BejaProphet wrote: »You want to be doing your job rather than hiding behind your shield with clenched butt cheeks.
Good luck.
FrancisCrawford wrote: »BejaProphet wrote: »You want to be doing your job rather than hiding behind your shield with clenched butt cheeks.
Good luck.
What does blocking keeping you from doing?
BejaProphet wrote: »FrancisCrawford wrote: »BejaProphet wrote: »You want to be doing your job rather than hiding behind your shield with clenched butt cheeks.
Good luck.
What does blocking keeping you from doing?
Well first, to not misrepresent what I said, I never said not to block. Clearly blocking is major part of playing a tank in ESO. Knowing what needs to be blocked, recognizing it in the moment and doing so, is no small part of tanking skill. I said “hiding behind your shield.” That was a colorful way of describing perma blockers, those who constantly hold block.
Second, I can affirm in one sense your point in that the vast majority of skills can be used while blocking. When I was early in my tanking career, I used to pride my self in being able to go through the entire fight’s routine and my cycle of skills without ever letting go of block. So I get part of your point.
But to answer your question, what does constantly holding block stop you from doing?
Well first and most obviously it stops you from regenerating stamina. That’s the simple mechanics. But also as an opportunity cost, it means you aren’t heavy attacking, leaving more stamina on the table. Over the span of a sixty second battle that is literally tens of thousands of points of stamina difference between me and Mr. Blocky in every given fight.
Next, how is Mr. Blocky managing to do his job without all that stamina I have access to? Well, a few things. First, he’s building his tank differently. He’s designing it way way more around magicka regen because he knows he’s got to save his crucial stamina for that perma blocking and he knows he won’t be gaining it in the fight. This impacts what abilities he chooses, when he uses them, and gear, resulting honestly in a weaker tank imo.
He of course needs shield glyphs to pull it off, at least some. Which brings us to the next way he’s pulling it off, he’s being very reserved in his ability uses. On the other hand my taunt costs between 600-700 stamina due to stamina reduction glyphs. That plus heavy attacking whenever I please allows me to spam taunt, silver leash, and heroic slash like crazy non stop.
Next blocking reduces your movement speed. If you don’t appreciate movement speed as a tank, I’m not sure how experienced of a tank you are. Sure, some fights the tank just stands there. But some fights you being slow gets you killed, and when you are trying to manage a pack of eight to ten trash mobs and you are trying to leash, stack, and pin them all (like a good tank does) you are constantly needing to move, jump, and angle for good lines of sight. As tanks we have so so so much to be doing in most fights, more than we actually can do most of the time. So loosing our movement speed is massive. A tank will always loose a step (or seven) by perma blocking.
So while you can always tell me “I can cast the same abilities while blocking!” And it’s true, you can. The differences between a perma blocking tank and what I am describing is like night and day in actual practice. You will never control the fight the way I hope for a tank to do so. You just won’t.
So in my book, what a perma blocking tank can’t do is the job.
amm7sb14_ESO wrote: »BejaProphet wrote: »FrancisCrawford wrote: »BejaProphet wrote: »You want to be doing your job rather than hiding behind your shield with clenched butt cheeks.
Good luck.
What does blocking keeping you from doing?
Well first, to not misrepresent what I said, I never said not to block. Clearly blocking is major part of playing a tank in ESO. Knowing what needs to be blocked, recognizing it in the moment and doing so, is no small part of tanking skill. I said “hiding behind your shield.” That was a colorful way of describing perma blockers, those who constantly hold block.
Second, I can affirm in one sense your point in that the vast majority of skills can be used while blocking. When I was early in my tanking career, I used to pride my self in being able to go through the entire fight’s routine and my cycle of skills without ever letting go of block. So I get part of your point.
But to answer your question, what does constantly holding block stop you from doing?
Well first and most obviously it stops you from regenerating stamina. That’s the simple mechanics. But also as an opportunity cost, it means you aren’t heavy attacking, leaving more stamina on the table. Over the span of a sixty second battle that is literally tens of thousands of points of stamina difference between me and Mr. Blocky in every given fight.
Next, how is Mr. Blocky managing to do his job without all that stamina I have access to? Well, a few things. First, he’s building his tank differently. He’s designing it way way more around magicka regen because he knows he’s got to save his crucial stamina for that perma blocking and he knows he won’t be gaining it in the fight. This impacts what abilities he chooses, when he uses them, and gear, resulting honestly in a weaker tank imo.
He of course needs shield glyphs to pull it off, at least some. Which brings us to the next way he’s pulling it off, he’s being very reserved in his ability uses. On the other hand my taunt costs between 600-700 stamina due to stamina reduction glyphs. That plus heavy attacking whenever I please allows me to spam taunt, silver leash, and heroic slash like crazy non stop.
Next blocking reduces your movement speed. If you don’t appreciate movement speed as a tank, I’m not sure how experienced of a tank you are. Sure, some fights the tank just stands there. But some fights you being slow gets you killed, and when you are trying to manage a pack of eight to ten trash mobs and you are trying to leash, stack, and pin them all (like a good tank does) you are constantly needing to move, jump, and angle for good lines of sight. As tanks we have so so so much to be doing in most fights, more than we actually can do most of the time. So loosing our movement speed is massive. A tank will always loose a step (or seven) by perma blocking.
So while you can always tell me “I can cast the same abilities while blocking!” And it’s true, you can. The differences between a perma blocking tank and what I am describing is like night and day in actual practice. You will never control the fight the way I hope for a tank to do so. You just won’t.
So in my book, what a perma blocking tank can’t do is the job.
None of this is true at all.
I am what you are referring to as a "perma-block" tank, with a heavier investment in magicka than stamina, and never once have I had a problem with stam management nor with dictating the fight through positioning and such, nor am I all loaded up on sturdy and blocking glyphs.
There is nothing I am not accomplishing with my tanking style, and in fact am my guild's main tank for trials. If you know how to build your character around the way you play, whatever that is, you'll understand how to make it work.