Word on the street says that "Protection" in Warzones isn't important....

[Majestic_Jazz]

Okay, so I just got out of a Warzone [Huttball] where I had like 70K Protection and one guy on my team said that protection isn't important.

 

Before the match, this same dude told me that I needed to get better gear. I told him that I just turned L50 yesterday and I am still working on getting the commendations. I told him even though I am undergeared, I still haven't been out-tanked and that I always lead my team in protection.

 

I said it like this:

--------------

 

Me: Despite that, I still haven't been out tanked! I always lead my teams in protection. So what does that tell ya?

 

Him: That protection is situational lol

 

---------------

 

He then went on and called me out for only having 30K damage the prior Huttball match and so on.

 

 

So yeah, is he right? Does Protection and by extention, being a tank is useless in PvP Warzones? The way he talked, it is as if only Healers and Damage is important. Is he right?

 

 

I ask this because my character is a tank and that is what I specialize in. I am equipped for taking damage, not giving it. Am I doing it wrong?

[Dissentus]

At that gear level, tanking is probably the best thing you can do by supporting your team. Just ignore him. A well played tank is a game changer. Edited March 27, 2012 by Wekeltes

[Twor]

Protect a healer, tank 5 enemies with him and see how useless protection is

 

Good players always keep their taunts on CD and switch their guard- it really can turn the tide if you protect a really good dd or like mentioned above, take the pressure from a healer.

 

I haven't played warhammer, so far in the other games tanks felt a bit useless in PvP- I am happy that this isn't the case in swtor.

 

Though your damage number is a bit low (but that doesn't mean anything if you spend most of the match peeling of the healer or going for objectives).

 

So no, that guy had no clue.

[Ahhmyface]

At that gear level, tanking is probably the best thing you can do by supporting your team. Just ignore him. A well played tank is a game changer.

 

this.

Edited March 27, 2012 by Wekeltes

[Prognovic]

If you play for objective based win rather than yourself on top of scoreboard it is needed

 

If you pvp with a steady group , they know when their tank isnt their

 

Huttball , supporting ball carier or being the ball carrier

 

Void and Civil war .. delay,distract and devert

 

You wont be recognized for your DPS and can be frustrating when you dont have the damage when faced 1v1

 

Sometimes even yourself and healer vs 1 can be frustrating without the dps

 

Support Jugg

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=208529

[TheNegotiator]

2 things about PVP

 

1. 25% - 30% of the players are complete schmucks

2. Tank is probably the lest desirable class at the moment, due to the fact that you can only mitigate energy and kinetic damage (just like everybody else), so certain classes can kill you with ease

[cycao]

yeah 70k protection is pretty good. It means you are supporting your team by using taunts and guarding players.

[Wildcat]

I've been told that less than 500K healing delivered as a Sage isn't good enough.

 

I average over 250K and that's from healing every second I'm not being rooted, stunned, forced to writhe on the ground and killed. In other words, I try to achieve OBJECTIVES not medals.

 

I've experimented, and the only way to hit 500K is to either: NEVER GET KILLED (hard as a sage) or slit your wrists constantly and heal yourself... Which is of no value to the team.

 

You always run into elitist jerks in warzones, one reason why I can't stand doing them.

[anticept]

mainly consentrate on juggling your guard around and using your taunt to protect allies until you get your gear sorted and you´re gonna be a formitable opponent.

 

Most people are just too blind to see any fault on their gaming and too quick to blame others for shortcomings like passing or using certain abilities just ignore the stupid comments and consentrate on your actions.

[lethalwalker]

protect the healers, protect the ball carrier and win huttball.

 

With you protecting the ball carrier it gives time for healers to keep the ball carrier moving.

Edited March 27, 2012 by Wekeltes

[Bnol]

He then went on and called me out for only having 30K damage the prior Huttball match and so on.

 

So yeah, is he right? Does Protection and by extention, being a tank is useless in PvP Warzones? The way he talked, it is as if only Healers and Damage is important. Is he right?

 

I ask this because my character is a tank and that is what I specialize in. I am equipped for taking damage, not giving it. Am I doing it wrong?

 

Protection is important, but you should not be equipping yourself for taking damage as the tanking stats of defense/absorb only work on ranged and melee abilities and not tech and force abilities. Tech and Force abilities make up most of the powerful abilities classes will be using (unless your server has a ton of sniper/gunslingers), so defense and absorb are wasted most of the time.

 

You should be gearing for damage and you should work to improve damage as well as protection.

