Do you think the Tank role will eventually dissapear from the game?

[Deleted]

With the introduction of Scenario's you could say that the first step to PvE content that can be run without tanks has been made already.

Then there is the age old "complaint" that people have to wait for Tanks to join before they can run content and the fact that some other games out there also have pve content without the classic tank.healer/dps triangle.

Could the good ol' "sword and board" be purely cosmetical in the future?
And if so, would you like that, or not?

[Cover25]

It's been shown that messing with the holy trinity never ends well.

[Deleted]

Based on a couple of fast-paced scenarios and people having to wait for them to queue LFR?

No, definately not.

[Vasilisa]

For me it would be the end of this game. I'm not a great dmg dealer and only a slightly better healer. Though I've been playing a tank since the beginning of tbc. Generally speaking "it's hard to teach an old dog new tricks" and I don't want to play at medicore level. I want to be useful to people I play with.

[FuzzyPanda]

They really need to move the tanking classes away from using dps stats, the one my pally really loves haste, while monks and I believe bears love crit. This become tiresome in raids when not only do we have to roll against our fellow tank, but also dps. Parry, and dodge are no longer wanted and to be honest it's a real shame. I miss capping defense and becoming uncrushable, then stacking into stam or adv to provide migration.

[john duo]

no i dont like that,
for me tanks that perform thier job well without any arrogant atitude are more than deserve thier honor and place as a tank.
i think scenarios are an exceptional example of not using a tank but raids and 5man will allways need tanks.

with MOP i must say that there was a sense of generalizing the tank class,
i didnt expect a class like the monk to be able to perform as a tank, for me, 99% of the tanks should have plate armor with little differences of maybe equiping a shield or having a special presence, and the 1% of the tanks to be such classes that can morph to a giant dire creature to be able to tank in.

with the monk i felt a bit of dissapointed to see a leather class tanking with no heavy armor shields or special presence and just using hands and feet movments
to tank.
add to that the lore of the monk that is connected to beer and being/imitating drunk movments only adds to the ridiculousness they made out of the tank class.

[Deleted]

They really need to move the tanking classes away from using dps stats, the one my pally really loves haste, while monks and I believe bears love crit. This become tiresome in raids when not only do we have to roll against our fellow tank, but also dps. Parry, and dodge are no longer wanted and to be honest it's a real shame. I miss capping defense and becoming uncrushable, then stacking into stam or adv to provide migration.

They have already made changes to this, Tanks cant use DPS-trinkets in the same scale as it was possible to do in last tier.

For example this trinket:
http://www.wowhead.com/item=102292#comments

Equip: Increases the cooldown recovery rate of six of your major abilities by 39%. Effective for Agility-based damage roles only.

[FuzzyPanda]

True, but that is a trinket it doesn't fix the fact that paladins benefit more from haste, than dodge, parry, or stam. I mean there has to be a problem when haste is providing more migration than migration stats.

[Stellan]

It's been shown that messing with the holy trinity never ends well.

Unfortunately this is true. Tanks are the stumbling block in raiding, though. There's so few players that want to do it and even fewer who are good at tanking. It would be great if they could find some way around the holy trinity.

[Deleted]

Well that isnt that hard to understand once you go down and look what the haste does for you and your abilities as a ProtPaladin.

Not all like it, but last tiers has relied on tanks pulling their load on the DPS-meters as well, I think its fun as a tank to contribute to that.

[Chirri]

Man, I hope not. If the Tank role disappears, so too will the Healer (or Support) role, and that's the only one I've ever really enjoyed. Plus, so many strict Dmg role players have so little interest in being proactive about taking care of themselves - though you could argue that's simply because they don't have to in a Trinity based game.

I didn't always play a Healer, either. I was more CC, buffs and debuffs in the first MMO I really got into.

