good thing - particularly in games where Aggro control and damage mitigation are much less powerful than WoW?

Any way we slice it, not keeping the tank topped up reduces the buffer your group has between "Yawn, things are fine..." and "Oh Crikey, PANIC!".
Sometimes it doesn't matter that this buffer is reduced. Sometimes it does.

Unless your healer's Cure 1's are ridiculously powerful, there's no wasted mana in keeping the tank's HP bar at, say, 80% rather than 50%. Obviously that's an extra 30% buffer.
The Healer doesn't need to heal the Tank's every little scratch - just throw them a Cure 1 every time they're sure the HP granted from it won't overheal.

Tank and Healer Opinions will vary as to what constitutes a "safe" buffer for the type of content they're currently running. But generally-speaking a group will get the best results when the Tank is kept well topped-up unless there is a very good trust relationship between the Healer and the Tank. As another poster mentioned earlier in the thread, even on lower-difficulty content, keeping "more buffer than you need" can help because it raises the number of foes a tank feels comfortable herding for AoEs. (A good Tank generally sees their role as attempting to manage aggro for the entire team. This makes them naturally cautious, and unwilling to engage more enemies than they're 100% sure the team can manage...)

[Jahaudant]

In my group I basically run the entirety of AK at 1-2000 HP while the healer deals damage.

The first two bosses do almost no damage anyway.

[Nullie]

Thank you for your posts everyone. I was definitely not expecting to get this many. I've read all of your posts and I think I've come to the conclusion that I will continue to play the same way. I guess my post was directed more towards PLD and not WAR. As I do play differently with them.

I will also try to be a little more communicative with my tanks in random parties in the future. I do implore tanks and other damage dealers though to speak with your healer if you don't agree completely with what they are doing. If you have an issue or are unsure of the capabilities of the player, please speak to them about it. Don't complain to other people because that helps no one.

I really appreciate all of your comments on the subject. Thank you everyone~

[Shadowblind]

Erm, as a tank, if I can keep tanking and not die, I consider the healer to be doing fine.

That's it.

[EvilHippie]

People are prone to whinging in this game. When the free trial ends and the hardcores stay you will see less of this. As previously posted, if you trust your healer, and willing to take some responsibility, there is no reason to ever shit talk another player. Even if someone is bad, which i am not saying you are, you should explain to them how it is you prefer things to be done. Not just assume everyone is instantly perfect. And as a tank i don't mind getting hit a few times, hell its what I rolled a tank for. I have panic macros for a reason.

This guy was probably looking for an excuse for his own screw up.

[ShinjoDale]

I prefer my healers to focus on healing and not getting distracted by doing other things, however being kept above or at 3/5 health should cause no concern for a tank, A lot of fights in FF14 require the tank to be managing cool downs more than anything else, so if he is doing that right, he should have little concern.

It's important for tanks to realize that the healer has a lot to watch for, other party members health, AOE and boss mechanics they have to avoid all the while keeping the tank healed up. That being said if I die because a healer is also dpsing and over complicating their job; It'd tick me off pretty quick

Very situational question, I think i'd stick with " I prefer my healer to not dps". But it's up to them, their game and game time just don't let me die because you wanna over complicate your job and I won't care much.

[Stryker]

If you can keep your MP up and keep the tank from dying which it sounds like you can, do whatever you want to do. Read a magazine for all I care as long as you're still doing your job reasonably well.

Personally I haven't run AK, but when my health drops to 50% is when I start to take notice, otherwise I couldn't care less. If I don't get a heal between 30-50% hp then I start to look at my cd's to see which one I have available or I start to eye hallowed grounds.

When I reach 10% and I haven't been tossed a cure that's when I panic and figure the healer sucks. In your situation you start curing at 2/3s or 3/5ths which is at least 60% hp meaning that's plenty of time to make sure the tank doesn't die.

I say kudos to you for pushing your WHM skills to be able to keep a party healed, manage your mp, and do some extra DPS.

[ShinjoDale]

not that the wall requires a tank, or that he is really tanking..sounds like he was standing in stupid and blaming the healer in this example.

[TofuPenguin]

It really depends. If you know how the dungeon mechanics work there's nothing wrong with helping out with dmg imo, so long as you perform your designated role as priority.
I run with a WHM friend and he does the same thing often stopping to dmg mobs and bosses when he feels my HP is at a comfortable level and we haven't had a problem. Sometimes I do dip a little low but I know him well enough to trust his judgement. However, one thing I do not appreciate is him running in to aoe the mobs just as I pull (lol). He knows not to do this but usually does it just to give me a hard time.

Some tanks prefer people to stick to their designated roles and not step out of them but I think this is more of a trust issue than anything else. If they're not familiar with your playstyle and not sure how well your healing is they may be a bit finicky. I'm sure if this tank knew you better he wouldn't have behaved this way. But it's always hard to tell with people you don't know. :P