Sequestration? I don't care.

Hi all, I just thought I'd offer up my opinion on this whole "sequestration" thing. Many of you have run with me on dozens of successful BAF's now, and therefore know that I don't give a crap about sequestration, and have seen me tell the league members as much. But inevitably, there's someone in the league that says something along the lines of "please remember to back away if you see the 2 warnings on you so the rest of us don't get held." My standard reply when this happens is "LOL," and usually one of my regular league-mates will say "WEI doesn't bother!" which always brings a smile to my face.

The handful of BAF's I've been on that have failed, did so because of the escapees phase. I have yet to be on a BAF that failed because I didn't back away prior to being sequestered.

Why? Because I trust my regular league-mates. They know their roles, and they do things right. What happens during sequestration with a good league is that when we get held, the range players spam buffs and heals (and blasts), while we melee-types stand there and enjoy the comfort of a few seconds rest. LOL

The thing is, I take my role as a tank (often the lead tank) seriously, and to me that means I get aggro, and I keep aggro. I take the hard knocks so my buddies don't have to. If you're concerned about being held for a few seconds, then you shouldn't be/stay in melee.

Please remember, this is just my opinion, and in no way am I trying to say that I do it the right way, or, for that matter, that there even is a right way. What I am saying is that this is how I roll, and if, as they say, you can't stand the heat, then get outta the kitchen!

Interesting choice. I disagree and find it way more fun to try to avoid the AOE negative effect on my team as opposed to blindly button mashing and then taking a few seconds break when I get myself, 3 scrappers, 1 blapper, and a kin held because I was too proud to press wasd.

That is just my opinion.

Your "role" as a tank that you say you take seriously is to protect your team from enemy effects. That may sometimes mean doing something other than standing next to an AV and mashing attack keys and taunt. Your role as a tank does not seem like it should be "screw you guys, don't want to be mezzed, don't stand next to the guy who doesn't want to bother pressing wasd."

Its fine that you don't care if you get 7 other people held too. I agree that in most cases a league can just muscle through it anyway. But why not simply press wasd for a few seconds and actually tank the enemy instead of scrapping?

That's funny his "button mashing" has never had ANY problems taking down the AVs. Whereas I have been on a couple of BAFs that have failed at the AVs, seems to me WEI has done something other than just "button mashing".

There is no need to come on the forums and try to bash other people for absolutely no reason. Take that attitude to Freedumb, it might fit in there.

"A true hero has the strength to stand against evil
without wavering where all others despair,
even if it means standing alone." - Kragothe Valour

As long as your league-mates understand the stragtegies ahead of time there should be no problems.

This is similar to my opinion on Lambda, with the main gate. Some people insist on keeping it closed. I have no problem opening the gate. My opinion is by this stage in the game everyone should know the basics of aggro. If they don't they shoulod not be doing these trials.

If you are in the courtyard and have aggro, stay in the courtyard. Die there if you must.

If you are outside the walls don't attack anything, wait to summon pets until you are inside so a quirky AI won't lead them out.

Personally I don't see a reason to take any time off. I usually take the 2nd warning as the time to switch over to beating on the boss spawns for a bit. 10 seconds of that and you can return to the AVs with no rings.

As an almost exclusively ranged player, I simply watch the screen and see things like "2nd warning WEI". Then I make sure I'm nowhere near him when the 3rd one goes off, and then I switch to heal mode (if capable) or just keep up DPS.

It's nice to have a tank/scrapper/brute looking out for my well being and getting out of there before I get held, but it is ultimately MY RESPONSIBILITY to pay attention to what is going on and keeping myself safe.

It doesn't hurt that I am a sole-less villain and expect to have to look for myself.

Sequestration means, to me, a few things.

First, you are getting aggro from the AV. Usually, this is a very good thing. However, with the hold, a few other things are going to happen:
A) People who rely on movement for part of their defense or what-have-you are going to get curb-stomped by Siege.
B) ALL Melee DPS will cease in and around the offending aggro-haver.
C) Ranged DPS may be off-set by spamming heals/buffs/shields etc. to prevent situation A above from happening.

You are a tank. Your job, as I see it, is to be a meat shield. YOU defend and they attack. If you do not defend them, they die. Yes, the onus is on the others to check and recheck their surroundings in case a tank falls. But, when you aren't down, rather you are asleep at the wheel, then things CAN derail.

I LOVE having aggro. What I do, when I see a second warning from another tank/brute/etc., is I TAUNT THE AV OFF OF THEM. THAT is my JOB. I would hope that another tank/brute/etc., would see the second warning for me and do likewise.

It is our job. Meatshield, defend, protect, draw aggro, THEN kill.

Gotta agree with Strato on this one. I've tanked BAF may times, and it's ridiculously easy to pass the aggro back and forth with another tank/brute or two. I actually find it's a fun little mini-game in the middle of an otherwise boring AV beat-down. There's no reason to be sequestered in the first place.

A sequestered tank, even if she's backed off and not gotten her teammates mezzed, is still a useless tank.


