Tank, healer and damage - beguinners guide

[smilodon]

SWTOR is different from many MMO's in that it seems to have attracted quite a few first time players. For many seasoned MMO players the mechanics of group fights are well understood but obviously for new players they're not. Group play is fundamental to SWTOR and so I thought it might be helpful to write a quick beginners guide. Clearly anyone with experience of WOW or other MMO's will find nothing new here.

SWTOR is full of very powerful NPC's (computer controlled characters) often referred to as Elite's or Elite Mobs. While some can be killed by simply shooting as hard and fast as possible many don't fall to this tactic. Certain NPC's found in Flashpoints and Operations are described as being Bosses. Thin k of them as Elite Elite's. These NPC's most definitely cannot be killed by simply shooting them full of bullet and bombs etc. The only way to kill these Bosses is through use of the Holy trinity of Tank, Healer and DPS (damage dealer).

Each Boss has something called a Threat Table inside their little computer brains, in fact all NPC's have this threat table. Every player they become aware of goes on the table and who ever is at the top of the table is the player the Boss hates the most and is the one it will attack. So running close to the Boss will make it aware of you, you are said to have gained 'aggro' from the Boss. It will hate you a bit and attack you. Another player shoots it with a pistol and they suddenly go top of the Bosses Threat Table and it will attack them instead. A healer heals a huge chunk of damage that the Boss has dished out and they will jump to the top of the Table and become the focus of the Bosses rage. Simple enough. the more damage you do, or the more damage done by the Boss that you heal, the higher up the table you go. Sit at the top of the table and your in for a busy time!

Tank
The way to beat a Boss is to decide who should be at the top of the Threat Table and therefore who should be taking the damage. This lucky individual is the Tank. Through a combination of heavy armour, shields, the ability to dodge, avoid or otherwise mitigate damage plus a big health pool a Tank is able to soak up lots of damage from the Boss. They are basically punch bags. However they won't be doing huge amounts of damage. A tank will probably have a talent spec that doesn't include lots of high damage attacks. So how do they keep the Boss fixated on them and not another player who is doing  more damage or healing damage done by the Boss? The Tanks shots/spells/abilities will generate more threat than the simple damage they do. For example in many MMO's a tank might have a spell/shot/ability called Taunt. This does no damage but enrages the Boss and adds Threat to the players standing, boosting them to the top of the Threat Table. Maybe this Taunt is the Tank insulting the Bosses mother or questioning it's parentage? Who knows. The skill of the Tank is to use abilities that generate lots of Threat and keep the Boss fixated on them and not other members of their team. the tank is now said to be 'holding aggro' and this is a good thing. Of course once the Tank is being hit by the Boss and even with her armour and dodge etc. it won't take long for the Tank to get splattered by the Boss. Enter the Healer.

Healer
The Healers job is to keep the Tank on her feet. He will be armed with a selection of abilities, shots or spells that restore health to the Tank. He may also be able to shield and buff the Tank to make her more durable. Healers can do damage in boss fights but it will be situational on not generally the norm. Their primary responsibility is to keep the Tank on her feet. However if they do too much healing they could go to teh top of the Threat Table, the Boss will suddenly notice them and loose interest in the Tank. It will then run over and splat the Healer dead. Now there is no one to heal the Tank so the Tank gets splattered and it's game over. So the Healer needs to manage their healing so they do enough to keep the Tank in the fight but not so much they 'draw aggro' and become the focus of the Boss. Also they need to make sure their heals actually heal. By that I mean if a Healer does a 1000 HP (health point) heal to a Tank who has received 800 HP damage then obviously 200 HP of healing will be wasted. The healer needs to either do an 800 HP heal or wait till the Tank has lost 1000 HP and then do their 1000 HP heal. This way every spell and all its associated force, energy or heat generation will be put to best use. So we have a Tank tanking and a Healer healing, but we have a Boss who isn't actually getting any deader. What we need is someone who can dish out some serious pain. Welcome to the DPSer.

Damage Dealer
The DPSer unsurprisingly does damage. They actually kill the Boss. Most of their abilities have one effect, to do damage, simple enough. The trick to being a Damage Dealer is to do as much DPS as possible without running out of power and without doing so much DPS that they go to the top of the Bosses Threat Table and gain aggro. If they do they become the Tank, but a tank with no real armour, shield or damage mitigation. Even with healing they will die fast. Then there is no one to actually kill the Boss eventually the Healer will run out of power and be unable to heal. The Tank will die and the Boss will go for the last man standing, the Healer and they will die as well. We refer to this as a wipe and it's clearly not a good place to be.

So in summary: a Tank needs to keep the Boss fixated on them through generating Threat. The Healer needs to heal fast enough to keep the Tank alive but not so fast they run out of power or become the focus of the Bosses rage. The Damage Dealer needs to do enough damage to kill the Boss before the healer runs out of power and or the Tank dies, but not so much that they jump to the top of the Bosses Threat Table. This careful balance of threat, healing and damage needs to be maintained throughout the fight to ensure the players win. Skilful Tanks, Healer and Damage Dealers can do this consistently, bad ones can't.

Later in the game groups may need multiple Tanks, Healers and DPSers. There will be multiple targets to fight, encounters will have several 'phases' that need dealing with in different ways. In the high days of WOW, there were Boss fights that needed 40 players all working in concert, all using TeamSpeak, each with a defined role and set of responsibilities. These fights were so tough that one player making one serious mistake could be the difference between victory and crushing, humiliating and costly defeat.

So no pressure then :norty: