EonNight

During my recent work break, I missed this.

And I am now really really annoyed. Talk about stupid, nonsenesical, and buggy changes. I have reached Tanker Frustration Level Extreme Red Max . . . where I take a loooong break from all my Tankers, because, honestly, what is the point of playing them? :P

Glad my TA/A Defender is actually fun.

A quick note:

I have noticed those of us who continue to actually Tank and have posted our positive thoughts here have been ignored. I also find it strange that most of them have been Icers . . . or new players.

My viewpoint on this:

Alot of people are looking at what they *could* do in the unbalanced days of yore ( I played an INV tanker from the last bit of beta to I3, so I do not speak out of my butt there ) instead of working out how to do the job that needs to be done now. Those of us either working with tools that are weaker ( Ice Armor ) or those who do not have pre-I5 conceptions seem to have minimal problems. And if someone using the agreed upon wost set for the job can do it, then obviously, the other sets MUST be capable of Tanking for large teams and other situations.

Though doubtlessly I will be flamed and called a troll, this really is just an honest observation. I also doubt few if anyone will consider this and possibly see the potential truth of said observation. The one thing I am sure of is that this is my one and only word on the subject past my initial post (which got overrun by Statesman's well-intentioned but not very well put together post :P ). Hope it helps some.

I *am* an Ice Tanker, and my job is what it has been since I started playing at the beginning of I5 . . . tanking for a team. Small-team tanking is easy to do without any kind of Defender/Controller support . . . large teams it becomes more important, but also far more likely to have.

Generally, I start a battle either by rushing into the middle of the fray. If it looks like there are too many spawns too close, I may pull a group back with Taunt and block LoS. Either way, battles start with positioning to dropping Ice Patch. If I took a chunk of damage from the alpha, I hit Hoarfrost. When END gets lowish, I hit Energy Absorption. I usually pan out and Taunt persistent ranged foes or those that go after squishies. I do let scrappers and 'tougher' squishies, like Storm defenders, absorb aggro if they take it . . . they can absorb some extra hits. If I am taking a particular beating, I fire Taunt (if I have time), hit Hibernate, and laugh at my foes.

Is it hard? Uh. Yeah, it's hard. Is it doable? So far, yes. I've gone from 26 to 33 under I5 and slotted for ED, while generally tanking for large groups, as well as doing the Citadel and Hess TFs. I've tanked Lusca a few times. I've been SKed up and tanked for a few level 50 Carnie and Malta missions.

Sooo . . . I dunno what that means as redfining the role of the Tank. I haven't had to redefine my role yet.

Starfox's questions are the ones I want most answered. How the heck does this actually work?

I mean, is it for a team or a mission or a certain radius or per character?

Does this mean that, for instance, you are fighting a full spawn of 17, let's say, and then get close enough to be within aggro range of another spawn (like the stupidly tightly packed spawns in Oranbega maps). Do they start aggroing as mobs in your current pack drop? Or do they aggro and force ones you're already fighting to drop aggro . . . and what happens if you continue to damage those that lost aggro? Does it keep flipflopping?

I mean, I don't like herding, but untill the maps are fixed, REALLY fixed, this won't work. Just last night, in I6, I did an Oranbega mission on Heroic with a team of 6 and there were hallways with 3-6 spawns intermingled. No way to pull, nothing to do but TRY and fight through them . . . which was messy. VERY messy. I frankly couldn't tell you how the 17 cap that was in place was working . . . my screen was filled with baddies.

Basically, what I'm saying is . . . we need to know how this REALLY works. The specifics. Because it's incredibly vital with the current poorly placed spawns.