One of the things you'll find as a tanker is that lots of people get stroppy if you try and take charge of a team. Those people will usually end up face-down on the floor. Tankers take point and direct the team because they are the ones that have to manage the aggro and take the damage - nothing is worse than some muppet charging in and scattering the mobs, making it a nightmare to recover the aggro.
You'll find that running both Unyielding and Invincibility is pretty essential - you're not far off SO level (22) and a couple of End Red enhancements will help you out no end (No pun intended).
There's a reason we all get nostalgic for the old days - Tankers were real superheroes. I still remember when Silence (Stone/Mace), Johnny Fiasco (DM/DA Scrapper) and myself herded the entire Bobcat (Lv40-45 AV) mission (Minus the AV and her supporting mobs) into one massive group and dumped all our attacks onto them. Not to mention the days of 2 or 3 fire/fire tanks herding the final room of the Eden trial. Yes, we were overpowered (Although poorly balanced intra-AT) but it was fun dammit 
Now it's gone the other way, with tankers marginalised and really not required for an awful lot of the time. Aside from dealing with AVs, our role can be easily supplanted by combinations of other archetypes.
I'm glad that you're enjoying your tanking - when done right it'll certainly make a team's life much easier - it's just a shame that you've had to start now, although I suppose things can only get better 
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it was the wrong way of fun dammit
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Edited for accuracy
I don't think you can say that tankers are "marginalised" now - due to 9 months' altitis I don't have much experience of the 40s yet, but at least in the 20s and 30s, most players I team with vocally appreciate the presence of a good tanker, and when I'm forming teams I look for a tanker first and consider them the "foundation" of a good team (i.e. if the tanker leaves I will definitely look for another, or a PB or WS with tanking ability).
When I play my 21 tanker (inv/ss, all primaries fully slotted, taunt in secondary) I find that with a bit of care (e.g. occasional pulling) the team I'm in can sometimes even make do without a healing defender or controller (i.e. can work quite happily with a defender or controller with bubbles or storms and no major heals).
IOW, despite the changes, aggro management is still hugely important in the game. Things go much quicker and smoother with a good tanker.
I wouldnt say tankers rule but they are the ones that should be creating the terms for which the team should fight, no matter what AT i play i can live without one but having one (a good one) makes everyones lives alot easier.
He will honor his words; he will definitely carry out his actions. What he promises he will fulfill. He does not care about his bodily self, putting his life and death aside to come forward for another's troubled besiegement. He does not boast about his ability, or shamelessly extol his own virtues. - Sima Qian.
A good arguments for letting tankers lead is that if we run into something nasty, there's a good chance we survive. Say the team leader is a blaster and runs straight into a group with bosses. Not that good. Tankers run first, for safty reasons.
Now, tonight I had a great tanker experience. We were fighting counsil vampyrs, seven or eight people. I think I was the only tanker, though there was a warshade. Anyways, I was motivated by reading this and other posts beforehand, so I taunted, ran around, hit and switched targets, and did all I could to tank as best I could(a little hampered by the occational lag, but it didn't hit on crucial times).
I think no one were defeated in the whole mission. In the middle of the thing, I got compliments. My tanking didn't go unnoticed. It was great.
Off course, the whole team was great. The next mission we did had level 30 bosses(Totems), purple for all of us, I think. I think two people were defeated in it, though I may have missed some. Only twice was I really about to be defeated, and the healed saved me one of those times.
It was a great team and great teamwork and just great.
It's good to be a tanker when you tank good.
a good tanker does make life alot easier.... the bad ones on the other hand can cause no end of problems.
a quick thank you to all the tanks that saved my squishy controller on the way to lvl 50.
Kid Rock, Where are you?
experience from doing frostfire mission with one of my lowbie alts earlier tonight..
