Learning to tank in Age of Conan is going to be an interesting endeavor. Instead of simply throwing my ideas and the things that I learn into some shabby document, I'm going to log them on here. This will mainly ensure that I have access to it anywhere, and that I don't lose the information. Heh.

In any case, here's what I've learned so far:

Staying alive certainly has not been a problem. It seems that Guardians are most definitely built to be THE tanking class in the game, much as Warriors are built to be THE tanking class in WoW. (Go cry in a corner, Paladins.)

Guardians are the only class in the game who can wear plate armor, and the ability to wear such gear happens at level 60. From what I've heard, full-plate armor is supposed to look quite bad-ass in the game.

Now, I've determined that any Guardian who aims to be a tank (not a sometimes-tank, not an off-tank, not a "I'll tank when I need to" tank), they should always go with the Sword+Shield. Polearms should only be used on trash.

That being said, I'm going to need to pick up a polearm here at some point so I can try out the multi-tanking factor using that kind of weapon.

Now, tanking in and of itself works much differently in this game than it does in any other MMO.

Some things are the same:

1. All monsters have a hate list, and they will attack the person at the top of the list.
2. The main idea as the tank, obviously, is to generate more threat than your healers and DPS.

The way to generate the best threat is quite different.

First of all, there's no crowd-control in this game. If there's a 5-pull, you're tanking all 5. Period.

I've learned that targeting is a major bitch. Sometimes I have to click on a target repeatedly before it finally targets it.

Also, I believe the threat generation is going to be patched soon. I can see quite a few posts on the forums saying that it's broken right now.

All that aside, here are some tips that I've come up with and that I plan on trying soon:

1. The first obstacle is getting out of the WoW mentality. Forget what you learned about tanking in WoW. It won't work here.

2. Ensure you have no heals ticking on you before you run in to engage a pull. Also, the tank shouldn't be healed at all until he hits each mob at least once.

3. A lot of multi-tanking depends on positioning. You must keep everything you're tanking bunched up in a group in front of you so that your attacks hit as many of them as possible.

4. Keep Counterstrike up all the time on as many targets as humanly possible. Brutal Enraging Strike and Over Reach are the other two important tanking combos.

5. Keep Taunt maxed. This is a skill you dump points into, and should always be maxed if you're a dedicated tank. Taunt is a proc -- it works when you're hit by something. Therefore, it's a way of generating threat without doing anything yourself.

6. Know your abilities. You have about 20 more ways of generating threat than any other tank in any other game. The trick is remembering what they are and how to get the most use out of them.

These are the basics that I've come up with so far in playing the game and doing some research. A little later on, and probably more-so in end game material, there are even more things to keep in mind:

1. Weapon swapping
2. Stance dancing
3. Evading Left, Right, Forward, Backward
4. Switching maneuvers

All in all, there are a ton of things to learn and know, which is an enjoyable part of the challenge. Also, you're going to need help from your party members:

1. As I mentioned, no heals on the tank early on unless he's dying.
2. DPS needs to wait until the tank is ready for you to start attacking. This is so much more important here than it is in WoW. Monsters are more difficult to get back under control if the tank loses them.
3. DPS needs to ensure they are focusing on ONE target.
4. The tank should always have initial aggro. Stand back.

Obviously, none of this is important until you get to the real dungeons in the game -- the first of which is the Sanctum. It's here, when every pull contains all elite monsters, that these mechanics will come into play for the group to be successful.

More to come as I delve deeper into the Guardian class!