[Terridon]

It would suck badly.
I honestly prefer to be dps, but i like the diversity it gives with healers/tanks too. Currently tanking, and it's fun to have that different playstyle. I love to go with a good healer and see how much you can do with that.
I still tank in scenarios, since it's easier overall just being able to grab it all up, and not have to worry about mechanisms much <.<

I have not even bothered trying GW2, because they don't have tanks in it, from what i've heard. Sounds plain and dull.

[Fullmetal89]

It's been shown that messing with the holy trinity never ends well.

Pretty much this, you can't have a successful raid without the holy trinity. I could potentially see it being optional in dungeons on normal, just so there's faster queues. I can't see it viable at all in raids or heroics without dumbing down the game extensively. The moment you no longer need tanks, you pretty much lose the need for healers as well and it becomes a kill'em all zerg rush type game. Which admittedly would be kind of interesting as a mode, but definitely not something I would want to overtake the MMO community.

[smendou]

True, but that is a trinket it doesn't fix the fact that paladins benefit more from haste, than dodge, parry, or stam. I mean there has to be a problem when haste is providing more migration than migration stats.

Not really. Blizzard wanted a more active model for tanking. Dodge / Parry are the opposite of active. Personally I like this model much better than the random model that was dodge and parry. Much more fun to tank with it.

As far as getting rid of tanks? Never happen. You may see more content that doesn't require tanks ala scenarios. I don't see MMOs moving away from the trinity anytime soon.

[Deleted]

I agree with FuzzyPanda, it's really sad to see how tanks only have to focus on one dps stat.
Defense may not have been the best thing, but it was definitely more interesting than that.

[Deathgoose]

True, but that is a trinket it doesn't fix the fact that paladins benefit more from haste, than dodge, parry, or stam. I mean there has to be a problem when haste is providing more migration than migration stats.

That's because most tanks prefer the newer active mitigation system than the old system of it just being passive stats you stack until cap (Defense) or just as high as possible (Stam/Dodge/Parry/Block). Parry/Dodge is particularly unattractive now because it is completely RNG based and leads to streaky damage intake of all or nothing hits, and most tanks/healers prefer to smooth out damage intake.

I would just prefer they completely did away with parry/dodge on plate gear completely and let +Str plate have nothing but Crit/Haste/Mastery on it, just like leather, and let all plate tanks 100% converted to active mitigation like bears/monks.

[Exeris]

Did the last 25-30 ish % of Malkorok with no tank, everyone trying their best to stay alive kiting using def cooldowns and droping agro right before they died.

Damn that was fun.

[Deleted]

Yeah tanking was pretty dull before pre-mists patch, it was just stack enough mastery and just stand there and take hits, use barkskin once in a while - repeat until boss falls over.

[Deleted]

Unfortunately this is true. Tanks are the stumbling in raiding though. There's so few players that want to do it and even fewer who are good at tanking. It would be great if they could find some way around the holy trinity.

I'm lvling my first tank ever atm and must say I thoroughly enjoy it. But I have already decided that I'm not going to continue playing that char as active tank in end-game. I really don't look forward to tanking in a LFR environment. I might help out guildies with something or other if need be, but that's about it. It's a tankless (hurr hurr) job and I don't think my blood pressure would allow it.

That said, I'm a fan of the holy-trinity. Or better said, I'm a fan of clear role bounderies, what ever those roles may be. Main reason I tuned out of GW2 was the lack of any clear role bounderies.
I can see tanks disappearing though, or at least changing to maybe something more situational. Maybe akin to dispelling. Something that isn't a full time job, but something certain specs can do during certain encounters. Not sure how that would work out with the entire synergy of raiding (who the boss will focus on, positioning and such) but it might be the next big thing :P


That's also why I wouldn't be averse to more specific roles added to the line-up, stuff like buffing, cc-ing, etc. no idea if it's exiting enough to do full-time, but it's an interesting discussion non-the-less. although rather off-topic in here I suppose. :P

[Laurabelle]

I'd say there's a greater chance that more classes (e.g. Warlocks) gain a tanking role versus the tanking role disappearing.