Dungeon Professionals: Know Your Role (Part 1)
by JR Cook - 9 years ago show comments
Are you stuck with a DPS that thinks they’re a tank and constantly initiating pulls, or a healer or tank that thinks that doing damage is their first priority? If you’ve played Warcraft for any longer than a week, of course you have! Our next few installments of Dungeon Professionals will be focusing on each of the 3 major roles in dungeons and what’s expected of them.
The Tank
The first actual tanks were introduced in World War I and had very little in the way of offensive capabilities. They were essentially giant armored cars that were very tough to damage and allowed ground troops to traverse no-man’s land with less exposure. It wasn’t until later that we started putting big guns on them, and MMO tanks should operate with the same mindset. As a tank, you’re first job is keeping the party alive by mitigating as much damage as possible, with your actual damage output being a distant second priority. That means not only “keeping aggro” on as many mobs as possible, but also managing pulls effectively and keeping the party informed about upcoming mechanics. Tanks aren’t necessarily the party leaders, but often find themselves in that role due to the need to have intricate knowledge of dungeon mechanics.
“Ok guys, CC that bunker over there and burn that trench first. Pulling as soon as the medic is back”
Keeping Things Moving
The act of tanking itself is actually not very complicated, especially in Warcraft’s current state. You can usually manage group aggro with whatever AOE threat abilities your class has, pop your damage-reduction cooldowns as needed, and call it a day. However, what often makes tanking a stressful role is the expectation to keep the dungeon moving at a decent and competent pace. The main thing to keep in mind is that, as the one taking the brunt of the damage and needing to be the first thing that enemies focus on, the tank should ALWAYS initiate pulls. An experienced tank will often recognize the competence and abilities of both themselves and their party and pull accordingly. Under no circumstances should the tank feel like they need to pull more than their comfortable with. If you think you can handle three groups at a time but not four, then do so. If you want to take things slower, let the party know and go at the speed you’re comfortable with. Some people may groan and complain, but as the tank you call the shots in terms of pulls.
On My Mark
As I stated earlier, being the tank often requires having more intricate knowledge of dungeon mechanics. You need to have an idea of how many enemies are in each pull, if adds show up during encounters, where the optimal spot for fighting is, etc. Additionally, you should never assume that your party knows the entire dungeon unless they say so. It is always a good idea to, at the very least, mark the main targets that need to be killed or crowd-controlled. You generally don’t need to get in very much detail unless someone states they have no idea what’s going on, but it doesn’t take a great deal of time to throw up the usual “skull” for primary target, “X” for secondary, or “moon” for CC. These are the widely accepted mark definitions, but if you want to be absolutey sure your message gets across, it doesn’t hurt to mention what the marks mean before the dungeon gets rolling.
These indicate kill/CC order, not the target’s favorite candy
With Great Queue Times Comes Great Responsibility
One of the biggest draws to tanking are those sweet instant-queues for dungeons. While DPS have to find things to occupy themselves with while they wait for those 20-30 minutes queues, tanks get the benefit of being able to start dungeons as soon as they want to. Unfortunately, that has often led to a sense of entitlement among tanks. If dungeons start to go poorly, it is often the tank that is the first person to bail in an angry tantrum. Even with the penalty of not being able to join dungeons for a bit after, the cost acting up like this is simply smaller for tanks than it is for the other roles.
This is pretty much what tanks see the very second they enter the queue.
As I stated in last week’s article, you shouldn’t stick around in a dungeon that has absolutely no chance of succeeding. However, you owe it to those who had to wait for quite a bit longer to at least try to finish the dungeon. Don’t leave just because DPS is lower than what you’d like; instead you should stick it out, teach some potentially new players the ropes, and help get their DPS up with better gear. If someone is making the dungeon unbearable, have that person removed rather than punishing the rest of the party by leaving and forcing them to find another tank. Good tanks are in high demand and if you acknowledge that and don’t abuse it, dungeon runs become better for everybody.
