This column will aim to help new players or people not acquainted with the fine arts of Tanking to gain an understanding of the mechanics, ideas and application of a Tanking class.
While the first post in this column should have helped players without an idea of what a Tank is get a grip on the concept, it only touched upon the many roles that a Tanking player can accomplish within the capacity of a Tanking position.
The first and from some perspectives most obvious (while from others, least!) is that the Tank of a group is often its de facto leader. A group's Tank is in a natural position of power, literally pulling the group forward as he or she chooses, plans and executes every pull. While a Healer or damage dealer can lead a group, they lack the class mechanisms for physically leading their fellow players onwards. Any class can pull, but it is rarely effective or useful, as it greatly endangers their lives in the first few seconds of the pull, while the Tank attempts to gain Aggro on a number of moving mobs (all chasing after the player who pulled, who is during this time also unable to do any damage or healing without further endangering their life).
The first and from some perspectives most obvious (while from others, least!) is that the Tank of a group is often its de facto leader. A group's Tank is in a natural position of power, literally pulling the group forward as he or she chooses, plans and executes every pull. While a Healer or damage dealer can lead a group, they lack the class mechanisms for physically leading their fellow players onwards. Any class can pull, but it is rarely effective or useful, as it greatly endangers their lives in the first few seconds of the pull, while the Tank attempts to gain Aggro on a number of moving mobs (all chasing after the player who pulled, who is during this time also unable to do any damage or healing without further endangering their life).
Furthermore, the Tank is, without exception, expected to be aware of the entire situation at hand at all times. The Tank must have an eye on all of the monsters that may become a threat at any time in the future. They must be aware of their group's mana and health pools. They must have foreknowledge of every encounter, of every patrolling mob that travels through the area, and of every enemy's abilities and how to deal with them. A Tank who is unaware of the challenges ahead severely limits their group's potential, and at many times is a severe liability. This inherent responsibility to know what is coming, and what to do when, is something that no other class is saddled with. In some encounters it is necessary for each member of a group or raid to perform individual tasks, which require immense knowledge and more than a bit of practice. This is not present in most content. Regardless of the level of content, the Tank must always know what to expect.
This requirement means that any Tank intending to be proficient at his or her job must strive for perfection and understanding of the game environment, which usually means that a Tank is more knowledgeable about the challenges that Player vs Environment content poses, which places them in a position of knowledge and power inside a group.
The planning stage of every pull is often overlooked by new players of any class and role. Marking up targets for CC, and the kill order, is crucial in most situations. The group leader, whose role this is, must make sure that the entire group is aware what marks mean what. Any possible patrols must be noted during planning as well, and carefully avoided, or pulled and cleared first if possible or necessary. Any additional mobs joining combat during a pull are issues a group doesn't want to have to deal with.
If additional mobs do pull, however, the Tank's list of jobs grows again, as they must without pause establish Aggro on all incoming targets, while also being aware of any players within their group attempting to CC an incoming target. If the Tank breaks CC accidentally by hitting a mob, the results can be disastrous. This is true for any member of the group, but it is more likely that the Tank will do this, as a good group of damage dealers will always attack the marked target, and leave crowd controlled targets alone.
It is imperative that while planning, pulling and picking up any adds, the Tank is aware of their limits. They must know at all times how many mobs they can hold Aggro on before they become stretched too thin to keep all targets attacking them. They must know at all times how many mobs they can hold Aggro on before the incoming damage is too high for the healer to heal through. If they lose Aggro and are unable to get it back immediately, or if they take a burst of damage too high to survive irrespective of healing, they have not performed optimally, and have put their group in great danger.
In addition to the above, a Tank may also perform class specific roles that other group members may also be required to perform. Spell interruption, kiting (keeping Aggro on a mob while staying out of its reach until either a defined point or its death, which is Tanking anyway!), stunning an enemy to save another group member who would die otherwise. These are but the start, and while all classes and roles have demands upon them, many players are unaware of what a Tank must do in order to give their group the best run possible, and even at times finish an encounter at all.
This may give the impression that vast responsibility rests on the shoulders of a group's Tank, and that is indeed the case.
A Tank must be skilled and knowledgeable beyond reproach. Thus, a new Tank must either play with understanding, greatly knowledgeable players, or must put great effort into learning and understanding the challenges they will face in the future. Legions and even the smallest group of regular players often have set groups of Tanks who have been in their groups for long periods of time. Thus, a new Tank is at an immediate disadvantage when looking for a role within a Legion or even a group for a dungeon. Be prepared to not see LF1M Tank very often. Despite the seeming rarity of Tank players in an MMO environment, established groups of players almost always have Tanks they always work with.
Not all hope is lost, a new Tank who understands all of this, and who has prepared accordingly (practice, study, have the best gear you can get at your level of content) can find a good group of players in need of a skilled and aware Tank.
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