Shining Slash: Open Beta Edition, Part 2!

Part 2, featuring Tanking as a Templar, the Krall Garrison, and leveling in groups!

When I roll a character in an MMO, I do it to Tank. I play Aion for a variety of reasons, but there has never been any doubt that my main and true love would be the Templar class. It is with great pleasure then that Templars are not only fun to play, but also incredibly fun to Tank with. In Aion, I play almost exclusively with a group of players. The moments where I have been soloing have been few and far between. As such, I find myself in a Tanking position frequently, even while doing normal quests or grinding.

From level 10, Templars are capable of holding aggro with some success, as is to be expected. Provoke might have a 12 second cooldown, but the sheer level of Enmity it causes is to be respected. Even with repeated applications however, it won't hold a single mob forever. Not against the mighty dps of Tora's Ranger. It is not until 13 (Provoking Shield Counter) and 16 (Provoking Severe Blow) that you obtain more Enmity abilities, and so rotating through the mobs you're tanking with basic abilities like Ferocious Strike or Weakening Severe Blow is the only effective way to keep the Healer from getting aggro and dying (protip: if the Healer dies, you die).

As at extreme low levels Templars have no real way to generate enough Enmity to Tank everything, concessions must be made. My role, before level 16 (PSC can't be relied on, as it requires aggro and blocks to be used in the first place), was thusly one of tanking -everything I could-. Picking up adds on the fly, making sure nobody died through the stun on Shield Bash, just generally giving the squishies an easier time of it. It's all valuable. As I moved on through Verteron, I became able to tank everything for the group. The addition of PSB to my arsenal meant that I could gain extra Enmity on the main target, or get high Enmity on multiple targets. Easy stuff, all in all.

The first real test was the Krall Garrison at the end of Verteron. A level 17-20 elite area, it contains almost all of the quests, campaign or otherwise, for the end of the zone. While it has been conveniently nerfed since CBT6, it is still challenging without the right class knowledge.

Before going into detail, I will note that our group for it (Templar, Ranger, Gladiator, Gladiator, Assassin, Cleric) never used crowd control. The only CC we applied was the physical, walking kind. Our Gladiators off Tanked from time to time, ensuring that I wouldn't die in a flurry of stuns or blows too fast for our Cleric to respond to, and that was it. We did get wiped twice, but both occasions were caused by Dukaki Flagmen: small non-elite mobs that wander throughout the camps, and, if aggroed, run off screaming bloody murder, and pull every remotely nearby elite down on your group. Even if I died, quick Evasion abilities, emergency off Tanking, and a quick in-combat rez so I could get back in the game were all it took to keep the group going.

This was accentuated by the fact that we were all in Ventrilo, talking as we went. Communication with your group is crucial to enjoying yourself, and actually surviving. Voice chat software is so useful as to be a virtual requirement for grouping in both PvE and PvP.

Various Tanking methods that are only necessary near the end of the game in World of Warcraft (line of sight pulling, causing packs of mobs to evade allowing smaller pulls, organised wipe recovery) are used frequently in the Garrison, which impressed me, but made it little harder for anyone in our group of veterens.
Ranged mobs with a tendancy to retreat at high speeds and pull adds to us had to be line of sight pulled (putting a physical object between them and the tank, so they are forced to move around it to attack) back to a safe place, and can be snared by most classes if they still attempt to flee. Patrol adds must be picked up rapidly by a Tank, but foresight and planning can ensure that they'll never be pulled by accident anyway.

There are a variety of quests leading in and out of the Garrison, and repeat trips are necessary. Sneaking around mobs (remember, you can select a mob to see its aggro radius, and just skirt around the edge of it) allowed for faster progression, and in some cases basic survival. It certainly allowed us to recover from complete wipes faster (though a Kisk would've been even better).

