I'm finding, as are others, that on my server there is a lack of tanks wanting to run HMs (specifically on Master Dar'Nala). Whether this is because they are already geared and do not require the flashpoints, or whether it is because there is purely a tanking shortage, I do not know. I did resquest a simple hands up of tanks on fleet and of 188 people on at the time only 1 was a tank.

 

The fact of the matter remains that my alt DPS character and even my Rakata geared healer is unable to run any flashpoints at 50, I struggle to even complete the weekly once the limited supply of tanks who are completing it runs out.

 

I started thinking that there needs to be something added to flashpoints to make it more appealing for geared tanks to participate. Whether that be implementation of Rakata commendations, as the gear tiers have gone up one, or something else.

 

At the end of the day I can only really put up with 15 minutes of waiting around before I get bored and find something else to do (which is usually go and play another game), last night I spent an hour (as did the rest of my group) waiting for a tank to show themselves or interest in tanking.

 

I only received a response (single) when offering a cash reward for tanking, but was unsuccessful in negotiating a fair price.

 

So to sum up, my experience as DPS and even a healer now is that I sit on fleet at 50 for perhaps hours on end just attempting to form a group for a flashpoint.

 

It is currently a very boring 'game' and I see no resolution to this issue on my end. I have played other MMOs and tanks have always seemed short, but never as bad as this.

 

Currently end-game flashpoint is slow, and whilst I appreciate BW believe a LFG tool will resolve this - their lateral thought pattern wont work until cross-server is implemented, and thats being optimistic.

 

Fact of the matter is for myself, unless things change I will be un-subbing soon.

 

Troll away or perhaps feel free to post something contructive! (LOL, like that is actually going to happen)

Edited May 13, 2012 by Banicks

just another flavor of 'merge servers', which is not happening. transfers in 'early summer' so like july maybe? bleh.

This is an issue that varies from server to server, and its usually either tanks or healers. I'm a tank so obviously when I'm lfg I always feel there's a lack if healers, but in general on my server I feel were lacking healers more than tanks.

 

Another thing to note is for FP its 1 tank 1 heal and 1 dps. However at 50 when Ops come into the equation it becomes 2 2 4 for 8man, which is fine, just double the usual. But in 16 m its still only 2 tanks needed, apart from 2 fights that favour 3 tanks.

 

That and the fact that the first tier raids, which people are still doing, they only require 1 tank. This may have put some tanks off, they may have rerolled for their guild etc.

Or you could just be on an unlucky server where tanks don't exist or cba doing flashpoints.

Tanks are generally in demand so they can afford to only group wtih friends/guildies. Plus, the HM flashpoints in this game are actually quite hard when compared to the 'other' game where people need to know the tactics or its just a wipefest, which inevitably makes pugging a lot less attractive.

This is an issue that varies from server to server, and its usually either tanks or healers. I'm a tank so obviously when I'm lfg I always feel there's a lack if healers, but in general on my server I feel were lacking healers more than tanks.

 

Another thing to note is for FP its 1 tank 1 heal and 1 dps. However at 50 when Ops come into the equation it becomes 2 2 4 for 8man, which is fine, just double the usual. But in 16 m its still only 2 tanks needed, apart from 2 fights that favour 3 tanks.

 

That and the fact that the first tier raids, which people are still doing, they only require 1 tank. This may have put some tanks off, they may have rerolled for their guild etc.

Or you could just be on an unlucky server where tanks don't exist or cba doing flashpoints.

tanking in this game is annoying, and im the tank for our 4/4 HM EC group. oh and btw im on master dar'nala

 

SO many bosses have threat wipes which make tanks look bad when he turns around and almost kills ur dps in a single hit.

 

SO many mobs stun as soon as the pull starts and then the mobs walk over and beat ur healer.

 

Sometimes taunts dont actually work, use i have used taunt and for 6 seconds the mob is supposed to attack me and he just goes 1 second later im gonna hit that melee dps instead. And taunts are on a rather long cooldown.

 

Threat drops from dps dont always work. We had a sentinel who did not even have threat use force camouflage just to keep his threat down only to have the boss turn around that instant and wack him as he popped out of stealth even though it is supposed to drop all threat.

 

Most the mobs in this game are ranged and so many dps dont wanna focus targets.

 

people will probably just say l2p however i never actually fail at doing at 1shotting HMs in its just hell annoying when things like that happen.

