Question - How to make your tank not suck? (1 Viewer)

[cintile]

Ok, I've posted several posts recently on different possible trios and I'm going to ask about one more. However, before I get to that, my first question is, how do you make a tank that doesn't suck? As an example. I have a 112 SK, he has snowbound armor from ToV and yet, it gets thrown around by RoS mobs like a wet paper bag. Even tho, people tell me he should be able to tank T1 Tov content. I assure you, he cannot. He gets pwned in about 10 seconds by trash in EW. This is one of the reasons I started a BST. As a result, I was able to box my way BST/Brd to 121. BST pet just got the job done easily. Even now, LS content is a non-issue for the BST pet. In fact, I leveled the BST in LI from 115-121 using the pet as my tank. MY SK can't even tank RoS.

So... there is obviously something I'm missing. At any rate, the SK and BST are on the same account and I've made the firm decision that I'm not giving up on the BST. Therefore, SK is done. However, I'm still wanting to get a tank into my group, but I guess I need some guidance on how to get him to a point where he doesn't suck hard.

On my 2nd account, I have a Pally persona that I boosted to 85 and then got some free PL to 108.

If I pair the BST/Pally what do I need to do so that the Pally is actually useful as a tank? Obviously, it's not just gear.

Do I really have to go all the way back to like CoF and spend 2 months doing all the progression for the Heroic AA's in order for him to be viable?

Last question in this long line of questions. If I go with 121 BST + 108 Pally, would the Mage I've been working up do the trick for my 3rd or does this Trio still need a Cleric to be viable? I would think with Pally group healing, that a merc could handle heals just fine, but I wouldn't know. Merc heals BST pet without any problems.

Appreciate all your wisdom.

 

[orbitz]

Is your SK max aa for his level?

 

[Sic]

Having the appropriate things for your content matters. Levels, aas (7s and 5s), gear, augs, best familiar, best mount, and best illusion (janns veil) - all important.

 

[cintile]

Is your SK max aa for his level?

Yes, in fact, I believe autogrant keeps you up all the way to 115, so it's not an AA issue. I may just scrap worrying about a tank. I'm doing LS group content just fine with BST/Brd box. I could use a little more DPS. I wouldn't be able to run my own missions tho, and that's the hang-up. It would be nice to go and run everything for the jann's viel by myself and or just farm the LS missions armor, etc. But as far as group content and named mobs in the LS expansion, I can already do that without a real tank.

 

[knave23]

What abilities/spells/buffs are you using? Are you trying to 2h when you should sword/board? It's kinda hard to know what's going on from what you've given us. I would think even without augs, a max aa sk in snowbound shouldn't be dying in RoS. I rolled into ToV when it went live in conflagrant gear and did fine (I mostly remember because I had skipped TBL and expected to get smacked). Are you manually playing the sk or running a macro? If the latter, can you share it with us?

As for your other questions, I think we can try to get your sk up to snuff without you having to reroll a pally. And the heroic aa's are nice to have, but I do fine and have never bothered to go back and get any. At least not any further back than like EoK.

 

[postleaf]

I had a similar experience with an sk getting rolled in Ros. After filling out the type 7 augs with best ac I could find, I crossed some ac boundary and now there have been times where a bad pull wipes out the rest of my group but some how the sk survives. It seems there are some threshold tiers that really make a difference

 

[Gukkster]

Ok, I've posted several posts recently on different possible trios and I'm going to ask about one more. However, before I get to that, my first question is, how do you make a tank that doesn't suck? As an example. I have a 112 SK, he has snowbound armor from ToV and yet, it gets thrown around by RoS mobs like a wet paper bag. Even tho, people tell me he should be able to tank T1 Tov content. I assure you, he cannot. He gets pwned in about 10 seconds by trash in EW. This is one of the reasons I started a BST. As a result, I was able to box my way BST/Brd to 121. BST pet just got the job done easily. Even now, LS content is a non-issue for the BST pet. In fact, I leveled the BST in LI from 115-121 using the pet as my tank. MY SK can't even tank RoS.

