As people have said PLDs problem is other jobs now tank better there is a reson for this.
MNK, and WAR were SEs first attempts at tank jobs shortly followed by PLD and SAM. For this reson WAR, MNK and SAM all have tanking triats or job abilities, as the players used PLD as the only tank and the player base used MNK, WAR and SAM as DD jobs SE gave these jobs updates to boost there DD capabilities.
As the game has progressed they all recived more and more DD boosts to there current state where they can do alot of damage, hold hate yet still suvive
.Lets compare there abilites to DD and tank.
MNK
Tanking traits and abilities
Dodge - increased eva
Chakra - recovers HP
Mantra - increaced HP for a short period
Counterstance - increaces couner rate
Prefect counter - counters the next 3 attacks
Subtle Blow IV - reduces the TP you feed a enemy therefore reduces the TP moves performed on you
counter - when conter procs you take no damage and do more damage to the enemy
Max HP boost- very high HP to help you stay alive
guard - allows you to perform a block against a enemys hits and even on TP moves
Tactical guard- you gain TP from guarding
Invigorate - you gain a Regen effect when using Chakra of 10 HP per tic
Dodge, Chakra and conter merits- further increasing MNKs tanking abilities
Evasion skill of B+
guard skill of A-
DD traits and job abilities
Hundred Fists- deals huge amounts of damage
Boost- increases your att for the next move (stacks)
Focus- increases acc
Chi Blast- deals damage to the enemy
Footwork- deals high damage with kick attacks
Impetus-Enhances attack and critical hit rate with each successive melee attack you land
Counter and perfect counter- Ive included this in DD as it deals damage in the place of taking damage
Martial Arts VII- lowers the delay on attacks therfore increces damage output
Skillchain Bonus- increases damage done through skill chains
A+ on hand to hand skill
PLD
Tanking traits and abilities
Invincible- 30 sec imunity to phisical damage
sentinel- Reduces physical damage taken and increases enmity for 30sec
cover - allows you to take damage for a player behind you for 15-30sec
Rampart - grants magic and phsical defence for 30sec
fealty- Grants resistance to enfeebling magic for 60 sec
Chivalry - converts TP to MP
Defence bonus - increases defence
Shield - allows you to block damage for phisical hits
Shield Mastery - gains TP from sucseful shield blocks
Guardian- reduced enimity loss when using sentinel
Iron will- Adds a spell interruption down effect to Rampart
Shield Defense Bonus - icreases damage absorbed by a shield block
Critical Defense Bonus lowers enemy critical hit damage
Cures- ability to restor HP
Phlanx- Icreaces defence
Flash- blinds a target for a short period and gains enimity
Shell and protect
Reprisal - increases shield block rate and reflects a small amount back
Shield skill of A+
Eva and parry C+
DD traits and job abilities
Enlight- adds light elemental damage to attacks and increases acc
Shield bash- deals a small amount of damage and stuns the enemy
A+ in sword
So to conclude
Eva MNK>PLD
Guard vs shield MNK>PLD (mnk can still guard while asleep, stuned or terrored. PLd cant shield block when under these status)
HP MNK>PLD
Counter Vs parry MNK>PLD ( counter procs more and deals damage)
Subtle blow MNK>PLD ( mnk feeds less TP so takes less damage from TP moves)
PLD wins out right on short term abilities to suvive having sentinel, invincible, rampart, fealty but these abilities last for 30sec with huge recasts meaning can not be counted upon as they can not be used when needed most of the time
cures and buffs PLD>MNK but all of these cures and buffs can be given to mnk by another player giving it a hollow victory
DD MNK>PLD A knock out clear win by mnk
In short PLD needs huge DD boosts to become a relevent tank and as u can see by comparison saying PLD would be to over powered by boosting its DD capabilities MNK is allready and DD and tank rolled into one job.
SE made MNK a better tank by giving it both tanking and damage dealing abilities and left PLD behind by just boosting its abilities to stay alive.
WHAT USE IS STAYING ALIVE IF EVERYONE ELSE HAS MORE HATE AND DIES BEFORE YOU DO