All roads, however, lead to Kraka. Tora posted a video earlier of us killing this boss in the area behind where he normally stands. Kraka is the first boss in the game, and more than a light challenge for a group of level 17s. The first pull is relatively simple. The entire area must be cleared of mobs first, as any left over will aggro the moment the boss is pulled. There are ranged, fleeing mobs in the packs; don't let them pull adds. There are ranged, magic damage users (Shamans, I believe). They won't run, but they are harder to Tank as Evade/Parry/Block and Physical Defense don't affect incoming magical damage, only Magical Resist does, and Plate gear has very little of it. Kraka may pull as part of the last group. If this happens, retreat until the mobs give up the pursuit. Try and try again. You'll get them without the boss eventually, with no loss of life.

The fight itself can prove troublesome. Kraka hits hard, and a good many of his attacks are magical, so fleeing from him once in range of his attacks is impractical, and the same mitigation/avoidance problems mentioned above for the Shamans apply again. This is unimportant, however, compared to his main abilities. Every 25% health, Kraka puts your party to sleep. While you're asleep and unable to heal or escape, he charges up an area of effect fire attack, and nukes your entire group with it. While its initial damage will take off maybe half of a dps player's health bar, it also has a damage over time component, so your healer has to be aware that people are losing health for a period after the initial hit.
This is all compounded at the final 25% health, where instead of the fire blast Kraka casts Faithful Servant, another AoE with a DoT component that can literally instantly kill level 19 players unless they have HP manastones, or luck. When it hits, one of the most important things is that your healer must top the Tank up first. If the Tank dies, on the Kraka fight, everyone dies. Let dps die if you must, but don't let the group wipe because of confused commands. The Tank must stay alive, at least until the last 5% (where if there are enough dps alive, the boss can be taken down reasonably safely, Tank or no Tank).

One key feature of the fight that most people won't find is that all of his AoE attacks are line of sight dependant. Hide behind a particularly large rock as the cast goes off, and you'll be unaffected. Furthermore, specific scrolls can be used to absorb the AoE hits, allowing even a low HP group to survive the final blast, and certain potions can be used to dispell the sleep effect, allowing a slept person to still get out of line of sight for when Faithful Servant hits.

Consumables are big business in Aion.

Loot the boss, get your green items and, if you're lucky, your blue. The fight's about to get a bit harder.

The first note for Kraka is that he is on a 4 hour or so respawn timer. If he is not there in your channel when your group arrives, he may or may not be up in other channels. This is because there is a large open area behind Kraka, where groups can go to change channel after they have killed Kraka, and fight him again. And again. And again. Until Kraka is dead on all 10 channels.

Engaging Kraka from behind, if it comes to that (as seen in Tora's video, where we managed to kill Kraka in 7 channels before leaving), is easier due to the large number of large objects to hide behind to get out of the LoS for his AoEs. As you may have guessed, it's also harder, because if the mobs in the area in front of him are still alive, then he pulls them with him.
Thus, pulling Kraka is an art. As a Templar, I ran up and Provoked him from a decent range, turned tail and fled. As you can see in the video, I run far enough to cause the other mobs to give up pursuit, then rapidly turn and hit Kraka a few times to keep him interested, before again running behind a pillar, causing Kraka to move closer to hit me (line of sight pulling, again). This is because if you fight him while in his tunnel, adds can and will pull. With an off Tank they aren't the death of your group, but they'll still hurt, and avoiding them is ideal at every stage.

Moving along, I've now grouped from levels 1 to 23, and I'm finding the experience gain to be slow going compared to what I'm seeing from solo levelers, particularly in that as a group, you're likely to literally run out of quests at 24, once the early Eltnen and Theobomos quests are finished, requiring your group to grind from about 24 to 28 (the higher level, the better).

This is balanced by the extra fun there is to be had in a group. More powerful mobs, less downtime, PvP viability (take THAT invading Asmos!), financial security, information sharing, and the ability to check multiple areas of the map at the same time? Yes please. I'm playing a Massively Multiplayer Online game. Let keep it Multiplayer.

Yet to come in the Open Beta Edition, Rifting, basic low level PvP, and Tanking stats in Aion!