So... there is obviously something I'm missing. At any rate, the SK and BST are on the same account and I've made the firm decision that I'm not giving up on the BST. Therefore, SK is done. However, I'm still wanting to get a tank into my group, but I guess I need some guidance on how to get him to a point where he doesn't suck hard.

On my 2nd account, I have a Pally persona that I boosted to 85 and then got some free PL to 108.

If I pair the BST/Pally what do I need to do so that the Pally is actually useful as a tank? Obviously, it's not just gear.

Do I really have to go all the way back to like CoF and spend 2 months doing all the progression for the Heroic AA's in order for him to be viable?

Last question in this long line of questions. If I go with 121 BST + 108 Pally, would the Mage I've been working up do the trick for my 3rd or does this Trio still need a Cleric to be viable? I would think with Pally group healing, that a merc could handle heals just fine, but I wouldn't know. Merc heals BST pet without any problems.

Appreciate all your wisdom.

just an opinion but if it were me in that duo bst/pally i'd add an enchanter rather than the magician with the 115 version of night's perpetual terror your pally and pet could both tank god himself.

 

[cintile]

just an opinion but if it were me in that duo bst/pally i'd add an enchanter rather than the magician with the 115 version of night's perpetual terror your pally and pet could both tank god himself.

That's an interesting thought. In order to use Pally I would have to give up my Bard which is hard to do. However, one of my mains for years in the PoP era of EQ was an Enchanter and I've thought about trying to work one in.. I don't hate the idea of BST/Pally/Ench....

 

[519helvis]

Yes, in fact, I believe autogrant keeps you up all the way to 115, so it's not an AA issue. I may just scrap worrying about a tank. I'm doing LS group content just fine with BST/Brd box. I could use a little more DPS. I wouldn't be able to run my own missions tho, and that's the hang-up. It would be nice to go and run everything for the jann's viel by myself and or just farm the LS missions armor, etc. But as far as group content and named mobs in the LS expansion, I can already do that without a real tank.

maybe i misunderstood .. but when you say your sk has max aa your referring to max aa and not max autogrant aa correct? cause if youve only got autogranted aa thats the main reason your SK is the tank equivalent of a wet diaper. youll need to sub it and max out its aa (approx 70k+ total)

are you manually playing your sk? Using KA? or a plugin?

LS is incredibly easy compared to the last two expansions, i have a 120 sk in cov gear that tanks LS T1 zones just fine with cwtn plugs

 

[jmaez]

You should be all or close to 55-80 AC type 7 augs at 112 and what are your non visible slots (should be 6-8khp tov-cov items)?

 

[Almafa]

Ok, I've posted several posts recently on different possible trios and I'm going to ask about one more. However, before I get to that, my first question is, how do you make a tank that doesn't suck? As an example. I have a 112 SK, he has snowbound armor from ToV and yet, it gets thrown around by RoS mobs like a wet paper bag. Even tho, people tell me he should be able to tank T1 Tov content. I assure you, he cannot. He gets pwned in about 10 seconds by trash in EW. This is one of the reasons I started a BST. As a result, I was able to box my way BST/Brd to 121. BST pet just got the job done easily. Even now, LS content is a non-issue for the BST pet. In fact, I leveled the BST in LI from 115-121 using the pet as my tank. MY SK can't even tank RoS.

So... there is obviously something I'm missing. At any rate, the SK and BST are on the same account and I've made the firm decision that I'm not giving up on the BST. Therefore, SK is done. However, I'm still wanting to get a tank into my group, but I guess I need some guidance on how to get him to a point where he doesn't suck hard.

On my 2nd account, I have a Pally persona that I boosted to 85 and then got some free PL to 108.

If I pair the BST/Pally what do I need to do so that the Pally is actually useful as a tank? Obviously, it's not just gear.

Do I really have to go all the way back to like CoF and spend 2 months doing all the progression for the Heroic AA's in order for him to be viable?

