Jump to content

Really a bottleneck for tanks when you hit endgame?


Elradrielas

Recommended Posts

Hi all ... I've been leveling a shadow tank (currently low 30's) and am having a hell of a time finding groups on my server. Basically, during my playtime on the Republic side I'm finding fewer than 50 people online in the Republic fleet. Makes it challenging to find a group sometimes. I seem to be leveling past all the flashpoints without really getting a chance to experience them.

 

So I figured I'd reroll as an Inquisitor given there are usually lots more Imperials online. But there's a thread from a while ago discussing the fact that tanks are less in demand for 8-16 person content compared with 4 person content simply based on the ratio of tanks in the overall group makeup. (Standard flashpoints require 1 out of 4 ppl to tank, but 8/16 man content is typically run with only 2 or so tanks). This has me wondering about a bottleneck for tanks at endgame, and ultimately has me considering whether I should just go Sorc instead of Sin and focus on heals.

 

I don't mind either way, I've always been a healer, I was just hoping to give tanking a shot in SWTOR. So ... now that we're a few months into the game ... what are tanks finding when they get to endgame ... are you able to get into ops easily?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In nearly every mmo is a bottleneck for tanks at endgame. Some solve this problem with dualspecc or more speccs to choose. Thus you easily can switch your role. Perhaps in ToR this feature will come sometimes, but for now the bottleneck exists. On my server, republic side, there are lots of FP groups searching for a tank, but nearly no OP group searching for anything. On imp side there are a lot more.

 

You need a guild or raid for a tank spot - otherwise there are little random OPs, at least on my server.

 

This is a subjective opinion, i notice the chat less.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My biggest gripe really is having to return to the Fleet to find a group for a FP and sometimes may take a hour to do.

 

And then if I want to return to where I have been questing it could take me another 30~45 minutes of travel.

 

I would enjoy it if they had some kind of LFG Function, or even a LFG Channel that people used to find a group.

 

On my server someone created a LFG Channel, but it seems like only 6 people know about it, and no one ever seems to converse in it anyway.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree here, operations need to require a 1/4 ratio with tanks just like flashpoints do otherwise you will hit extreme competition of those precious operations slots.

Anything else messes with the tank player base and they would be better off playing dps, and then theres no tanks for flashpoints.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree here, operations need to require a 1/4 ratio with tanks just like flashpoints do otherwise you will hit extreme competition of those precious operations slots.

Anything else messes with the tank player base and they would be better off playing dps, and then theres no tanks for flashpoints.

 

We only bring 1 tank to both 16 and 8 man raids. Pylons we just use 2 offtanks on 1 of the pylons (16 man).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nah not foresight just how mmo's work, the better the tanks are geared the less you need of them. In wow they sorted that out by giving the tank a debuff lasting long enough so you needed an offtank to taunt him away. And there you needed only 2 tanks on 25 mans groups. So in SWTOR its less of a problem but it's still how things roll in mmo's sadly...
Link to comment
Share on other sites

and then you have no tanks for your flashpoint groups......

 

How it works and how it should work isnt the same thing. Im hoping they change this and force more tanks to be required or its just worthless being one when it comes to operations.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@ Cabriel

 

I agree here, operations need to require a 1/4 ratio with tanks just like flashpoints do otherwise you will hit extreme competition of those precious operations slots.

Anything else messes with the tank player base and they would be better off playing dps, and then theres no tanks for flashpoints.

 

providing suggestions is welcome and i myself have overstepped the line with gratutious whining and crticising more thann once on these forums.

 

On your point. just to say back in vanilla wow when there were still 40 man raids, the ratio of tanks was NOT 1/5 (instances <fps in wow>, were for groups of 5). hell according to your ration.. ud need 8 tanks to do AQ40 or MC. No i dont remember the numbers but 40 man raids might have had 4 maybe 5 tanks.

 

ofc guilds had more than the required tanks and would swtich them according to .. you know tanks also having to be in the real world. atleast to buy food and cigs...

 

so the ration is kinda balanced there, but tanks (and healers) have always been less than frequent than dds. Its silly to expect to change traditional mmo mechanics and numbers cos of... server population instability.. which is really your prbolem.. that could be solved with a crosserver lfg (ops too) btw.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

server population instability.. which is really your problem.

 

This seems to be your biggest problem. Only 50 people on the Republic Fleet when you play is a really low population. My server has 160 people on the fleet when I play and it rarely dips below 100 in the off hours time. That being said I rarely see people LF Tank for ops.

 

If you want to tank at endgame you need to find a guild that needs a tank.

 

P.S. I tank Ops every week with my guild.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nah not foresight just how mmo's work, the better the tanks are geared the less you need of them. In wow they sorted that out by giving the tank a debuff lasting long enough so you needed an offtank to taunt him away. And there you needed only 2 tanks on 25 mans groups. So in SWTOR its less of a problem but it's still how things roll in mmo's sadly...

 

This isn't really a gearing issue though - they seem designed for a single tank, even on 16 mans.

The pylons in EV and the Heavy Fabricator in KP are the only fights that seem built for 2 tanks and you can have a DPS throw and a shield and tank stance to offtank those.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Tanks are some of the easiest class to find in this, because of how few you need, and how once you have a certain amount of gear, a DPS using a tank stance can do the job in a pinch in the easier content. Plus all the WoW players used to tanks being a bottleneck rolled tanks, (hint: there's a LOT of big name MMOs and class-based games where tanks were a dime a douzen, and even many MMOs were tank and damage dealers are one and the same). WoW is not the only game out there), so there's just too many.

 

For all the operations you only need 1 tank except for nightmare mode (and you never need to do nightmare mode if all you want is gears. I didn't try 16 mans, I hope you need more than one there?), some of the HM flashpoints can be done without a tank spec at all, leaving quite a small niche for tanks.

 

Still, my main character is a shadow tank and I think its the most fun to play, but you shouldn't play one just to be in demand. Ranged damage dealers and healers is what you want to be if you want to be in high demand.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This bottleneck creates perfect enviroment for competition alot of people roll tanks (OLOLO IM DARTH VADER) few are good at it. Baddies shouldn't be taken to ops just for choosing right class.

 

P.S. WoW both 10 and 25 raids designed for two tanks, so the position is quite prestigious, and tank's good/bad quality is quite obvious to everyone

Edited by Oneiros_IV
Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you want to be a raid tank, you gotta slowly and painfully work your way up in a raid guild or build your own one from the ground up - that's pretty much been the deal since instanced raids came into the genre.

 

BW exacerbates this issue by putting enrage timers on literally everything and the need for even less tanks than most of the other games. Noone will take more tanks than absolutely necessary because there is zero benefit and it will in fact just make things harder.

 

So if you can't or won't commit to a raid guild respeccing to DPS will usually be your best ( and frankly only ) option.

Edited by Blurps
Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...