Somethin is wrong when a tanker LETS a controller fire off their big AoE debuff or lets a blaster open doors or fire off big balls of fire.
its SERIOUSLY wrong when said tanker WAITS for the squishies to do any of the above before they go in.. >.<
UNION
Officer Cuffz lvl 50 Inv/Nrg Tank
Badge lvl 50 dwarf/human Peacebringer
Dark Air lvl 50 Ice/Cold Corruptor
Ayre lvl 50 Storm/Elec Defender
Total Cat: @Officer Cuffz
"When I say interview, I mean engage in combat and defeat..." -Laura Brunetti, on how to deal with Warriors.
All I can say is that I agree with you.
I created my first (and only) Tank after I read this guide on the us boards.
It's quite an old guide, but even after all this time, I really think it's still very interesting to read. I really wanted to create a Tank for large groups after, and I chose Ice/Ice. Ice Primary because it looked like a challenge (but I must say I think its reputation as a weak Tanker isn't quite true, but eh, only lvl 28 so far, so my opinion may change) and Ice secondary mainly for Ice Patch and Freezing Touch, to get more control.
It's really fun to play a Tank the way it is supposed to be played, and I certainly am very happy with my Ice/Ice so far, even if soloing isn't possible (it would take too much time the way I built it)
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although I suppose things can only get better
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Let's hope so! When I'm teaming with my usual cronies and I ask which AT to bring, most of the time is my Tank, especially for the late game. It's sad to see hardly any new tanks now, but with the defence buff that we are supposedly going to get in i7 things may be on the up and up. 
@Byrne
Debtmeister General of The Plastic Army & Empire
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When I play my 21 tanker (inv/ss, all primaries fully slotted, taunt in secondary) I find that with a bit of care (e.g. occasional pulling) the team I'm in can sometimes even make do without a healing defender or controller (i.e. can work quite happily with a defender or controller with bubbles or storms and no major heals).
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My issue here is that there isn't always a defender/troller. A tank should be able to contribute in an 8 man team without a suitable defender/controller helping him. Now I have managed to do the 3rd respec with my Inv tank without dying with only a Storm controller but I can't imagine being able to do the same with my Ice tank.
@Unthing ... Mostly on Union.
Don't you think a team of 8 with only one or two defensive characters is unbalanced and supposed to have trouble? Would replacing the tanker with another scrapper or blaster make it even harder, or would it make no difference?
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Don't you think a team of 8 with only one or two defensive characters is unbalanced and supposed to have trouble? Would replacing the tanker with another scrapper or blaster make it even harder, or would it make no difference?
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Nope, the whole thing about CoH is that *any* team makeup should be viable - some might be harder than others (8 DMs vs CoT, for example), but they're still viable.
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I don't see how a team of 8 with a tank and 7 scrappers/blasters is any less viable than 8 DMs vs CoT
Once a tank, always a tank!!!
Ive got tank in my blood
Ive found the Tanker AT to be the most enjoyable AT to play since starting city of heroes over a year ago. Ive never really got as good a feeling playing any other AT. When you get "In the Zone" in a mission you do feel invulnerable, no matter what powers you have.
Id have to admit i like dieing in the fight more than suriving (but only if I am the one who dies and not others)... I dont know what it is, it just feels so heroic to make that one last stand... thats why on countless occasions i make it a priority to be the last one to leave the fight... even if im fudged from the very beginning...
You might call me crazy but I love taking the alpha strike in a fight... before i got energy transfer, everytime it happened to me i smiled and knew this mob would be finished within the minute... but once i got energy transfer i felt the power, I was returning the alpha strike, I still cringe when I see Lucius's fists light up and hammer into some poor bosses face, Ive even got to the point of saying out loud to the enemy "If you dont kill me instantly your forked, (and yes i say fork 
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Tanks make me feel powerful and thats why i love them
And i say again
Once a Tank, Always a Tank!!!
oh and all tanks should know this
"Pain is an illusion of the mind!"
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I dont know what it is, it just feels so heroic to make that one last stand... thats why on countless occasions i make it a priority to be the last one to leave the fight... even if im fudged from the very beginning...
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OFT!!!! Best bit about being a tanker imho: 'RUN! I'll hold them off!!!' and everyone makes it away. Brilliant feeling knowing you're the only thing stopping a wipe...