Last question in this long line of questions. If I go with 121 BST + 108 Pally, would the Mage I've been working up do the trick for my 3rd or does this Trio still need a Cleric to be viable? I would think with Pally group healing, that a merc could handle heals just fine, but I wouldn't know. Merc heals BST pet without any problems.

Appreciate all your wisdom.

I went through something like this with my SK (main) and with my crew of 6. I took a 3 year AFK, came back with snowbound gear at lvl 115. If you can imagine my augs you would cry, no familiar, no heroic aas...so really basic toon.

I retired mercs and I rolled up my own cleric and shaman. With those two healers, I could easily camp LS gear, and kept maxing combat agility, combat stability, armor of wisdom (very important to max these, autogrant will not keep them maxed). Camped augs, weapons etc...so, SK can be decent but you need to keep an eye on damage mitigating aas and gear. If you lack gear, add more heals. Mercs are not the greatest healers at this level, so a pocket cleric, or a shaman comes handy.

Oh, and don't tank without a shield if your gear is poor. Use epic, and defensive discs when you get banged up. SKs get decent taps, make sure you use them. Mana comes easily in these days.

As people ahead of me said, there are a lot of variables on how a SK can be a better tank. They can be super. You probably have less hassle with a pet tanking...so...you do whatever works for you and whatever you enjoy. I hope the few things I said helps and you may pick up your sk some time.

Now I just wish I could complete the missions because with all the heals my dps sux...HAH!

 

[cintile]

maybe i misunderstood .. but when you say your sk has max aa your referring to max aa and not max autogrant aa correct? cause if youve only got autogranted aa thats the main reason your SK is the tank equivalent of a wet diaper. youll need to sub it and max out its aa (approx 70k+ total)

are you manually playing your sk? Using KA? or a plugin?

LS is incredibly easy compared to the last two expansions, i have a 120 sk in cov gear that tanks LS T1 zones just fine with cwtn plugs

He has maxed AA for level 112. He is a gold character. He has snowbound armor. He has ice-encrusted weapons. Both 2h and 1h + shield options. Non-visible are a mix, some are ToV some are much lesser in quality.

 

[cintile]

I went through something like this with my SK (main) and with my crew of 6. I took a 3 year AFK, came back with snowbound gear at lvl 115. If you can imagine my augs you would cry, no familiar, no heroic aas...so really basic toon.

I retired mercs and I rolled up my own cleric and shaman. With those two healers, I could easily camp LS gear, and kept maxing combat agility, combat stability, armor of wisdom (very important to max these, autogrant will not keep them maxed). Camped augs, weapons etc...so, SK can be decent but you need to keep an eye on damage mitigating aas and gear. If you lack gear, add more heals. Mercs are not the greatest healers at this level, so a pocket cleric, or a shaman comes handy.

Oh, and don't tank without a shield if your gear is poor. Use epic, and defensive discs when you get banged up. SKs get decent taps, make sure you use them. Mana comes easily in these days.

As people ahead of me said, there are a lot of variables on how a SK can be a better tank. They can be super. You probably have less hassle with a pet tanking...so...you do whatever works for you and whatever you enjoy. I hope the few things I said helps and you may pick up your sk some time.

Now I just wish I could complete the missions because with all the heals my dps sux...HAH!

It could be that he needs a Shaman to truely shine.

 

[menlaten]

Autogrant is up to 110, right.

I mimic what sic said.
This game is a game of inches and every 1/16 th of an inch counts.

 

[an_image]

Ok, I've posted several posts recently on different possible trios and I'm going to ask about one more. However, before I get to that, my first question is, how do you make a tank that doesn't suck? As an example. I have a 112 SK, he has snowbound armor from ToV and yet, it gets thrown around by RoS mobs like a wet paper bag. Even tho, people tell me he should be able to tank T1 Tov content. I assure you, he cannot. He gets pwned in about 10 seconds by trash in EW. This is one of the reasons I started a BST. As a result, I was able to box my way BST/Brd to 121. BST pet just got the job done easily. Even now, LS content is a non-issue for the BST pet. In fact, I leveled the BST in LI from 115-121 using the pet as my tank. MY SK can't even tank RoS.

