Wow, had no idea this would turn into what it has. Penril - great suggestions, seriously. Well done!
For tanks specifically, their problem is the lack of a niche/role in high-lvl coordinated group play. They can pubstomp all day, but that's really not good enough. I think the ability to remove guard and/or be able to simply ignore it is a great solution.
As for implementation, I like Penril's idea of removing it from the
tank, and triggering a CD of x seconds. This makes it so the window is guaranteed, similarly to all other forms of CC needed to break up the deathball.
While this is a great way to give 2H tanks a role in high-level play, it does not solve the issue of 2H vs. SnB for dps. Now, we have MDPS to do dps. That's their job. 2H Tanks simply need a niche. My suggestion is buffing one of the most well-done pvp mechanics I've seen in an MMO:
Taunt.
I
love the Taunt mechanic: it's supposed to force people to turn and attack the tank, effectively acting like a real taunt does in PvE. It takes the heat off of your allies, allowing you and your superior armor/toughness to absorb blows. The problem is that it only lasts for 1-2 globals, so 1-2 seconds, sometime even less versus dual-wielders. And since 2H Tank dps isn't that great, it can be ignored anyway. I think the goal of a 2H tank is still to provide support, but the support he provides is tied to his DPS.
My suggestion is three-fold:
- 2H Tanks can extend the amount of hits required to remove Taunt to 6. This would increase the time it takes for the target to be "taunted" to 3-5 seconds, further helping out allies by taking the heat off of them, and increasing the tanks DPS-uptime slightly.
- While a target is Taunted, they cannot Detaunt the tank. However, if a tank is already Detaunted he cannot Taunt the target. This REALLY forces other DPS to turn and attack the tank, but still allows counterplay.
- Everytime a guarded ally is hit, the damage bonus of your Taunt go up by 2%, up to a max of +20% (50% total). The bonus is dropped if Guard is removed from that ally, or your ally dies. So here we can give 2H Guard a purpose! They will take a lot of damage, but gain a 20% damage bonus to Taunt, which can still also be removed/negated. They also need to find a balance (or good guard target) of who will take hits, but won't die before you can get your Taunt off.
The goal of these changes is to make 2H Tanks a big threat to Taunted targets, but otherwise they won't do a whole lot of damage...whereas MDPS are always doing full damage, all the time. We do not want 2H Tanks to replace MDPS! I think 2H Tanks should be a
battering ram used to make opening for the real DPS to get in and mess enemies up.
Obviously, all of these Taunt changes would be made 2H specific by either tying them to an ability or Tactic that requires a 2H equipped. Or, it could be that Taunt itself is changed while a 2H is equipped (effectively making two versions: one for SnB, and for for 2H).
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