[MiaRB]

very few people understand team pvp. even fewer understand what tanking in PVP means or how important it can be. that is why you see most "tanks" in DPS gear and very few of them ever actually tank.

 

to the OP, by actually tanking, you are helping your team much more than all these fake dps gear tanks are.

[Agooz]

ok I am a deep Pyro PT, meaning I am a full dps AC. I get 9-11medals on average, I've done over 600k damage in WZs queuing as solo. That being said, I can honestly tell you and that clueless person, dps/damage does NOT win WZs. In fact the games where I totally disregarded focusing on my damage/kills score are the ones I almost always won.

[KrackenOne]

At that gear level, tanking is probably the best thing you can do by supporting your team. He's an idiot, just ignore him. A well played tank is a game changer.

 

This.

[Twor]

very few people understand team pvp. even fewer understand what tanking in PVP means or how important it can be. that is why you see most "tanks" in DPS gear and very few of them ever actually tank.

 

to the OP, by actually tanking, you are helping your team much more than all these fake dps gear tanks are.

 

Yes, since the tanking gear stats are so useful in PvP. All those white damage attacks that can proc your shield and are absorbed... And not to forget the amount of attacks higher Armor will bring down right?

The only real reason for the tanking sets are the nice setboni usually. Half the stats that are necessary for PvE tanking are currently not worth a lot in PvP.

Edited March 26, 2012 by Twor

[Astarica]

Protection is basically donating your HP to someone else's cause since that's where the big numbers come from. If your gear sucks, it's a good idea to donate your HPs because whoever you Guard is likely stronger than you. The situation is reversed when you become strong, as whoever you Guard is most likely weaker than you and thus a waste of your HPs.

 

People have this misconception that Guarding a healer is always right. It's not, because good DPS can shut down a healer with interrupts and end up killing 2 guys at once instead of just 1. You really have to have some idea of how good your healer is and how strong your opposition is. Again the weaker you are the more likely Guarding is right choice. By the way, Guard requires you within 15m of the guarded person, and let us outline the possible scenarios where you can guard:

 

You, enemy (melee), and healer are all next to each other - In this case you're not really doing your job because you really should pull/snare the enemy melee so that they're not in range of your healers. Yes you can't Guard your healer but that's okay because the healer is out of the enemy's melee range.

 

You are next to your healer, enemy is ranged - Unless the enemy is crazy, they'd be attacking your healer from >15m for sure (standard range is 30m). So if you can Guard your healer, it implies you're not hitting the enemy ranged. That guy isn't going to just give up because the healer is dying slowly. You have to go and remove that threat and again you'd no longer be range to Guard your healer, which is okay because you can't expect the threat to go away by itself.

 

If you're doing your job, you usually would not be in range to guard your healers. It doesn't hurt to Guard the right guys, but you really shouldn't be sharing your life bar very often if you're really able to deal with all the threats.

[MartyrLXXVII]

Yes, since the tanking gear stats are so useful in PvP. All those white damage attacks that can proc your shield and are absorbed... And not to forget the amount of attacks higher Armor will bring down right?

The only real reason for the tanking sets are the nice setboni usually. Half the stats that are necessary for PvE tanking are currently not worth a lot in PvP.

 

This is exactly why the dps gear works. The gear we use won't matter for taunts and only give a few more HP for guard. So yeah, tank gear is meaningless really. We can certainly tank in dps gear and that also leaves us doing better damage for not just protecting but killing those attacking us.

 

Honestly the itemisation is terrible, especially for pvp, the only thing the pvp gear is good for is expertise and set bonus.

[Xinika]

At that gear level, tanking is probably the best thing you can do by supporting your team. He's an idiot, just ignore him. A well played tank is a game changer.

 

This.

[elvavwiel]

If only there were more tanks in the warzones i'm in. Sage healer/dps with a (shadow <<)tank pretty much lasts for ages. The only time i feel that protection is useless is when the enemy uses it, so for republics reading: yes protection, for empire: protection sucks, dont use it, go raargh mad dps.

[Fafryd]

Depends if having more DPS would've been better. Protection merely moves some damage around between players. It is circumstance that dictates if it was useful.

[Agooz]

Protection is basically donating your HP to someone else's cause since that's where the big numbers come from. If your gear sucks, it's a good idea to donate your HPs because whoever you Guard is likely stronger than you. The situation is reversed when you become strong, as whoever you Guard is most likely weaker than you and thus a waste of your HPs.

