Tanks - How to keep your party in check?

hc40

Hey peeps,

I'm new to tanking but I think I'm doing fairly well. Running Cragmire..
The problem I'm having is that I can't control party members. There are always the people who are new to the dungeon and want to poke around each room and then there's the people who rush ahead and seem to be perpetually one room ahead of the stragglers... And then there's me in the middle.

I don't want to rush the newbies so they can get a feel for the dungeon but I also want to stay ahead of the charge.
I've yet to have a delve where everybody knew their roles and were patient with each other.

So fellow tanks, my question is...
How do you gain control over an unruly party? Is it even possible or do you just run with the wolves?

imivo

At that level it does not really matter, and later people who play that way probably have died enough times to have learned better. I have not tanked in Neverwinter yet, just in other MMOs, but my suggestion would be to communicate. Politely. You can't kick people here and if someone leaves, there will not be a replacement. Ask them to stay behind you and let you lead. If they do not listen, some people will let them die, though personally I would still try my best to make it work.

That, or start building up a list of folks to play with. If you had someone in a group who played well, add them to your friends list.

oreoz2573

Two solutions:

1. Make a deal with the group that you clear a room or hall/corridor of mobs first, and then explore that immediate area. You do this as you go since the respawns are fairly quick I believe. The idea is to kill together, then explore together while you lead.

2. If the above doesn't work, quit tanking and let them run off and die. More often then not they'll get the picture....or they'll just quit. Either way the safety of the group is no longer your concern so enjoy watching them suffer.

oreoz2573

Also keep in mind that you're not FORCED into using the trinity. They kinda have a soft version in place where it's necessary but not required.

At the end of the day if you can't keep the party in check, you can most certainly keep the mobs in check.

Just run in and taunt. Lol

commanderkahlain

oreoz2573 wrote: »

quit tanking and let them run off and die. More often then not they'll get the picture....or they'll just quit. Either way the safety of the group is no longer your concern so enjoy watching them suffer.

This used to drive me nuts: Then an old buddy pulled me aside and told me the above -- nearly word for word. It will still frustrate you to see a good party suffer because of the Chaotic Every-Where mentality. They will eventually get frustrated with dieing all the time.

horrorscope666

commanderkahlain wrote: »

This used to drive me nuts: Then an old buddy pulled me aside and told me the above -- nearly word for word. It will still frustrate you to see a good party suffer because of the Chaotic Every-Where mentality. They will eventually get frustrated with dieing all the time.

And that is correct if they really do... die all the time. If the game is too easy, they won't be dying and this vision of a tight group playing specific roles will not be realized. Perhaps there is this a "run first ask questions mentality" because the penalty for doing so isn't there?

divinehope

Well to be fair I think there really isn't much of a trinity going on, because pots are on such a low CD and heal for A LOT that you do not really need a DC healing you, or even a GW tanking. Threat seems to jacked up anyways.....

unspecifiederror

When in comes to MMO pugging the rules are thus:

1) Shield leads.
2) Healer follows shield (that's what I do anyway).
3) Everyone else can follow or not but it's not the fault of the shield or the healer if you die in a corner somewhere.

Tanking and healing are the most stressful roles in any MMO. If the DPS is making it more stressful by being stupid and trying to face tank without a healer then let them die. If they don't die and succeed, great.

tfangel

hc40 wrote: »

the people who are new to the dungeon and want to poke around each room

Not sure why you wouldn't want to check each room, that's where extras are, and more loot. Sure, the dungeon takes longer, but if you just follow the breadcrumbs, you will miss a lot.

Also, tanks not really that "special" in this game, unlike most MMOs. I've yet to group with one so far here that can actually hold any sort of aggro, and that's even when i stop attacking on my control wizard. It could be most are new to the game, and how things work, but with companions and self healing/damage mitigation, it seems more that people should just be more aware of what they are doing. Heck, last dungeon i ran the party split in two at one point, three of us going one way to get all extras, the others heading to boss, and not one death.

speiberbob

Heard dungeons are pretty easy before 30, but should get harder than

dixa1

even with powers and feats healing threat is way, way too high in this game. it appears tehre is also over-healing threat.

divinehope

tfangel wrote: »

Not sure why you wouldn't want to check each room, that's where extras are, and more loot. Sure, the dungeon takes longer, but if you just follow the breadcrumbs, you will miss a lot.

Also, tanks not really that "special" in this game, unlike most MMOs. I've yet to group with one so far here that can actually hold any sort of aggro, and that's even when i stop attacking on my control wizard. It could be most are new to the game, and how things work, but with companions and self healing/damage mitigation, it seems more that people should just be more aware of what they are doing. Heck, last dungeon i ran the party split in two at one point, three of us going one way to get all extras, the others heading to boss, and not one death.

Like I mentioned above, the trinity is pretty vague and minut in Neverwinter. Pots heal more than a DC does, and have short CDs. Although I am sure people will be complaining how bad tanks and healers are because they aren't getting heals or holding aggro. Those same people probably don't even bring pots.

syto514

dixa1 wrote: »

even with powers and feats healing threat is way, way too high in this game. it appears tehre is also over-healing threat.

I really have a hard time holding aggro for this very reason. Even with all the threat increasing skills aggro is easily ripped off. I can only constantly taunt and time my shots with the mark. They need to re-tune aggro, especially healing aggro.

deahamlet

syto514 wrote: »

I really have a hard time holding aggro for this very reason. Even with all the threat increasing skills aggro is easily ripped off. I can only constantly taunt and time my shots with the mark. They need to re-tune aggro, especially healing aggro.

Please embrace the fact that you can only hold the boss. Just focus on it. Considering most DCs I've spoken to spend most of the time at the big battles kiting and killing trash... I don't know how you having a hard time holding against Astral Seal. My rock golem manages, don't tell me they gave GFs fewer tools than my little golem. Tell them to heal less. Though as I said, who has time to heal some of these end-boss dungeons with the 10+ ads chasing you?!?!
I found that having my golem actually helped as between the GF and my golem... the boss did NOT budge one bit to anyone. When without my golem, the boss just kept jumping on me and chasing me... And considering I was already trying to survive boss-like ads... I don't even know what I did to <font color="orange">HAMSTER</font> off the boss so bad. And I had threat reduction on for my healing. With my golem, I did not even need threat reduction, only ads wanted to chase me.

Healing aggro IS buggered to all hells but really... the boss isn't the problem, everything else in the room aggroing on cleric is. Regardless of distance or anything. It's a bit nuts because once they're chasing ... even a rogue going full crazy DPS on the ad isn't making it stop. Go figure.

bismar7

premades /10chars