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You might call me crazy but I love taking the alpha strike in a fight...
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Its a good job you enjoy it since it's kinda our job
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Tanks make me feel powerful and thats why i love them
And i say again
Once a Tank, Always a Tank!!!
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Once again, QFT!!!
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"Pain is an illusion of the mind!"
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You've seen Frighteners too many times :P
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I dont know what it is, it just feels so heroic to make that one last stand... thats why on countless occasions i make it a priority to be the last one to leave the fight... even if im fudged from the very beginning...
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OFT!!!! Best bit about being a tanker imho: 'RUN! I'll hold them off!!!' and everyone makes it away. Brilliant feeling knowing you're the only thing stopping a wipe...
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Except that those poor sods never run when you tell them to :/
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I dont know what it is, it just feels so heroic to make that one last stand... thats why on countless occasions i make it a priority to be the last one to leave the fight... even if im fudged from the very beginning...
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OFT!!!! Best bit about being a tanker imho: 'RUN! I'll hold them off!!!' and everyone makes it away. Brilliant feeling knowing you're the only thing stopping a wipe...
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Except that those poor sods never run when you tell them to :/
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With my tanker hat on, it's my duty to go down with the ship, so to speak, so that the others can all escape unharmed.
However, with my defender hat on, it's my duty to try to keep everyone alive to the last and will often stay and do my best to keep the tank (or whoever) alive for as long as I can - even if they're telling me to run.
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If I yell RUN when I'm tanking its usually because i'm about to die or Hibernate to run myself.
I really should do something about this signature.
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I dont know what it is, it just feels so heroic to make that one last stand... thats why on countless occasions i make it a priority to be the last one to leave the fight... even if im fudged from the very beginning...
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OFT!!!! Best bit about being a tanker imho: 'RUN! I'll hold them off!!!' and everyone makes it away. Brilliant feeling knowing you're the only thing stopping a wipe...
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Except that those poor sods never run when you tell them to :/
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With my tanker hat on, it's my duty to go down with the ship, so to speak, so that the others can all escape unharmed.
However, with my defender hat on, it's my duty to try to keep everyone alive to the last and will often stay and do my best to keep the tank (or whoever) alive for as long as I can - even if they're telling me to run.
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when i got my defender hat, which rarely occurs, i take the commissar approach to a team, "Stand and fight or you will be shot!!!"
It makes me mad when i see a fellow tank run with his tail between his legs
I can really enjoy my tank, once in a team. The tricky part is getting into a team. IMHO I no longer think the tank is a godsend in a team, nor is the controller or defender but I feel most heroes would rather go for the (more obvious) defender then the tank. Maybe it's just bad luck on my part but it usually takes me a long time to find a team. I hardly start my own team tho, part of that is to blame to my missions (which are old) but mostly it's the fact I'm lazy . I'd rather join a team which evoles in a great team over time, then to start one myself, possibly missing the teamup possiblity which you can't predict.
I feel more or less the same as what Lucius said, great fun to be the only thing between the death of your teammate's.
And yes, I'm jealous at your Energy Transfer, lvl 31 so far so I'll have to be alittle more patient .
I don't think it helps that there are a lot of bad tanks, whereas anyone can spam heals and look like they're being effective with a defneder.
I've been on teams where people have congratulated the defender for "Good healing" while in reality they were just standing there with Healing Aura on auto and occasionally using Heal Other. If a tank is [censored], it's a lot more obvious.
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I don't think it helps that there are a lot of bad tanks, whereas anyone can spam heals and look like they're being effective with a defneder.
I've been on teams where people have congratulated the defender for "Good healing" while in reality they were just standing there with Healing Aura on auto and occasionally using Heal Other. If a tank is [censored], it's a lot more obvious.
