Why more people should try tanking!

As someone who plays tank, every group wants something different of you. Big Pulls, small pulls, etc. I love tanking but I am not going to even bother queueing as tank if I don't feel like dealing with people pulling for me, dps not managing threat, or people wanting me to go at a pace I just don't feel comfortable with. There are days I love large pulls, but then there are days I just want to relax and not pull big. Those days I won't tank, so I am one less tank filling the queue.

Every class gets flamed when you are slacking, I leveled war and drk during heavensward and did some end game content its just a boring concept and boring experience. I usually mained mnk in heavensward (prefer sam now more ocd usage) so I like the positional and fast pace game play so that may be why I can't even bother trying to tank in stormblood.

There are three main things that keep me coming back to tanking.

1) First and foremost, I love being useful to my friends. Tanks are always in demand and playing one has meant being able to play with the widest variety of people in my FC since most are DPS mains or have DPS alts.

2) It's impossible to oversell the instant queues and the overall independence the role brings. I have the freedom to do whatever content I want whenever I want to. I take for granted that I can solo most FATEs. This past weekend I started pony farming the level 50 primals on my own.

3) I really enjoy being in the thick of things at the center of the battle. Not to say that other classes don't have to do this, but tanks have to dodge more AoE than most. I get a thrill seeing multiple overlapping AoE templates and dancing between them. Never quite getting to safety but always staying one step ahead so I don't get hit. Being the center of the battle means you're the center of attention. You might get blamed when things go wrong but you also get credit when things go right. Player commendations are a small little pat on the back and triple comms always make me smile. That happens with tanking more than any other role.

I'm new to the game and this is the first time I've played a tank in an MMO but what I've been liking about tanking so far is the gameplay fantasy of taking a group through a dungeon without them taking so much as a scratch. Apart from stuff like boss AoEs/mechanics I have minimal or no control over.

I'm sure it's not so satisfying for people who don't have a protective personality or have just gotten a bit burnt out from experience.

Most groups have been either kind and generous with tips or at least patient and tolerant, but there was a BLM at one point mad I wasn't comfortable with more than a double pull.

I started a Gladiator today.

I just finished my first Sastasha run as a tank, and I had a revelation: Low level tanking in this game blows.

I almost don't want to continue leveling. ><

It's so easy for level-synced people to steal aggro from me, and then I look like a jerk when a mob turns and swats the healer.

I feel like I had to do a lot of work just to hold aggro. I was tabbing between targets and using my enmity combo to stay ahead, but it was difficult to keep track of aggro in packs of 4-5 enemies.

I feel embarrassed. Even though no one died or was in any real danger, it was plainly obvious that I was just "okay." I'm sure the healer was raging at me behind his monitor for being made of paper, but all I have is Rampart! (Actually, the healer was really nice and understanding, but I still felt bad.)

These early dungeons aren't giving me a good first impression of the role at all.

I know I'm not the only one who feels this way, too, and I now think the poor design of the beginner dungeons contributes a lot to the problem.

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Originally Posted by Lynesse

I started a Gladiator today.

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Grats.

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Originally Posted by Lynesse

It's so easy for level-synced people to steal aggro from me

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Flash 2x and start your aggro combos. Bards and MCH at that lvl can kinda dictate which mob you have to keep an eye on since they tend to pull b4 you do.

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Originally Posted by Lynesse

I feel embarrassed.

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Keep your gear up to date and you should be fine til Braylox(sp?).

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Originally Posted by Lynesse

I know I'm not the only one who feels this way, too, and I now think the poor design of the beginner dungeons contributes a lot to the problem.

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If someone goes out of their way to make your job hard then remember the first rule of tanking:

You spank it, you tank it.

hope this helps.

Don't tank. The FFXIV community generally stinks when it comes to treatment of tanks. Don't believe me? Run a test; do ten runs in a row, intentionally ignoring a few key mechanics and see how people in your group react if they wipe. Watch what happens.

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Originally Posted by Jas710

Don't tank. The FFXIV community generally stinks when it comes to treatment of tanks. Don't believe me? Run a test; do ten runs in a row, intentionally ignoring a few key mechanics and see how people in your group react if they wipe. Watch what happens.

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I do believe if ANYONE quite blatantly ignores mechanics intentionally, and in doing so cause a wipe, that person's going to receive a lot of hate. What're you saying with this, that only tanks get that treatment for pulling that sort of crap? Son, that applies to everyone.

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Originally Posted by Anienai

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Thanks for the advice! I'll remember to Flash x2, then do my aggro combo. The second run went a lot smoother now that I'm figuring things out. I'm still really nervous. ^^

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Originally Posted by TallonOverworld

Whereas you describe why people should try playing a tank (and i agree with most) and being a tank myself, i believe a more direct approach of the "problem" would be for us to know even further why people avoid playing tank.

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I dunno how many mmo's you've played but every mmo i've played that required a team revolved around a tank, people most of the time tend to avoid tanking. I believe its mostly because its a primary role and not one they feel suitable for. There are other issues as well, not everyone has a decent computer / internet service which causes them to lag and being on either tank or healer it makes their mistakes more noticeable. So players go into bish mode and then you end up with a random kick of said tank or healer. Another reason is due to amount of anime fans playing this game, the majority of animes that have some form of combat are focused on dps classes so they end up wanting to play that class in particular.