Many MMOs ago I heard a piece of advice thats stuck with me:

It's not the Tanks job to hold aggro but more it's the DPSs job not to steal it.

Don't worry about it, the low levels have a high concentration of douchebags - but it gets better as the questionable elements lose interest and go back to playing LoL or the newest F2P MMO that catches their attention.

If you are worried about people responding badly you can also tell them at the beginning of the FP that you are new to tanking and that you'd appreciate any advice they can give you on the boss fights.

And another perk of being a tank is that you always have great queue times, while those loudmouth DPS that abused you are sitting in the queue for hours grinding their teeth (especially after you toss them on ignore for being jerks).

Thanks for those replies from me as well - my very first tank (a Jedi) is now level 20 and did Hammerstation not long ago ...

I think asking whether everyone is ready for the fight is a good move as well - especially when playing with people who haven't seen the Flashpoint, Heroic or Operation before.

Many MMOs ago I heard a piece of advice thats stuck with me:

 

It's not the Tanks job to hold aggro but more it's the DPSs job not to steal it.

even if i fully agreed with that, you're definitely not gonna win over your peers with that outlook. Unless being unpopular doesn't phase u, i'd keep this to yourself in FPs..lol

The three elites(/champions?) you were talking about are not a boss, but just some tough mobs to fight on the way to the last boss. Pulling three at a time is usually a wipe, unless your group is overleveled or the group is overall solid *and* the healer is really good.

 

You should be able to pull just one at a time, or at most two. Wait for the walking ones to be close, and pull them separately, then try just pulling the nearest one, etc.

Ah, yes, that part. In a lot of groups that I've been with through that flashpoint, near the end there someone will typically tie up an enemy to make them easier to deal with. An Operative or an Assassin can use a stealth stun to tie one up without initiating combat and then you can just skip the group if you want. (Just make sure nothing goes wrong with the final boss fight because nobody that falls stands a chance of reviving and running back to the fight if there are still enemies in the way.) Otherwise you'll have to fight them and it's divide and conquer. Somebody puts one of the enemies out of the fight for 60 seconds and you use that time to take out the other one first. (Try to deal with the one that wanders through separately as well if you can. Wait until you can take him on when he won't be the same fight as those two.)

Divide and conquer can be a useful strategy in all sorts of tough group fights. Try to be aware of which classes have access to which stuns so you know exactly how much your team can tie up. (We usually specifically talk about the 60 second stuns here. There are plenty of short stuns too but those will usually get mixed in with combat instead of keeping an enemy out of combat completely.) Anything that can be tied up at the start of a fight is one less danger to worry about for the first 60 seconds (so long as nobody attacks it or catches it with an area attack).

but the whole fight the sith sorcer kept calling me an idiot

Going back to this story, the Sorceror could have tied one of the enemies up in a whirlwind. I'd assume that that was probably his intention before the fight started. And then either there was too much going on to be sure that he could have used it without someone immediately waking the enemy up or he did use it and the enemy was immediately woken up. (Either way, it was your fault but he should have explained afterwards "I had one tied up, don't break my cc". Get through it and then explain that it could have been much easier, because that time he spent chewing you out in the middle of battle was time spent not contributing to the fight which only would have helped to make a bad situation worse.)

a little trouble establishing aggro from a sith sorcerer but he kept attacking things I have no even hit yet but i just grappled them from him to get aggro.

If he was really attacking early that's his mistake. But if he was really tying an enemy up in a whirlwind though and you thought it was an attack (which I suspect is what was really happening) that's your mistake, and you may have been disrupting his efforts to make fights easier through the entire flashpoint by screwing up his stuns.

Of course maybe he could have communicated that better and he probably should have spoken up about it earlier than the last group before the final boss. He could have clarified that he was going to be tying a target up in each fight. He could have marked his target and said for nobody to attack that target (make it a general reminder for everyone even if the issue was only with you).

That's part of the reason why I dont tank and that is because it is much harder than any other role.

