Tank LFG

In MMOs, Warriors, or their equivalent, are a dime a dozen. There are always too many Warriors. Everyone loves to play them, apparently. We love to pretend that we're hulking, armored behemoths of war, wading into battle without heed, cleaving/smashing/slicing our way through legions of foes. We like to be tough, we like to look it too.

But, in most MMOs, a team of all warriors doesn't cut it. Some MMOs don't require more than one Warrior per team. To fill the rest of the slots, you need someone to heal or buff. Someone to deal damage, at range, usually with AoEs (area of effect, for the uninitiated). Teams need support, need versatility, things that the bum in plate-mail can't offer.

Then what is our job?

To take the hit, to occupy the baddies while you work your mojo with fireballs, arrows, energy blasts, or whatever is it that you use to make things dead. Of course, more and more in MMOs, the "squishie" support classes can find ways to match or exceed the needs of a team for a Tank.

So, a few weeks back, while I was playing Guild Wars, I talked to a friend who mentioned that he was taking a team into the Underworld (one of the most difficult instances in Guild Wars). I offered to assist, and was turned down, since having a warrior would on serve to slow them down.

That kind of hurt.

However, having played Warriors in Guild Wars and World of Warcraft, Scrappers, Tankers, Brutes, and Stalkers in City of Hereoes/Villians, Fighters and Monks in Dungeons and Dragons, and Barbarians and Assassins in Diablo 2, I'm used to having people assume that since I heft steel and fist online, I fit into a certain niche of usefulness on a team, one that they don't need.

So, while he took a team into the Underworld, and wiped three times, I took my Warrior into the Fissure of Woe (sister instance to UW), and solo farmed there, making large sums of money, which I didn't have to share with seven strangers. Score one for the bums in plate-mail.

But honestly, I understand most peoples reluctance to invite a Warrior to the team, especially one they don't know. A bad Warrior can spell instant doom for a team. He can agro too many enemies, fail to hold their agro, die to fast and let agro transfer to the team, try to flee battle and lead the enemies into the backline, etc. And with such a large portion of newer players going to Warriors first, there are plenty of bad ones out there. Who wants to gamble on a player when they can fill the role with a different character class? But, this is turn leads to Warriors who have little experience teamed, and only know how to keep themselves alive, leading to more people who suffer due to their lack of skill.

So, I have a request: Gamers of the world, every once and a while, be nice and let a Warrior join you. They might make your life tough, but you'll be doing the next person down the line a favor, cause even when you fail, you learn something.