Edited May 14, 2012 by Neferseki

I am a tank and I gave up a long while ago. One old bug (don't know if it stil applies) frustrated me so much I had to quit PVE.

 

I was in False Emperor last boss... then he punt me I got teleported outside. The group had their daily and their loot. I got NOTHING.

 

Also, if you aren't doing operations then you are doomed to struggle alone for a long time trying to buy stuff and do dailies.

 

I am on a low population server (well, likely so) and it sucks even more. The most people I have seen is like 30 or so.

 

Operations are neat I had the chance to do "one" yet there is SOOOOO little information on what to do and where to go "inside the game" that you are losing your time trying to find people.

 

I am a tank. I am leaving this game soon...

 

One less for you to look for I guess =(

As someone on the MDN server, I can actually answer this question.

 

Nearly every level 50 PT, Jugg, or Sin I have talked to is DPS spec. Since it is a PvP server, there is SO much focus on PvP, and a huge amount of the people have a "Best for PvP" mentality.

 

I once waited 2 hours on a Sunday night, spamming /1 LF Tank BT HM, and nothing. I ended up having to beg a guildie to respec (Which I had to pay for twice, spec to tank, re-spec to dps), and had to put up with "Wow, tanking is so boring, pve is so ****" for the duration of the FP.

 

My only suggestion and solution would be to level your own Tank. This way, you can be nearly assured you will get groups late game.

I'm finding, as are others, that on my server there is a lack of tanks wanting to run HMs (specifically on Master Dar'Nala). Whether this is because they are already geared and do not require the flashpoints, or whether it is because there is purely a tanking shortage, I do not know. I did resquest a simple hands up of tanks on fleet and of 188 people on at the time only 1 was a tank.

 

The fact of the matter remains that my alt DPS character and even my Rakata geared healer is unable to run any flashpoints at 50, I struggle to even complete the weekly once the limited supply of tanks who are completing it runs out.

 

I started thinking that there needs to be something added to flashpoints to make it more appealing for geared tanks to participate. Whether that be implementation of Rakata commendations, as the gear tiers have gone up one, or something else.

 

At the end of the day I can only really put up with 15 minutes of waiting around before I get bored and find something else to do (which is usually go and play another game), last night I spent an hour (as did the rest of my group) waiting for a tank to show themselves or interest in tanking.

 

I only received a response (single) when offering a cash reward for tanking, but was unsuccessful in negotiating a fair price.

 

So to sum up, my experience as DPS and even a healer now is that I sit on fleet at 50 for perhaps hours on end just attempting to form a group for a flashpoint.

 

It is currently a very boring 'game' and I see no resolution to this issue on my end. I have played other MMOs and tanks have always seemed short, but never as bad as this.

 

Currently end-game flashpoint is slow, and whilst I appreciate BW believe a LFG tool will resolve this - their lateral thought pattern wont work until cross-server is implemented, and thats being optimistic.

 

Fact of the matter is for myself, unless things change I will be un-subbing soon.

 

Troll away or perhaps feel free to post something contructive! (LOL, like that is actually going to happen)

 

 

Assassin tank here, full rakata on master da'danala

 

From a tank point of view, I no longer need to run the FP as there is not much of a reward. I tank for my guild to get black hole gear on HM EC. I did run with pugs to help the commuity and for the sake of something to do while subject to the OP weekly lock out.

 

Until I ran with a pug group in HM KP. I explained the first boss has no aggro table and I will not be able hold threat through out the fight. We wiped many times as pugs were kiting the boss through the raid. One pug went out of his way to whisper me to state that I was a bad tank and didnt know what I was doing. I explained again that it was out of my control and the boss was un-tauntable.

 

This pug continued to whisper me about how bad I was. He pushed my buttons and I told him to F OFF and left the raid. 24 hours later I receive a email from bio informing me that an investigation into my account showed I had breached the terms and services and I would be suspended or cancelled if I continued. I ask for an example and bio promptly came back with the details from the previous nights raid. The pug reported me for harassment and for cursing at him. Yes I am in the wrong for swearing at him. But he pushed me to it.

 

Now I will not tank for any pugs and only my guild.

i hear you brah....

tanking for pugs is like a box of chocolate,

you never know what you gonna get....

i hear you brah....

tanking for pugs is like a box of chocolate,

you never know what you gonna get....

