As to EQ2 re-free-to-play, I made some initial comments, but there has been so much conflicting information put out by SOE on this topic that I’ve given up on analysis until the thing actually goes live this week.

I don’t a tank shouldn’t have to worry about aggro, but to me it is only a small part of playing a tank and has a very black and white value. Either I have aggro or I don’t. The only *real* interesting part of aggro to me is when a mob first spawns, or is first being pulled or picked up. This is the only time aggro is *exciting*. Of course, in Rift’s current state, warrior aggro consists of SO spam, which is indeed an uninteresting rotation, but hopefully 1.6 will address that. We shall see.

In this podcast, Ferrel expresses concern about a tank being able to control mitigation having a direct effect on the healer, that a tank gains control of his mitigation removes both responsibility and control of the healer, while still quite likely leaving blame on the healer. I want to make it clear that I think this is a valid concern. I want to point out though, that this already exists to an extent, and while tanks do generally have mitigation abilities, it primarily exists in the form of gear. A tank is interesting in this fact, in that while DPS gets gear that helps them DPS better, and healers get gear that helps them heal better, a tanks gear does not help him aggro better so much as it helps him mitigate. Tanks are often said to be the most gear dependent role. I really don’t see moving mitigation management into a tank’s rotation so long as it is properly balanced (and balancing is often a tricky act). Healing a tank that is undergeared is comparable to healing a tank not using mitigation abilities (if he the game gives him them). I see the difference being whether the mitigation comes through gear or through ability usage. Either way, part of a tank’s job is to mitigate. This is vastly more interesting and fun if it can be done through abilities over gear. There can be timing involved in ability usage, depending on the mob.

I don’t think mitigation abilities replace healing, either. They work towards the same goal, but are different methods of reaching it. There is a relationship between a tank and a healer. Both work on maintaining it. No one wants to heal a wet paper bag.

The last thing I mentioned is player input. Why did I add this when obviously all classes have to have some sort of input from the person to function? It isn’t so much that I wanted to distinguish player input as a tank’s job, so much as I wanted to separate it from the mitigation and aggro tools, and it’s much harder to have the in game tools for the tank to accomplish his last job which is mob positioning. Whether the mob is cleaving, whether it drops an aoe on the ground and needs to constantly be moved, whether mobs need to be tanked away from the raid or in a group, mob positioning is a very important part of a tank’s ability to manage crowd control, but outside a few abilities like a death grip, rely primarily on the player’s situational awareness and response to that situation.

Ok, so with all three of these things being core to a tank’s role, I think the next thing to discuss is “Which does the tank worry about? Aggroing? Mitigating? Positioning?” Yes. But that isn’t the real question. The real question is to what amount. Offtanks need to worry about aggro more. They should have the tools to pick up mobs quickly and move them effectively. They should be able to worry less about managing their mitigation because they are constantly having to scan their environment, and are constantly having to manage aggro. A tank on only one mob though will get very bored as aggro becomes *incredibly* static compared to the rollercoaster management of the tank constantly swapping targets and picking up new mobs. This tank should be able to focus more on abilities that give him more mitigation. In an encounter in which the mob has to constantly be moved, these other two things should become less important. All of these are tools the tank needs to have available, and a good encounter will balance which the tank focuses on at whatever moment appropriately. Mitigation tools do need to exist to engage the tank in that particular part of his job. Managing aggro alone is incredibly boring and incredibly binary when there is only one mob.

Wada, SE CEO, has commented that they’re considering a discount on the subscription fee for early adopters of the game.