New player tanking options

aegeryen · #1 03-11-2012, 01:36 PM

I am new to P99 , and while I have fooled around with a cleric and a couple other classes I was seriously thinking about rolling a tank . I understand theres a bit of a shortage.

I am partial to warriors , because , well they are , in my mind , the idea tank , but i have heard that thier threat generation in P99 is not that great . Which may lead me to start a sk , pallies just arent my thing ...

Any advise, or opinions, would be appreciated .

Also how is the grouping situation here , I dont want to have to try to solo on a warrior , thats just too much down time .

Swish · #2 03-11-2012, 01:54 PM

Tanks always seem to be in short supply, so you shouldn't spend too long LFG.

SKs are great, best aggro holders in the game at the moment. Level 9 and disease cloud is your friend long time [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Racially, play what you want...ogres and trolls have better tanky stats, but they come with racial exp penalties, and despite what people say there is a bit of discrimination about allowing a troll SK into groups sometimes because people don't want to have to share your hybrid/racial penalty. Those people are idiots, but it does happen [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

If you do roll an ogre or troll, have a think about a run to Nektulos/Neriak to start levelling there - grab a sow if you can [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

sbvera13 · #3 03-11-2012, 04:38 PM

If yo ugo warrior be aware that they rely on procs for their aggro, so you won't be able to hold it reliably until 15 or so when whip of stangulation and obsidian shard, etc, start proccing. Also, it can get monotonous because you have very few buttons. On the other hand, SK's take 40% longer to lvl.

Xatava · #4 03-11-2012, 04:45 PM

I am pretty sure race doesn't affect group's xp like class does. Only affects the individual char.

Slave · #5 03-11-2012, 05:01 PM

Remember that this is Classic and so some classes that you don't often hear referred to as tanks can do it quite easily here, such as the very fun and powerful Monk class.

aegeryen · #6 03-11-2012, 05:14 PM

ya I am really leaning toward warrior , the taunt-kick rotation is just part of tanking , it doesnt really bother me too much , even in later developed games tank rotations are pretty mundane .

I am more concerned with threat generation , or lack of , and if theres a way around it . Obviously a proccing weapon helps

Odds are I would play a smaller race , I realise that ogres and trolls are bad ass . But there's something to say about not going the easy route .

Flash · #7 03-11-2012, 05:15 PM

SK's have the advantage in aggro early on, but they have a -40% EXP penalty, while Warriors have a +10% EXP bonus and higher HP/Mitigation. You get Taunt, but until your weapons start proccing, your threat generation will be limited. I believe Warriors can score criticals at some point though, which helps with both damage and threat output.

You also have very little to do other than taunt and smack stuff. You have kick and bash, but unless you use a shield, bash will be useless to you. If you are playing a Barbarian or Ogre, you'll get slam, which is basically a better form of bash that doesn't require a shield, giving you all that stunning/interrupt goodness with a 2h/dual wielding.

Guess I should also point out that a Paladins stuns are HUGE aggro generators, but I hardly see any Paladins on the server, and even fewer that serve as long-term tanks.

Slave · #8 03-11-2012, 05:25 PM

I am going to go out on a huge limb here (it's actually quite stable) and say that you would likely be quite unhappy as a warrior. I would say they are the second worst class in all of Classic, up to the end of Kunark. In Velious, in raids, they finally begin to shine, but let's be honest, if you're in here asking what kind of tank you should make... you're not going to be doing that.

Warriors are semi-broken in Kunark, and easily the worst first class choice from an objective wealth-gathering standpoint as well.

Flash · #9 03-11-2012, 05:26 PM

So Rangers are better overall?

aegeryen · #10 03-11-2012, 06:55 PM

ok well heres my situation in a little more detail . I played , back in the day , mostly a cleric . In fact I played 45 to 60 like 3 times , because I quit for various reasons , usually involving my ex wife ...Only to have the same buddy who sacked me to 45 talk me into coming back ( he was probably was running low on life stones or what ever they were called) , eventually I got a divorce but PoP came out and well , I quit for good .

At one point I played another friends warrior , but he was 60 , and had decent gear when I played him , and it was during velious and luclin .It wasnt too bad .

So I am not totally new to the game , just the server . And honestly its been a while my memory slowly coming back ... just thought i would get some input , and I appreciate everyones thoughts , thanks guys .