And no Wei Jun, that doesn't mean I won't run BAFs with you.

I have to agree with Strato, I believe firmly that a tanker's primary purpose is to protect the team... that most definitely includes preventing them from being mezzed. When you're tanking those two AV's PLEASE have the common courtesy to at least move back when you get a second warning so nobody else gets sequestered.

I'm very serious about tanking; I'm very serious about managing aggro. However I'm serving nobody's interest by being sequestered and I'm actively sabotaging the team by getting others sequestered along with me. The metric of "well we succeeded in the trial" is a pointless claim; I have NEVER done a failed BAF in over 50 runs. Therefore sure, you can succeed even with bad tactics. That doesn't mean that those tactics are suddenly good however, just that the task is easy enough and the rest of the league is strong enough to make up for it.

Most BAF trials I've run have had multiple tanks and the AV's just don't hit hard enough to seriously threaten a well built tank. You trade the aggro; as one tanker gets the second warning he jumps away to handle the reinforcements while another takes over the aggro. Doing this leads at WORST to the first tanker getting sequestered away from everyone else and most often it allows you to take up the aggro of the adds thus helping the group dealing with them. When the rings fade from you it's time to go back to the AV's and take over from the other tanker who's probably on his second warning and needing to get out.

Based on Unbound's statements I know that on his BAF runs I can't count on him to keep the team unsequestered so I'll have to adapt my tactics accordingly. If I'm running CMA I'll attempt to swipe the aggro or at least be out of sequester range so I can snag it after he gets himself and his team held. If I'm on a scrapper I'll make damn sure I'm out of melee after I see that second warning on him. Yeah, it'll cut my damage on the AV but that's better than being completely sidelined until the hold wears off. I may have never been a Marine but I know how to improvise, adapt and overcome so I can modify my tactics to the situation.

Bottom line is that the trials are easy enough to overcome even with poor tanking (and yes, just standing in melee by your teammates and getting them held instead of at least moving away from everyone else is poor tanking)... but just because you can succeed with poor tactics doesn't mean that you SHOULD. I've run many BAF's with Strato and we rarely have anyone sequestered and it's very rare that anyone on the AV team faceplants because the tankers trade aggro as needed. As a bonus it's also rare that the reinforcement team faceplants because one of the off tanks will be managing that aggro while waiting for the red rings to fade.

First off I would like to say thank you to everyone who has replied. This is exactly the sort of conversation/discussion I was hoping to engage here. I really wanted to hear peoples honest opinions about this - especially in regards to how big of a deal this sequestration seems to be. So, keeping that in mind, last night I had the opportunity to join a pug and have two successful BAFs with them. I was the only tank, but thankfully there were 3 or 4 brutes. There was no designated group to deal with the reinforcement spawns either.

So I followed everyone's advice (from this thread) and off-tanked. I stayed in melee with the AVs, taunted the incoming spawns, until the second seq. warning, at which time I shield charged into the adds and stayed there to hold their aggro, and the additional reinforcements as they came. League-mates were quick to support and deal out the dmg to take the adds down. All the while I kept an eye on the Seige/Nightstar battle just in case, but there were no issues whatsoever, the brutes and other melee types held/shared the AVs aggro very well, and the league took them down without incident.

I actually quite enjoyed this "good tactic" or "better tactic" or whatever you want/prefer to call it. I'm tank enough to admit when I'm wrong...and I still don't think I am. LOL

It's a game. It's all fun. And ultimately, if the majority consensus of my league-mates is that they want me to get out of AV aggro to avoid sequestration, so be it. I just want everyone to have a good time. Sometimes I think people take this game far too seriously.

PS - have to admit being called a bad/poor tank no less than 2 dozen times in the same thread has me feeling pretty ticked off, so don't be surprised to find a big, grumpy-as-hell white tiger knocking on your door looking for a little one-on-one button mashing. It's a joke people! *sheesh* lighten up. LOL

Yeah, the words "very serious" should never be used when talking about a video game involving super heroes... I mean really? lol!

Joking aside though I have a question, can decoys get sequestered?

"A true hero has the strength to stand against evil
without wavering where all others despair,
even if it means standing alone." - Kragothe Valour

No idea - I'm pretty sure I've seen pets get sequestered. But decoys are unaffected no?

Have you noticed that the Acid container things on the Lambda trial hurt decoys when they explode? I am not sure if the weapon crates do or not.

"A true hero has the strength to stand against evil
without wavering where all others despair,
even if it means standing alone." - Kragothe Valour

Interesting, I hadn't noticed that, but I definitely noticed that this doesn't apply to the turrets in BAF:

Warworks Radial Superior Ally:

Draws forth the essences of a vanquished WarWorks Mk-VI "Victoria" and Battle Orb from the Well of the Furies to serve you temporarily. The Battle Orb is untargetable by foes, but has no offensive powers at all.

I watched my battle orb get destroyed by those guns enough times that I didn't take it at tier 4.