 

More like a box of vomit in my oppinion. Also the constant cc of the tank, aggro wipes etc makes it so I rather not tank for pugs as I do not like to submit myself to beeing called bad by an idiot.

Also it seems that tank threat scale very badly. If you go 100% into mitigation and a dps goes 100% damage it will pan out so your only way to keep aggro is to taunt and that is booring. Sure you can keep the important stuff allright but alot of the population playing these games demand that you tank like they are used to in wow (which mean the tank(s) should always have every mob on them). Sure they are the ones not understanding how it works here but it is this game that suffers for it when tanks refuse to tank for the general population of the game.

I was in False Emperor last boss... then he punt me I got teleported outside. The group had their daily and their loot. I got NOTHING.

 

That's not a bug, he killed you. If he knocks you back off of one of the ledges, you die instantly.

 

 

Re: Tanking

 

I've been tanking on my PT alt lately simply because that's the character I have that is the most in-demand. Some of the fights are pretty frustrating. I hated Kaon Under Siege, while the DPS loved it.

 

I usually mark a target with the yellow crosshairs icon as the kill target. That's what I want them to focus on while I round up the rest. Yet time after time that target is the last to die. Why? Why is focusing on one mob out of a pack that hard? When a tank tells you to kill "this target first," why would you hit anything other than that target? It defies logic. Is there some kind of setting where people can't see target markers?

 

I have dps in groups attacking immediately, before I can even hit a mob once. If I can't get on the threat table, it's not coming for me, it's coming for you. This shouldn't be hard to understand. I shouldn't have to taunt everything. Taunt should be for emergencies. Let me hit the darn things before you nuke it.

 

It doesn't surprise me at all that tanks are hiding among their guilds right now.

I tank so much for my guild that by the time I would even get a chance to take a pug group I'd be finished tanking for the day. And on raid days I avoid HM FPs completely.

 

Honestly, find a guild that you know has a couple active tanks and join. Just don't beg for runs as soon as you do.

Powertech Tank on the Lord Calypho server. I tank PUG's all the time, because of my current inactive guild. I usually work with the same healer, so we control the group. If any DPS fails to do what we tell them to do (kill order, tank goes first, etc.), we just blatently kill them. We make this perfectly clear before each flashpoint.

 

DPS are like dogs, they need to be trained. My friend list is filled with people that know what they're expected to do.

that's true also - i rarely tank for pugs. Usually only if its say me + guildy and then 1 or 2 pugs. It's just not worth the time usually I have very little reason to do any FP other than LI and KuS for the weekly.

 

I guess there'll be more incentive in the future with the 'random flashpoint' reward from the LFG tool. And the achievement speeders were incentive but usually if i still need it, then 3 other guild members will too.

i don't tank for pugs for several reasons:

 

1. it takes longer, so i would have to be COMPLETELY bored, to want to tank for a pug - and to be honest, I'm completely bored in this game most of the time, except for raid time.
   
2. I don't need any gear
   
3. The only HM FP that is even meaningful (lost island), is far from puggable. Yes, it's theoretically possible, but explaining the fights would take forever, as well as waiting for people to learn it, on top of hoping the rest of the group is geared enough for it.
   
4. pugs don't hit spacebar - This is never more evident than when I make the mistake of pugging Kaon to finish up the weekly quest.

Taunt should be for emergencies.

just a note on this. This is true in OTHER games, but it's been discussed in a round about way in several different threads that had dev feedback, that the threat mechanism, especially taunt, is MEANT to be part of your rotation to BUILD threat..

 

it's lame, IMO, but it's their game, and that's how they want you to play it..

I am a Vanguard Tank on Canderous Ordo

 

I believe the server lacks more tanks than healers overall. I see most people looking for tanks over healers when trying to throw together a Hardmode. To be honest this game really doesn't give enough reason for a geared tank to even bother running Hard Mode flashpoints.

 

Only one worth doing for a geared tank is HM LI and Kaon for Weekly but after they get weekly done there is no point. I believe that HMs are poorly itemized in this game. Look at Lost Island for instance, It drops Tionese coms and all columi gear other than the Rakatta Chest at the end. Now tell me if it is possible that a group of people who aren't atleast in mostly columi/rakatta gear to even complete that place in Hard Mode. Most likely not...

