This is a rant. Don't read if you don't want to. I'm just blowing off steam.
I've played a LOT of DPS classes. I've raided as three different DPS classes. I know how to DPS, and I know how not to pull aggro. Two of the DPS classes I've played are legendary for having stupidly spiky threat generation and massive crits - an Arms Warrior and an Arcane/Fire Mage. Yet I don't pull aggro much unless, and this is key, I'm not paying attention.
It's not that hard to not pull aggro, just watch the fscking meter! Don't hit the mob when it's coming to the tank! Let the tank get a few k worth of threat lead on you! Stop shooting if ANYONE, not just you, ANYONE pulls aggro. Listen to the FREAKIN' ALARM BELLS AND FLASHING LIGHTS ON YOUR SCREEN WHEN YOU'RE OVER-DPSING! AND THEN STOP OR USE A THREAT DUMP! It's not rocket science!
It's incidents like these that make me feel terribly worthless as a tank and question whether I should even be up front. Those fun times when somebody hurls a crit Pyroblast / Steady Shot / Shadowbolt over your head as a mob is running in that you body pulled. What in the hell is going through that person's mind when they do that? What did they think was going to happen? It's just total inattentiveness, and the person who winds up looking the fool is the tank who's got to try and fix up someone else's mistake before it costs the raid a wipe.
Then there's the other times when a mob gets away from you due to some aggro dump ability it has, and everyone keeps right on firing. As a result, it races around like a maniac one-shotting everyone until the tank finally manages to get it under control, and you can bet your last dollar he's cursing the air blue. Raids aren't a 5-man where you can just burn something down if it gets away. To paraphrase Dark Helmet; "STOP FIRING, ASSHOLES!"
Enough of that. It's way easy to not pull aggro. Watch your threat meter, give the tank a few seconds to get aggro, stop attacking if he loses aggro for any reason, and use your head.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
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3 comments:
A fair rant I would say it is because if anyone been tanking long enough would have experience just about all those things from people that play DPS.
I know sometimes in Heroics I just mana tap a mob to pull, AS may be on cooldown but either way I just mana tap for a controlled pull and next thing you hear is a gunshot and you see a spell goes flying and I haven't even hit the mob as yet. Some people that DPS just don't pay attention and do stupid stuff.
I think I should make a macro version of "Quit Firing Asshole" for hose times when its fitting to use it.
But true it is a good Tank can be made to look very bad with DPS that don't pay attention or who can't or refuse to controol their aggro. The tank is left to correct all thief mistakes to avert a wipe.
Create a macro saying "You Pull it - You tank it" then sit down or run out the door!
Seriously though, good rant, I don't get to tank often. 100 gold to respec prot and back isn't worth it for the odd instance between raids. But when I do, even raiding guildies pull that kind of 5hit!
Amen! I'd like to add that it isn't just DPSers who cause problems. Getting hit with a Prayer or some buff from a priest when I've just body pulled or mana tap pulled a few mobs is annoying. Then you have to launch your AOE and make it harder for the stupid hunters to pull their traps ... ugh ... do not buff between the pull and aggro lock!
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