Thread: The Constants and Etiquettes of Tanking

I realize the game isn't out yet, therefor knowing exactly the way things will operate is beyond impossible yet, but you can still contemplate this from other games released in the past. I just wanted to share what is important to me as a tank when playing games, and what seems to be the shared vision among the several RPG's I've played that have incorporated tanking classes in some shape or another.

Purpose
The purpose of a tank is to maintain the attention of the enemy or group of enemies, while keeping those enemies in a position where the damage dealers (DPS) can kill your targets and your healers can keep you and your party alive while taking minimal damage due to area of effect abilities your target(s) might possess.


Stats and Gear Expectations
It is typically expected that everyone knows what they are doing and how to maximize the effectiveness of their class and role, but unfortunately in the gamer world, we are surrounded by a discouragingly large consensus of people who really don't care. In easier content in most games, this won't necessarily matter, but when it comes to larger and more difficult encounters, it is far more important.

Tanks and healers, on the other hand, if they aren't set up effectively, can completely wreck the encounter. If a tank can't take the damage, or if the healer can't maintain their supply of resources, it almost doesn't matter how effective your DPS is because they are going to get killed before they can even get started. Tanks are even more responsible for how they are set up, because if they can't produce enough of a threat for the enemy to stay on them, it's going to be a bad day anyway (No confirmed information has been released as far as I've seen on how tanks maintain threat in TOR, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong).

With this in mind, it's imperative that tanks research how they should gear up for any encounter they might go on, as well as making sure their stats are up to par, and that they have the proper talents in play. If you are dying quickly, it is more often than not your own fault. If you are dying slowly, as are your team mates, it is also your fault. When it comes to the success of multiplayer RPG's, all responsibility lies first on the player volunteering themselves as a tank, because in the world of MMO's, it's usually the tanks fault. A good tank can compensate for a bad healer and even poor DPS (hopefully not your whole group, otherwise you'd have to be a god), other roles have a more difficult time with that.

Judging by the information available, a tank in TOR will need Endurance as well as Agility (Ranged tanking) or Strength (Melee Tank).


Leadership
As mentioned previously, responsibility should fall on the tank. Therefor, they should be the group leader in almost every way. That doesn't mean they should start every group, but once a group is formed (if it wasn't) should be passed to the tank to get things going. Some people might disagree with this, but I've found it much easier in my own endeavors with pickup groups (PUG's) if I have the reigns once it's go time. This way, I can command what needs to be done, such as which mobs need to go down first, and present the group with the strategies they should be following so that we all don't die.

This being said, the tank should always be the one to lead the charge. I'll elaborate more in the following sections.


Etiquette Expected From Tanks
Tanks are expected to be leaders in group settings, therefor they are expected to be quick in both actions and thought. You should progress as fast as you are comfortable going, but try not to push your party too hard, because as much as it might suck, you are going to go as slow as your slowest member. The healer of your party is the most important, as staying alive and going through the encounter slowly is better than wiping every few pulls or at least having a member die every other pull. That being said, don't be rude about the speed of the party, as it is a major turnoff to spend time with people who are in too much of a rush to get things done. While I take my gaming very seriously, it is just that. A game. Not everyone plays to get world firsts, and if you are playing in a PUG or a newly formed group of which not everyone knows everyone else's playstyle to a tee, it is easy to gain a bad first impression and lose party members.

Also, don't give off the impression that you are the best thing since sliced bread. More often than not, there are better players on your own server, and it would be a shame to be humbled in a more aggressive fashion.


Etiquette Towards Tanks
This section is for people who aren't tanks who just happen to be reading this, as well as ideas in how to handle a few situations that newer tanks might appreciate (experienced alike).

