Tanks: That which will kill SWTOR PVP.

Problem:
Tanks.

I'm sure all of the tanks in here are going to jump in here and tell me how i'm an idiot, and tanks suck, or tanks don't contribute anything, or that being "hard to kill" and "annoying" is what they're supposed to do.

Let me just tell you that its not the class/spec that sucks. Here's a hint (google it if you're not familiar with the acronym): PEBKAC

With teams that are 8 players (and lets be honest, much more than this... or maybe more than 12 would make it even less fun for different reasons) in all of the Warzones, tanks are a HUGE problem. Why?

Typical WZ Composition: 2 -3 Healers. 2-3 Tanks. 3-4 DPS

"But Xil! You havn't told us why tanks are a problem yet!"

There are three major reasons: Guard, Taunt, and Durability. A team with two tanks can guard 2 targets simultaneously, and a good tank will switch guard immediately upon a focus swap. With 2-3 healers, these targets are practically unkillable by 4 DPS being rotated through taunts. Whats the other problem? AoE CC. There is SO much AoE cc in this game that if you come anywhere close to killing someone, its just a matter of popping one of your teams choice of 6: AoE fear, flashbang, AoE knockback + root, AoE knockback (the 100 yard variety), or some other of the nearly limitless arsenal of CC in this game. This normally isn't a problem, except for tanks. By the time you recover from CC, taunts are back up -- people are healed to full -- and you start your cycle all over again, except this time without adrenals, relics, etc.

The problem is compounded to a level beyond frustrating (and far beyond fun) when you have an abnormally high number of healers and tanks. If you're any class that does weapon damage primarily (snipers, marauders), I seriously feel for you. You are utterly screwed as you watch your abilities bounce harmlessly off of shields and armor.

Once a tank and healer are properly geared, they make a near unkillable combination. If you do happen to kill one, good luck killing the other before his buddy is back. It simply isn't happening. Again, with the level of CC in this game combined with the utter unkillability of a well geared tank (And lets face it, some of them do a not-so-shabby level of DPS), it can make the life of this game drain out very quickly.


DISCLAIMER: THIS ONLY APPLIES TO GOOD TANKS. IF YOU ARE A BAD TANK, PLEASE FIND A GOOD ONE AND REQUEST ADVICE. AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

You heard it here first, though. The near indestructability of tanks and their healer buddies in (organized) PVP will utterly destroy this game in the long run.


I'm sure everyone has had one of "those" warzone matches where both teams have a premade (or two) with good tanks/healers and you literally rack up 400-600-700k damage and 1,000,000+ healing because NOONE can kill ANYONE and you spend the entire time hitting guarded player after guarded player for 100 damage. (This mostly happens in Alderaan).

*edit* to make people understand that i'm referring to a group vs group circumstance, not a "me vs the world" circumstance.

AND JUST SO EVERYONE UNDERSTANDS IT, THE PRONOUNS "I" AND "ME" IN THESE CIRCUMSTANCES REFER TO MY TEAM AS A UNIT, NOT JUST MYSELF. I'M SORRY I DID NOT MAKE THIS CLEAR IN THE BEGINNING. I WILL BE SURE TO EDIT THE ORIGINAL POST TO INCLUDE THIS PRECISE STATEMENT SO PEOPLE STOP THINKING I'M TRYING TO RAMBO SOLO ORGANIZED TEAMS

that kind of team ?

Leonardo 2 - SWTOR Battlemaster Commando PVP

( the commando most of time with his gardian )

So what you're saying is. You alone, are fighting a group of 2 tanks, 4 healers, and an undetermined amount of DPS classes.

They are using CC, but you're not.

They are using their class abilities, but you're not.

You make it sound like you're trying to emulate a pve encounter during PvP rather than focusing the more deadly of targets.

So... it must be OP?

Let me tell you how this OP tank does in PvP...

Civil War, I stand at a point. No one comes to attack that point and I get 3 medals for objective / defender. OR, we get crushed and I end up trying to get everyone to rally instead of running in one at a time.

Huttball (most common) I get to guard one player and hope they don't get pulled, pushed, or the ball. If they get the ball... Then I die quickly with everyone focusing on me instead of him to get my guard and taunts down.

If I get the ball, I walk across the map for 12 seconds before getting killed.

Seems like your issue is with premades vs. a pub moreso than the tank class.

This. Ha ha ha! People will start screaming the same thing anytime they are on the losing side. Recently some friends and I started playing as 3 sith assassins, and we completely forego any tanking or healing. We find tanks WITH healers and f them up. Are we OP? For being opportunistic? Maybe we should get nerfed.

I also fought 1v1 with a sage who i could NOT damage enough on my own to kill - he was a healing and stunning machine. But I thought, Hey, this guy kicks ***! He's doing what he does, and now I just have to figure a way around it. So what? That's where the fun is.

What do you expect. What you described was organized pvp. If the other team has a mirror team or a counter composition it won't be so easy for either team roll over the opposition. Game may even be a standstill.

ITT: Posters who have never played as (or against) truly organized teams. Try killing Leonardo/Msmf/Eggism, I dare you.

No. Seriously. If you can consistently do it any other way than punting them off of bridges in voidstar, I will hand you my paycheck.

In that unkillable game me (heals) and my tank ran all the way to the other teams base with our flag. Walked into the middle of their entire team (10 people), killed their flag carrier, and then ran back to cap, three times in one game. Somehow the game isn't dead.


I do like your thread though. The love of dramatic titles and language on these forums never cease to amuse me and immediately make it hard to take the subject seriously.

Sorry you hate teams that play as teams and not a ragtag of people that go off on their own.

Sigh. These posts are so annoying.

L2Coordinate with your team. Coordinate the stun on their healer for the killing blow. Coordinate CC to stun/snare/knockback tanks from their guard targets.

Or

You could just AOE and kill them both at the same time since we can't mitigate guard damage. I had an operative knock me down and kill my guard target (Commando). When I got up from knockdown I was at 50% health and my partner was 1 hit from dead.

You die in 12 seconds? As a tank? While running a 4 man group as I described?

You (and your friends) are 1) Doing it wrong and/or (probably both) 2) Terrible.

Why are you standing on a point defending it in CW? You should leave that to a stealther or two, or someone else. You are wasting 90% of your potential if you're not out guarding someone and otherwise being an absolute nuisance.