Bashara2008-03-26 22:08:12
Let me preface this by saying that I loooooove tanking. Playing or building a massive, armor clad juggernaut is just my kind of thing. Pretty much every MMORPG character that I've played that was a fighter (which is about 95% of them) has been defensively focused with abilities that allow him to retaliate.
Consider this: a fully buffed (all applicable enchantments and passive buffs from skills), full Trans Necro+Bonecrusher+Resilience+Magic+Combat+Discipline+Forging Orclach Demigod Ur'Guard clad in Forging runed fullplate with an additional lvl 1 health regen rune + lvl 1+2 mana regen rune + 15% health rune + Absorbtion rune + Life blessing wielding a flail in one hand, a greatshield in the other, spamming Rebound, Puer, Puella, and the basic healing herbs/potions while focusing solely on adjusting parry+stances+Defensive combatstyle.
Conversely, you could take a character of similar skillrank+armour+weapons, substitue Necro for Night (an Ebonguard), and instead spam Nightkiss+rebound+healing items.
You get the idea. Instead of taking the obvious route of being a beatstick warrior, you take the 'brick' path and be a tanker. The above examples are just completely over the top combinations of every top level DR and health buff in the game that I can think of, but the core idea is taking a Bonecrusher (or a Blademaster, they have Coule) to full Trans Combat for the insta-shieldriposte and don't attack, simply let your stancing+parrying maximize your chances to get a Riposte with your flail (for high wounds), which has the possibility of stunning or KD+stunning the target, in addition to the shieldriposte's stunning effect.
It's obvious that this idea has huge flaws, especially in PvP. A lone tanker will simply be avoided or teamed. A tanker in the middle of a group PvP battle is useless when the idea is to cause massive focus fire in order to remove priority targets. However, it has some possibility of being effective as a way of simply surviving a 1v1 battle that has gone against you until you can either escape or call in the cavalry. Not to mention that pretty much everyone hates fighting an opponent where the battle basically turns into you bashing your head against a brick wall. It's a classic example of war tactics: wear your enemy down, frustrate them, let them make mistakes.
It could also have an application in the case of team mobs (Undervault, etc), where the toughest person in a party is designated as the tanker while the rest of the party cleans house. However, the people usually designated as tanks are simply of a higher level or they have a higher skillrank, better armor, whatever. Despite this passive advantage in DR, most people are built for offensive combat, and tankers still actively participate in the fight.
Anyway, I just thought I'd throw this out there. What're your thoughts, suggestions?
Consider this: a fully buffed (all applicable enchantments and passive buffs from skills), full Trans Necro+Bonecrusher+Resilience+Magic+Combat+Discipline+Forging Orclach Demigod Ur'Guard clad in Forging runed fullplate with an additional lvl 1 health regen rune + lvl 1+2 mana regen rune + 15% health rune + Absorbtion rune + Life blessing wielding a flail in one hand, a greatshield in the other, spamming Rebound, Puer, Puella, and the basic healing herbs/potions while focusing solely on adjusting parry+stances+Defensive combatstyle.
Conversely, you could take a character of similar skillrank+armour+weapons, substitue Necro for Night (an Ebonguard), and instead spam Nightkiss+rebound+healing items.
You get the idea. Instead of taking the obvious route of being a beatstick warrior, you take the 'brick' path and be a tanker. The above examples are just completely over the top combinations of every top level DR and health buff in the game that I can think of, but the core idea is taking a Bonecrusher (or a Blademaster, they have Coule) to full Trans Combat for the insta-shieldriposte and don't attack, simply let your stancing+parrying maximize your chances to get a Riposte with your flail (for high wounds), which has the possibility of stunning or KD+stunning the target, in addition to the shieldriposte's stunning effect.
It's obvious that this idea has huge flaws, especially in PvP. A lone tanker will simply be avoided or teamed. A tanker in the middle of a group PvP battle is useless when the idea is to cause massive focus fire in order to remove priority targets. However, it has some possibility of being effective as a way of simply surviving a 1v1 battle that has gone against you until you can either escape or call in the cavalry. Not to mention that pretty much everyone hates fighting an opponent where the battle basically turns into you bashing your head against a brick wall. It's a classic example of war tactics: wear your enemy down, frustrate them, let them make mistakes.
It could also have an application in the case of team mobs (Undervault, etc), where the toughest person in a party is designated as the tanker while the rest of the party cleans house. However, the people usually designated as tanks are simply of a higher level or they have a higher skillrank, better armor, whatever. Despite this passive advantage in DR, most people are built for offensive combat, and tankers still actively participate in the fight.
Anyway, I just thought I'd throw this out there. What're your thoughts, suggestions?
Unknown2008-03-27 18:11:24
The idea in group combat may well be to gain attention. Attack mobs, if there happen to be any in the room, to draw them off the fighters. Use hindering abilities to annoy your opponents, or completely block them from retreating and force as many of them as possible to fight you. Use roomwide attacks. Be as much of a pain to as many people as possible.
Bashara2008-03-28 00:12:04
QUOTE(Folkien @ Mar 27 2008, 06:11 PM) 496511
The idea in group combat may well be to gain attention. Attack mobs, if there happen to be any in the room, to draw them off the fighters. Use hindering abilities to annoy your opponents, or completely block them from retreating and force as many of them as possible to fight you. Use roomwide attacks. Be as much of a pain to as many people as possible.
You can already tank in pve if the group you're with waits for you to attack first. I've been looking into lots of different skills for things I can do outside of just axing people. I recently Trans'd Riding, now just working on getting a Beastmaster's collar for a permanent mount. Trample is the only roomwide attack I have now ever since Axelord lost Whirlwind.
