Isn't it strange how Ninjas are tanks?

[Selzak]

I know that NIN was never intended to be a tank. I think SE just underestimated players willingness to spam Utsusemi, and since it's a reliable Blink ontop of an EVA heavy job...NIN tank. I seem to recall NIN actually being created as a sort of specialized puller.

It seems like SAM may have actually been made to either tank, or be able to fill a tank role if needed. They've said that it wasn't intended to be a tank, but the emphasis on parrying in some aspects of the job has always made people wonder.

A lot of jobs never become what SE had in mind. DRK and RDM are two other examples. I think part of this has to do with the game being designed initially around the idea that arbitrarily large groups of players would be fighting and questing to gain levels and fame- not forming strict rules and conventions or fighting IT monsters almost exclusively in order to gain levels. Some jobs benefit from this maximizing of opportunity, many have not.

[Mirage]

I would say SAM is not made to be *the* tank, but is meant to be able to take some punishment if needed. A so called backup tank.

[DebbieGibson]

SAM was a tank before abyssea WTF?! Their defense is too weak.

sam was the de facto DD tank at 75

[Cursed]

sam was the de facto DD tank at 75

no. no. no.
While SAM was exceptional at tanking, it wasn't the "de facto" tank at 75.
SAMs wouldn't last 30 seconds vs PW or AV.
There are also several other mobs that SAMs have no chance at tanking.
try going and tanking some VNMs and Synergy mobs with SAM and let me know how long you last without 3-4 whms spaming cureV on you.

And when SAM did tank, it often relied on a co-tank. No SAM was solo tanking Tiamat, Khimaira, Cerberus, Saramaya.
They were often accompanied by another sam, or a thief, or a war/sam..

[Neisan_Quetz]

I'm fairly certain a Sam on my server did solo tank Sara, /war. Or mostly, idr and can't find the post but if he had a co tank it wasn't another sam/war/pld etc., I don't know if he had a thf or not.

[Cursed]

even if for only 30 seconds, there are times when fighting Sara that you need breathing space as SAM.
Unless of course your friend did sara with an alliance @75, in which case anything could tank it.

[Neisan_Quetz]

Thread it was in got nuked so can't find it now anyway.

[Kimble]

SAM could tank. The thing was most people that play SAM don't carry MDT, PDT sets so thats why people think they couldnt.

[Sparthos]

no. no. no.
While SAM was exceptional at tanking, it wasn't the "de facto" tank at 75.
SAMs wouldn't last 30 seconds vs PW or AV.
There are also several other mobs that SAMs have no chance at tanking.
try going and tanking some VNMs and Synergy mobs with SAM and let me know how long you last without 3-4 whms spaming cureV on you.

And when SAM did tank, it often relied on a co-tank. No SAM was solo tanking Tiamat, Khimaira, Cerberus, Saramaya.
They were often accompanied by another sam, or a thief, or a war/sam..

Is this sarcasm or something?

At 75, SAM DRK RDM PLD were the most popular tank classes. PLD and RDM were used for the big things but only when the group was unsure of the support lines capabilities or for the select mobs that weren't DD friendly like PW, Fomors etc.

You'd usually see those two classes brought out for the high stakes events like claiming a Tiamat or Khimaira just because it'd cost too much to lose claim simply because you didn't bring the safest tank classes. Some shells would use a DRK in these situations as well.

Wyrms are generally a bad example because they can fly. People were DD tanking Hydra, Khim and Cerb np @75 because those were battles where your stuns made or broke you anyway.

While PLD and RDM enjoyed success in the "safe" tier, the rest of the game enjoyed DD dominance with 2 DD being able to bounce hate and deal more damage. Even in some of the hardest content (MMM NMs, ZNMs, Einherjar), DD were much better than bringing a RDM or PLD.

[Reiterpallasch]

Strange? Not really. Totally like the player base to take a master of stealth and make them the center of a mobs attention.