Do Not Engage: Warriors Vs. PALs/SHDs

[YendorLootmonkey]

Originally Posted by Estu [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Fixed.



Why is DEX secondary? Isn't the primary concern holding aggro? Also, could you explain what defensive discipline does?

Yendor: I appreciate the long reply, but it doesn't really address any of my questions. It kind of reads like a warrior tutorial. Which is fine and all, but I'm familiar with most of these concepts.

How does this extra time spent taking damage compare to the extra damage mitigation warriors have?

This would require extensive parsing.

Can one make a case to use a paladin or a shadowknight instead since the damage taken by the end of the fight might be comparable, or is the superior mitigation so powerful that this issue is minor?

For XP groups yes, for raids, no. Unless you have enough clerics to make up for the damage mitigation issue using a hybrid tank, then I would say yes. My guild on Live used a SK as a raid main tank thru Velious, but I think we were always an era behind on raid content so it was a little easier.

Also, again correct me if I'm wrong, but a warrior has a greater need to focus on DEX and STR gear-wise so that he can hold aggro, while SKs and PALs can afford to gear up with AC, STA, and AGI since they can hold aggro with spells. To what extent does this make a difference in the end game in terms of the ability to soak up damage?

This would require extensive parsing.

I also hear that warriors get better come Kunark. In what way? Does this mean that SKs and PALs are even less desired?

Warrior taunt for yellow/red con mobs is fixed, as I described above. If you are familiar with the mechanics I listed, then you know what this does for warrior tanks. Mobs start hitting way harder and the damage mitigation for hybrid tanks starts to be a bigger issue from a healing standpoint, if I recall correctly.

For the answers of "this would require extensive parsing", the parsing for this was probably done 10 years ago by min-maxers that were trying to determine the best raid tanks and they came up with the same conclusion then that all your favorite min-maxers here are running with now based on 10 years of Everquest experience... SK/PAL tanks > WAR tanks for XP/trash in Classic, WAR tanks > SK/PAL tanks for boss mobs in Classic. Otherwise, if the opposite were true, there would be virtually no warriors needed for raid guild recruiting here. And WARs come into their own starting in Kunark with the taunt fixes, disciplines, and higher aggro weapon availability.

There are enough min-maxers around such that the way things are being done now are usually being done with good reason, as they've had 10+ years of experience with the parsing, mechanics, and content to know better this time around. Are there definitive answers for what you've asked? Yes, but they've been long forgotten and the data long buried away, and only the direct conclusions remain with no incentive to re-hash all the data just to come up with the same answers.