SM vs WL for group play?

[vanbuinen77]

A wl will always out dps the sm.

[zgolec]

ROFL.

Go make one. Try then talk.

My SM hit harder then WL |WL is 3 gene / full conq/sub weapon SO yea...

[peterthepan3]

Focused offence + 1000str/good melee power + taunt + Crashing Wave = possibly hitting 2kish. It's an extreme example, and by no means should any WL worth his weight crit for less than a conq SM with sub-600 str.

[vanbuinen77]

I dont need to make ine wgen i can see the damage wls are doing to my chosen with 90% overcap armor, 600 toughness, and 1k resists.

Wls do way more dps then sms. Period

[Mystry]

I have an SM but not a WL, and I'm extremely jealous of some of the things that WL has.

I feel that SM has weak defenses as a tank compared to IB/KOTBS, but at the same time doesn't have anywhere near the burst/dps of a WL, and if MMOs have taught me anything, its that trying to be 2 things at once never works out well.

[peterthepan3]

You lack WL burst but completely trump WL for sustained & AoE damage.

[Mystry]

AoE damage is largely pointless unless it's BW because theirs is strong enough to actually pose a threat to the immense amount of healing that gets shat out by shamans and doks. SM's Phoenix Wing is nice but is mostly for spreading out Nature's Blade debuffs. Its damage is simply too low to possess any real threat to a group with a single healer.

I've always believed that the game has way too much aoe healing; it shuts down chip damage too easily.

[anarchypark]

any solo dps tank is worth 1 gcd detaunt.
pathetic.
if not alone it's cc is threat, not dps.

well, after detaunt real dps it might do some dmg which is easily recovered by other healer.

so it's only worth when others have done their main role.
it's extra.

go for the looks. extra or not it's fun playing what looks cool.

[MayoDaen78]

AoE damage is largely pointless unless it's BW because theirs is strong enough to actually pose a threat to the immense amount of healing that gets shat out by shamans and doks. SM's Phoenix Wing is nice but is mostly for spreading out Nature's Blade debuffs. Its damage is simply too low to possess any real threat to a group with a single healer.

I've always believed that the game has way too much aoe healing; it shuts down chip damage too easily.

I think since the op was asking about group playability between both classess, It's fair to say that SM is still better, as it provides guard, challenge, taunt, stats steal, spirit based aoe debuff for the group so they can deal more damage and pretty good dps as a tank class. I know for burst, WL is better but SM gives better sustained damage pressure, plus most of its attack are spirit based so pretty much bypassing opponents armor and just go through resist and toughness mitigation check.

[peterthepan3]

any solo dps tank is worth 1 gcd detaunt.
pathetic.
if not alone it's cc is threat, not dps.

well, after detaunt real dps it might do some dmg which is easily recovered by other healer.

so it's only worth when others have done their main role.
it's extra.

go for the looks. extra or not it's fun playing what looks cool.

Well-played DPS SM/BO often requires detaunting them because of how much damage they can put out. For example, I would much rather detaunt a Swordmaster like Cythe, than I would 90% of DPS players.

Luckily for healers on both realms, there are very, very few active SM/BOs capable of actually making healers say '****'. I would say that the amount of players using optimal DPS rotations on ANY offensive tank can be counted on one hand.