 

 

You have to know the layout of each flashpoint/op

Be able to avoid mobs( there are some crazy paths in flash points to avoid mobs

Know how to fight each boss

Know how to hold aggro well

Pulling adds and so on

 

Tank and healer tend to get blamed when ever there is a problem while dps almost never get blamed( dps just along for the ride)

Yep, that's why I have normally tried to two man them all with my roommate, so we can learn it - or try to run a time or two with a DPS toon so that I at least know some stuff.

This is a good resource thread: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=707035&page=5

I'd just like to chime in here. I've been tanking in this game for a little over a year. And before that (and also currently) I tanked in WoW with a Protection Paladin.

There are large differences in this game from a year ago. Mainly huge differences in the community. It seems the more free to play players we have, the worse the PUGs get.

It happens often that I have to coach DPS on proper order. Even at higher level flashpoints. That really shouldn't happen.

When I nicely ask people to just play their roles and let me pull, I get such responses as "Go back to WoW f**!"

Sometimes people even seem to think that it's my job to "rescue them" when they do something stupid.

The thing is, tanks in this game have unreasonably long cooldowns on taunts. honestly. 15 seconds for a single taunt? 45 seconds for AoE taunt? what the eff is that?

With such long cooldowns, you really have to play smart and have a nice rotation to hold aggro. Overzealous DPS jumping in ahead of you, or rushing ahead in rocket boots and pulling before you can even get there, makes tanking a real pain in this game sometimes.

With all that said, in my opinion, tank and heals are the only 2 worth playing. For me, playing DPS is boring.

I say, big kudos to all new players who want to pursue tanking or healing. You are certainly lords among men (and possibly women )

If you really want to become good at tanking and/or healing, I would suggest to do what I did.

Read a lot! Read all about your class...how best to gear up your toon, rotation examples, tactics, etc. This will help you more than you can possibly imagine

Play through each flashpoint at least once as DPS. Pay attention to the layout, crew skill hackable shortcuts, mod aversion routes, etc.

Do yourself the humongous favor and buy a +41 Indestructible crystal from the GTN. You can find them for as cheap as 100k credits. And if you ever roll another tank on your account, you can add it to collections for about 90cc I believe. it's worth it. Especially since you get 500cc per month for your subscription. I personally have a large assortment of +41 endurance and power crystals. If you've ever played WoW before...it's like leveling with heirlooms.

If any new subscriber would like to tank but is not sure where to begin, I have characters on both the Ebon Hawk and the Red Eclipse. I would be willing to help in any way I can. Whether you need tips, or financial help...I can help out.

on the Ebon Hawk, you can friend one of my main characters: Lek'sis or Lek'san and message me when you see me online.

on the red eclipse, friend and message either of the names in my signature.

Anyways, sorry for writing this book. I hope that this will help any new aspiring tanks.

Read a lot! Read all about your class...

Also learning the basics of other classes will help when planning the upcoming fight. Little things like CC capabilities and such.

Examples:

- Sorcerer/Sage can CC one mob for 60 secs.

- Assassin/Operative/Shadow/Scoundrel can CC targets while in stealth without entering combat.

Also learning the basics of other classes will help when planning the upcoming fight. Little things like CC capabilities and such.

 

Examples:

- Sorcerer/Sage can CC one mob for 60 secs.

- Assassin/Operative/Shadow/Scoundrel can CC targets while in stealth without entering combat.

Very true. Just make sure that the tank pulls aggro first, before the healer goes to CC something. Otherwise your chances of losing your healer are high.

Very true. Just make sure that the tank pulls aggro first, before the healer goes to CC something. Otherwise your chances of losing your healer are high.

Yes. For example Sorcerer/Sage CC is engaging combat so they have to do their job after fight starts. Like I said, Operatives and Scoundrels can stealth CC their target. Of course it's more useful when skipping trash groups you don't want to fight.

Also one of the things you have to be careful with as tank, CC'd mob will usually attack the player who CC'd them. So be ready to grab the aggro if mob goes for healer.

Also learning the basics of other classes will help when planning the upcoming fight. Little things like CC capabilities and such.

 

Examples:

- Sorcerer/Sage can CC one mob for 60 secs.

- Assassin/Operative/Shadow/Scoundrel can CC targets while in stealth without entering combat.

