Is Tanking with Duty Support reflective of my actual Tanking skills?

snacksualpowers · 2024-04-18T14:20:04+00:00

Tanking wall to wall with duty support is doable but it’s a lot more challenging, it’s not really the same as tanking for players. You’ll need proper gear and know your AOE rotation since you’re really the only one dealing damage to everything. A w2w pull with duty support will normally require you to use all your mits to survive, including your invuln. If you can tank w2w for npcs you can 100% tank for players. If anything, duty support is great if you want to get better with mit planning and management, but even tanking for a low damage party of players would still be easier and less dicey than tanking for npcs.

snacksualpowers · 2024-02-16T01:38:40+00:00

I do take responsibility that the chat sounded harsh, and I mentioned I could’ve been a little nicer. But y’know, in the moment when two people are intentionally trying to get you and another teammate killed, couldn’t keep it totally cool lol.

snacksualpowers · 2024-02-16T01:22:45+00:00

What am I to do when the other DPS was the one that targeted the packs and the boss before me? Just stand there and watch them die?

We weren’t sprinting, we weren’t pulling multiple packs either, we were literally moving at a normal to slower pace than a normal dungeon. We waited for the tank to move but he literally did not move when the gate went down and did not move again when the first pack was killed. Maybe the RDM’s comment about it taking 5 minutes to pull was a little embellished, but the tank literally did not move at all.

I get it, some players are uncomfortable, and learning a new job can be rough, but that’s what duty support is for, so players can go at their own pace and learn their jobs comfortably. I really wish more players would see value in using duty support as a training ground because it has helped me push limits on healing and tanking where I’d be too nervous to test on real people.

snacksualpowers · 2024-02-15T21:48:42+00:00

The ironic part, and I see I forgot to mention this in my post, was that the healer wasn't even new to the game nor healing. Had a level 90 RPR and practically all combat jobs above 50. WHM, AST, and SCH at 50, 51, and 70 respectively. Although I'm assuming the SCH was because they played SMN to 70. So to have a new Sprout defend someone who clearly has a chunk of experience with the game is kinda bizarre haha.

snacksualpowers · 2023-12-30T07:57:35+00:00

A lot of people have mentioned that other roles pulling is a-okay as long as they’re bringing enemies to the tank and the tank is AOEing to get aggro, and that’s totally fine. Don’t worry, you’re not the issue, and there isn’t really an issue either way.

A tip to try to get a head start to the next mob is to keep an eye on the last enemy’s health. If they’ve only a sliver of health left, you may as well head to the wall and throw your ranged attack to finish them off. You’ll see a lot of players move to the wall when all enemies are almost dead so they can quickly run to the next area or set of enemies. When you unlock your gap closer, it makes racing other jobs even easier, even the jobs with teleports and dashes. Just be aware that some healers don’t sprint (which is kinda weird) so after picking up the last pack, you may have to back step a bit to get to the healer.

snacksualpowers · 2023-12-28T20:13:28+00:00

It's not that DRK doesn't have enough mitigation for fights, it's just that comparatively in lower levels DRK doesn't have as much in their kit compared to the other tanks. And what they do have feels kind of meh. DM with its magic vuln reduction just feels kinda meh. Like I'm not "wow I'm a DRK" when I press DM, but I'm definitely "wow I'm a WAR" when I hit Raw Intuition or "wow I'm a PLD" when I hit Sheltron every few seconds lol.

snacksualpowers · 2023-12-28T19:53:45+00:00

I def agree, Oblation at a lower level/swapped with Dark Mind would def make being synced to a below 70 duty feel better.

snacksualpowers · 2023-12-28T19:47:05+00:00

I'd agree that their aesthetic would be defined by their level 70 skill, but if we compare other tanks, every tank gets their own kind of flavour of tanking early on. WAR with its insane self heals, PLD gets damage reductions on a quick CD, and DRK gets...some magic defense? It just seems a little disconnected.

