Layn wrote:xanderous wrote:Knight is easier to play, so play a knight, i prefer IB, feels more rewarding and dwarfs and kewl.
Just please don't play a 2hander, we have enough thanks.
I was of the impression that general sentiment was shield not being necessary to do well as KOTBS or IB.
What is the survivability and damage utput difference between kotb and IB like exactly ?
Shields are the most necessary thing in the game, lets put it into perspective, what are the three attributes that make a party successful, tank, healer, damage, the holy friggin trinity, disregarding a shield is like disregarding a healer and taking dps spec'd healer instead or a damage class that has gone full defensive, when they do that they don't serve their purpose anymore for the benefit of the group it becomes more individualistic, it can work but its niche and requires some very hardcore intensive groups but lets pretend for a second we aren't those types of personalities.
Now this is where it gets convoluted, people will make the claims such as 2handed tanks can be just as effective in their own way, this is fundamentally untrue, yes they "can" be effective but in regards to a warband or even a group, they only complement the team if there is an overabundance of defensive tanks and as soon as the real dps class comes along, they will be traded, assuming the leader cares about min/max advantages.
Here is an example of what you have with a defensive tank vs an offensive spec'd tank....
Offensive tank: Full spec'd for damage and some sustainability, emphasis to getting the most out of strength and damage abilities which aren't going to support the group as well because they have not spec'd up the defensive tree, they can take a hit but die quicker so their guard will become negligible when it comes to morale bombing and will put more burden on the healers because when they get focused, they drop like a stone.
Defensive tank: Full spec'd in defensive tree's so their defensive abilities will be at their most effectiveness, they will be so much harder to kill the point that the enemy will try to use knockbacks just to separate you from your guarded ally. You can actually break the will of a warband by being the tank that survives a full focus, i've seen it and it is bliss. Your ability to stay alive longer, makes you able to do all the things that make a tank great and you will be able to keep doing it for much longer periods of time, consistently, guard switching, challenge, crowd control, morale 4's and finaly hold the line ability.
Now we come to my final point, why did you roll a tank, yep it was because you don't want to die as quickly, gives you more time to react and fight the good fight, you loose that advantage when you go offensive spec, i am sorry that bums people out but its true and on final note, look at this....
Dodge - avoids physical ranged damage
Disrupt - avoids spell damage
Parry - avoids physical melee damage
Block - provides all three of these as long as you are facing your target
The keyword is "avoids" you are avoiding the damage in its entirety, now take out block, you just lost, more parry, dodge, disrupt and what did you gain, more damage, was it worth it, not for me to answer, does it serve a purpose to do that, probably, does it help your warband in the rvr, absolutely not.
Mic drop...
