Tanking: Should the "Tank" Primary Class Be the Be-All-End-All Tanking Class?

Interested in hearing all opinions on:

-Should Tank Primary classes be the only and/or most dominant tank choice?

-Should other, not necessarily all, Primary Class variants have secondary options that make them just as viable as tanks or even off-tanks?

-Should the Tank Primary class have some variant options to focus more on other roles than simply tanking all of the time?

-Should the Tank Primary class be renamed assuming it can fill other roles besides simply tanking?

Looking forward to what you all have to say!

Edit:
More questions resulting from this post I want to hear opinions on:

-Is role overlap so wrong? If it is should there really be 9 classes or even variants at all? If its so bad to have a role covered by more than one class, then shouldn't there be just 4 classes? Healer(support), Physical DPS, Magical DPS, and Tank?

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SirChancelot

Noaani wrote: »

Optics- wrote: »

My 20 year mmo experience says MORE TANKS on a server is better, So the more diversity in playable tanks skills and (classes) the better

While this has been true in most games, this is in part because of the group size of most games.

Look at WoW. A group there would consist of 1 tank, 1 healer and three DPS. This is fairly standard among MMO's, with some going up to 6 person groups, but the bulk sitting at 5.

Ashes will have 8 person groups, meaning that one tank and healer can take along 6 other players on group content.

This means that in WoW, if you have 300 DPS wanting groups, you need 100 tanks and 100 healers. Where as in Ashes, that 300 DPS only need 50 tanks and healers to all get taken along on groups.

If Ashes has the same mix of tanks, healers and DPS as other MMO's have, groups are going to have trouble finding DPS, not finding tanks or healers.

While I agree with your math in concept. You need to look at the distribution for LFR in wow, that's 2 tanks for a group of 25... Tanks are still the hardest slot to fill most of the time. People generally just want to play the DPS type classes because they're cooler and or don't want the pressure of tank or heal.

Noaani

SirChancelot11 wrote: »

Noaani wrote: »

Optics- wrote: »

My 20 year mmo experience says MORE TANKS on a server is better, So the more diversity in playable tanks skills and (classes) the better

While this has been true in most games, this is in part because of the group size of most games.

Look at WoW. A group there would consist of 1 tank, 1 healer and three DPS. This is fairly standard among MMO's, with some going up to 6 person groups, but the bulk sitting at 5.

Ashes will have 8 person groups, meaning that one tank and healer can take along 6 other players on group content.

This means that in WoW, if you have 300 DPS wanting groups, you need 100 tanks and 100 healers. Where as in Ashes, that 300 DPS only need 50 tanks and healers to all get taken along on groups.

If Ashes has the same mix of tanks, healers and DPS as other MMO's have, groups are going to have trouble finding DPS, not finding tanks or healers.

While I agree with your math in concept. You need to look at the distribution for LFR in wow, that's 2 tanks for a group of 25... Tanks are still the hardest slot to fill most of the time. People generally just want to play the DPS type classes because they're cooler and or don't want the pressure of tank or heal.

I have no doubts that your observations are true. None at all.

All I can say is that the pool of players that group is not the same as the pool of players that raid.

That same math (or the general idea of it) holds true for raiding in Ashes as well.

Percimes

SirChancelot11 wrote: »

Noaani wrote: »

Optics- wrote: »

My 20 year mmo experience says MORE TANKS on a server is better, So the more diversity in playable tanks skills and (classes) the better

While this has been true in most games, this is in part because of the group size of most games.

Look at WoW. A group there would consist of 1 tank, 1 healer and three DPS. This is fairly standard among MMO's, with some going up to 6 person groups, but the bulk sitting at 5.

Ashes will have 8 person groups, meaning that one tank and healer can take along 6 other players on group content.

This means that in WoW, if you have 300 DPS wanting groups, you need 100 tanks and 100 healers. Where as in Ashes, that 300 DPS only need 50 tanks and healers to all get taken along on groups.

If Ashes has the same mix of tanks, healers and DPS as other MMO's have, groups are going to have trouble finding DPS, not finding tanks or healers.

While I agree with your math in concept. You need to look at the distribution for LFR in wow, that's 2 tanks for a group of 25... Tanks are still the hardest slot to fill most of the time. People generally just want to play the DPS type classes because they're cooler and or don't want the pressure of tank or heal.

And yet many still ask for the tanking role to be exclusive to the tank/x classes. Making the rarest played role the linchpin of every grouping scenarios is a recipe for frustration, and no, it does not make more people start playing that role. In my personal case, it made me stop looking for groups and group content to solo almost all the time.

If the game has some (or many) group encounters in which tanking is not as essential, where a second rate tank is enough to do the job, then x/tanks with appropriate gear could be a viable option. They wouldn't steal the show for dungeon boss or raids, but they would provide the necessary, even if imperfect, role to get people into groups.

HowlingWolf80

I would like other classes or secondary tank classes able to tank many things. But not the hardest end game content.

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