Instance Running 101 Explored Part 1

I thought it might be worthwhile to investigate exactly why those are some of the golden rules to running instances.

Part 1: The tank.

The reason the tank tanks is mitigation, primarily. This is, in essence, the ability to reduce damage taken. Armor is the first step here... a good tank has huge amounts, so that bosses who do direct 'physical' damage can't do as much. There's a straight mechanism here, more armor means more damage absorbed.

Other mitigation involves parry, block and dodge. Parry is a chance to block a strike, block is the chance to block a strike with a shield (doesn't apply to bear tanks, since they don't have a shield), and dodge is the chance to totally avoid a strike.

Magic damage throws a curveball here... it ignores armor, and it can't be blocked or parried. This is where the tank's health comes in to play... the more he has, the more damage he can absorb. This isn't the ideal approach for all tanking, as the healer will then need to heal the damage and could run out of mana. No healer mana = wipe.

Magic can be mitigated by resistances, which come sometimes as armor properties, sometimes as enchants, and sometimes as potions or other temporary effects.

Finally, there are magical mitigations that have no direct assoctiation... bear tanks are an example here, as they have a straight mitigation in bear form. Warriors have stances that offer more mitigation, and so on.

Finally, the rest of the party want the tank to be hit, as the more he's hit, the angrier he gets. Rage is the tank's mana, and the more he has, the more he can hit back, and the more likely it is the mobs will keep hitting him.

This is why the tank needs to be the one the mobs are beating on.