Quick tip: don't have your shadow tank be the puzzle solver for the EC minefield boss. I had previously posted that this was a *good* thing to due on account of the self-heal, but it turns out that self-healing is a non-issue. The bigger issue is healing agro.

Self-healing isn't an issue for the minefield solver because the healers can actually heal them back up when they are in hologram form looking for the stealth add. This even eliminates the need for it to be a tank, though you don't want to remove a DPS or a healer from the team in the field, so it's going to end up being a tank by default. The thing is that you do *not* want it to be a shadow/assassin tank because their self-heal will get the attention of the turrets on the sides. When I'm solving the puzzle, I will routinely take agro from one or two turrets over the course of the fight, despite never *hitting* them. This is simply because healing threat is omni-directional, and with the multipliers built into the tanking stance, the threat generated by my self-heal (especially the big one) is enough to out-pace the threat generated by the healers on the field.

This is a problem because the solver cannot use the hologram button if they are taking damage. Agro drops do work, but the agro drop for shadows is their combat stealth, which is on a 3 minute cooldown. Alternatively, the tank in the field can sometimes taunt the wayward turrets, but they often need their taunts to manage the adds. In short, just don't put a shadow/assassin tank in the tower; use your other tank instead!

Our guild uses a Sith Assassin tank for EC minefield. Just make sure your other tank is the first one on to go down, and then the assassin tank uses stealth at first. This worked every time so far.

Tried that. Doesn't work reliably. :-) One thing that does *help* is if I avoid using my big self-heal (proc'd Telekinetic Throw / Force Lightning). It doesn't solve the problem though.

Intresting dilemma there.

-turn off combat tech before you heal.

-Vanish on CD.

all i can really suggest.

I'm not sure if healing aggro may be an issue because the healers on the field are doing much more healing than a Shadow Tank would. You might be struggling a bit against the mechanics of the fight.

That said, if you are dying from turret fire, it's a legit problem. You might be able to solve this by having the tank on the field taunting a turret or two or having some ranged DPS shooting the turrets.

I honestly don't see much of an issue with the turrets on Story Mode. They seem to be just some minor thing that gives the healers something to do as well as ensuring the puzzle's Enrage kills the group.

We use our Assasin tank always to solve the minefield, he never had the problem you described.

I think the most simple way for you to avoid that is, when your healers do a bit overheal, this should solve your problem.

I'm not sure if healing aggro may be an issue because the healers on the field are doing much more healing than a Shadow Tank would. You might be struggling a bit against the mechanics of the fight.

They are. However, they have talented multipliers that reduce the threat they generate from healing. I, on the other hand, have multipliers that *increase* the threat I generate. If you do the math at a reasonable healing load, I'm going to end up on top of the threat table from time to time.

That said, if you are dying from turret fire, it's a legit problem. You might be able to solve this by having the tank on the field taunting a turret or two or having some ranged DPS shooting the turrets.

Dying is not an issue. Really, the turrets do almost no damage at all to me as a tank. The problem is that they interrupt the cast on the hologram.

I honestly don't see much of an issue with the turrets on Story Mode. They seem to be just some minor thing that gives the healers something to do as well as ensuring the puzzle's Enrage kills the group.

It's an annoyance more than anything else. I usually solve the problem by vanishing, but that really shouldn't be necessary. It always leaves me feeling a bit on edge, too, since I know that trick isn't going to work more than once (due to the 3 minute cooldown).

They are. However, they have talented multipliers that reduce the threat they generate from healing. I, on the other hand, have multipliers that *increase* the threat I generate. If you do the math at a reasonable healing load, I'm going to end up on top of the threat table from time to time.

Admittedly I don't have a log on hand to parse, but regardless of threat talents your self heals shouldn't come even remotely near the healing threat generation of your main healers after the first defusal.

Last time I ran EC we had a shadow tank on the puzzle and the turrets didn't so much as glance at him.

They are. However, they have talented multipliers that reduce the threat they generate from healing. I, on the other hand, have multipliers that *increase* the threat I generate. If you do the math at a reasonable healing load, I'm going to end up on top of the threat table from time to time.

You'd have to be self-healing 2/3 of what a healer does to match their threat. I'm not sure of the self-heal rate for your spec, but I'm fairly sure it's not high enough to be that close to what a healer does.

