why be a pure DPS when DPS tanks do more damage

You can not assume a stationary target! This is just not possible as it is no stationary targets. The whole "I can do more dps on a training dummy" is really not relevant. Because it does not include the two most important factors in pvp:

1. Defensive and offensive capability
2. Health pool

Yes your operative will kill a squishy dps class faster than your tank. But that has nothing to do with the equation! You completely ignore the fact that time has no impact on killing. Its either you win the fight or you do not.

If we put up group variables, and add healers and other characters, then it MAY matter, but not necessarily. Some hybrid classes in this game is very powerful because they have excellent defensive and offensive capabilities. Some dps classes have very little defense, and some tanks have little offensive capabilities.

The tanking defensive stats are fine, when you are fully buffed, and traited as a TANK, not as a dps tank, but a straight up tank. I'd have to disagree that survival is only 1/4 better.

I have a sage a gunslinger a sentinel and a vanguard tank. By far my vanguard has the highest survival. Sage melts in about 2 seconds under focused fire, GS maybe 2.5 seconds. The sentinel if I'm popping CD's can survive a bit longer, call it 3-4 seconds under focused fire. My vanguard? 15-20 seconds when I pop all my CD's. Usually long enough to keep them from capping an objective until my team shows back up.

sin tanks sure, guardian/jugg tanks damage is laughable and no threat to anybody. Every single one of their attacks is white instead of yellow, which means its subjected to defense/absorb chance which means theres a high chance you wont even be able to hit anybody.

Don't be ridiculous.

Also a "tank" specced for dps is no longer a tank, he is a DPS. How is that so hard to understand. Juggernauts have two dps trees and one tank tree. Hell even Commandos have one healing tree. Are they healer? Yeah they are not PURE.

Operatives? Access to healing, NOT PURE.

if a tank pt gets focused, unless he jet charges out of there he is going down in seconds. energy shield is just as effective as sorc bubble without guard or heals on the pt. only time energy shield is worth a darn is if you have guard, taunt, and healing on you. other than that, if you pop it at say....50% hp you will only mitigate about 2k damage from the CD.

the difference in survivability between my pyro pt and my CP pt is marginal at best except for jet charge, which has saved my bacon tons of times.

in fact, a sorc has a better chance of surviving a focus train by himself than a pt. sorcs escape getting pulled into 30+ players in ilum all the time, pts have to sit there and take it if they are not tank or tank/dps hybrid as pts have zero escape tools baseline.

Any tank, or any class distinction for that matter, is fodder when focused in this game, and therefore, what happens to a tank when it is 'focused' is clearly a non-issue.


You do realize the paradox in the above statement, right?

ie.) "tons of times" vs "marginal"


Again, cearly a 'focus train' is not the standard which you judge a tank by in SWTOR. Stop associating it with the tanks of other games which have super duper CDs or toggles which mitigate tons of damage by itself.

SWTOR tanks rely on active defense, rather than such passive defense.

Simply put, in other games, when you play a tank they add a 10inch thick layer of steel armor around you, which retains its defensive power whether you are dumb or smart. The difference in defensive capability can range from something like 0% resistances/mitigation for DPS classes, vs something like 200~250% mitigation for tanks. In those games the difference in offensive capabilities also reach similar disparities between classes.

In SWTOR, if you are a tank, they give you a plain, good ol' kite shield. Sure. its good defense as opposed to those who have none, but that alone isn't going to be enough to perform like the tanks in other games. You have to learn to use the shield you have been given.

ie) Defensive builds wield two instant cast stuns as opposed to only one for other classes. You can either use this as your attack tool, or, you can use it to stun both enemies attacking yourself, or your friend, to buy some time to escape.

Defensive specs have defense/shield ratings around 30%/25% chance for defensive action such as parry or defelct. This chance is enough to make a noticeable difference in a 1vs1 situation, effective against enemy "white" damage attacks which usually constitute the majority of medium grade attacks (Zealous leap and such..) or energy/focus builders.

However, that chance alone will mean squat when you have multiple attacks incoming, and therefore a tank just cannot "pick a spot, stand steadfast, start bashing" like in other games.

17 pages later and the OP hasn't posted again.... successful troll is successful.

On a related note. DPS tanks doing DPS.. imagine that. That aren't bursting anything down... they do steady, constant damage. True DPS classes like Sniper and Marauder do have enough burst or at least higher sustained damage to actually make a kill in a timely matter. Yea a tankassin might kill you, but it will be a long fight. PvP is all about burst. All it takes is 1 healer and a DPS tank is boned... can't kill anything.

I'm rage tank spec (soresu) and have 520 power without adrenals/relics and 106 cm. I cant hit for anything above 6.3k with a wz adrenal + relic. So these 7.5k hit smashes, what are they against? What are the specs of the person doing 7.5k in soresu?

A tank does more dmg than a dps "In a single target"
this is why you deal 200k dmg and i deal 400k as a sage.
i hit multi targets but on a single target i can do 3k dmg max (if i et lucky that target has low expertise).
I use BM gear and i take 5k dmg from tanks dps.

nevertheless in every game i'm sure you had play, tanks are meant to harass the enemy and protect allies, not to dominate 1 vs 1.

Lawlz ,you do 5-7k dmg
my sage with BM and dps specs can't deal more than 3k.
tell me now who is the dps? xD