To get some things out of the way:
This post acknowledges tanks are valuable in frontlines. They are critical for blocking objectives, controlling enemy battle highs, initiation, peeling, and helping people to retreat. Holmgang in particular, combined with stun and displacement, is one of the most hilariously obnoxious combinations in the game. That's powerful.
This also acknowledges how even with the changes to how Battle High works, it favours DPS more than tanks and healers. Especially melee or anyone with a lot of burst, since that is more conducive to killing blows rather than assists.
Now for the actual thread:
I've been thinking about the tanks role in frontlines, and how your skill as a player scales with impact. While the difference between a good tank player and a bad tank player is there, it doesn't reward players of greater skill as much as DPS or healers. When you get onto a point and block an objective capture, for example, while the self-healing of tanks is there, a lot of your effectiveness is intrinsically linked to the skill of your healers. You just asserting a position, or dealing like 1 damage to stop a channel, isn't going to vary as much between an average tank and an amazing tank.
I think part of it is Battle High, and how it allows skilled players to carry a weaker team. On any DC, you will consistently see the same people rack up BH, perform well, and have a great impact on wherever they employ their abilities. The difference between a good tank and an average tank is there, and anyone who has done a lot of PvP can tell the difference, but is it winning the game as hard as it would be if you were in another role?
To start, maybe tanks should get some kind of bonus that makes more sense for them when they get a BH going. One thing worth considering is giving tanks and only tanks an HP bonus when they get a Battle High going. That is HP and not raw mitigation, since damage reduction scales more with healing which can be obnoxious. More max HP could help more skilled tanks that happen to get a battle high going perform better and play more aggressively, which could be healthier for the game.
Of course, I could be entirely wrong. My perspective comes from playing a lot of FL for about a year and have hundreds of games on all of the maps. I perform pretty well on all of the roles and while I am not perfect I'd like to think I've developed an informed opinion on the way things work on Primal and Aether, though I realize things play quite a bit differently on JP.
tl;dr I'd like to see changes to allow good tank players carry harder in Frontline like you can as a DPS or healer. Maybe bonus max HP with increased Battle High.
Continue reading...
This post acknowledges tanks are valuable in frontlines. They are critical for blocking objectives, controlling enemy battle highs, initiation, peeling, and helping people to retreat. Holmgang in particular, combined with stun and displacement, is one of the most hilariously obnoxious combinations in the game. That's powerful.
This also acknowledges how even with the changes to how Battle High works, it favours DPS more than tanks and healers. Especially melee or anyone with a lot of burst, since that is more conducive to killing blows rather than assists.
Now for the actual thread:
I've been thinking about the tanks role in frontlines, and how your skill as a player scales with impact. While the difference between a good tank player and a bad tank player is there, it doesn't reward players of greater skill as much as DPS or healers. When you get onto a point and block an objective capture, for example, while the self-healing of tanks is there, a lot of your effectiveness is intrinsically linked to the skill of your healers. You just asserting a position, or dealing like 1 damage to stop a channel, isn't going to vary as much between an average tank and an amazing tank.
I think part of it is Battle High, and how it allows skilled players to carry a weaker team. On any DC, you will consistently see the same people rack up BH, perform well, and have a great impact on wherever they employ their abilities. The difference between a good tank and an average tank is there, and anyone who has done a lot of PvP can tell the difference, but is it winning the game as hard as it would be if you were in another role?
To start, maybe tanks should get some kind of bonus that makes more sense for them when they get a BH going. One thing worth considering is giving tanks and only tanks an HP bonus when they get a Battle High going. That is HP and not raw mitigation, since damage reduction scales more with healing which can be obnoxious. More max HP could help more skilled tanks that happen to get a battle high going perform better and play more aggressively, which could be healthier for the game.
Of course, I could be entirely wrong. My perspective comes from playing a lot of FL for about a year and have hundreds of games on all of the maps. I perform pretty well on all of the roles and while I am not perfect I'd like to think I've developed an informed opinion on the way things work on Primal and Aether, though I realize things play quite a bit differently on JP.
tl;dr I'd like to see changes to allow good tank players carry harder in Frontline like you can as a DPS or healer. Maybe bonus max HP with increased Battle High.
Continue reading...