Tanks are Pointless?

AlienPrimate

I have been trying to complete fungal grotto, but I can't beat the bosses (particularly the first dreugh boss and giant mudcrab). Every time the tank leads in and I sit back as far away as possible. The boss runs right by my three party members straight to me when I still haven't hit them yet. I then proceed to running away trying to keep myself alive with my abilities and finally get away. The boss is then out of its natural range and gains full hp instantly while running back to its spawn and we have to start over. The same thing happens over and over until I die and shortly after every one else dies without their healer.

Sarenia

Ah, you're a healer.

Healing tends to draw aggro as much as DPS in games.

Try to use your heals sparingly, perhaps? Balance your tank's health vs the boss's health and use the minimum healing you can to keep the tank up until the boss has a good chunk of HP missing.

I imagine AoE heals are probably huge aggro magnets too.

If your party is doing extremely little damage to the boss compared to how much you're having to heal them, it's a recipe for disaster.

nerevarine1138

This thread title is misleading. If you and your tank aren't using block/dodge mechanics, you're going to have a bad time.

Censorious

Everyone's got used to the idea that mobs in MMOs are completely stupid and can be tricked into wasting all their damage on a 'tank'.

Not in this game. This is a community L2P issue.

AlienPrimate

One time I was out of range to even use my abilities which is 28 meters and the giant crab still ran straight to me.

Teroh

Completed every dungeon up to the lvl 40 ones which I have one left. Ive tanked them all and have no problems. This is not a traditional mmo and sometimes you'll tank will have to switch from sword and board to resto staff or ranged

If your tank is not taunt melee bosses that's another issue

hilelorangutan

A couple things.
1. Your tank is definitely doing something wrong if he has 0 aggro when the fight starts. Either he needs to change his abilities or possibly your group is just too low level to do the zone. The first time I did Fungal I believe we were all 12+
2. Being a healer is a very precise art in this game, you want to heal the minimum to keep everyone alive, and probably avoid doing damaging abilities unless boss is at 20% or less. This will probably get balanced as I do think healer aggro is too high right now, but it's definitely still doable if you're careful.
3. Don't forget your ninja skills. Block and dodge are skills every class should be using, as this isn't the kind of game where you can get away with just standing in the back with the pot shots. Ninja that boss and feel awesome.

annarr1117nub18_ESO

TES games has always consisted of using the block and dodge and archery mechanics to help keep your player character alive in the game for a longer period of time!

AlienPrimate

None of you are understanding what I said. It doesn't matter if I dodge or block because they just continue running after me and no one has enough stamina for that, especially a healer. In the beta I had the same problem except I did the quest at level 18 and was able to sustain myself long enough for my teammates to kill the boss. None of them took one hit because I took all of them. I could run around in circles doing nothing but healing myself for a couple of minutes while they put out all the damage they please with 0 aggro. The bosses even follow me into the water and get healed because of the area limit thing when they become invincible while they return to their spawn. That is the only time that they stop chasing me and by then it was all pointless.

Sakiri

annarr1117nub18_ESO wrote: »

TES games has always consisted of using the block and dodge and archery mechanics to help keep your player character alive in the game for a longer period of time!

Unless you're me and slit their throats before they have a chance to hit me.

I don't think I've dodged or blocked once in a prior TES game. Ever.

blackwolf7

Yeah, i think your tank needs to use the aggro skill in the sword and tree line.

Also based on experience, the mechanics here are different from standard mmos wherein your tank facetanks every adds and you just heal him from behind while dps melts the enemy without problems.

In here, if you are not a templar and youre healing, you need to require all your party members to play wisely. You need to tell your tank to block heavy attacks and dodge super attacks/aoe attacks or else you will never be able to keep up with his hp.

If youre a templar though, its a different story, they have burst heals while resto only have HoTs. Though i heard templars will have magika problems if they keep on using their oh *** heals xD

Lalai

AlienPrimate wrote: »

None of you are understanding what I said. It doesn't matter if I dodge or block because they just continue running after me and no one has enough stamina for that, especially a healer. In the beta I had the same problem except I did the quest at level 18 and was able to sustain myself long enough for my teammates to kill the boss. None of them took one hit because I took all of them. I could run around in circles doing nothing but healing myself for a couple of minutes while they put out all the damage they please with 0 aggro. The bosses even follow me into the water and get healed because of the area limit thing when they become invincible while they return to their spawn. That is the only time that they stop chasing me and by then it was all pointless.

There was another earlier in the thread that said your tank was likely doing something wrong. I've healed both Spindleclutch and Fungal Grotto now and things running at me when I did nothing at all was not a problem. The problem was with your group.

AlienPrimate

I just don't understand how doing nothing can draw all of the aggro while other people are attacking to their heart's content.

