On the subjects of Tanking, Grouping, Elites and their zones, Preselection, and the road to level 20.
Vistas galore, just don't jump off
Today was the last day of the last Closed Beta, and it wasn't wasted.
I've been playing my Templar through the Beta, while Tora's been enjoying (mostly) her Ranger, and as I repeatedly find in MMOs, Tanks are my thing. The Templar is truly enjoyable, reasonably fast paced and responsive, and powerful to boot.
This is great fun, and once we moved into the elite Krall area in the south-west of Verteron we found that the same combination worked wonders against the elites in the area. If we were alone, however, all we could do was stall for time, or run away, as the elites could drop me in a handful of seconds, even with potions, cooldown abilities, and lucky evades. For the job of keeping me alive, we requisitioned a Legion Chanter. While a few levels above us (20, compared to the two of us at level 17), he wasn't particularly powerful comparatively, but his heals were enough to keep our group of three up and running... as long as we didn't pull three elites at once.
In Aion, elites certainly appear to be a challenge worthy of a group, and with a Chanter, a shadow of the Cleric's healing power, and only one dedicated dps class, the Krall camp was a significant challenge. Individual mobs were no big deal, they just took a while to drop, but while our Sorcerer could put a second elite to sleep, he attracted a great deal of enmity from it, and that didn't go down well once we woke it up. If we pulled a third mob before the first one was dead, we had to run.
An interesting note about the zone was that it could largely be stealthed through. Keeping a close eye on the aggro radii of nearby elites, we could skillfully weave our way through the pulls except at one or two locations, where the mobs overlapped (and even then sometimes we could backtrack to a cliff above them and glide over!). The problem lay with when we pulled accidentally.
As a Tank, my job is to lead the group physically through the encounters, at the very least. Preparing each pull, choosing the location for each fight, being aware of patrols, and giving the group the fastest, most rewarding, safest and most fun trip possible. I -personally- like to clear my way through the mobs. I like the experience, the drops, the adrenaline of combat, and afterwards the knowledge that the path behind us is safe for long enough for us to escape through it if necessary. I don't skip pulls usually, unless everyone in the group, myself included, is absolutely comfortable with it.
When we would accidentally pull a mob, it was commonplace for it to be in a situation where simply stopping and killing it was inadvisable or impossible, with yelling patrols winding along the path (they pull every mob in a large area! Very annoying) or with group members spread out due to lack of co-ordination. This meant escape was the only viable solution, as no two of our group could take on an elite if the third died close to one. Unfortunately, as we'd skipped mobs, as noted sometimes by gliding over them, escape was at times literally impossible, and if not, the mob chasing us almost inadvertently yanked more along with him (if we didn't ourselves).
Nonetheless we managed to have a good time in the zone, choosing our fights wisely and often avoiding them entirely, but when I go through that area on my main when the game goes Live, I'm clearing the whole damn place. The experience was excellent, and good drops were commonplace. A full clear of that zone on a quiet channel would guarantee multiple levels, which is incredibly valuable in Aion. I'll probably spend a lot of time there, come September 21st.
Moving right along, I've noticed some forumgoers complaining about the distinct lack of AoE tanking abilities in the Templar's lineup, with only, from what I hear, one weak ability gained near level 50. They are upset that dungeons are too difficult, with pulls beyond three mobs impossible, as one crowd controlled elite is difficult enough to deal with, but tanking two, or indeed three mobs at the same time is impossible from an enmity perspective without AoE abilities.
This is a lie. A good Tank can hold aggro on whatever he or she needs to. Find a good Tank, and co-ordinate with them. By swapping targets frequently, with good knowledge of which ones to attack, and focus firing dps (I haven't tested it, but I assume that enmity is entirely individually calculated, and is not cumulative: just stay ahead of the top dps in enmity and you'll hold aggro, no sweat), your group will rip the zone up.
Finally, Preselection! I've heard whispers of this, but reading back through the Dev Tracker on AionSource we've got some confirmation of this. Being able to create your character days, or weeks (still unsure!) before even the pre-order head start will help ease the wait until release, and having character names selected safely ahead of time is an even nicer touch that I'm going to jump on the moment it goes live.
Sorry for the wall of text, hanging out for the Open Beta (and my chance to level Asmodian!), Lewin out.
