Beside all the usual things everyone may be used to by now in PuG's these are some the things I've notice or observations while Tanking in various groups.
1. Very few people in PuG's have a Threat Meter installed. Needless to say few have Damage Meters either. Watch out for people that are obsessed with damage meter report. I have both though for more than obvious reasons since I'm tanking. But its amazing to see DPS in a PuG with no Threat Meter which makes it more difficult on the tank since neither the DPS nor the Tank have any idea where the DPS threat level is at untill you magically pull aggro. As a mana user tanking it means I sometimes have to burn more mana and have more downtime than I normally should.
2. I've seen and grouped with some Hunters with very good trapping skills. But the ones that are very good at trapping when required or when someone else pulls aggro and trap are very few that I have seen. Last weekend through 8 runs through Botanica we had one specific Hunter for three runs and that Hunter I had no doubt if I marked anything to trap he had it trapped for sure. He had excellent trapping skills.
3. Some Mages love to always sheep....... next to a tanking Paladin. Any Paladin that's tanking will just about always consecrate. If we see a mob already CC will try to move and consecrate to CC all the mobs to the Paladin if they can that's not already CC. If a mage has to sheep a marked target do it right after we throw Avergers Shield when there is still some distance to the mob marked for sheeping usually a caster mob.
4. Very few people carry water (Mana Drink)! If a group don't have a Mage to make free water not sure what some people will do. Some people run out of water during a instance run not having enough when they are already a mana using class. I always have three full stacks of water that 60 full mana drinks.
5. Few people in PuG's have really every had the experience to group with a good paladin tank. Its obvious when you hear them in party chat.
6. In some the PuG's I've seen often enough some DPS classes love to always attack the mob right after you pull it with Avengers Shield and before mob gets to you to hit the mob. I sometimes just let that person have the mob to take a beating for a while as lesson in aggro management and not to hit the mob before its in range for me to hit or drop a judgement on it.
7. Few people will use Elixir's in PuG's if they need to. Its can be obvious why if your not sure your going to wipe or not. Some people will though as I've seen. As a Tank I use Elixir's or Wizzard Oil if I have to because some people pack a lots of DPS in their Epic'd/Enchanted out gear set.
8. People love to go AFK in PuG's for all kind of reasons. It helps to do it if you can before the run starts if possible.
9. Some people have no idea how rolling for loot works in a Instance. Roll Greed on anything Green that's not BoP (Bind on Pickup) when it pops up on screen. If its a Blue boss drop Need if you can use it or its a upgrade to your class and Pass if you cannot use or loot is not for your specific class. If lucky to have a Enchanter in group and everyone passes on loots and no one wants. Group will usually agree to then roll for the Shard piece. Last Botanica run I was in we had one Mage that roll need on everything that dropped. He even rolled need on a healing Libram he couldn't even use. It was funny.
10. You will be amazed at how many healers in PuG's I've seen other than a Holy Paladin maybe that have no idea how a Paladin Tank gets his mana or maintain it when tanking. Paladins get majority of their mana back while actively tanking through a passive ability called Spiritual Attunement from being constantly healed. We get 10% of that heal back in mana as long as the Paladin is not on full health. Having Blessing of Wisdom up helps the Paladin or using Seal or Judgement of Wisdom as needed. However while tanking we get majority of mana from Spiritual Attunement through heals. I've had times in PuGs when I notice I'm barely getting heal, be maybe close to half health and be starving almost completely OOM and then a big heal. I'm wondering if healer is on coffee break or something. Sometimes I deliberately take damage just so I can get healed to get mana back. Usually I have to explain to the healer how that works, even some the other classes in PuG's have no clue either when I explain it in party chat.
8 comments:
For the big heal and SA problem, realize that paladins are the only healers where their fast cast heal is more mana efficient than their slowcast(large heal). This healer is likely trying to save mana and wants to give you time to generate aoe aggro so they dont get mobs on them after the first heal(not the case for paladins obviously, but you cant blame them for behaving the way they would with warrior or druid tanks).
That said, I've also never had a problem with DPS beginning immediately after an avenger's shield pull, well geared or otherwise. The threat they can produce in one cast is usually nothing near the 900*1.3 they will need to pull aggro. I usually AS/holy shield/judge and then consecrate. From there its either single target or AOE the entire pack down(works in heroics too)
Amen! I hate how utterly slow 90% of all CCers are at sheeping and shackling, even after being given friendly reminders. They wait until the mob is right at my feet before beginning to cast poly, wtf? The daze effect from my shield toss is there for a reason...
My first PuG with my prot. pally went incredibly well. I had read a lot on the forums and this was my first time ever tanking! My other 3 toons are mage, lock and rogue). I didn't tell them until after the run through RFK, but we did great, no one ever died. In the beginning the healer kept shielding me, so I sent her a pm saying "Your doing a great job, but could you please not shield me as I need the argo and heals for mana." She was very nice in her response and took my advice. I still chat with a couple folks from that group! Oh, and like 4 blues dropped for us, including 2 2-handed swords (just respecced from ret. /cry) , but I got a blue shield at the end so I was a very happy prot pally!
I agree with you except for number ten. I play holy and big heals are nice. FoL is mana efficient, but letting you go to half half and then sending a big Holy light and then having like 15 seconds of mana regen is way more effective in regular instances. I think assuming that the healer is on coffee break is a misunderstanding of healing mechanics. There is absolutely no reason why the healer should overheal and waste mana.The fact that you're going OOM is not the healer's fault but the paladin class' and part of our tanking.
In the gear that I wear these days there times when i'm not taking much damage especially on a boss fight. I know the healer is not struggling by any means to heal. In such cases if often burning more mana than what i'm getting back because i'm not getting healed or should say the heals are just slow coming. So i'm starved for mana or just about OOM.
There are times when i'm barely taking damage that if hit Holy Shield, Consecrate, Judgement when off of cooldown and keep that up while barely getting healed i'd be OOM. More often that usual that happens. I take screenshots often and when i look at those i can clearly see i'm OOM and healer is more than good on mana.
Concerning number 9: What's generally accepted as "appropriate loot behavior" varies from server to server. On my server, general courtesy is to pass on _all_ BoP no matter whether you need it or not. It stops anyone from "accidentally" hitting need or some such nonsense. Also you can talk it out afterwards, and maybe think about who should get a given item the most. There have been quite a few cases where I would have rolled need, but someone else with far worse gear than me say he or she needs it and I concede to them, giving them a huge upgrade.
Nice post Galo. PuGs are one of my favourite things to partake in.
Like forest gump and the box of chocolates - you never know what your gna get.
Pallytanking them can be challanging, as most people have no idea how you work. The fun of this is seeing their jaw drop as their imp pulls the whole room and u tank it sucessfully :)
Ive also notice something in pugs. Lots of hunters think its their god given right to pull..even while your drinking.
No one likes to be a grumpy tank, but wasting your taunt early means 15 seconds where you cant get the mobs back while the dagger happy rogue ambushes them off you :p
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