I would say that it because the tanker does not feel he can keep the agro or survive in the size mob he is faced with, or that the lay out of the map opens the possibility of surrounding being agroed. In these situations the tanker should really warn the team this is what he intends to do. It is a good tactic for the tanker to use taunt to pull IMO, it usually means a nice sized mob comes after him and can be picked off by the team and the tanker still takes agro from incoming mobs. However the tank needs a corner to hide round for it to work effectively, so the mobs don't just turn round and use their range aghast him, sometimes it can mean the tank has to retreat some distance to find a suitable hiding place. The important thing to remember is that the whole team knows this before he does it or it seems like the tank is just dragging a mob through the team.
Personally I think a lot just don't know any better.
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Personally I think a lot just don't know any better.
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Agreed.
A taunt has a maximum cap of 5 foes, right? That's kinda sucky.
Shrug.
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A taunt has a maximum cap of 5 foes, right? That's kinda sucky.
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Indeed. There's also practically nothing (other than in game experience) to tell a player that, or to let them know that there's a cap on how many enemies they can hold the aggro of at a time. So it's hardly surprising that some people don't know.
By my 50s shall ye know me:
Tundra, DVM, The Late, Neutrino Ghost, Sir Clanksalot, End Of Days, Prof. Migraine
Howler Monkey
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I see a lot of tankers that, instead of jumping in the middle of those pesky bad guys, do some kind of a weird and ugly ''tank pull'' They stay in range of the mob and then use provoke tu pull them. I , as a fire blaster, find it repulsive, nice packed crow of bad guys just turned into ar bunch of individuals that take much longer to arrest.
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If the tanker is using a standard tactic called corner pulling (where the group is bunched up at a corner) this is fine and will allow you even better damage. Otherwise no idea what they are doing.
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Personally I think a lot just don't know any better.
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Agreed.
A taunt has a maximum cap of 5 foes, right? That's kinda sucky.
Shrug.
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One thing I always wanted to ask, on the Taunts with a tohit check(Kheldian Dwarfs and Provoke)the cap is always 5?
Or is 5 people hit?
Because I clearly remember taunting a mob with my Dwarf Antagonize a second after my SK has gone to Hospital(don't say nothing..)and seeing like 8-10 'MISS' in that mob.
theres also the possibility of there being a second spawn of mobs close by who would aggro and add to the total number of adversaries. This might not be appaerant at first since this second group might start of with ranged weapons but since they stay "over there" its possible that its not obvious that you have aggroed more than the group can manage until its to late and people start faceplanting.
This second group dont even have to be close. Mobs like Nemesis both have good perception and long range weapons with their snipers. The habit of "thinning" out the groups before charging stays with the tanker even against other enemies even when its not needed as its better to be safe than sorry.
At level 10-20 or 30 this might seem unnecessary cautious but once you gain some levels, youll notice that the earlier you gain understanding as to why they act like this, the sooner you stop dieing.
trust your tank, he has a plan 
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.
Standing there taunting from afar can cause a perfectly grouped up mob (good for cones, aoes, pbaoes, debuffs etc) to splinter.
It doesnt stop people with no idea about perception from running in and it means some or most of the mob can be untaunted at any one time which is not good for highest damaging squishie.
If a mob is too close to another group, pulling the mob back from the nearest group is the safest option. Preferably to an outside corner to regain tight groupage to maximise the effects of cones, aoes, pbaoes, debuffs etc, keep control over the mob and have a wall for people to offer their knockbacks to. Columns are second best as herds can split around them but failing to be able to do either pull them back and reherd, bringing the ones that become or who are melee to the ranged.
Sometimes tankers who do often have a good idea of enemy perception may say "dont pass me" but sometimes someone does despite having a football field of space on one side to fight from and pulls the next group. This could be some scrapper who has their target on follow to keep on them and has had a blaster direct their knockback toward the next group.
I also sometimes think it must takes years for some people to master the "wait for the herding process to finish before attacking". It wouldnt surprise me if some tankers actually gave up trying to completely tank properly because of the teams they end up in, pulling to a safepoint and herding up isnt exactly hard. If i am not allowed to fulfil my tanking role with a team because they are impatient (attacking whilst i am herding) or careless (running past the tanker and straight round a blind corner without peeking) i'll go play another toon. I get instantly frustrated watching people make lvl 3 mistakes.
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.
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Personally I think a lot just don't know any better.
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Agreed.
A taunt has a maximum cap of 5 foes, right? That's kinda sucky.