 

Even when I hit 50 on this character the first thing I did was throw a pug EV together because I knew I would get gear faster offtanking that with crap gear over running multiple hard modes and making healers want to kill themselves rather than heal my 15k health tanking arse lol.

 

TL'DR: I hate running hard modes and the hard modes are poorly itemized.

As a Tank on Ajunta Pall, I do not tank for pug groups. I generally stay with a guild group or run HM's with people on my friends list. After even being in Columi there is no real reason to run HM"s besides Kaon and Lost Island and I will never run LI with a pug group.

 

Tanking can be frustrating at times with the aggro drops, stuns and taunts not working but I still enjoy it. If there was some other reward to complete the other HM FP's besides the rakgoul ones i would probably engage in them again but as I said before there is no reason to do them right now. Its a waste of time where I could be clearing dailies or doing some PvP or even raiding.

I have 3 tanks. 2 on the same server and I haven't done a HM FP since the 1st day of Kaon Under Siege. Why? There is no reason to. Stale content is stale, no worthwhile rewards, and quite frankly most pugs are complete idiots.

 

Like the example above, I also pugged out of the niceness of my heart a KP and had the EXACT same issue as the previous poster. I was called a "Bad Tank" because of Bonethrasher. We killed it, I cleared trash to Jarg, and pulled him and exited area.

 

The main reason there are no tanks for HM FP's? 95% of the server pops are full of mouthbreathers and we don't want to waste our time.

Like the example above, I also pugged out of the niceness of my heart a KP and had the EXACT same issue as the previous poster. I was called a "Bad Tank" because of Bonethrasher.

 

Priceless!

 

My experience is: I have been told on some occasions "wow this is so easy, you're such a good tank" and on others "go read up on tanking, you dont know what your doing" and one guy went into general chat and announced to everyone how I could not hold aggro.

 

If I pug and someone starts their "c'mon people this should be a 10 minute run" crap, I remove them from group if I am the leader, or quit the group if I am not.

 

As for "explaining the fights and stuff", well, someone had to explain it to me the 1st time. I don't mind explaining a fight to a competent person. Its a good way to make friends in this game.

Edited May 14, 2012 by konstan

I wanted to try tanking in an MMO, so I leveled a powertech to 50 as my main.

 

It was stressful. Too many spread out groups of mobs that makes it a chore to keep aggro on, too many aggro wipes on bosses and I had the most responsibility for every fight.

 

Which would have been fine except for the fact that baddies tend to always blame tanks for a wipe and never give praise for a success.

 

Tanking is a thankless job, especially in this game. You have to REALLY enjoy it in order to do it on a regular basis, and even then, most are not willing to pug with strangers if they can't help it.

 

Me personally, I rerolled an Op healer and never looked back. My powertech now is does nothing but send companions out on crew skills now though I will tank for guildies when needed.

Actually, I find tanking the most interesting role in this game. My first character was a sage healer, and I spent all my time looking at the group's HP bars rather than what was going on. My second character was a sentinel, and I spent all my time looking at my action bar and resources, trying to figure out which attack to use next. Then I made a Vanguard tank, and now I actually look at what's happening on the screen. I finally get to see Jedi jumping around with lightsabers flashing and troopers firing missiles and whatnot, it's great!

I really liked the way Rift handled this issue. They made it so that there was actually a reward for decently geared players to run the top tier dungeons again. Basically, you would have bonuses that accumulated daily up to seven. In order to receive the bonus you had to run a random dungeon. At the end of the dungeon you would then receive commendations for the higher tiered items. It also gave you alternate advancement XP as well. Enough to gain a level and a point. to spend in one of the trees.

 

Bioware could bring in this same concept ecspecially with the release of 1.3 and the LFG tool. Geared players from all around can then queue in order to get their bonues. You could make it so that each bonus would give one Black Hole Commendation per bonus point, and maybe a decent amount of legacy xp as well.

[*]pugs don't hit spacebar - This is never more evident than when I make the mistake of pugging Kaon to finish up the weekly quest.

 

Hate this aspect of it. Especially with BT. How many times have you run BT? The story doesnt change. If one of the persons hasnt been to the FP, it is understandable....Usually Battle of Illum or False Emperor since they are in the middle of nowhere.

 

I do PuG a lot, mainly to give me something to do. Hate it when people pull or not attack my target.