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This is very true
Ive even been kicked from a team because of the poor performance of a defender/controller or AKA the "Healer"... just because the poor "healer" offered an immediate and apparent benefit to the team in the short term,they decided to kick the, and yes ill be modest , good tank instead... got me so angry i couldnt stop laughing... i timed how long it would take to get reinvited... it wasnt even longer than 10 mins... but happily declined
I think when it comes to team make up you can tell if the a tank at heart, if
A, They are the tanker and lead the group like a true tanker would
B, Or the leaders tactics revolve around the tanker in the team, ive been in teams and have turned out to be the one that controls how the team works, but a true "tank at heart" leader will be able to control the tanker,and the team, without annoying anyone...
Just something ive noticed... might be a load of rubbish but i appreciate this so much when i see it
Plus im not saying these are the best team leaders, im just saying that imo they are the best "Tank at heart" leaders
My highest level character is a Defender, and I always love to team up with good tankers. Fact is, I cannot heal and fight at the same time, since I have kinetics, so my capacity to heal is linked to the tanker having the most of the enemies to attack him instead of me... So I can heal him continuously while he kicks enemies' [censored]
A good tanker and a good defender make a great team, imho, and should always try to work together
I've just joined your ranks. I'm loving my Fire/Fire, I've never been fond of Fire sets, but a good character concept and idea and ofcourse my SG mates sneakily convincing me to brake my rule and make a Alt had me taking up the tank.
I love it, I was always trying to tank with my defender, but now I get to BE the Tank standing in the front line!
The night before last I tanked properly for the first time. Id not played the game until about 3 weeks ago so the ED nerf didnt really affect me. Heroes talking about the good old days simply reminded me of old people going on about how they didnt used to have to lock their doors
Now level 20, I had solod pretty much all the way up to 16 apart from a couple of times Id teamed with my brother (a fire/fire) blaster, when it wasnt so much tanking as scranking.
I got an invite to tank the Synapse Task Force so I accepted and met up with my team (3 controllers, a PB and a scrapper) in Skyway City and off we went.
The PB was only level 18ish and had not yet got dwarf form. One of the trollers SKd me up from 16 to 19 (I think he was auto-exemp down to 20 as well) and the other ranged in level from 16-19. One of the trollers had some healing powers, which was great and throughout the TF he did an amazing job, considering it wasnt his forte. One of the trollers had an awesome power which summoned 3 decoys (I think he was an illusionist but Im not entirely sure) which really helped out in some sticky situations where we aggrod too much and it looked like we might wipe.
For the first few door missions things went smoothly, apart from one of the trollers super-speeding into everything (which caused a team wipe twice throughout the whole TF VERY annoying). I used taunt, I jumped around like a mad man gathering aggro, and I even used handclap, which up till that point I regretted taking, to knock people over and get them off my team.
I died a couple of times, which usually caused a couple of other folks who couldnt escape in time to faceplant but generally things went really well and I felt like I was the only thing stopping us from dying on multiple occasions. During the course of the TF I went up to level 18 and got Invincibility, but found that running that and unyielding against the clockwork was suicide as my End dropped faster than a cheap ******, so mostly I ran toggle free.
I was tanking well and really enjoying it until the PB hit level 20 and got dwarf. Then I found it very difficult to maintain aggro as my end was dropping fast compared to his which didnt seem to drop at all, so he kind of took over as off tank which made things easier for me but at the same time made me feel a bit redundant.
We finally got to the Clockwork King who was a level 20 purple rated Arch Villain and I tanked him really well. He hit me damn hard a couple of times, which caused me to panic, but luckily our healing controller was ready to save my butt! The ONLY person to drop below ¾ health during the whole fight was me from what I saw and it made me feel so proud when he dropped and we got Mission Complete!
Im proud to be a Tanker I really did feel as though I was the wall, stopping the team from dying. Someone moaned about me taking point and acting like I was in charge but luckily the more experienced players pointed out that if I didnt go first, theyd all probably die, which again made me feel proud.
So a big thanks to Chloride for sking me and conjuring those kick [censored] decoys, Capt. Europe for getting dwarf and helping me tank and Doc Rockerfellow for being a healing guru! Sorry if I spelt your names wrong!
So to conclude, Tankers rule!