So... there is obviously something I'm missing. At any rate, the SK and BST are on the same account and I've made the firm decision that I'm not giving up on the BST. Therefore, SK is done. However, I'm still wanting to get a tank into my group, but I guess I need some guidance on how to get him to a point where he doesn't suck hard.

On my 2nd account, I have a Pally persona that I boosted to 85 and then got some free PL to 108.

If I pair the BST/Pally what do I need to do so that the Pally is actually useful as a tank? Obviously, it's not just gear.

Do I really have to go all the way back to like CoF and spend 2 months doing all the progression for the Heroic AA's in order for him to be viable?

Last question in this long line of questions. If I go with 121 BST + 108 Pally, would the Mage I've been working up do the trick for my 3rd or does this Trio still need a Cleric to be viable? I would think with Pally group healing, that a merc could handle heals just fine, but I wouldn't know. Merc heals BST pet without any problems.

Appreciate all your wisdom.

Get all the right clickies (specially your 3 bp's) and this concern goes away. If you want to improve it even further follow the advice above on augs, get your tear, ts earring, evolving items, etc. The answer is simple...you have to start sinking time getting the right stuff

 

[cintile]

I went through something like this with my SK (main) and with my crew of 6. I took a 3 year AFK, came back with snowbound gear at lvl 115. If you can imagine my augs you would cry, no familiar, no heroic aas...so really basic toon.

I retired mercs and I rolled up my own cleric and shaman. With those two healers, I could easily camp LS gear, and kept maxing combat agility, combat stability, armor of wisdom (very important to max these, autogrant will not keep them maxed). Camped augs, weapons etc...so, SK can be decent but you need to keep an eye on damage mitigating aas and gear. If you lack gear, add more heals. Mercs are not the greatest healers at this level, so a pocket cleric, or a shaman comes handy.

Oh, and don't tank without a shield if your gear is poor. Use epic, and defensive discs when you get banged up. SKs get decent taps, make sure you use them. Mana comes easily in these days.

As people ahead of me said, there are a lot of variables on how a SK can be a better tank. They can be super. You probably have less hassle with a pet tanking...so...you do whatever works for you and whatever you enjoy. I hope the few things I said helps and you may pick up your sk some time.

Now I just wish I could complete the missions because with all the heals my dps sux...HAH!

Also for clarity, you started tanking LS at level 115? Just by adding a real healer?

 

[Silverspaceman]

This game is a game of inches and every 1/16 th of an inch counts.

That's what she said.

*ahem*

Time and investment-wise, you generally prioritize work on tank>dps>healer/utility. Do you need to go get all the achievement AAs? No. They'll help, but I wouldn't consider them necessary for group content. You said you're gold and max AA, which would be my first two questions, then come the augs for AC/hDex/HPs, then gear. My completely non-uber group was doing ROS ST for xp at 110 on max AA, minimal achievement AA, and limited augs. My next question would be your setup for spell rotations/automation used. The skin line of spells, lifetaps, and self-buffs make a noticeable difference in damage mitigation via runes and self-healing. When I manually tank, I'll miss buffs going down, but I'll notice because he takes larger hits more frequently compared to the buffs procing defensive stuff.

 

[cintile]

Get all the right clickies (specially your 3 bp's) and this concern goes away. If you want to improve it even further follow the advice above on augs, get your tear, ts earring, evolving items, etc. The answer is simple...you have to start sinking time getting the right stuff

I bookmarked your list. Thank you for that. However you said 3 bp's but your list has many. What are the 3 must haves? Thanks agian for your insight.

 

[an_image]

That's what she said.

*ahem*

Time and investment-wise, you generally prioritize work on tank>dps>healer/utility. Do you need to go get all the achievement AAs? No. They'll help, but I wouldn't consider them necessary for group content. You said you're gold and max AA, which would be my first two questions, then come the augs for AC/hDex/HPs, then gear. My completely non-uber group was doing ROS ST for xp at 110 on max AA, minimal achievement AA, and limited augs. My next question would be your setup for spell rotations/automation used. The skin line of spells, lifetaps, and self-buffs make a noticeable difference in damage mitigation via runes and self-healing. When I manually tank, I'll miss buffs going down, but I'll notice because he takes larger hits more frequently compared to the buffs procing defensive stuff.

