Why do you suppose that anet picked assassin class to be the BEST TANK in PvE?

Tank = character with an over-defensive build that doesn't kill and is therefore baed.

Tanking = a technique used to bodyblock baddies so they can't reach your backline and AoE kills them more easily. This technique can be performed by any warrior that is protted well and is therefore good. ^ This. Playing pure tank is so boring it makes me want to go outside again - its slow, repetative and boring. Far more entertaining to switch a couple of buff skills for more defensive ones and use the skills of rest of your team to get better, faster results. Oh and you can do it with pretty much any profession, I regularly end up taking up the Tanking role on my Ranger as we often lack a more traditional frontline character.

It seems almost as absurd as picking the mesmer...

one would think that the sin was intended to be a class to "get in - kill - & get out". Of course with the emergence of perma, this role isn't even possible in PvE. some ones mindset at ANET changed when ppl started to delete thier sins a year ago...

I can't help but wonder why a different melee class like the war or derv weren't chosen to B the best tank...
dude, don't try to apply your biased logic to a video game, shut down your computer and go outside to breathe some fresh air


and of course, the whole "nerf sf QQ" crowd is here


seriously, there's no such thing as "balance" or "skill" in gw pve, with a decent build and some knowledge about monsters behavior in the area, pve is easy, with or without tanking / perma sf

^ This. Playing pure tank is so boring it makes me want to go outside again - its slow, repetative and boring. Far more entertaining to switch a couple of buff skills for more defensive ones and use the skills of rest of your team to get better, faster results. Oh and you can do it with pretty much any profession, I regularly end up taking up the Tanking role on my Ranger as we often lack a more traditional frontline character. That's why my Brute in City of Heroes is so awesome. Or Mastermind is more enjoyable than Minion Master. Or Gravity Controller better than Mesmer at Crowd Control. Or Defender on protting than Monk... And so on.

Warriors are still the best tanks in the game - thanks to their 96/116 armour they are able they have enough defense to bodyblock without needing waste a single skill on self healing or protection which leaves the you 8 skills for killing. I'm sorry but that is the biggest load of crap I've heard/seen in a long time. In PvE where you have monsters that are level 28 or higher 116 armour is not even close to what you need to prevent damage. Also you complete forget that life stealing, conditions and life degen in general completely bypass that armour. The only good warrior tank is the terratank who uses obsidian flesh to make sure spells fail against the warrior and usually the dolyak signet is used to make sure that the armour value is finally enough to reduce direct damage enough that the warrior can last.

No the warrior cannot survive at all with just the armour. And since players are generally not smart enough to understand things like aggro circles and why ranger enemies with longbows have a bigger aggro circle, the warrior's aggro is often doomed to fail.

In the end the warrior still needs support to stay alive for extend periods of time and he/she can only last a while by dedicating the whole skill bar to tanking and then needs a healer at some point to keep it up which is where the aggro thing is a pain.

Since there is no warrior skill that can influence aggro it's always going to be very hit and miss. Hell, an earth ele only needs one skill to have a better armour rating than any warrior. Try armour of earth, stoneflesh aura and obsidian flesh as basis for an ele tank and you'll see you basically take no damage. Add stone striker and mantra of earth and your energy is great (not to mention giving your off-hand +10 vs earth damage mod) and a ward of stability against knockdown.

It's just that the warrior cannot do this well without support. Even the ele build is not invincible (for example some dervish or spirit attacks that remove enchants) but it just goes to show that the warrior really isn't the best tank. There are too many damage sources that bypass armour and it's a simple fact that you need to be able to maintain obsidian flesh or shadow form to be able to tank well in this game and ele's and sins can do that better.

Tank = character with an over-defensive build that doesn't kill and is therefore baed.

Tanking = a technique used to bodyblock baddies so they can't reach your backline and AoE kills them more easily. This technique can be performed by any warrior that is protted well and is therefore good.

Hell I completed Stygian Veil in a PUG while the tank dropped, we just snared the baddies and danced around them while we nuked them. Tanks are a nice foolproof way to PUG hard areas, and if it works for people just stick with it, but there's much much more ways to do things, faster, better and more fun ways. I agree with most of this. I never understood why most GWGuru "know it all's" are all singing the "tanking is the devil" song.

I agree that running pure tank builds are boring, but so is bonding, and so is Human MM IMHO.

The tried and true "tank and spank" method seems to be still an effective way to beat the hardest of areas (DoA HM) with no trouble.

Maybe people are so against tanking because of the retarded wammos out there who dont know how to maintain aggro and pull to a wall/corner. Or maybe most of the GWGuru "Know it all's" jump on the "tanking is the devil" bandwagon simply because they have read it in these threads countless times and feel safer to regurgitate other peoples ideas than to develop their own.

IMO tanking is not bad, its just slower and more steady and more idiot friendly. (im not saying idiot proof)

I agree with most of this. I never understood why most GWGuru "know it all's" are all singing the "tanking is the devil" song.

I agree that running pure tank builds are boring, but so is bonding, and so is Human MM IMHO.

The tried and true "tank and spank" method seems to be still an effective way to beat the hardest of areas (DoA HM) with no trouble.

Maybe people are so against tanking because of the retarded wammos out there who dont know how to maintain aggro and pull to a wall/corner. Or maybe most of the GWGuru "Know it all's" jump on the "tanking is the devil" bandwagon simply because they have read it in these threads countless times and feel safer to regurgitate other peoples ideas than to develop their own.

IMO tanking is not bad, its just slower and more steady and more idiot friendly. (im not saying idiot proof) Tanking is not bad. Tanking is one of the smartest tactics in PvE. However, pure tanks are bad. If your team needs someone who is dedicated to tank, your team doing something wrong. Maybe people are calling tanks bad because, well, they're bad. I don't understand why you have to call someone a know it all simply because they're saying tanks are bad.