I’m not weighing in as an expert here but my guess is that tanks simply won’t be able to refresh their CDs very quickly now. The thing that this ultimately means is things are slower, by necessity. The wild thing about NW is, compared to older MMORPGs I’ve played, no one seems to care about their group; in older games I’ve played, it was taken to extremes (players would announce when their mana was full, ready for another pull, as an example) and I’m not saying that’s how it should be in NW with CDs (“CDs ready, you can pull now”) but I do roll my eyes every time I see a healer or DPS player dashing off to initiate the next pull, ignoring the tank entirely. This is sometimes done so rapidly as to actually be the cause of wipes (CDs or not) and it’s just weird how some people think the only way to run mutations is how they saw it on a YT video, group composition/experience/communication be damned. You know, pulling those 25 npcs in two groups will always be faster if your group wipes when you pull them all in one go… And the amount of time saved if you run the risk is just brinksmanship; something I’d agree is fine for coordinated speed running groups to go for (and find fun) but never in a pub group. And all this change could possibly mean for coordinated speed runners is they may take a little longer to finish…
In my opinion, in pub groups, the tank should literally call every encounter except when the group have already agreed on certain pulls (but at least everyone should wait for the tank to be ready).
Not having skills up as a tank can be really bad if a pull is made too early. Right now, a couple swings with the sword and those CDs are done. This may change. And that only means one thing: more strategy required as a group (read, a bit more patience and not rushing).
Given that I’ve completed M10s in good times and with good scores (read “good” as “not speed running”) where we tend to not rush and just take our time, enough that the tank doesn’t need massive CD reduction… I’m fairly confident that this change won’t be “crippling” for us even in M10s. We’ll probably still finish Genesis in about 20-24m or so. And we’re happy with that.
There is no single encounter where anyone would be crippled if the tank engages fully, gains agro and everyone then engages for the rest of the fight. It’s only when adds jump in too early or the group rush pulls and the tank isn’t ready that the fan gets hit. This change can impact that but I don’t think it’s a big deal. It just means some groups will wipe a bit more when they rush.
The tank isn’t going to suddenly not be able to tank (even with them having 300 con - I am simply amazed that anyone actually thinks a tank has to have 300 str to keep agro; you can literally slap a carnelian into a weapon and steal it right off a 300 str tank if you like, damage be damned; sure, up until this patch… they may as well be 300 str for obvious reasons but with 300 con tanks will be absolutely fine if they know how to tank).
I’d still use it if I can though, as a tank, in PVE. It’ll still speed things up a bit. But that’s all it changes… how fast things can go. But that’s not the only thing changing in this patch so…