Nah…contrary to popular belief…flame me as much as you want tanks should be ac/hps/sta…then hdex…

Full disclosure, i run mostly ftp crews…tanks are meat shields first and must be optimized for that…now dps melee…yea go nuts on hdex

 

[Darkwynd3]

I came back not all that long ago with a level 95 SK in VoA gear. Ring of Scale rocked my world at 108 in conflagrant with HoT/Underfoot era type 7 augs and zero type 5. By the time I had snowbound at 110, I was pretty comfortable grinding in Howling Stones and Sathir's Tomb, but I did need to be aware that a 3 pull, I needed a defensive to survive the impact until CC got things under control. This was still using HoT/Underfoot type 7's and zero type 5's and autogrant only AA's. I was rolling with a shaman AND cleric though.

 

[an_image]

I bookmarked your list. Thank you for that. However you said 3 bp's but your list has many. What are the 3 must haves? Thanks agian for your insight.

@cintile current, oow, cotf, if you’re a sk epic 1.5 or 2.0

 

[Almafa]

Also for clarity, you started tanking LS at level 115? Just by adding a real healer?

Actually I think I spent a few weeks getting a few levels and maxed combat agility/ combat stability / armor of wisdom. To be honest, I am not sure what level I came to LS, but I know that I still had the same gear from 2019. Actually, no, I bought a 2 hander for 2 mil pp :P

My crew is SHD, ENC, ROG, SHM, CLR, MAG ...I get a lot of heals, slow fast, great cc...at the expense of dps.

 

[Almafa]

It could be that he needs a Shaman to truely shine.

I am really amazed that shamans became such a great healers. Honestly, I think, they outheal clerics, and with buffs, DOT, pet, they might be better addition to a team then a cleric...

 

[Koko]

Heroic aa's dont hurt but i wouldnt go out of your way farming them until you are at a point where you have all your main aa's and are done farming gear/augs ect.

I'd guess you are probably light in the aug department being PL'ed and boosted. They can add a substantial amount of heroics and ac...Dont forget to get your conflagerent player made augs for slot 5s and 7's . Also, at 115 you can get your pally the tov /cov vigor, security, adriodness slot 7's and all the slot 5's so that'll help out a bit you'll just have to farm all the ores. having a high ac aug on your shield is also a big plus for a tank.

 

[Littch]

So to be clear not saying anything negative just wondering if your healer and tank are just autogranted AA’s you might want to consider parking in Zone somewhere you are comfortable and just grinding AA’s.
Also these 2 classes need to have augs in there gear to help them raise stats etc.
Power source and planar shards etc in those slots.
Go through you gear and really look for areas you can get any edge you can find.

 

[2ndGoat]

I'm not sure I've seen you respond to people's questions about what your aug situation is. You've said the tank is auto-granted (better than nothing, but not max defensive for sure), snowbound gear, etc. but what augs do you have?
You would do well to spend a week or two farming AC augs from RoS and ToV. Even another 200-300 AC is going to make a significant difference at that level. Or, you could let the BST pet tank and use the SK for DPS while you gear him up with LS stuff. But seriously, focus on augs. That's going to be your hot ticket out of the wet paper bag.

 

[hackzimus]

At 112 here is what I'd do:

Snowbound gear is just fine, get equivelent non vis slots or even CoV if its available. (I see you have done this so thats great)

Get the best AC augs you can get in every slot (everything should be 45ish AC in ToV), get the LDoN frosty AC aug and another secondary only AC aug into your shield. Get a dodge mod item

Get Hdex augs in every type 3 slot. whether its the +70 or +55, get something.

