How important/common are tanks to this game?

Whenever I play MMO's that follow the so called "holy trinity" of role differentiation (tank, healer, DPS), I generally go with tank because they're always needed in groups, they're always in the thick of the action, and there never seem to be enough of them (that is, it's always easy to find dungeon groups if you're a good tank). I've started a Swordsman that I'll eventually turn into a Knight, but seeing as how nearly half of the endgame classes in RO2 can tank, I was wondering if there are a whole lot of us tanks running around. It's still really early obviously, but are tanks as valuable here as they are in say, WoW?

Also, I mean "valuable" in both senses of the word. I don't know how dungeons and such work in this game, so are dedicated tanks very important to successful runs?

Thanks in advance for answering such noob'ish questions.

A dungeon/raid party can't function without a dedicated tank class, so yes they're important.

Sure they're important -- you can probably get away with mediocre DPS and heal in many situations, but having a tank who knows what he's doing is the best way to keep the party alive...

On commonness, there are quite a lot with DPS builds running around. Most of the Warriors I've seen so far had Aura Blade active.

Sure they're important -- you can probably get away with mediocre DPS and heal in many situations, but having a tank who knows what he's doing is the best way to keep the party alive...

On commonness, there are quite a lot with DPS builds running around. Most of the Warriors I've seen so far had Aura Blade active.

That maybe alright for normal dungeons but tanks are needed for hard dungeons and raids.

That maybe alright for normal dungeons but tanks are needed for hard dungeons and raids.

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Tanks are important.

That maybe alright for normal dungeons but tanks are needed for hard dungeons and raids.

I'm saying that good tanks make the most difference in a party........ not sure if you understood my post.

I'm saying that good tanks make the most difference in a party........ not sure if you understood my post.

nvm I misread your post

Sure they're important -- you can probably get away with mediocre DPS and heal in many situations, but having a tank who knows what he's doing is the best way to keep the party alive...

On commonness, there are quite a lot with DPS builds running around. Most of the Warriors I've seen so far had Aura Blade active.

You can *not* get away with middling/stupid DPS in the majority of dungeons, and many bosses just outright ignore the tank.

Edited by ODKN, 10 May 2013 - 12:14 PM.

Tanks are just meat shields and mana sponges, healers are the backbone of the party.

You can *not* get away with middling/stupid DPS in the majority of dungeons, and many bosses just outright ignore the tank.

I suppose I took the wrong approach-

Let's put it this way -- Your DPS is capped by your tank's threat generation. The party's survivability depends on the healer, and the tank is who keeps the healers safe.

It wasn't my intention to say good DPS and healers aren't important, but in terms of party function, these classes are limited by their tank's performance.

True, the times tanks will feel useless is when monsters ignore their threat due to bug, or on the bosses that randomly attacks. Even with this, their use still accounts to "most situations".

Tanks are just meat shields and mana sponges, healers are the backbone of the party.

I do believe healers are the backbone, but those meat shields are what keeps them from breaking :>

Edited by Chocs, 10 May 2013 - 03:13 PM.

I suppose I took the wrong approach-

Let's put it this way -- Your DPS is capped by your tank's threat generation. The party's survivability depends on the healer, and the tank is who keeps the healers safe.

It wasn't my intention to say good DPS and healers aren't important, but in terms of party function, these classes are limited by their tank's performance.

True, the times tanks will feel useless is when monsters ignore their threat due to bug, or on the bosses that randomly attacks. Even with this, their use still accounts to "most situations".


I do believe healers are the backbone, but those meat shields are what keeps them from breaking :>

Your healer should actually have lower threat than your DPS, unless your DPS suck, and your tank should easily have more than double the threat of the next person anyhow. I don't know, but tanking in this game is abhorrently easy... Only with ranger spam, and local boss damage fields, is it hard.

Your healer should actually have lower threat than your DPS, unless your DPS suck, and your tank should easily have more than double the threat of the next person anyhow. I don't know, but tanking in this game is abhorrently easy... Only with ranger spam, and local boss damage fields, is it hard.

Managing mobs of monsters... I have a priest friend who is wary of joining random parties, because some tanks tend to let the monsters chew on her pants. While healing and dealing damage is rather straightforward, not everyone seems to master or be aware of the threat system. It's also possible for a DPS to threaten a tank's threat... it might be more challenging with the 10s pots we have.

Of course, when you know what you're doing then it's easy, though it's usually the tank/offtanks that have to be briefed about boss adds, swapping aggro, kiting, or learn how to reset those adds using pots and bugging -- if they don't do it right it means certain death. DPS and healers do as they have been from level 1.

Not to mention the expense tanks have to deal with

Managing mobs of monsters... I have a priest friend who is wary of joining random parties, because some tanks tend to let the monsters chew on her pants. While healing and dealing damage is rather straightforward, not everyone seems to master or be aware of the threat system. It's also possible for a DPS to threaten a tank's threat... it might be more challenging with the 10s pots we have.

Of course, when you know what you're doing then it's easy, though it's usually the tank/offtanks that have to be briefed about boss adds, swapping aggro, kiting, or learn how to reset those adds using pots and bugging -- if they don't do it right it means certain death. DPS and healers do as they have been from level 1.

Not to mention the expense tanks have to deal with

Not quite true. What the DPS are supposed to be doing actually increases as the dungeon level increases. They will eventually be tasked with destroying adds that the tank can't hit/hold without being murdered. Raids are another story, but you get the gist.

Not quite true. What the DPS are supposed to be doing actually increases as the dungeon level increases. They will eventually be tasked with destroying adds that the tank can't hit/hold without being murdered. Raids are another story, but you get the gist.

True, though destroying adds sounds like the exact same thing as dealing damage to anything else. I've seen Assassins kite Bapho's tornado with their Shadow Armour, but that isn't restricted to their class. The comment on their uses from level 1 is a hyperbole on my part, though not completely off.