Friday, August 19, 2011
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11:15 AM
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I usually keep this blog focused on rogue PvP and DPS, but as I spend a good amount of time tanking, I wanted to chat briefly about Rogue Tanking.
Anyone who has played Riftstalker for any length of time knows the severe limitations it has compared to the shield-tanks. Without blocks or any self/reactive heals, rogues are not able to mitigate/offset the damage of multiple mobs nearly as well.
Many rogues consider this a tradeoff as the difference is not as noticeable on single targets, like raid bosses, and Riftstalkers have increased mobility and magic mitigation compared to warriors and clerics.
However, as the bosses have scaled higher in physical damage output, we quickly saw the inferiority of the rogue tank. Rogues in Hammerknell take approximately twice as much physical damage as a similarly geared warrior or cleric. They tend to have more health, so they can survive these hits, but they quickly become a mana sponge for healers that makes them by far the most difficult tank class to keep alive in all those physical HK boss fights.
Our Riftstalker had been our MT from the beginning of GSB, through RoS and all those T2s and 10-mans in between. He was our raid leader, friend and stalwart shield and he never wanted to be anything other than a tank. As we moved into HK and he could see that his class was a liability, it had a negative effect on our raids and progression and was no doubt the reason he quit the game.
I'm sorry to lose a friend, but glad we're no longer being held back by our full-T3 best-in-slot everything Riftstalker tank that spent so much of his time getting geared for HK only to have his efforts overshadowed by T2 warriors with much better mitigation.
Our guild now uses 2-3 Warrior tanks, depending on the boss fight and I step in to tank a couple magic-damage fights in RoS. It's good for progression, but not so good for the game, if Trion really wants to keep all tanks roughly equal. Riftstalker is largely dead.
Posted by
Dunsparrow
Posts
6 comments:
It's a damn shame. Though through such a loss, for the sake of progression, it's never good to lose a friend and a great tank. No reason to be happy on that.
I'm a rogue. And after WoW destroyed rogues into the ground with Cata. I refuse to leave this game because of it.
Thank you for you insightful guides man. I appreciate it.
I'm gonna play devil's (Trion's) advocate for just a sec. First, I am a rogue and wish things were scaled better. Like Dun said, we come behind in almost everything. But I'm gonna give Trion some time. The game is only about 6 months old and you are not going to achieve a perfect balance among the classes overnight. Heck, WoW is how old and they still manage to fubar stuff. So till then I'm gonna work on being the best I can be and work with what I have. And when the time comes that things balance out, us rogues will rise and dominate.
@Nabo
Completely agree with you. There will never be perfect balance but that's only because Rogues belong on top. Trion is doing amazing for 6 months.
Sucks that trion has neglected Riftstalkers to such a degree that now we are seeing good tanks, good friends, and good people quite the game. He will be missed.
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