Make sure you are caught up on your defensives. SKs utilize a lot of AAs from passive defensives to the ones that augment their lifetaps. Have your AAs caught up to EoK and into RoS if you're tanking that content. Focus AAs count.

you are in the stage where you can keep something defensive always rolling. you have mantle, carapace, epic, get your OoW bp if you dont have it, and reavers bargain. If mortal coil is not up, one of these should be. Take it further and augment the oow bp with visage of death if you need to and you can also have an optional psuedo defensive with visage of decay/spire to give yourself better taps. This will disrupt your burns but you should see better survivability with this.

Do you have a tap multi bind? Have charge for power line going for the ac buff, touch of xxxx for increased threat, and a tap multibind that you spam to help offset spikes for your healer. If your groups dps is low even throw bond in there. You can mash taps for a very long time without going out of mana.

Are you using the skin defensive proc line? make sure you are.

You shouldnt need to do the old progression in order to tank ToV, that stuff is just icing on the cake. But you need to make sure you are caught up on the content before it. EQ post Seeds is very linear in what expac you should hunt in aside from HAs. if you can handle the top zones group nameds then you are typically good to jump into the next expac.

Try this progression to gauge your tank:

FM > Droga/Korsha > Overthere > Howlign stone/Sathirs/GMM > GD > Velks

 

[an_image]

I am really amazed that shamans became such a great healers. Honestly, I think, they outheal clerics, and with buffs, DOT, pet, they might be better addition to a team then a cleric...

@Almafa, plenty of people in your camp regarding shamans. Personally Clerics are in a class on their own...and will be necessary when you eventually start solo raiding.

Now if you never plan to build beyond a group or groups content...should be fine with a shaman...

 

[ItsSteeeve]

Tanks are highly dependent on Augs and AA's, and its obvious when you dont have them.

Prioritize AC/HP augs that have some mix of Hdex/Sta/agi , unless its for certain slots (Shield, some era charm augs) where you're going to be stuck with a higher ac aug and hSta/str. If you have a 1hander with a type8 slot, put your worst current type 7/8 that will fit in there instead of a generic damage aug. You'll also prioritize breakpoints more than fully pumping hdex. If you cant hit the next hdex point, but you can swap one aug around and hit the next shielding or avoid? Do that, its better.

At the very least you should have full Remnant of Tranquility purchasable t5 augs to start, dont ever have empty t5's, and then upgrade those to the best t5's you can get at any point in time, as long as its a heroic you're working with. HSta dropped aug? Its better than your tbm t5. HAgi drop aug? Its better than your tbm t5. Ore drops? It makes an aug better than your tbm aug (after you make security + adroit), because you shouldnt bother making it into gear until you have all your augs done. BiS tank augs in Laurions song, as an example, have finally just moved away from Velium threaded security and adroitness augs, and thats only at full BiS. There are only 4-6 relevant t7/8 augments per expansion, the augs you can farm in any expansion will last you 3 or possibly 4 years worth of content.

(If you want an aug spreadsheet by expansion, just yell, I have the templates ive used for the last few years).

Tanking in certain spots in ToV/CoV is also just utter garbage if you're undergeared, or your dps is undergeared, because some mob types have on-hit procs that will out-damage their melee swings. This stops being a thing in newer expansions, you're not pulling NoS/LS mobs and getting hit for 40k + a 40k 1-2 tick dot, they're just spiking with melee or casting spells at you.


with regards to heroic AA's, no. I play a lot on test, and last year, we had a fun issue that wiped some/all achievements if you logged in, then tried to grant them back to you. This resulted in my tank losing most of his heroic AA's (and my dps getting max, somehow!). I never bothered to go back and redo the content again, but its very low on the priority list.

Also, and this cant be emphasized enough, if you're in an area where things can be slowed, and you're taking more damage than you want to, slow everything. Dont rely on your tank belt slow if you can put a better slow on something that is murdering your face.

Tanking is not entirely on your tank. The longer fights last, the more they are going to tax both your tank and healer. We arent in an era of endurance contests, stuff can and will quad you for 10%+ of your HP per swing at times, regardless of how geared you are and how debuffed it is. Also, dragon glyph is your friend if you're making enough aa's to cover it.