Dying is not an issue. Really, the turrets do almost no damage at all to me as a tank. The problem is that they interrupt the cast on the hologram.

That would be a problem. Personally, I'm surprised the tower doesn't give a buff similar to standing on the Firebrand/Stormcaller tanks where you're less likely to be targeted by the turrets. If the person on the tower manages to pull aggro on a turret, then the puzzle is unwinnable.

I see this happening for a few exclusive reasons, though:

1) Healing aggro has a max range just like the turrets have a max range. The healers will eventually go out of range of the closest turrets and no longer produce threat. This allows for your self-heals to reach the 2/3 threshhold necessary to have aggro change to you. The best way to know if this is the cause of the problem is if you only have issues with the turrets after the group is at least halfway down the field. You'll either have to switch stances or swap roles with the other tank.

2) The turrets' LOS is supposed to be blocked by specific positioning on the tower.

3) The turrets target someone at random and attempt to fire. They cycle through the raid. You just have to eat the lasers.

I'll talk with the puzzle solver of the group I run with. He's a Jugg tank, so his experiences in the fight may either be the same or differ. For the most part, though, he's had no problem solving the puzzle.

Based on my own experiences (Shadow tank who does the controls) and the experiences offered in this thread, I'm inclined to suggest what you're experiencing is a bug or glitch.

Now let's look at some math.

For every 1 point of healing, 0.50 threat is generated. Combat technique adds 50% to threat generation. Therefore, you are generating 0.75 threat per heal. As we know, while Shadow/Assassin self-healing is potent, it is a significantly lower than healers. I don't have the numbers off hand but it's something like a 1/5 or something. It may even be lower.

Now let's be liberal and assume healers are on the low end are only healing triple your self heals (200 HPS vs 600 HPS). Let's measure 20 seconds. Over that twenty seconds you have generated 2250 threat. In that same span, the healer will generate 4500 threat.

2250 vs 4500. And that is assuming you are maximizing your healing and the healers are struggling to maintain a decent rate.

Now, admittedly, there is a range issue and eventually healers would stop generating on the near turrets. But even in the case of the mediocore healer here, they are doubling your threat generation. I have a really hard time believing that your healing threat is genning at such a rate that it would overcome the double rate over an extended period of time.

What you're experiencing is a bug.

Alternatively, you don't need to be in tank stance to do the tower. You could do it just fine in Force Technique.

Quick tip: don't have your shadow tank be the puzzle solver for the EC minefield boss. I had previously posted that this was a *good* thing to due on account of the self-heal, but it turns out that self-healing is a non-issue. The bigger issue is healing agro.

 

Self-healing isn't an issue for the minefield solver because the healers can actually heal them back up when they are in hologram form looking for the stealth add. This even eliminates the need for it to be a tank, though you don't want to remove a DPS or a healer from the team in the field, so it's going to end up being a tank by default. The thing is that you do *not* want it to be a shadow/assassin tank because their self-heal will get the attention of the turrets on the sides. When I'm solving the puzzle, I will routinely take agro from one or two turrets over the course of the fight, despite never *hitting* them. This is simply because healing threat is omni-directional, and with the multipliers built into the tanking stance, the threat generated by my self-heal (especially the big one) is enough to out-pace the threat generated by the healers on the field.

 

This is a problem because the solver cannot use the hologram button if they are taking damage. Agro drops do work, but the agro drop for shadows is their combat stealth, which is on a 3 minute cooldown. Alternatively, the tank in the field can sometimes taunt the wayward turrets, but they often need their taunts to manage the adds. In short, just don't put a shadow/assassin tank in the tower; use your other tank instead!

I'm a shadow tank and i been doing the tower of the minefield for weeks now and i never had this problem in neither story mode or hard mode

when my raid starts the encounter me and a few dps go into the tower while the other tank and healers ready to deal with the adds and jump on the green square, the dps who come with me deal with the first add while i start off revealing the 3 squares, then i go into the probe mode (while this is happening the add is dead and rest of raid on first green square), once i reveal probe i dps down the add then step back in front of the board waiting on probe dying while i reveal rest of the path for them, soon it dies i press mine to be disarmed and go back into probe mode and repeat until my raid are across and on disarming the last mine soon i press the mine i jump down and run across for boss encounter

More then likely your problem is where your standing when you go into probe mode

We use one of our two healers to solve the puzzle on both SM and HM. Problem solved.

Regards,

KK