Today was the last day of the last Closed Beta, and it wasn't wasted.
I've been playing my Templar through the Beta, while Tora's been enjoying (mostly) her Ranger, and as I repeatedly find in MMOs, Tanks are my thing. The Templar is truly enjoyable, reasonably fast paced and responsive, and powerful to boot.
- high physical defense values more than make up for lower than average dps
- high enmity generation after level 10
- reaction abilities
This is great fun, and once we moved into the elite Krall area in the south-west of Verteron we found that the same combination worked wonders against the elites in the area. If we were alone, however, all we could do was stall for time, or run away, as the elites could drop me in a handful of seconds, even with potions, cooldown abilities, and lucky evades. For the job of keeping me alive, we requisitioned a Legion Chanter. While a few levels above us (20, compared to the two of us at level 17), he wasn't particularly powerful comparatively, but his heals were enough to keep our group of three up and running... as long as we didn't pull three elites at once.
In Aion, elites certainly appear to be a challenge worthy of a group, and with a Chanter, a shadow of the Cleric's healing power, and only one dedicated dps class, the Krall camp was a significant challenge. Individual mobs were no big deal, they just took a while to drop, but while our Sorcerer could put a second elite to sleep, he attracted a great deal of enmity from it, and that didn't go down well once we woke it up. If we pulled a third mob before the first one was dead, we had to run.
An interesting note about the zone was that it could largely be stealthed through. Keeping a close eye on the aggro radii of nearby elites, we could skillfully weave our way through the pulls except at one or two locations, where the mobs overlapped (and even then sometimes we could backtrack to a cliff above them and glide over!). The problem lay with when we pulled accidentally.
As a Tank, my job is to lead the group physically through the encounters, at the very least. Preparing each pull, choosing the location for each fight, being aware of patrols, and giving the group the fastest, most rewarding, safest and most fun trip possible. I -personally- like to clear my way through the mobs. I like the experience, the drops, the adrenaline of combat, and afterwards the knowledge that the path behind us is safe for long enough for us to escape through it if necessary. I don't skip pulls usually, unless everyone in the group, myself included, is absolutely comfortable with it.
When we would accidentally pull a mob, it was commonplace for it to be in a situation where simply stopping and killing it was inadvisable or impossible, with yelling patrols winding along the path (they pull every mob in a large area! Very annoying) or with group members spread out due to lack of co-ordination. This meant escape was the only viable solution, as no two of our group could take on an elite if the third died close to one. Unfortunately, as we'd skipped mobs, as noted sometimes by gliding over them, escape was at times literally impossible, and if not, the mob chasing us almost inadvertently yanked more along with him (if we didn't ourselves).
Nonetheless we managed to have a good time in the zone, choosing our fights wisely and often avoiding them entirely, but when I go through that area on my main when the game goes Live, I'm clearing the whole damn place. The experience was excellent, and good drops were commonplace. A full clear of that zone on a quiet channel would guarantee multiple levels, which is incredibly valuable in Aion. I'll probably spend a lot of time there, come September 21st.
Moving right along, I've noticed some forumgoers complaining about the distinct lack of AoE tanking abilities in the Templar's lineup, with only, from what I hear, one weak ability gained near level 50. They are upset that dungeons are too difficult, with pulls beyond three mobs impossible, as one crowd controlled elite is difficult enough to deal with, but tanking two, or indeed three mobs at the same time is impossible from an enmity perspective without AoE abilities.
This is a lie. A good Tank can hold aggro on whatever he or she needs to. Find a good Tank, and co-ordinate with them. By swapping targets frequently, with good knowledge of which ones to attack, and focus firing dps (I haven't tested it, but I assume that enmity is entirely individually calculated, and is not cumulative: just stay ahead of the top dps in enmity and you'll hold aggro, no sweat), your group will rip the zone up.
Finally, Preselection! I've heard whispers of this, but reading back through the Dev Tracker on AionSource we've got some confirmation of this. Being able to create your character days, or weeks (still unsure!) before even the pre-order head start will help ease the wait until release, and having character names selected safely ahead of time is an even nicer touch that I'm going to jump on the moment it goes live.
Sorry for the wall of text, hanging out for the Open Beta (and my chance to level Asmodian!), Lewin out.
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