What Am I Missing?

[SDShannonS]

I just recently started here, got an Ironbreaker at level 9, was tooling around Mount Bloodhorn. I engaged a Marauder. I was level 17 (9+8). He was also level 17. I figure as a tank, I have a decent chance of toughing it out and grinding him down.

He spanked me in nothing flat. I think I managed to get him down to MAYBE 90% of his health before I was at 0% of mine.

Clearly, there is an element to the game that I'm missing. How can two melee characters of equal level be so widely disparate in power?

A friend that I've been playing with routinely hits in RvR for around 150 damage. He got hit the other day for over 1500 in a single hit. Again, what are we missing?

[Darosh]

I just recently started here, got an Ironbreaker at level 9, was tooling around Mount Bloodhorn. I engaged a Marauder. I was level 17 (9+8). He was also level 17. I figure as a tank, I have a decent chance of toughing it out and grinding him down.

He spanked me in nothing flat. I think I managed to get him down to MAYBE 90% of his health before I was at 0% of mine.

Clearly, there is an element to the game that I'm missing. How can two melee characters of equal level be so widely disparate in power?

A friend that I've been playing with routinely hits in RvR for around 150 damage. He got hit the other day for over 1500 in a single hit. Again, what are we missing?

Generally speaking and in your buddies' case:
Bolster, gear, toolkits.

In your case it likely been the Settra-esque proc on the Monstro mutation (ignores armor penetration) and the selfheal that comes with it, alongside the rest of his toolkit... Check the Career Builder, have a look at what classes can do.
Note as an IB you lack most of your really fancy stuff in the lower tiers; especially in T1 mobility and the tiniest amount of selfheal are gamebreaking in soloroam, I'd suggest picking up a group/guild asap and sticking to the various pug warbands - if there aren't any, start one up yourself.

[SDShannonS]

What do you mean by bolster and toolkits? That doesn't explain much.

[Nekkma]

Bolster means that you are upleveled to be able to compete with characters of higher levels. As an example we can take that you where rank 9 but gort bolstered to rank 17. However, bolster is not as effective as actually beeing the higher rank.

[Collateral]

As people said, bolster got you to the same lvl as he was. Which means your stats were bolstered a bit. But what bolster doesn't do, is give you abilities and tactics. I believe at rank 17 he had one tactic more than you, which is quite a big deal. He also had more mastery points and career abilities, so don't forget about that.

[Sulorie]

As people said, bolster got you to the same lvl as he was. Which means your stats were bolstered a bit. But what bolster doesn't do, is give you abilities and tactics. I believe at rank 17 he had one tactic more than you, which is quite a big deal. He also had more mastery points and career abilities, so don't forget about that.

A true r17 wouldn't be in t1 to begin with. He got the same bolstered rank as him, so the enemy rank must be quite similar. The higher the rank, the less bolster you get.
A monstro mara shouldn't lose against a tank in t1.
The OP picked the wrong target. We can't talk about gear differences, because we lack any info.

[Draugris]

I just recently started here, got an Ironbreaker at level 9, was tooling around Mount Bloodhorn. I engaged a Marauder. I was level 17 (9+8). He was also level 17. I figure as a tank, I have a decent chance of toughing it out and grinding him down.

He spanked me in nothing flat. I think I managed to get him down to MAYBE 90% of his health before I was at 0% of mine.

Clearly, there is an element to the game that I'm missing. How can two melee characters of equal level be so widely disparate in power?

A friend that I've been playing with routinely hits in RvR for around 150 damage. He got hit the other day for over 1500 in a single hit. Again, what are we missing?

Some general things about Warhammer. Tactics are a great deal in this game you gain 1 tactic slot every 10 levels. So in sum 4 when you ding to level 40. Also, not every class has equal effectiveness at lower levels, there are classes that get more useful abilities later in the game and some earlier. So judging a duel in early levels is really really difficult. You should have at least level 40 and rr40. You get mastery points every few levels until level 20 and from there every level up. Mastery points make the abilities stronger in the tree you spent them and you can use them to unlock new abilities. So somebody who is a few levels ahead you (real levels not bolstered ones) is of course stronger than you.

Regarding ironbreaker i would recommend you to a user here by the name Volgograd. He is a well known and knowledged player for your class. He has a thread up here:

viewtopic.php?f=54&t=14214

So i would recommend you asking him questions how to improve.

[Collateral]

As people said, bolster got you to the same lvl as he was. Which means your stats were bolstered a bit. But what bolster doesn't do, is give you abilities and tactics. I believe at rank 17 he had one tactic more than you, which is quite a big deal. He also had more mastery points and career abilities, so don't forget about that.

A true r17 wouldn't be in t1 to begin with. He got the same bolstered rank as him, so the enemy rank must be quite similar. The higher the rank, the less bolster you get.
A monstro mara shouldn't lose against a tank in t1.
The OP picked the wrong target. We can't talk about gear differences, because we lack any info.

Yea correct. I thought op was in pve but I forgot bolster doesn't work there.

[avalus]

IMO what really made the difference is that he probably had slotted the Warped Flesh tactic (25% on being hit to proc an absorb shield) which really doesn't help, considering you're a tank and already have low damage when it does go through Parry and then he either outhealed you with Monstrosity Gift proc (self-heal + Armor penetration ignore for 5s) or bursted you down with Impale

In general, T1 is very class/gear dependent, for example: yesterday I spanked several times a R15 Marauder being a SnB R12 Knight (full blue equip +TOU/WOU with Decimator) with a bit of luck on the Monstro gift not proccing too much (and kiting when it did), staying in his back to minimise his Parries, the Emperor's Ward tactic (same as Warped Flesh, dmg absorb proc) and the dmg reflect on melee hit Aura (& the STR/TOU Auras of course).
He did get me around 30% HP but by this time, the fight was pretty much over for him.

All in all, I wouldn't bother too much with T1 interrogations, as Darosh already said: IB get their yummy stuff later in levels (especially if you want to go 2h, now really isn't the time), so just try to get a decent group rolling and play your role: protecting the real damage dealers

[rmpl]

IMO what really made the difference is that he probably had slotted the Warped Flesh tactic (25% on being hit to proc an absorb shield) which really doesn't help, considering you're a tank and already have low damage when it does go through Parry and then he either outhealed you with Monstrosity Gift proc

This. It's the same reason why people die to those roaming ironbreakers with grumble n mutter all the time.