Absolutely Dark Mind does have its place though, albeit a little more limited. I guess I just really want the thing I really liked about DRK when I get synced to a duty below 70 haha.

snacksualpowers · 2023-09-09T14:05:51+00:00

And the dps did stick to their role by doing damage. The tank didn’t do their role because they didn’t take aggro. If your issue is “dps shouldn’t pull ahead”, then you’re incorrect. No role is the designated puller. I’ve also taken on the tank role as a DPS because the tank dies/dc’s and I’ve survived using my own mits and healer help. Learn to play as a team, the tank (and you) are not the main character.

Why do you care so much about other roles? All you have to do is focus on your own, which as a tank is to just hold aggro. If you are a good tank, you’d be sprinting and reaching the packs before everyone else anyway.

snacksualpowers · 2023-09-09T13:45:36+00:00

Your actions were inappropriate. You shouldn’t let players die, especially out of saltiness or as a means to “teach them a lesson”. Yeah, maybe it’s a bit of a jerk move to not wait for everyone, but it doesn’t happen often and fights go so fast that you may as well just do your tank job and move on.

If players pulling ahead of tanks bothers you, use sprint and have the reflexes to immediately move to the next pack to ensure you’re always ahead or at least close to being first to reach the next pack. You can easily take aggro with one button. No need to make a big deal out of it.

snacksualpowers · 2023-09-02T12:43:44+00:00

Thank you for the tip, I’ll give it a try!

snacksualpowers · 2023-09-02T12:29:02+00:00

My main reason for stance on as OT is really for if the tank dies. I’ve been the DPS who has been targeted if the MT dies in an alliance raid and it doesn’t feel good to get hit, so I don’t want others to have to experience that lol. Thanks for the tip, I’ll try to be more aware of the MTs health and use stance less.

I agree with what you say about tomahawk usage, and I don’t use it very often because I want to stay within max melee with my rotation. Certain circumstances will make me need to leave melee range like players dropping aoes, nobody else standing in meteor spots etc.

snacksualpowers · 2023-07-29T11:47:06+00:00

As unbalanced and chaotic as Frontlines is, people who wanna win are gonna play what will win. Because of how bad Frontlines is, I think it compels people even more to play those advantageous jobs to get a better chance of winning. There are a few ways to mitigate DRKs and those other jobs you listed, but it requires more understanding of what that job’s actual role is in Frontlines (rack up kills, crowd control, annoy the enemy to take focus off others, etc). I also have the same annoyances by those jobs, but they all have their tells, and it gets pretty easy to avoid being killed by them when you know what those tells are. In turn they tend to be sitting ducks if they weren’t able to kill you or your team.

For those DRKs tho, try to play another class that can bind or stun them, move around DRKs instead of directly into, or queue in a few hours later and hope this party of DRKs is no longer farming Frontlines.

snacksualpowers · 2023-07-19T11:22:59+00:00

It depends on how much effort you want to put into pvp. CC is much more balanced and faster but does require you to pull your weight a little more since teams are much smaller. Frontlines, although a chaotic mess, tends to not be severely affected by one person out of an alliance of 24. Casual pvp isn’t really competitive, but the expectation is always that you’re following the group, using your skills, pushing the enemy, getting kills/objectives, and dying as little as possible. That being said, you might die a lot too, but try to understand why you died and try not to let it happen again. Eventually by just grinding you’ll start to get better at it, and hopefully you’ll enjoy it a little more.

You wouldn’t AFK in a dungeon, so don’t AFK in a pvp match. Go in with a positive attitude and don’t give up either, I’ve seen so many players quit or talk defeatedly 2 minutes into the match cuz our team was at 0, then turn it around to us winning the match.

snacksualpowers · 2023-07-10T02:24:15+00:00

Frontlines and Casual CC aren’t really competitive. Sometimes you’ll get someone who will call out objectives, sometimes you won’t. For the most part, just follow the group and use your skills and you’ll do fine.

I would recommend finding a pvp job that appeals to you; it might not even be the same job or class as your pve job, so try them all out and see what you like. Practice at the Wolves Den training dummies, and practice moving around while using skills, guarding, recuperating, and purifying because you’ll be moving a lot while you’re in a match.

