Tank Trusts and Turning

[Hyrist]

Even as a soloist. I don't agree with the concept of having the AI avoid gaze mechanics. The fact that they exist ads depth to the necessity of smart planning when using mechanics.

There is a couple existing in-game solutions to gaze mechanics with tanking, depending if it is conal or not. And one you don't want to hear, but is the dead truth.

Conal gazes can be done with two trusts on opposite ends of your party listing. (Summon one first, one last) and engaging the enemy by curving in on its flank, if possible. This puts the two tanks on opposing sides and when one is hit with the mechanic, the other can take over. Sadly , this puts your other trusts at risk, as well as the other disadvantages of a two-tank set up with trusts, but it does enable a two-trust-tank set up to be more durable against gaze and breath attacks.

Alternatively, the most simple solution is this is the one you don't want to hear: Play a tank. As the population shrinks, the players themselves are going to have to accommodate themselves within existing mechanics, because as the population shrinks, the less likely the development team is going to weigh in on altering major mechanics above considering shutting down the servers. There are multiple flavors of tanking to choose from (and some DPS classes are going to wind up tanking anyways through out-damaging their counterparts) so there's no excuse not to at least experiment with them to see if one feels good for you. There is plenty of existing content that does not need you to play a specific way that you can be flexible enough to switch tactics and be one on occasion.

Also, soloists are going to have to accept that some content just isn't solo friendly, and that's fine. Most the gear you'll be getting in non-soloable content is for non-soloable content anyways, so don't sweat it so much.

[Mithlas]

Even as a soloist. I don't agree with the concept of having the AI avoid gaze mechanics...

I have leveled both RUN and PLD. I am gearing them up now. I believe I mentioned that one of my posts on the first page?
The main problem for me with PLD is that people don't want to work with me yet as I don't have Ochain or Aegis yet. Not being my main jobs, and with my limited playtime, it's going to take quite a bit of time to get those shields.

Farm currency for gil right? Well... that's pointless as my source of income is Dynamis currency - which I am saving up for Aegis. I'm really glad SE lowered the amount of time between stages. When I do eventually get the currency for Aegis it'll be so much faster to get through it.

[Sirmarki]

I have leveled both RUN and PLD. I am gearing them up now. I believe I mentioned that one of my posts on the first page?
The main problem for me with PLD is that people don't want to work with me yet as I don't have Ochain or Aegis yet. Not being my main jobs, and with my limited playtime, it's going to take quite a bit of time to get those shields.

Farm currency for gil right? Well... that's pointless as my source of income is Dynamis currency - which I am saving up for Aegis. I'm really glad SE lowered the amount of time between stages. When I do eventually get the currency for Aegis it'll be so much faster to get through it.

If youre looking for a Shield to get you by for the time being, without spending gil - The UNM Coca drops an OK one.

Ajax+1
DEF:61 Shield Skill+112 Enmity+11
Annuls Magic Damage +4%
Magic Damage Taken -21%
Unity Ranking: HP70~120

[OmnysValefor]

If youre looking for a Shield to get you by for the time being, without spending gil - The UNM Coca drops an OK one.

Ajax+1
DEF:61 Shield Skill+112 Enmity+11
Annuls Magic Damage +4%
Magic Damage Taken -21%
Unity Ranking: HP70~120

With WHM's Shellra V, this puts a PLD just under 50% MDT cap. This is a nice shield. There's also Beatific +1 which is -25% MDT and pretty much always you at MDT cap, with any kind of healer, and that's excluding any other -mdt/dt gear that you might have. Both are still inferior to Aegis, because Aegis goes past the MDT cap, but they're good shields. This also allows PLD to MDT cap without shell if you have a fight where you're getting dispelled/buffs stolen.If you're tanking a magic heavy fight, gear Magic Defense Bonus once you're at MDT cap (possibly wanting to PDT cap too, depending on the fight).

For physical damage? Priwen is pretty darn good. With a strong fast-cast/haste set, which OP won't have yet, you can keep reprisal up full time and then it surpasses Ochain in a lot of content.

[Mithlas]

I thought that FC was limited to a recast reduction of 50%? Wouldn't that still leave 30 seconds in between Reprisal recasts? I apologize if I don't have the latest info.

Thanks!