Shrug.
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One thing I always wanted to ask, on the Taunts with a tohit check(Kheldian Dwarfs and Provoke)the cap is always 5?
Or is 5 people hit?
Because I clearly remember taunting a mob with my Dwarf Antagonize a second after my SK has gone to Hospital(don't say nothing..)and seeing like 8-10 'MISS' in that mob.
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Any AT with a taunt can gain the attention of a whole mob through taunting but only as many as the taunt is designed to hit will be taunted. The rest will come, but will be untaunted. The taunted ones will go for the taunter for as long as the taunt duration lasts and perhaps if unattacked. The rest will start off by looking for the taunter but suddenly could because they are untaunted and its in the AI go for anyone else they see, especially if anyone else is more forward than the taunter.
So far with my observations with antagonise, when i have seen it hit, it hits 5. When i have seen it miss it completely misses all 5. Bosses could easily undergo a lower taunt duration than a minion by my observations. But i rarely have to go into dwarf form and spend alot of my time blasting in nova.
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.
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One thing I always wanted to ask, on the Taunts with a tohit check(Kheldian Dwarfs and Provoke)the cap is always 5?
Or is 5 people hit?
Because I clearly remember taunting a mob with my Dwarf Antagonize a second after my SK has gone to Hospital(don't say nothing..)and seeing like 8-10 'MISS' in that mob.
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Trying to recall the official explanation for how missable AoE effects - including Antagonize - works, I'm pretty sure the calculations start with the centre of the AoE (the target in this case) then work outwards applying the hit check to each mob in turn. When the limit on the number of affectable mobs has been reached, or all mobs in the AoE's coverage have been checked (whichever comes first), the checks stop.
So if there were 18 mobs in the Antagonize's potential AoE you could find yourself missing 10 of them in the course of chocking up 5 hits, leaving 3 left untested because you reached the limit before the calculation engine got round to them.
First of all, even in the 10-20 range, it may be necessary. E.g., an Invuln Tanker won't even have any kind of Taunt aura before level 18, so just jumping in their middle will achieve exactly nothing. Sure, they'll start attacking the tank as it's the nearest target, but as soon as the Blaster lets it rip with a fireball, he'll get executed by firing squad.
_Also_ something people (and occasionally devs) forget is that not everyone has a level 50 alt to get a few millions from. There are genuinely new players out there, who'll only have 200-300k hard-earned inf at level 22.
What I'm getting at is that a Tanker in the 20s may not only still miss a lot of powers (e.g., maybe they don't have resistance to fire yet in a COT or even Sky Raider mission) but may actually still be on DOs too. It can be a _lot_ squishier than people assume. And a Tanker in their teens may still be on TOs.
Basically maybe they won't survive jumping in the middle of the group. If he jumps in the middle and faceplants in 5 seconds flat, you're next.
Probably the biggest curse of Tanking isn't the grind to level 20 with 1 or 2 attacks, it isn't the stamina, etc. It's the people assuming you're a granite herding machine at single digit levels.
I've had my own characters asked to do absolutely _stupid_ things like tank an 8-man level 9 Frostfire mission on Invincible... at level 6. I mean, geesh, it may have been I4, but Unyielding is level 8, Resist Energies is level 10, and it was chock-full of lead shockers. And I was supposed to jump in their middle and _herd_ them. (To make it more surrealistic, the one asking that was a Kheldian. Was he PL-ed to level 50 or what?)
And just when I think I'm done with that nightmare, comes another Frostfire on Invincible ('cause it's more xp!!!11oneeleven), this time even without a Defender in the team. Surely any Tanker should be able to just regen the scratches from the alpha strike.
It can be a right pain to even try to group in the teen levels -- make that until the 30's for people who don't get cash from another char -- because people assume the tank to do things that aren't even possible. Then act offended when reality doesn't match their fantasy.
standoff thats it mate im sure i remember a post being made about it now by bridger im sure although that may just be with aoe damage powers etc!
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.
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standoff thats it mate im sure i remember a post being made about it now by bridger im sure although that may just be with aoe damage powers etc!
[/ QUOTE ]Itäs all AoE powers the require a To-Hit check.
I see a lot of tankers that, instead of jumping in the middle of those pesky bad guys, do some kind of a weird and ugly ''tank pull'' They stay in range of the mob and then use provoke tu pull them. I , as a fire blaster, find it repulsive, nice packed crow of bad guys just turned into ar bunch of individuals that take much longer to arrest.