Assasin/Shadow stealth CC can not be used against droids

Sniper/Gunslinger/Marauder/Sentinel CC can only be used against droids

A minor necro : How do I switch guard with my Jedi Tank ?

Did Athiss a few days ago. Was interesting. I thought I'd be bad, but in the end I wasn't. It turned out to be a good training run for me (with my very first tank character, plus I normally don't play melee classes).

I think that I should do both Hammerstation and Athiss a few more times (did Athiss with a Commando who was fairly new to it as well, plus our companions, makes 4, everyone at level 21 / 20).

A minor necro : How do I switch guard with my Jedi Tank ?

 

Did Athiss a few days ago. Was interesting. I thought I'd be bad, but in the end I wasn't. It turned out to be a good training run for me (with my very first tank character, plus I normally don't play melee classes).

 

I think that I should do both Hammerstation and Athiss a few more times (did Athiss with a Commando who was fairly new to it as well, plus our companions, makes 4, everyone at level 21 / 20).

Hi Alrik,

If i am understanding your question correctly, all you will need to do to switch guard is select another member of your group & throw the guard on that player. As long as said player is not guarding or being guarded by someone else you can switch guards as needed.

A minor necro : How do I switch guard with my Jedi Tank

Insead of necro'ing and adding an unrelated question when you weren't the OP, why didn't you just start a new thread?

Hi Alrik,

 

If i am understanding your question correctly, all you will need to do to switch guard is select another member of your group & throw the guard on that player. As long as said player is not guarding or being guarded by someone else you can switch guards as needed.

Thank you, this is what I wanted to know.

Besides, I'm used to a much different forums culture, where no "thread necroing" exists.

People just add there questions fitting to what has been discussed in a thread to that thread, that's all.

Tank and healer tend to get blamed when ever there is a problem while dps almost never get blamed( dps just along for the ride)

And this is why there is a shortage of tanks. Dumb *** dps that have no clue they are doing, cause problems for the group (specifically the tank) and then blame/harass the tanks/healers for the wipe.

3. Make sure the healer isn't getting hit. U should be the only one getting hit if done properly, but holding aggro can be tough at time so in the very least make sure you don't have pressure on the healer.

While I agree with everything else you said, this game is a bit different. Since a lot of pulls have ranged mobs spread out it can be very difficult for some tank classes to grab and hold all the mobs at once. This game if the tank can grab and hold the big mobs he is doing a good job. What a lot of dps dont seem to realize is their job is also a bit different in this game compared to other mmos. The dps need to kill all the low hit point mobs first, there by keeping them off the healer. Almost every group Ive been with at least 1 of the dps dont do this. They either target whatever mob they feel like or attack the ones being tanked. If a mob is on the tank and theres other mobs that arent, always dps the low level ones not on the tank first. If your tank isnt grabbing the big mobs tell him/her.

Thank you, this is what I wanted to know.

 

Besides, I'm used to a much different forums culture, where no "thread necroing" exists.

People just add there questions fitting to what has been discussed in a thread to that thread, that's all.

You're welcome, Glad I was able help.

Also, Although some get annoyed with old articles getting recycled. There is honestly nothing wrong with it. As long as the Questions, Comments & Tips that are being added to said article are constructive & relevant. Adding to an old article allows the forums to be more useful by being less cluttered so information is easier to find.

Which after all is the primary purpose of a forum.

This is why I won't group with some of my characters, as a whole I play DPS trees, as it's so much simplier and less rules to follow (i.e kill order, pick up adds and don't jump in too fast to let the tank get early aggro). As a DPS I will play all heroics (if possible) and all flashpoints.

On some of my chracters, mainly the Jedi Guardian and sith equivalent I have chosen the tanking tree just for the pure reason of wanting to run with certain DPS companions (vette and Kira) to make life easier for myself. but I have not grouped for anything with these as I don't feel comfertable being a tank for real people, particularly as I dont study all of the 'mechanics' of bosses.

It's the same as I don't run healing classes as I think both Tanking and Healing are thankless tasks and are the first to take the blame when somethng goes wrong.