Frail_Old_Man

There is a reason why I do these in full heavy armour and with +health food buffs.

blackwolf7

Your tank sucks not you. Using sword nd shield only gives you 1 skill with taunt so your tank needs to use it or else boss will chase you. However, bosses have attacks wherein they really switch to random players and attack them once or twice before going back to the tank, usually these moves are avoidable

Coggage

Well, I know when I group we like to take out NPC healers fairly soon, and I don't see why NPCs should be stupid enough not to do that as well.

This is not a game where the mobs are fooled into focussing all their attention on someone clanking around in heavy armour, with "HIT ME!" tattooed on his forehead.

murklor007neb18_ESO

A tank that doesnt have the sword'n'board taunt skill on key 1 is a lousy tank.

ElliottXO

If the tank uses the aggro skill he will draw 80% of the attacks. The other 20% are random attacks which the tank can nothing do about. Every boss has them.

But most of the time the boss should be focused on the tank and if the tank plays it right he can mitigate most of the damage.

My random parties did not get wiped a single time so far after 10 runs (though I got beta experience for the first 3 dungeons).

Yours sincerely,
A real tank

ElliottXO

And apart from the other opinions: you have to keep up your heavy staff attack at all times to restore magicka.

Neither your heals nor attacks will cause more aggro than the tank skill.

Nox_Aeterna

The tank should be able to keep the boss and the boss alone under some control.

It is when there are many mobs that things run out of control lol.

Still , because of how the game works when solo , almost everyone got AoE skills ready to toss.

Dracovar

AlienPrimate wrote: »

I have been trying to complete fungal grotto, but I can't beat the bosses (particularly the first dreugh boss and giant mudcrab). Every time the tank leads in and I sit back as far away as possible. The boss runs right by my three party members straight to me when I still haven't hit them yet. I then proceed to running away trying to keep myself alive with my abilities and finally get away. The boss is then out of its natural range and gains full hp instantly while running back to its spawn and we have to start over. The same thing happens over and over until I die and shortly after every one else dies without their healer.

What is your level? Are you below level for the dungeon?

Teroh

If your complaining about packs of mobs attacking you then sorry tank does not have an aoe taunt so not his job to pick up all enemies.

Thete

Censorious wrote: »

Not in this game. This is a community L2P issue.

Without knowing more details, I'm going to guess it's no different to any other MMO. The 'tank' probably thinks he's a tank for some reason but is failing to use threat generators or cc to keep mobs off the healer.

Svann

I havent run that but one thing you could try is standing close to the tank so he can get it off you, and dont run away.

Vikova

As others have pointed out, this is an issue due to your tank. That being said, number one rule when the tank fails to break aggro (though, it sounds like yours isn't even trying to hold it in the first place) is not to run far away from your tank so he can regain aggro.

Your tank sounds new enough to need a basic guide.

Nathano

As others have said this is a problem with the tank you were with. I have healed and tanked the first 3 dungeons several times and had no problems.
Check to see if you tank is using a shield. If they are then the very first ability in the One Hand and Shield tree is an ability called Puncture which will taunt their target for 15 seconds, so there is no excuse for losing agro.

ben_ESO5

Everyone says it's the tank's fault, but as the healer, make sure that you do *no* healing until the battle has started and people are taking damage. You're screwing yourself if anyone in your party runs into a new fight with a HoT ticking away, that's a guaranteed recipe for healer aggro.

spinedoc

Censorious wrote: »

Everyone's got used to the idea that mobs in MMOs are completely stupid and can be tricked into wasting all their damage on a 'tank'.

Not in this game. This is a community L2P issue.

Exactly. As a healer I love when I have to dodge, block, etc and think on my feet in this game. The mobs seem smarter and that's a good thing.

Saerydoth

You have to accept that players other than the tank are going to get aggro and take damage. The tank can't just rush in and pick up everything. DPS players are expected to mitigate damage and keep themselves alive too. Basically, the tank should try to keep the most dangerous mob/boss, but if there is a pack, they are going to be running around, and you have to focus on things other than damage/healing.

This game is like a halfway point between WOW (which gives the tank all the aggro very easily, while healers heal and DPS pew pew), and GW2 (where there are no tanks/healers and everyone does everything). This game DOES have tanking and healing, but it's VERY different from something like WOW, and everyone has to think on their feet.

Gillysan

Only jumping in to mention that there is block, root, knockback skills to implement. Your tank and also other party members should have some of these.

Twicebit

Turning and running was your 1st mistake. Try using dodge, and kite the mob towards the tank. Double tap in the direction of the tank and turn around and right click to block. This has worked wonders for me as a cloth wearing sorcerer. Also try to have some form of cc on your bar one that either roots or snares.