Fact (because I say so): TBC > Cata > Legion > ShaLa > MoP > DF > BfA > WoD = WotLK
My pet collection --> http://www.warcraftpets.com/collection/FuxieDK/
SWTOR does it just fine. Specs for it and companions that do it. Just because the boss / mobs might eventually get into melee range, doesn't mean your not a ranged tank anymore, cuz you are.
in the since could they keep a boss at a range no, that breaks to many things just cant be done. Can a tank have good ranged abilities yes. Go check out wildstar they have made it work very well.
It seems you have not read this:
Mind Control channel which costs HP. Length and cost of HP based on char's mitigation stats.
Eye of the Beast on steroids. The pet could recieve portion of char's mitigation stats.
Rotting channel CC that costs HP. Length and cost of HP based on char's mitigation stats.
Tanking totem drop that costs a big chunk of HP. Mitigation stats are based on char mitigation stats.
What now?
A ranged tank will only work when there is something instead of the player character standing on the boss.
This could be any kind of intelligent pets, mirrow images, a shield etc. However, I think the player would have to have a little bit more
control over such pets / clones, to turn bosses around, to kite them. So you either have to move both at the same time or just the tanking target
while the character itselfs fires projectiles / arrows / whatever.
Sing like no one is listening - Love like you've never been hurt
Dance like no one is watching - Masturbate like no one else is on the bus
In certain situations of course. I did fine as a shadow priest tank for Mimiron and Blood Council.
The mob you're fighting would need to be kept at range, otherwise it would negate the "ranged" tanking part.
Last edited by Ineras; 2014-01-08 at 05:06 PM.
Tell me Albert what will happen with bosses melee abilities? Remove them completely?
If you have 2 tanks and the one is a melee and the other is the ridiculous range tank of yours how a splash swing will be managed?
How the melee boss will hit the range tank? With magical attacks that it don't have?
I could go on and on and create an never ending list that range tank won't work without massive and unneeded changes.
Range tanking, and range means you stay away from the bosses, you keep threat but you also get damage is not possible.
Putting a pet that you fully control is not range tank is melee tank played by a char played by the player, the stupidity hit the fan.
Last edited by Keosen; 2014-01-09 at 11:59 AM.
There have been a number of encounters in WoW where keeping the tank alive was not the most challenging aspect of the encounter. There are current concerns that tanks in some encounters are assessed more by their damage output than anything else. What's the point of maintaining the melee tank gimmick?
Giving bosses some additional ability when a melee doesn't have agro, or letting some abilitities hit non-tank melee when a melee doesn't have threat are both options. You'd effectively be trading a less vulnerable tank for more vulnerable dps. Though, I'm sure it would upset people who like to play the game while watching TV, it would make the game more fun for people who like to be engaged.
Doesn't seem feasible with the way bosses currently work. Most of them will always run into melee range of the tank, so if someone is 'ranged tanking' then it would probably just be annoying for melee to chase it around.
As a class? No. As a fight gimmick like in the past with a caster? Sure. All of the complicated and silly reasons for how it would work are null. In order to preserve raid comps, balance, and the way that fights work you will need to have bosses always in melee range for a tank. The only way to balance it would be to have abilities of bosses affect this class differently (allow all abilities to be ranged on them) so that they stay at max distance, but deal the same damage as they would to any other tank. This would be arbitrary, cause more work than simply leaving things as they are, and not really affect the playstyle at all. No, no, no.
BAD WOLF
Gimmick tanks like Warlocks, Mages, Hunters, SPriests have been used in the past for High King Maulgar, Shazzrah, Leotheras the Blind, High Astromancer Capernian and Illidan late phases all made sense because Blizzard built in aoe and knockback that a melee tank would have a tough time with as well as resist sets for those classes to effectively tank.
I think those fights were interesting because they forced non-tank classes to be utilized and the players to go outside their "comfort zone". I would like to see those fights in the future, but as for a ranged tank for regular boss fights, no. I think that would be foolish just like it is in SWTOR.
ranged tank? like a tank that has to keep his distance? No... melee would have to keep chasing after the boss that's being kited by the tank, plus avoid all the stuff blizzard likes to throw into boss encounters... good grief.
caster tank on the other hand would work. instead of a sword n' shield he conjures 'barriers' and shoots spells at the boss, he can stand face to face with the guy and just fling magic in his face.. that'd be something different.