Warriors traditionally haven't received many ripostes on their attacks, which allows them to be in the front of mobs even if they aren't MT. However, I noticed that frequently my riposte swing gets a riposte back by the mob. My warrior is on the weaker end on tanking, and I sometimes have to turn auto-attack off just to reduce the riposte damage to give him a chance to survive. Even with auto-attack off, he is still getting riposte damage from mobs due to his riposte.
Are you fighting sarnaks? They self buff with Sarnak Finesse which is a 10000% riposte buff. Best to dispel it if you can or do what you're doing with autoattack off.
Unless things have changed ... Ripostes can happen THREE times for each initial swing. You attack, Mob Ripostes (#1). Mob attacks due to the Riposte, you Riposte (#2). You attack due to the Riposte, and the Mob Ripostes (#3). That tends not to occur, and is less likely now that they made the hit/miss check first rather than last (you cannot parry/riposte/dodge an attack that misses you). The most common time to see it is when you and the mob are using an automatic riposte disc. From what I understand, they put in that limit of three ripostes per base swing because during Ruins of Kunark it was possible to crash the server with a warrior using the riposte disc into a mob’s riposte disc.
Unless you're tanking, there is very rarely any reason to be in front of the mob. You will almost always do more dps from the rear arc. Unless there is a good reason not to, just pretend you're a rogue when you aren't tanking.
Id just like to add to that that if you arent the main tank please dont steal agro from the main tank. Melee hate it when you spin the mob. Not meant for you Big. Just adding to your post. Multiple tanks sometimes feel the need to try to maximize their agro from the backside and its really counter productive. OTOH if you are having an agro contest please do stay on the same side as the other tank so mob doesnt spin and riposte or breath on your melee guys.
