How many tanks?

[mexenlives]

Hey guys n gals. I've been playing off and on THF for a few years now. Never got past T3. Slowly trying to get MQ2 running again and figure out what kind of group I want assembled. I've got a few classes to choose from and up til now I have not had a problem with only using my SK as the single and only tank. Can I keep this practice or will I need to swap out a War?

So far I have
-SK
-Clr
-Shm
-Nec
-Brd
-Mag

That is the classes I'm thinking of going with. Alternatively I also have some others that can jump in
-War
-Bst
-Rog

I would like to only run 6 if possible. IRRC I was having problems getting through ToV last time and got frustrated.

Any/all input is welcome. Thanks for reading.

[mystickitty]

Really just depends on how far you'd like to try for. High end game needs 2 groups + really. And that's pretty much the minimum if your 2 groups are pretty beefy lol. There are some fights that need 2 tanks.

[Enrikk]

Also depends on if you are using tiered gear or donor gear, and your pacing. I got through T3 non-donored, but the Sleeper fight was 50/50 on my cleric. I think it was here that I started running 1 grp + a little more, with another cleric and a few rangers in there for thought free DPS.

While I have a warrior available to me, I've done all I've done with my SK. With donors, of course.

Safe Journeys!

[Demental]

I think you can make it up to T6 with 1 group, but you'll pretty much need to max out gear/augs for each tier. Grabbing a T8 pet on any pet classes will boost dps as well. The post linked below has a pretty good step-by-step up to T6.

viewtopic.php?f=30&t=10960

T7+ definitely requires 2 tanks and I'd say minimum 2 groups.

[mrhorrn]

I started off with 1 group until T3:
Pal, Shm, Clr, Brd, Rng, Mag

It was then i started to struggle too. I could clear it, it wasn't difficult but it took too long. The DPS just wasn't there, so i ended up making a second group:
War, Dru, Enc, Bst, Nec, Wiz.

The idea being a self contained group using Sune for buffs, until i found out the Enc can't pull on this server!

Anyways, the War has come in handy. He's not up to scratch in gear but if things start going wrong and i panic-press the wrong buttons killing the Pal, the War can and has saved the day a couple of times. The extra DPS has been nice too as has the Evac buttons

T4 was a real difficulty even with 2 groups. The Fennin Event spawns guards at the end i just couldn't survive without some outside help. The damage they do is ridiculous.

T5 is still a work in progress. Or, Xeg is i should say, but that's down to strategy and not a problem with Pally Tanking.

Long story short. If you like your SK, use him. I've used my Pal up until now with no thoughts of "maybe i need to swap".
I don't know if SKs get the same defensives that Pals do but i would expect they get something similar. You definitely get the same Defensive Disc ring from ST which you can use.
I recommend 2+ groups if you can. From my experience around these tiers 1 group is asking for punishment. The extra tank has saved the day and the extra DPS has saved a lot of time.
I'm even considering making a 3rd group

[mexenlives]

Thank you for all the input. I really appreciate it.

I have no problem taking my time going through the progression. It will take me awhile to get a single group strategy down with all of the buffs and clickies that I have accumulated over time and long forgot about.

More to the point of the post, I've not seen anyone say that my SK can not handle the tanking duties so that is good. Means that I can etch out a spot in the secondary group for a War and keep two healers (CLR/SHM) in the main group. Also means I need to start another email and register for another three emu accounts hehe.

Funny anecdote; Having logged in for the first time in about a year, I went through my bank bags and was greeted with many many odds and ends that I have no clue what they were for! Armor, augment etc quest pieces from..everywhere apparently. Hoo-boy! Still an awesome server, the depth is pretty amazing.

[mystickitty]

SK make great tanks. It seems to be the go to tank here. Their epics and donor are ftw also!

[mrhorrn]

I think you can register up to 18 accounts (or is it 24?) per email address? I know i have 13 accounts on the same email address.

[mexenlives]

Last I knew/remember it was 3 per email address. Perhaps it has changed.

[Dred]

I think I have like 24 accounts registered on the server using the same email address. I use a SK as my main tank and there is at least 1 fight in the later tiers where you almost have to have either a SK or Pally. She has quite a few donors but has tanked most of the mobs on the server with the exception of the couple special mobs. I started with 1 group and got through T6. T7 and beyond I made my way up to 2 groups and on some fights I run 21 toons.