New jobs upcoming, new tanks?

[Zakalwe]

There is so much speculation in the General Discussion forum about possible new classes/jobs, such as Musketeers (which Yoshi has indicated is certain to come), Dark Knights, some thief-like class, etc. But when SE starts adding new classes/jobs, must they also bring online new tanking roles?

I wonder about this because while there are many different ways of dealing damage, there are only a few proven ways of tanking. You generally either mitigate the damage (PLD) or you self-heal/evade (WAR), though of course each tank type is not absolute. Warriors do mitigate and Paladins do evade/parry. Still, if SE plans to bring on new classes that are DDs, support, sneaky classes, whatever, for balance's sake -- given the already existing imbalance between damage dealers and tanks and healers -- does that mean they need to bring into the game more tanks (and possibly healers) as well?

The problem with more tank classes is that it is just awfully hard to balance them so that they are all equally desirable. Just wondering.

[Marxam]

There are deflection tanks (i.e cover, but for a party), evade tanks (ninjas), pure mag mitigation tanks, berserk tanks (time based aggro) etc. It just up to SE to decide how to deal with it. Personally I'd love DRK to be a tank since the general idea is already implemented in warriors. Could be like Advanced Jobs where you need a warrior 30 and paladin 30 to unlock.

[Zakalwe]

There are deflection tanks (i.e cover, but for a party), evade tanks (ninjas), pure mag mitigation tanks, berserk tanks (time based aggro) etc. It just up to SE to decide how to deal with it. Personally I'd love DRK to be a tank since the general idea is already implemented in warriors. Could be like Advanced Jobs where you need a warrior 30 and paladin 30 to unlock.

Yes, looking forward to what SE comes up with. But to touch upon one tank type you mentioned, the evasion tank, in its pure form it is either totally OP (if it can evade everything), or merely OP until the RNG wins and it actually gets hit, and at that point it is something entirely different: dead.

[Phreak]

World of Warcraft has 5 different tanking models that are all viable and have their niche/moments when dealing with certain encounters, I'm sure SE can manage something.

[Gandora]

There are deflection tanks (i.e cover, but for a party), evade tanks (ninjas), pure mag mitigation tanks, berserk tanks (time based aggro) etc. It just up to SE to decide how to deal with it. Personally I'd love DRK to be a tank since the general idea is already implemented in warriors. Could be like Advanced Jobs where you need a warrior 30 and paladin 30 to unlock.

No, just no! DRK is a damage dealing class, it has been since the begining & should stay that way.. remeber that its counterpart is the Paladin which IS a tank.

Also WAR being a tank is already awefull enough.

[Acke]

drunken kung fu monk job would be my ideal new tank. make it play like NIN did in XI. but instead of shadows, have chi charges that are replenished each time you drink your ale!
they could specialise in counter/parry/evasion. this makes more sense to me than NIN tank, and their play style would be more or less the same

DRK should NEVER be a tank. the whole point of that class is high damage no defense. the opposite to the paladin. it would be idiotic to change the class that much

Beast master could maybe tank with their pet but I think that would be a hard class to balance.

[Enkidoh]

evade tanks (ninjas),

NIN in FFXI was never intended to be a tank, they were meant to be a DD/enfeebling Job - Utsusemi was designed simply as a 'get-out-of-jail-free card' if they pulled too much hate. Of course, players being how they are, had other ideas and realized they could abuse it by using it for tanking, despite NIN having all the defense of a wet paper bag, as the only other way they can avoid attacks was with high evasion. Also they had no native hate-generating abilities and even with WAR subbed for Provoke often struggled to hold hate properly.

Only later did SE buckle to player demands and gave NIN it's own hate-generating abilities, but it was still a glass cannon once it's shadows went down, not to mention a lot of enemies ate through shadows like they weren't even there. Hence why I seriously hope SE doesn't repeat this nonsense and keeps NIN as a DD Job in FFXIV when it's implemented.

[Paikis]

Evasion tanks always go one of two ways. They are either broken, overpowered tanking gods that never die, or they are useless squishy messes that turn into a fine red mist the first time their RNG armour fails.

That being said, I have heard rumours of the Dancer class being an avoidance based tank built from the Pugilist class. Also I've seen Templar suggested as a spear+shield tank based off the Lancer.

[Acke]

NIN in FFXI was never intended to be a tank.......

I seriously hope SE doesn't repeat this nonsense and keeps NIN as a DD Job in FFXIV when it's implemented.

agreed. and the idea of a NINJA as a tank is pretty silly to begin with. They're supposed to be killers that go unseen. Why would they specialise in BEING SEEN???
like I said above though, they could make a new job for PUG that would work well as a tank. Their "shadows" could just be 100% eva chance and it would be a good way to make counter actually useful.

SAM could be a tank, but I iimagine it would be very similar to warrior in play style

[OmegaSinX]

I would love to See Samuri come back as a Tank. I know it wasnt a tank in pass games but would be cool if they were. Could make them High Parry and Deflection Tank. Their Subs can be PUG & LNC. I know what your thinking... why isnt glad a sub ? But if SE gave them their own similair abilities, they wouldnt need it. PUG and LNC (Feint, Keen Fury, Invogorate) would make more sense for a SAM .