Troll Tanks? Is this a new thing?

El_Borracho · July 22

Saw something this weekend that I have never seen before. Used GF to get Vet Bloodroot for a pledge. The tank was spec'd as a real tank, S&B, Ice Staff, Health, etc. but would not taunt either trash mobs or bosses. Only time I saw a taunt was at the end while fighting the last bosses. Noticed it early on when the Earthgorers and Firehides were running free. I don't know what the tank was doing as I did not see them in those fights.

It came to a head on the fourth boss when the boss would chase down the DDs and Healer while the tank sat there. Was able to watch this one from the rock pads and from my corpse. No Inner Fire, no Pierce Armor, no chains, no cc's, just lots of ice staff Wall of Elements and light attacking with running backwards. I can't recall one skill being used other than self-heals and self-shields. No ultimates at all. On the final boss, the Minotaur ran free chaining and pinning the DDs and Healer. The tank only taunted Gherig Bullblood and pulled him as far away from the Attendant of Blood as possible. It feels like the Amalgam was an accidental victory for the group as the tank kept running in circles, as if to avoid the bosses and pull them apart after the split.

On both the fourth and final boss, the group tried to give the tank some advice via group chat, like "pull the bosses together" and "taunt the boss." Those were met with the same nonsense after wipes with "I know what I am doing" and "You don't have the skill." I don't know where this came from as nobody was on comms, nobody was speed running or lagging, and there was nothing said until the wipes began. Essentially, the group burn had to overcome the tank sabotaging the run.

I've seen fake tanks, new tanks, and bad tanks. This tank knew where the chest locations were, the timing of the rocks floating in the lava, the timing of hedge and adds in Caillaoife, and where Stoneheart would teleport to. It was as if the tank knew the mechanics and knew how to tank but refused to do either. The group was not a low CP group or inexperienced, either. It felt like the tank was intentionally doing the wrong thing. I hope this is not a new trend. This tank wore a pretty specific outfit to easily identify themselves, but don't want to violate ZOS policy.

Orbital78 · July 22

Was he wearing the troll king mask?

Araneae6537 · July 23

I don’t know why you continued with the dungeon. When the tank failed to taunt the first boss, I would have politely said something (after all, they could be new, or have swapped a skill while queued and didn’t have a chance to switch back, etc.). If by word or deed they refuse to even try (good tanking takes lots of practice and I always support the effort), then I leave. It’s not worth the aggravation.

LittlePinkDot · July 23

Can I get a Vet dungeon with a real healer instead of 3 DD's

El_Borracho · July 23

Araneae6537 wrote: »

I don’t know why you continued with the dungeon. When the tank failed to taunt the first boss, I would have politely aid something (after all, they could be new, or have swapped a skill while queued and didn’t have a chance to switch back, etc.). If by word or deed they refuse to even try (good tanking takes lots of practice and I always support the effort), then I leave. It’s not worth the aggravation.

Believe me, I thought about it. The other DD and Healer were solid, which is how we completed it. Curiosity got the better of me as it was such a weird display I had to see what would happen next, as in was this guy a troll or was he just a bad tank? The first few bosses don't really require a tank, so I wondered if he was a PVP/PVE DD fake tanking. The 4th boss confirmed my troll hypothesis, but by that time we had come too far just to bail on the last boss.

I still would love to know his motives. Bloodroot isn't Maarselok long, but its also not exactly a short dungeon. He didn't need a carry, either. So why queue in a vet GF just to act like a fool in a DLC dungeon?

Necrotech_Master · July 23

it definitely sounds suspicious there, if they knew all the mechanics, but didnt actually taunt/pull anything until the last boss

cant say for sure though, but i would have also probably mentioned something after the first boss, or even the first add pull with a big enemy

Sonnir · July 23

Maybe DD's were pulling and not letting tank pull?
I can not STAND it when DD's pull, even trash. Makes my job as tank, trying to stack crap that is already aggro'd a pain in the arse and I WILL NOT bother taunting if I am in a group that does this.
Not saying your did, just an idea.

El_Borracho · July 23

Sonnir wrote: »

Maybe DD's were pulling and not letting tank pull?
I can not STAND it when DD's pull, even trash. Makes my job as tank, trying to stack crap that is already aggro'd a pain in the arse and I WILL NOT bother taunting if I am in a group that does this.
Not saying your did, just an idea.

Nope. Was an Arcanist and a Templar DDs with a real healer. And nobody was running in ahead of the tank, especially on the bosses

I'm with you in terms of stealing taunt. I've tanked my share of content, and with dungeons its not unheard of to see a PVP DD in there using a gap closer or other skill that can steal taunt or give cc immunity. That wasn't the case here.

DenverRalphy · July 29

They obvioiusly knew the mechanics of the dungeon, and you could visually verify that. But that doesn't necessarily mean he/she knows how to Tank. It just means they've run the dungeon enough, but it could just as easily have been on DD/H toons.

It's possible you just stumbled across some schmuck who thinks speccing out as a tank makes them an actual tank.

But then what do I know? In the past couple of weeks I've been running across players with 2k+ CP, and for reasons I can't fathom (well I can, but I'm not going to make accusations without proof), they don't seem to know some of the most basic of mechanics that anybody who's leveled their first toon from 1-50 doesn't already have ingrained into their head.

Jaimeh · July 30

It could be someone who is trying tanking on an alternate character, so they may have run the dungeon previously on another role but didn't have experience from a tank POV (the fact that they did a lot of self-healing and shielding with a healer in group and even without having aggro points to them not being used to taking a lot of incoming damage). Though to be fair starting to tank on a vet DLC dungeon and with a PUG isn't the best strategy.

Vaqual · July 30

Does one weird groupfinder experience already warrant a forum discussion?