If you are in a group and your tank is either new or is a bit slower than you would like, keep the comments to yourself, unless of course you are the healer and know you can keep up if he were to speed up (you REALLY got to know your own abilities and be able to judge others, it took me a while to get to this point with some of my toons in some games). If that's the case, be polite about it. Tanks are a rare commodity in most games, and even though they might be competing for my job, I don't want to see them discouraged and quit because they were never given the proper chance. As experienced as I am, I've been in games where I've been tanking content I wasn't quite comfortable with, or had a healer I wasn't quite comfortable with who wasn't keeping me topped off as much as I would have liked, and have been very rudely demanded to speed up by an individual in the group. If it's a healer that does this, I tend to tell them to calm down and explain that I'm not comfortable with going faster, and if that doesn't work, I'll grab an extra mob or group and see if this healer is worth their salt after all. More often than not, it leads to a wipe and either the healer humbly apologizes or they just leave. One less douche bag to worry about. In the cases where a DPS is rude, I'll typically grab a mob and be rather lax about my threat, leaving the mob to go after that DPS. A good DPS pays attention to the speed of their tank, and can maintain their speed of DPS accordingly to make sure to not overpower the tank, poor DPS and / or DPS in a hurry...do not. Same as before, I usually either get an apology, or they leave. I've always been considered an exceptional tank, and have tanked some of the hardest content that some games have to offer successfully. I don't need someone telling me to go faster. I've developed a very superb knack for judging the capabilities of a group as a whole.

Also, people have a tendency for always blaming the tank. Yes, a lot of failures is at the fault of the tank, and there are a lot more bad tanks than good ones, but regardless, tanking is a rather selfless role and should be respected. It's not as fun to most people than to see big numbers and destroy things. DPS: You should be able to tell quickly into grouping with the tank how good he is at holding threat, and how much you should hold back on your DPS. If you keep getting aggro, it's still your fault, no matter how much the tank sucks. Wait until the tank gets a good grip on the enemies before unleashing the force within for gods sake. If they lose it after that, THEN you can laugh in your head and feel better about yourself. Healers: If you can't keep the tank up no matter how hard you try, either you or the tank aren't efficient enough for the encounter. End the encounter now, because it's not going to go well no matter what happens. If you are doing what you can to keep the tank alive, and are having enemies come after you because you are causing more of a stir than the tank is, it's time to find a new tank.

Again, these are thoughts from a collective of MMO's, so it might or might not be the case when this game comes out, but I would definitely consider it more likely than not.

Very nicely written, JD. I've actually started playing WoW a few days ago, and have been playing a druid. I figured if I did that I'd know who to turn to for help Anyway, I'm already level 33, and have been healing the whole way. I'm glad you posted this, as now I have something to look forward to now, and even more when TOR comes out.

WoW is easy nowadays. As in...almost too easy. If you need help I might be able to help you, but I haven't played since last July, and they've completely changed nearly everything since then, especially with Cataclysm coming out. Hopefully, this game will provide a completely different, and far more challenging aspect in both tanking and healing, and I'll be doing everything I can to stay right on top of the curve, if not ahead of it.

Originally Posted by jd-inflames

WoW is easy nowadays. As in...almost too easy. If you need help I might be able to help you, but I haven't played since last July, and they've completely changed nearly everything since then, especially with Cataclysm coming out. Hopefully, this game will provide a completely different, and far more challenging aspect in both tanking and healing, and I'll be doing everything I can to stay right on top of the curve, if not ahead of it.

Wow was incredibly easy back in the WOTLK days. I can't imagine how easy it is now!

I was a paladin tank and my guild was ranked world 12th. Those were the days, when tanking was slightly challenging, however, the gear we could unlock made encounters way too easy unfortunately.

Anyway, I hope you guys are enjoying cata.

Another great and useful post by the way. Especially for people new to MMOs or tanking.

I haven't even LOOKED at Cataclysm yet, and pray I never do. I quit shortly before ICC was released, and was in one of the top guilds on Skullcrusher-US as a healing druid, and before that I was tanking with my druid. Before I quit, I was in the top 10 of overall healers on my server gear wise, and one of the top feral druids gear wise. TOR really has my attention now, and I just can't see myself going back.

I'm exactly the same. Once me and my guild downed the LK I decided to quit for good and haven't even looked back after playing since vanilla. TOR is going to be insanely good and I can't wait for release. An MMO has never got my attention in this magnitude, ever!

I can't wait for this game out, it will be a good replacement for wow, which is overpopulated with babies nowadays.

Now that I'm a bit deeper in the game, I can definitely relate to what you guys are saying. Strategically, almost every battle is the same, and as a healer, I get very little to do. Hopefully this game will be an end all to this problem.

I've played wow for 4 years now 3 of those tanking but my guild finally broke up and i've had my eye on this game since then. It's looking great and i can't wait to start tanking as a trooper. I love tanking, it's a great feeling to have control of the situation and help people progress through a tough encounter, also people always need a tank for a group.

