Aion: Krall and Templar Questions

[Cavallina]

So I hit 18 last night and am starting to accumulate a bunch of Krall quests and have a couple of questions. I did not play the beta at all and this is all new to me.

At what level should I start looking for Krall groups? Is 18 ok? Also, being a Templar can I tank these mobs at this level?

I've been trying to find some good Templar websites and haven't had any luck. Unfortunately, it does not look like Ciderhelm from Tankspot.com (or anyone else in those forums) have decided to play Aion. That site was a great source of information for my WoW Prot Warrior. So I'm not sure how gear dependent Templars are or if skill can compensate for lack of great gear.

I think I have a good tanking rotation down but that will need to be tested in a group environment and see how well I can get and hold aggro. I've been hearing it can be tough due to the amount of dps some classes put out and the aggro that healing generates.

Any recommendations or thoughts would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

Cav

[Winin]

I hit 18 too. It was tough in a small group, and we had a 21 chanter. But several of the quests were doable solo and/or with the small group. I still have more quests in there, so I'd be up for hitting it one night.

[Keinermacht]

Sept 30, 2009 11:26:38 GMT -5 Cavallina said:

So I hit 18 last night and am starting to accumulate a bunch of Krall quests and have a couple of questions. I did not play the beta at all and this is all new to me.

At what level should I start looking for Krall groups? Is 18 ok? Also, being a Templar can I tank these mobs at this level?

I've been trying to find some good Templar websites and haven't had any luck. Unfortunately, it does not look like Ciderhelm from Tankspot.com (or anyone else in those forums) have decided to play Aion. That site was a great source of information for my WoW Prot Warrior. So I'm not sure how gear dependent Templars are or if skill can compensate for lack of great gear.

I think I have a good tanking rotation down but that will need to be tested in a group environment and see how well I can get and hold aggro. I've been hearing it can be tough due to the amount of dps some classes put out and the aggro that healing generates.

Any recommendations or thoughts would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

Cav

Hey Cav,

Here are some of my experiences so far with Templar tanking and some advice pointers - some are my own, a couple others I picked up skimming the Templar board on AionSource.

1) Rotation - Below level 20, I opened with Provoke (ranged taunt), followed immediately by Provoking Severe Blow, then miscellaneous skills and autoattacks until I got a block, followed immediately by a Provoking Shield Counter. Keep spamming these three skills nonstop as soon as they light up and you will not lose hate on any single mob. If you pull an add, split your hate skills between the two - use ranged taunt on the add and the two hate building attacks on the primary target.

2) Verteron Group quests - as an Asmo, I did the equivalent to the Krall quest chain (the Black Claw Mau in Altgard) at 18-19, in a group of 5 (me, Glad, Chanter, Cleric, Ranger). We had fairly few problems, the Cleric peeled adds once or twice with big heals and I easily taunted back. Also our Chanter was 20 and peeled a few times with his out-level DPS but since he's in chain and can self-heal, well that's why some people say Chanters can be viable as situational offtanks. The worst situation was when we ran into another party who were high-tailing it out of the vicinity and wound up training 3 adds onto us while we were busy fighting 2 others... was kind of messy and some people died but it wasn't a total wipe.

3) Gear - yes, like tanks in many other games Templars are being stuck with the label of a "gear dependent" class. Since my girlfriend and I are crazy about crafting I've been able to gear up quite nicely but I am dangerously close to overdoing it. At your level, if you can find some Mirage plate pieces cheap at the Trade Broker go for it... but if not then no worries, you are still doing quite well especially since you have already got your tanking manastones figured out and it's the exact same breakdown as mine: Shield Defense > HP > everything else. Also keep sticking with 1H Swords, as a Weaponsmith I can speak from experience that everything else is junk as far as low level Templars are concerned

4) Stigmas - above level 20, tanking can get a lot easier with Stigma skills. Stigmas are basically Aion's answer to the Talent trees in WoW but with an interface that looks like WoW's Glyph system. I am using Inescapable Judgement (a wicked taunt/snare/CC stigma) which you can slot at 22 and Provoking Roar (your standard multi-mob AOE taunt) which you can slot at 25.

Whew that's all for now, I need to stop typing and get back to tanking. Good luck out there

-adam

[Cavallina]

Thanks for the reply Adam,

I haven't read the Aion Templar Forums, I usually avoid the official MMO forums. I find if I start reading them after 5 minutes I'm curled up in the corner crying like a baby and asking myself why I play a game that is broken and has so many problems!

It looks like I'm going in the right direction with my rotation after reading your post.

Also, do you utilize the movement mechanics and move backward while tanking to increase defense? The first thing I do in a new mmo is unbind the A and D keys to force myself to mouse turn. I was thinking of binding one to walk/run to switch to walk and be able to slowly move back when I mob is doing an attack. I'll give it a try and see how it works. *EDIT* This does not work, if you are toggled to walk you automatically toggle back to run whan you attack. *EDIT*

Thanks again,
Cav

[Attica]

If you guys need I have a lvl 23 cleric that I can help you through the area with. Name is Karatue (http://na.aiononline.com/livestatus/character-legion/search?charID=8508&serverID=6)

I have ran through the area with Digix, who pointed me to this site, and am more then willing to help you guys out if you need it.

[Solvanirn]

Same here...if you ever need a cleric for something (other than the mediocre dps) and I am on. I will be willing to help.

[Dachartach]

Good advice to be sure. I also tend to avoid the official game site forums, but I think there was some good information on the templar section. Take it with a grain of salt though, but it looked pretty useful. As far as I got to myself, level 25, most of it looked true to form.




there is an exception to every rule, especially this one

[Grok]

Oct 1, 2009 18:59:46 GMT -5 Cavallina said:

The first thing I do in a new mmo is unbind the A and D keys to force myself to mouse turn.

Don't forget that strafing also gives you a bonus to evasion. Perhaps not so important in PVE for a tank, but might be of use in PvP.

[Dachartach]

Evasion could be useful, but templars are so dependent on counterattacks from shield blocks to get most of our interrupt effects off. Of course it`s up to each individual, but I think the interrupts would be more useful to pvp groups. We`ll usually be the last (wo)man standing or flying, as we take the longest time to actually kill, we have the lowest dps, and they rangers and sorcerors are used to kiting us around. Lo and behold, an interrupt from a shield block on a big nuke or heal could make a much bigger difference than one attack missing a templar.



when things get very bad, always remember words of teacher. teacher say: "hey you! boy! why you talking! why you got candy? I hope you bring enough for everybody! you stay after school and clean classroom!" So, I remember words of teacher, and now seem not so bad.