 

[Doc James]

With any tank, a shield and a 1H weapon is necessary for survivability. Without a priest class, you will be hard pressed.

If you are automating your tank, consider the CWTN plugin for your tank. From what I understand they work very well. Or at least much better than the other alternatives for tank classes. If you manual your tank, get better? Not a slam, just an observation on people who suck at tanking generally do not know how to effectively use their abilities/spells/utilities efficiently. If you are truly max AA's, and have the best group gear you can get for your level, then I recommend what I just said to improve the game for you.

Otherwise, just use a pet class to do your tanking and just worry about leveling your casters.

 

[smokedog66]

TBM type 5s - you can buy currency on baz. Mage cauldron augs , Having a real tank once you get them geared will allow you do to way more content than a pet. It might not seem that way now but stick with the tank and work on getting them stronger. Its a lot of little upgrades that add up.

 

[cintile]

With any tank, a shield and a 1H weapon is necessary for survivability. Without a priest class, you will be hard pressed.

If you are automating your tank, consider the CWTN plugin for your tank. From what I understand they work very well. Or at least much better than the other alternatives for tank classes. If you manual your tank, get better? Not a slam, just an observation on people who suck at tanking generally do not know how to effectively use their abilities/spells/utilities efficiently. If you are truly max AA's, and have the best group gear you can get for your level, then I recommend what I just said to improve the game for you.

Otherwise, just use a pet class to do your tanking and just worry about leveling your casters.

I'm strongly considering the CWTN. If I use my Pally that's on my 2nd account (LVL 108) I could keep BST (121)in the group. My BST and Sk are on same account, otherwise that would be my box. I could probably set up a camp somewhere in GD and just grind up AA on BST and work up the Pally. This would eliminate my Bard since its same account as Pally. Lots of people freak out at the idea of dropping the bard. What do you think about that? I could then add a Shaman or Cleric on a 3rd account in the near future.

So its one of these two combos base on characters I have

Account #1
121 BST or 112 SK
Account #2
116 Bard or 108 Pally or 111 Druid
Account #3
Boosted 100 character, dealers' choice.

 

[Wild Beagle]

Yes, in fact, I believe autogrant keeps you up all the way to 115, so it's not an AA issue. I may just scrap worrying about a tank. I'm doing LS group content just fine with BST/Brd box. I could use a little more DPS. I wouldn't be able to run my own missions tho, and that's the hang-up. It would be nice to go and run everything for the jann's viel by myself and or just farm the LS missions armor, etc. But as far as group content and named mobs in the LS expansion, I can already do that without a real tank.

Autogrant doesn't begin to touch the required survivability AA's needed for a tank.

Edit to add: Autogrant will leave you anywhere from 20 to 70k less HP and 10% less CS/CA than max aa at any given level. If you dont think 10-20% of your hp and significant damage reduction/avoidance is a big deal ... every tank can assure you it is.
Adding type5's (of almost any sort being better than a blank slot) will do even more to affect the tanks ability to tank. And don't neglect your focuses (for any tank) there are lots of focuses out there that significantly impact your agro and your DURABILITY.
A tank without a crippling snare belt is taking 25% more damage than one that has it. A tank without Janns Veil is taking a significantly higher amount of damage than one with it.
You mentioned that you were able to go through content no problem with a BST. BST has damage output and a pet to absorb incoming damage and if played well has a decent array of buffs and more importantly slows and debuffs that allow it to get through gear deficiencies. Tanks do not get that benefit. They are EXTREMELY gear and AA dependent which is why many here will have the tank on their paid/gold account.

 

[Undefeated]

I'm strongly considering the CWTN. If I use my Pally that's on my 2nd account (LVL 108) I could keep BST (121)in the group. My BST and Sk are on same account, otherwise that would be my box. I could probably set up a camp somewhere in GD and just grind up AA on BST and work up the Pally. This would eliminate my Bard since its same account as Pally. Lots of people freak out at the idea of dropping the bard. What do you think about that? I could then add a Shaman or Cleric on a 3rd account in the near future.

