Barbarian or Monk - Tank

[shadowkras]

Aggro is normally held by dealing the most threat. As far as I know, no Diablo 3 abilities deal extra threat because they're designated "tanking abilities". That would mean the only way to hold aggro is to deal the most damage. If, however, you make a "tanky" character, wouldn't that by design mean it will most likely not deal the most damage?

If diablo 3 is anything like 1 and 2, mobs will attack whoever is closest that hit them last, not who dealt most damage.
So, usually the barbarian or monk.

Remember, Diablo II could easily be solo'd infinitely if you had the gear. If you did not, you were better off hanging around people that did. Since you cannot flee games up-on near death in DIII, having a tight group is probably the way to go. Until things start exploding and everyone dies in one spot

Correction, diablo 2 could be soloed with /players 8 from level 1 to 99.

[Vespian]

Correction, diablo 2 could be soloed with /players 8 from level 1 to 99.

Help me out, how's that relevant? Obviously it could? thing is, you could also easily die, if you didn't have any gear. And when you play HC, which you probably never did, there might be some risk in playing /players 8.

[Beazy]

You can sort of build tanks/healers in D3. Just look at the ability/rune combos. Support will be useful in inferno. I can almost guarantee it. Im sure 4 pro wizzards that are geared and been playing for months/years will be able to topple inferno with no support, but for the rest of us, we will be begging for it.

If they didnt intend for you to be tanky, they wouldnt give you the abilities and runes to go 'tanky' or heal. Dont underestimate Blizzard. If they say something is going to be challenging, I bet it will be. Id be willing to put 20 bucks on it.

[shadowkras]

Help me out, how's that relevant? Obviously it could? thing is, you could also easily die, if you didn't have any gear. And when you play HC, which you probably never did, there might be some risk in playing /players 8.

I will bother replying to your comment when you start having conversations without trying to insult the other person right away, which you probably never did.

@Topic

If they didnt intend for you to be tanky, they wouldnt give you the abilities and runes to go 'tanky' or heal. Dont underestimate Blizzard. If they say something is going to be challenging, I bet it will be. Id be willing to put 20 bucks on it.

Pretty much this. I bet dozens of barbarians are willing to sacrifice some minor dps in order to hold a boss for a few seconds longer.
Anyone remember duriel on hell as a caster with low gear? It could become a real pain in the ass in that tight room.

[Deleted]

While there are no taunts (at least I'm not aware of any other than the companion skills) there are still abilities that make you more tanky than other classes. There's also the option to heal your group. However, both the tank and the healer spec, for me, only can be pulled off by the monk. Healer ofc is a monk only but also the tank stuff is placed on this class. And thinking of a barb I just dont see how this class should be a proper tank in terms of damage mitigation other than some active oh shit buttons. Monks have insane dodging abilities by fighting ...barbs have brute force damage and from my POV you just dont wanna waste damage on this stuff but kill stuff rather quickly.

[shadowkras]

@Chisa
You are missing out the passive abilities, Monks do get more dodges, but barbarians get extra defense from vitality.
They have a passive that heals 1% of your max health per second for a minute after a shout, and another that adds an extra 50% armor.
http://us.battle.net/d3/pt/class/barbarian/passive/

I would say both classes could do well when tanking. Obviously it wouldnt be like wow tanking, and certainly there is no need for taunts, mobs will very likely attack whoever is closest to them instead of running through melee just to attack the ranged players.

As for healing, monks hand downs will be pretty good healers, this hability alone will win some combats:
http://us.battle.net/d3/pt/class/mon...tra-of-healing

As for those saying that a support oriented class will hinder the group dps as a while, some support abilities have group-wide buffs to make up for it:
http://us.battle.net/d3/pt/class/mon...eath-of-heaven

[loki504]

I will bother replying to your comment when you start having conversations without trying to insult the other person right away, which you probably never did.

@Topic

Pretty much this. I bet dozens of barbarians are willing to sacrifice some minor dps in order to hold a boss for a few seconds longer.
Anyone remember duriel on hell as a caster with low gear? It could become a real pain in the ass in that tight room.

sacrifice minor dps for longer taunts does not make you a tank. s3 use the same system as gw2. some can get some extra suvival/healing. but its not needed to fully complete the game. like wow does.

[Beazy]

sacrifice minor dps for longer taunts does not make you a tank. s3 use the same system as gw2. some can get some extra suvival/healing. but its not needed to fully complete the game. like wow does.

No one said it would be needed. But if you think its not going to be an 'option' in D3, your sadly mistaken. Just because the monk doesnt stand behind 3 people and hit flash heal every 1.5 seconds, doesnt mean hes not a healer or healing the group. Just look at the abilities and the runes, there is nothing to argue.
.

[shadowkras]

sacrifice minor dps for longer taunts does not make you a tank.

In the world of diablo, yes it does.
If you can keep your group alive for 3 seconds more during a boss fight, thats a win.
That goes true for diablo 1 and 2 aswell, but in that case, you would win by using your potions faster than the other guy.

Also, what an incredible difference it made, when farming hell in diablo 2, to have a paladin with that "weak" healing aura.

but its not needed to fully complete the game. like wow does.

Nobody in this thread, so far, has said that tanks or healers will be mandatory for diablo 3, so why must every other post state that (already obvious by now) statement?