 

People have this misconception that Guarding a healer is always right. It's not, because good DPS can shut down a healer with interrupts and end up killing 2 guys at once instead of just 1. You really have to have some idea of how good your healer is and how strong your opposition is. Again the weaker you are the more likely Guarding is right choice. By the way, Guard requires you within 15m of the guarded person, and let us outline the possible scenarios where you can guard:

 

You, enemy (melee), and healer are all next to each other - In this case you're not really doing your job because you really should pull/snare the enemy melee so that they're not in range of your healers. Yes you can't Guard your healer but that's okay because the healer is out of the enemy's melee range.

 

You are next to your healer, enemy is ranged - Unless the enemy is crazy, they'd be attacking your healer from >15m for sure (standard range is 30m). So if you can Guard your healer, it implies you're not hitting the enemy ranged. That guy isn't going to just give up because the healer is dying slowly. You have to go and remove that threat and again you'd no longer be range to Guard your healer, which is okay because you can't expect the threat to go away by itself.

 

If you're doing your job, you usually would not be in range to guard your healers. It doesn't hurt to Guard the right guys, but you really shouldn't be sharing your life bar very often if you're really able to deal with all the threats.

 

Protection is part of playing a tank. Also throwing a random guard and hoping for the best is called medal farming. Throwing your guard selectively and on specific targets could be a game changer. Just this morning I was running towards the goal line with with 30% health. It was about 40m away and no one in front of me to pass, and I see 4 foes coming towards me and charging. A jugg came from behind and throw guard on me and made it to goal line with 600health left, and we won by 1 point.

 

Tanks have one of the best shots at scoring in Huttball. All tanks have at least 2 of the following speedboost/jump/intercede/pull/push. In Voidstar, also ideal at guarding doors bying a few more sec for reinforcements, same with Alderaan.

[glenbruton]

Okay, so I just got out of a Warzone [Huttball] where I had like 70K Protection and one guy on my team said that protection isn't important.

 

Before the match, this same dude told me that I needed to get better gear. I told him that I just turned L50 yesterday and I am still working on getting the commendations. I told him even though I am undergeared, I still haven't been out-tanked and that I always lead my team in protection.

 

I said it like this:

--------------

 

Me: Despite that, I still haven't been out tanked! I always lead my teams in protection. So what does that tell ya?

 

Him: That protection is situational lol

 

---------------

 

He then went on and called me out for only having 30K damage the prior Huttball match and so on.

 

 

So yeah, is he right? Does Protection and by extention, being a tank is useless in PvP Warzones? The way he talked, it is as if only Healers and Damage is important. Is he right?

 

 

I ask this because my character is a tank and that is what I specialize in. I am equipped for taking damage, not giving it. Am I doing it wrong?

 

 

 

You ran into an idiot. Not uncommon in MMO's. You did well.

[Zhaker]

Okay, so I just got out of a Warzone [Huttball] where I had like 70K Protection and one guy on my team said that protection isn't important.

 

Before the match, this same dude told me that I needed to get better gear. I told him that I just turned L50 yesterday and I am still working on getting the commendations. I told him even though I am undergeared, I still haven't been out-tanked and that I always lead my team in protection.

 

I said it like this:

--------------

 

Me: Despite that, I still haven't been out tanked! I always lead my teams in protection. So what does that tell ya?

 

Him: That protection is situational lol

 

---------------

 

He then went on and called me out for only having 30K damage the prior Huttball match and so on.

 

 

So yeah, is he right? Does Protection and by extention, being a tank is useless in PvP Warzones? The way he talked, it is as if only Healers and Damage is important. Is he right?

 

 

I ask this because my character is a tank and that is what I specialize in. I am equipped for taking damage, not giving it. Am I doing it wrong?

 

Do you really need people to tell you how to play the game?

 

It doesnt mater about stats, it matters you take your role as either tank,dps, healer and perform it as best as you can doing the objectives. Maybe Bioware should remove the statistics and reward people who were doing the OBJECTIVES

in the first place. I hate playing with idiots who think their DPS is the **** when we're losing in objectives.

[AdmiralOnasi]

At that gear level, tanking is probably the best thing you can do by supporting your team. He's an idiot, just ignore him. A well played tank is a game changer.

 

This is absolutely correct. A tank that knows what he's doing even if he's undergeared can kill DPS output with proper guards and taunts. When I play my Sage healer, people like you are my best friend.

[Stovokor]

Protection scales the best for new 50's. The impact of a fresh 50 tank guarding a healer will outweigh similarly geared DPS / healers attempting to perform their role. Just the guard mechanic + 2 taunts provides exponential benefit to keeping the healer up.