So its one of these two combos base on characters I have

Account #1
121 BST or 112 SK
Account #2
116 Bard or 108 Pally or 111 Druid
Account #3
Boosted 100 character, dealers' choice.

I would use SK to tank, keep bard. Make another account and make a BST. If ur going to he grinding up a toon might as well add a shaman and then for dps add 2 zerkers or 2 rogues or 1 zerker and 1 rogue. U can also do monk and rogue or zerker or monk and ranger. But I think the main 3 would be SK, BRD and shaman.

 

[Doc James]

I'm strongly considering the CWTN. If I use my Pally that's on my 2nd account (LVL 108) I could keep BST (121)in the group. My BST and Sk are on same account, otherwise that would be my box. I could probably set up a camp somewhere in GD and just grind up AA on BST and work up the Pally. This would eliminate my Bard since its same account as Pally. Lots of people freak out at the idea of dropping the bard. What do you think about that? I could then add a Shaman or Cleric on a 3rd account in the near future.

So its one of these two combos base on characters I have

Account #1
121 BST or 112 SK
Account #2
116 Bard or 108 Pally or 111 Druid
Account #3
Boosted 100 character, dealers' choice.

If you have a Shaman, you have slows. The bard is good for CC too, as well as song buffs. But, I have run groups with no Bard and as long as I had a slower, things seemed to work out fine. I think Bard gets good praise for good reason. And many people say you HAVE to have a Bard OMGAWD. But really, you don't to get a good group going. If it were me, stick with Pally and a CWTN Plugin for it. Then BST and also SHM.

 

[Wild Beagle]

I'm strongly considering the CWTN. If I use my Pally that's on my 2nd account (LVL 108) I could keep BST (121)in the group. My BST and Sk are on same account, otherwise that would be my box. I could probably set up a camp somewhere in GD and just grind up AA on BST and work up the Pally. This would eliminate my Bard since its same account as Pally. Lots of people freak out at the idea of dropping the bard. What do you think about that? I could then add a Shaman or Cleric on a 3rd account in the near future.

So its one of these two combos base on characters I have

Account #1
121 BST or 112 SK
Account #2
116 Bard or 108 Pally or 111 Druid
Account #3
Boosted 100 character, dealers' choice.

Given your options - I would probably make a tank on account three and focus on gearing it right. I would keep the Bard and BST at this point. I would be stuck relying on merc healers in that scenario but that opens the option for a 4th healing account once you have the others squared away.

 

[cintile]

Given your options - I would probably make a tank on account three and focus on gearing it right. I would keep the Bard and BST at this point. I would be stuck relying on merc healers in that scenario but that opens the option for a 4th healing account once you have the others squared away.

I like this possibility too. I would imagine using my BST/BRD I could catch up a 100 Boosted tank within a couple of days.

 

[Wild Beagle]

I like this possibility too. I would imagine using my BST/BRD I could catch up a 100 Boosted tank within a couple of days.

You could certainly catch them up on level in that time but probably not in gear (even on gold) Around 115 your tank should be around 10k ac (first number) and 350kish HP by 120 that will be closer to 11k and 500k Both of those numbers are easily obtainable via group gear and gold (augs/AA) But if you are much short of those numbers the tank is going to hurt.

 

[Oldman66]

I like this possibility too. I would imagine using my BST/BRD I could catch up a 100 Boosted tank within a couple of days.

That is a good direction with what you have to choose from. You're still lacking the heals though. While leveling a new SK (like how I chose that for your tank ) Throw a shaman in the mix. Level him/her along side your new tank. Hell, add a few more FTP accounts and you have a full crew. I really think your tank will suprise you if you take the plunge and purchase the CWTN plugin. There's a good KA ini for your bard that I have used on 5 bards and have no complaints.

 

[Almafa]

@Almafa, plenty of people in your camp regarding shamans. Personally Clerics are in a class on their own...and will be necessary when you eventually start solo raiding.

Now if you never plan to build beyond a group or groups content...should be fine with a shaman...

I am amazed, but kept my cleric, and retiring the shaman, and rolled up a Zerker alter ego instead of the shaman