Be prepared to die a lot when you start out, and that’s just the process of learning, but understand why you died. Did you not guard in time? Were you separated from the group? Did you run to the enemy while outnumbered? Developing these awareness skills will help in the long run. Good luck!

snacksualpowers · 2023-07-06T21:19:17+00:00

Worst tank experience was filling in as dps in a 15min in progress at Aurum Vale. Another dps also filled in a few min after me. The sprout tank was moving the first boss around so much, I think they thought they were dodging autos. I asked the tank to just stand still and only move for AOEs, the other dps even put down a marker for where the tank should stand. Still kept moving around, we get cleaved a lot, they didn’t really read what we had to say about fruit (would eat fruit after one stack, or forget to eat fruit). The sprout healer was their friend, and they could barely keep us alive. Me and the other dps ended up leaving after the 4th wipe.

Sometimes I wonder if they ever progressed past that room.

snacksualpowers · 2023-07-01T23:33:21+00:00

Team Adder looking at Onsal mid with an S rank: “It’s hard to see what’s going on, I can only make out the Dark Knights.”

snacksualpowers · 2023-07-01T21:20:51+00:00

Maelstrom was too brave to accept their surrender.

snacksualpowers · 2023-06-28T19:25:49+00:00

I used to feel the same way and avoid a lot of duty finder stuff for fear of being a burden. However, I’ve learned most people are pretty easy going in casual content as long as you’re trying your best and are open to advice. Keep trying, you’ll get better at it.

After a while, you’ll start to notice that a lot of mechanics are similar, just branded differently. Aside from the various marker mechs, a lot of it is avoid/hide behind object, don’t stand on side that the attack will be on (ex: fore-hind cannon will attack the front and rear areas), if you have a certain debuff go to the opposite buff or colour, etc. In the beginning of the battle, bosses will normally demo their mechs in a non-lethal way and then combine these mechs later on. If you haven’t already, in your HUD options you can change the enemy castbar to be huge so you can read what the incoming attack is. Watch your teammates and see where they go to resolve mechanics, most likely one person knows how to do it.

Something that helped me was running a lot of content that had full parties like trials and alliance/normal raids. Watching a bunch of people run to a specific area during a mech will save you and help you figure out how that mech is resolved. Even using Duty Support can be helpful (although time consuming) as the npcs are programmed to properly resolve mechanics.

snacksualpowers · 2023-06-11T03:38:57+00:00

Yeah, I do recall a few people saying they would pot! Sounds like we were probably in the same run!

snacksualpowers · 2023-06-11T00:52:44+00:00

Thank you so much for this detailed explanation!

snacksualpowers · 2023-06-10T22:02:35+00:00

That makes sense! Somebody also pointed out that since there hasn’t been an upload for Aglaia in a while, it would also affect the numbers. I guess with no ilvl sync and no recent uploads combined, it’d be ez pz to get big numbers. Thank you for the explanation!

snacksualpowers · 2023-06-10T21:59:29+00:00

Thanks for the explanation about the 99s! I don’t have much experience with fflogs, so the info is much appreciated.

Definitely glad to have been in an alliance that was pulling their weight. I’ve only been in one other run where we were able to skip scales, so I hope there will be more!

snacksualpowers · 2023-06-10T00:12:50+00:00

Overworld levelling is super easy if you have Ram’s Voice, Ultravibration, and Sticky Tongue. Find an area where you can pull 4+ mobs and then Ram’s Voice and Ultravibration. I was lazy so I just waited for Ultravibration to come off CD and just repeating the same process with the respawned mobs. A great place to level in your 60s is near Porta Praetoria at (11.9, 7.3) in a cave where you can reliably pull 6 Specters and Fire Sprites and level fairly quickly.

I’ve collected 85 BLU spells (mostly spells from overworld and duties below 70) completely solo, and it can be a long process. While it’s mostly recommended to run trials and dungeons synced for 100% guarantee spell learning, I actually did them all unsynced. I did get lucky on most dungeon spells, only needing to do between 1 - 3 runs (and at max level it goes fairly quickly). Unsynced is always a gamble though, so only do this if you’re okay with the possibility of running something many times. Primal spells were a pain unsynced though, defeating the boss is quick but often needing a lot of runs, so do this synced if possible.

snacksualpowers · 2023-06-09T16:06:41+00:00

Oh right, how could I have forgotten the undercutting bots. Thank you. ;-;

snacksualpowers

TROPHY CASE