Absolutely, and from how the flashpoint videos and strategies from PAX are looking, it seems more and more important for a 4 man flashpoint to have not only an off-tank, but perhaps an off-healer as well. Considering the average group is so small, I'm glad that it will increase the usefulness of the pure tanking build enthusiasts, because it's looking like it's going to need it.

I'm still a bit mixed on ranged tanking, even the people who have played the game at PAX are marginally confused by it it seems. I suppose only time will tell.

Love the write-up JD!!!

I think that deserves to be linked or re-produced in public forums across the MMO spectrum of games. I for one will be linking it on my guilds website and trying to get more traffic here on these forums. Great job!!!

I have played a few MMO's in my time and I have played in many different roles. Since you guys were refering to WoW already I will stay with that and share my thoughts about that game. I started playing about 3 years ago on a Druid. After repeated attempts by my friends to get me on Wow, I finally gave in and tried the 10-day trial version. I was hooked and played for a good 2 years straight. During those 2 years, I tried tanking and healing on the druid and finally settling on balance as my main spec. I tanked on a pally and a DK and I can tell you that everything that you wrote in this post is spot on mate.

I do not play WoW anymore after leveling 6 different toons to 80+ because SWTOR has me pumped for it's release. I cannot wait to get on the trooper to experience what I saw in the video for Taral V flashpoint from PaX. I like the idea of a ranged tank and I want to see just how many mobs a trooper tank might be able to keep threat up on.

That, and the BFG's!!!

Thanks for the kind words. I've posted this on the official forum here and got a LOT of response. I could write about tanking in other games all day, but I prefer to hold off until I know more about TOR to try and stay on focus. Like you, I played a Druid in WoW, and deeply loved it (it was the only reason I stayed playing so long). I quit about a year ago, and now that this game is on its way, there's no reason whatsoever to start back up.

Exactly...I stopped playing about 4 months ago for just about the same reason. WoW has gotten to easy and it has stopped being a challenge for me. I did level my hunter to 85 and made a Worgen Warrior to see what that was all about.

SWTOR will be the last MMO I buy...and I will play it until they shut the servers down or I die, whatever comes first, lol!!!

I'm not going to say anything to that extreme, but it will be the next MMO I buy, and I intend to push it to the max. I just hope this one doesn't turn out like Galaxies in the end.

I cant tell u how many times ive run into the douchebag that wants you to go faster than the group and or he/she is even capable of handling! i love to go as fast as humanly possible when raiding/dungeon running, but there are factors that just CANNOT be ignored. only the tank will be able to know how fast the group can move, even if only because the tank his/herself is plain uncomfortable with moving forward. And until they start making a dps class that can handle the dmg mitigation that is required for successful tanking, the dps will just have to deal with the less than ideal grouping situation.... And to those dps that just cant handle it and want to QQ about it... KISS MY HAIRY WHITE A$$

Tanks are like the Quaterbacks and Offensive line all rolled into one. Direct people what to do and how fast to do it, AND keep them all safe.

Originally Posted by Brooklyn

Tanks are like the Quaterbacks and Offensive line all rolled into one. Direct people what to do and how fast to do it, AND keep them all safe.

Well said.

This thread is nearly a year old, but is timeless in content. Very well said. Having rolled tank since Sept '06, I've witnessed nearly every conveivable action or move (and quilty of plenty of noob moves myself lol = OT, first run in Kara - MT marks X over targ "Lor(winkster), you will take the X k?" Bam, I break away from the raid and go straight to the X and LOL - immediately across Vent "What the he**!??" lol - WIPE" Thank you Lorwinkster!! :P OMG what a noob I was! still am but you are right on man! good stuff - I've theorycrafted for years, dumped tons of rl money into one game, and will now say goodbye to x6 85's. Bringing my 19 yo daughter w/ me! Tank and heals! She's been playing w/ me since that time too and grew tired of the other one just as LK launched and now - we truly enjoy playing SWTOR. First post - Looking forward to learning from you all!!

You're right, this post is getting old Even playing now, I'd still say it applies for the most part except the obvious wrong information (stuff that was changed throughout development such as Agilitiy (lol)).

Also, it's worth making mention that tanking in TOR isn't quite the mindless thing it is in WoW for example. Every role (not just tanking) takes though to get through, which I find to be a very good thing. When you get to end game content, the enrage timers on bosses are so short that you don't really have time to let the DPS take it easy, so you really have to frontload your threat in this one, which on a Juggernaut / Guardian can be incredibly tricky.