Threat Generation - By the Numbers
I dont think the topic should be soley focus on tanks but for every class, haivng an impact to threat itself.
I will use a 5 man party to try and formulate on how threat should work. ASSUME MAX LEVEL.
Cleric, Wizard, Rogue, Enchanter, Tank
Tank: For every 1 point of damage (from basic or abilities) creates 4 points of threat
Tank Abilities:
Hate- Creates instantly 5,000 points of threat - no effect in PvP. Cooldown 30 seconds.
Shield Bash (PvE)- Deals 250 points of dmg (1,000 threat) and prevents NPC from moving for 2 seconds. NPC can still attack. If applied to a target player, Shield Bash applies Stagger for 2 seconds.
Harpoon - Deals 300 points of damage (1200 threat) and slowly reels the target closer to you for 1.5 seconds. Effective in PvE and PvP. (See Maui Ability from SMITE)
Taunt: Instantly forces the target to change it's target to yourself for 5 seconds. Also applicable in PvP (Ranger aiming at Mage, Tank taunts ranger - The ranger targets has been changed to the tank, does not impede on movement or anything else). Cooldown 1 min
Both in WoW and in EQ there was a rule. Allow the tank to build threat first before people begin to DPS. Kinda the same logic here. In WoW, give the tank 5 seconds before EVRYONE can begin to DPS.
In EQ, Give the tank 5 seconds before MELEE DPS can start basic attacking. Casters needed to wait approx 80% of the NPC healthbar before casting nukes.
Now for the cleric
Cleric: For every 1 point of damage (from basic or abilities) creates 1 points of threat.
For every 1 point of healing creates 5 points of threat.
Now for the Wizard
Wizard: For every 1 point of damage (from basic or abilities) creates 2 points of threat.
Now for the Rogue
Rogue: For every 1 point of damage (from basic or abilities) creates 1.5 points of threat.
Now for the Enchanter
Enchanter: For every 1 point of damage (from basic or abilities) creates 1 points of threat.
Crowd Control spells has 2 parts. INSTANT Aggro and a numerical threat number also attached. But they both play differently.
CC - Banish - NPC is frozen in place, unable to move or attack for 30 seconds. Also Creates 10k threat.
Debuff spells creates X amount of Threat. Let's say SLOW creates 7.5k threat, Phy Def Debuff creates 5k.
Scenerio: Random Mob with 50k hp - the first 15 seconds.
Tanks open up, uses other abilities and basic attacks for 5 seconds, dealing 500 damage and generating 2,000 threat. Every 5 seconds, he is able to build up 2k threat.
Rogues waits for 5 seconds before going in. Rogue decides to burst DPS in the next 10 seconds.
So that is 15 seconds from the tank (6k threat). Rogue using his abilities dealt 3500 damage in 10 seconds. The rogue generated 5,250 threat, below the Tank, still safe.
The Healer - waited 5 seconds before going in on damage. For the next 10 seconds, the healer did 1200 damage (1200 threat) and casted a heal on the tank for 1,000 HP (creating 5k threat). In Total, the Healer pulled aggro with 6200 threat. Very easily for the Tank to get it back if the cleric stops DPS.
The Wizard does the same. His spell takes 5 seconds to cast, so the second the tank pulls, The wizard begins to cast Meteor. The spell dealt 5000 damage, creating 10000. INSTANT AGGRO. The Tank has only generated 2k at this point. That is a dead wizard.
5k damage to a 50k mob = 10%. Ideally the wizard may want to wait for 80% threshhold or 20 seconds before opening up with a nuke. This will allow the tank to have 8k and have HATE ready to use to regain control.
The Enchanter - Using Debuffs waits for 15 seconds before casting a debuff. If he cast SLOW, he will pull aggro, if he casted Phy Def Debuff, he won't pull aggro since it's 5k vs the tank 6k.
Let's reset, The tank pulled 2 mobs, the enchanter CC and banish one of the NPC from the battlefield for the next 30 seconds. Once that 30 seconds is up - it does not matter if the Cleric on the field has already generated 50k threat points from healing, or the wizard targets the CC mob and nuked it with a 10k nuke - that CC mob for the first 3 seconds will target the Enchanter ONLY. This is where an attentive tank needs to use TAUNT to save the enchanter. After 5 seconds - the CC Mob will focus on whomever is the highest on the threat list. Be it the Tank still or the others.
How people play, and knowing when to cast, is important. Timing is important. Allowing the tank to build up threat is important. Approaching it like WoW will you want to instantly BURST DPS it down wont work on trash mobs. Very similar to Everquest - you gotta pick your fights carefully, slowly and control the field - cause wizards / clerics / enchanters can easily pull threat from the tank and die very very quickly. Tanks must have attention skills, to know what is CC and what target is the next priority for the group to focus on.
Accountability becomes a thing - anyone who breaks the CC has the potential to get your enchanter kill and even yourself if you are melee dps, and ended up in it's personal threat meter by dealing damage to it. If not, you also jeopardize the cleric, who's healing triggers all mobs threat meter and becomes the prime target.
The Tank should have abilities to attempt to generate threat quickly with every abilities and damage, but also have soft CC, some useable for PvP, others not so much to protect and regain control.
The CCs I have in mind for tanks are ways to slow NPC movement toward target, also to change target targetted, reeling them in towards you, creating distance for your squishes, allowing them extra time to react / prepare. Create an obstacle to prevent pathing directly toward a squishy, allowing an additional 1-2 seconds detour movement to regain control of the field (Think Shield Wall ability, actually creating a wall that blocks partial path)
