Bring back proper threat mechanics and tanking will be fun again.
Bring back proper threat mechanics and tanking will be fun again.
Modern gaming apologist: I once tasted diarrhea so shit is fine.
"People who alter or destroy works of art and our cultural heritage for profit or as an excercise of power, are barbarians" - George Lucas 1988
Tanking is basically move out of x , y and z while holding aggro of boss / adds with some tank switching.
Found it very boring indeed (during Cata anyway)
Signature Nazi's suck.
You balance the two mechanic between each other, that's how you solve it. The point with AM is about giving you the decision if to use your resources for DPS or for AM, the problem with this is that the two things are out of balance. The choice between using resource for AM or for getting a bigger e-penis is not meaningful enough and it is not a real "choice".
Quoting the good GC from twitter:
"The game designer definition of interesting is a choice with no clear right answer. You have to weigh pros and cons etc."
Here is where the problem lie, the tank work may be complex in a way (movement, checking buff/debuffs, interrrupt if needed) but lacks depth because it lacks real choice on how to spend its resources, or if there are choices they are not meaningful.
Lowering the generated threat (not at previous miserable levels though but enough to have a dedicated DPS grab aggro if you're not paying enough attention) so that you have to work harder to maintain it would not really go against the current AM mechanic if anything it would enhanche it as how you spend your resources it really becomes way more strategical and meaningful than now
The problem is not tanking is easy or faceroll it's the content we are running (heroic content excluded) has been dumbed down severely. LFD's you don't even need tanks/healers/dps rolls as ONE person can solo any 5 man heroic now. LFR is just a dumbed down raid for mentally handicapped people and regular raids usually get nerfed or you just showered with epics to make the once maybe difficult content now trivial.
easier content is a factor but not the core of the issue
the funny thing is, currently paladins for example (I play one) don't really have a different button for dmg and AM. Shield of the Righteous is both one of the highest hitting abilities AND the main button for AM. I don't really count EF/SS as choice, since you only press it about twice per minute actually. You are right, there is no choice.
Nowadays you don't have a choice for threat, because survivability is all that matters, in vanilla you haven't had a choice for survivability (because it was all passive via gear and some CDs), all that mattered was about threat.
I'm really curious what blizzcon will reveal. But I fear it won't be big changes...
that's why I said that they simply swung the core of the tank gameplay too much on the opposite side
The Monk is a perfect example of the AM concept done if not perfectly, much much more better.
The management of the short term buffs usually do lead on interesting choices on how to spend your Chi, but even the monk may need a bit more work imho.
Active mitigation is a bull**t. Maybe monks and DKs like it, but for other classes pressing one extra button every 6 second isn't fun/challenging/skillfull.
And the bosses are soooo boring... since ToT every boss is built around stacking tank debuffs. All we have to do on every single fight is taunt at 1/2/3/4/5....14/15 stack.
That only tells me that you never raided with a good tank in vanilla and BC.
Yes there were a few fights were the bosses actively dumped threat from the tank but you as DPS had to keep that in mind and pop threat mitigating cooldowns accordingly, other than those few bosses a good tank would hold threat no matter what whereas a decent tank could struggle and a bad tank stood no chance in hell of holding aggro, ever.
Back in those days pretty much all bosses were untauntable as well so when a boss required tank switches the tanks really needed to be on the ball and being high on threat all the time. Was way more interesting and fun to tank in BC (didn't really tank in vanilla except for on a few different occasions borrowing a guildies tank when he couldn't show up for raid, but not enough to form a valid opinion) than it is today.
Personally, while I don't find it boring I don't find it enjoyable. I liked tanking before Active Mitigation, and think that this new concept feels more like "Defensive DPS" than actual tanking. I'm not a fan of it; in fact I don't tank anymore because I hate active mitigation and it was burning me out. I absolutely loved tanking in Wrath and to a lesser extent Cataclysm, but MoP just ruined it for me. I want to tank, not feel like a DPS. Let me manage threat, let me know when I should use actual cooldowns, and that's it. I enjoyed tanking being boring as the "reward" for the associated stress of tanking; now it feels like not only do I have that same stress but I have to be much more engaged in the act of tanking.
Not for me, not anymore. I've pretty much hung up my shield now except in very rare cases (e.g. third tank for Dark Shaman) because it's no longer fun, even if its more engaging.
It's because encounters are more demanding now.
I don't agree. Tanking is more engaging then it's ever been.
So...
While we have "A" group whining, that threat is too easy, and AM is irrelevant since "we can blame the healer if we die!".
"B" group whines because tanking is too difficult right now, since they can't afk now once they have threat... Aka: "using abilities properly (having a rotation) isn't the duty of a tank, if I would have wanted to do that I would have roled a DPS!!!!!"
I'm not sure what to say anymore... -___-