What tank and version of said tank is your favorite

I loved HW warrior. To me they really achieved the berserker feel. The animations just had so much power behind them, and of course the interaction of berserk and infuriate were a ton of fun. I also loved the gameplay aspects of inner beast and fell cleave.

End of HW Warrior and current DRK.

Warrior was easily the best and most fun back then, and took more skill than the borefest it is now.
Current DRK is the smoothest and most complete version, you need knowledge of the fights and mana requirements, and it feels very satifying to hit those huge numbers.

PLD - in the bin. Too simple and boring

Whilst I loved the HW version of DRK, I can see why they reworked it from a design perspective, its damage was heavily influenced by being the main tank, which was fun, but it just locked in DRK as the MT otherwise you were gimping your raids damage so I can see why they changed it.

SB DRK was really fun for me after they made some tweaks to it, you felt like a blender with 2 settings, blend and blend harder, and it was great fun being a tank that was just really fast paced, ran full skill speed for a while and under blood weapon I had a faster gcd than my static ninja. I can see why it wasn't for everyone, but there was a lot to it and its a damn shame its gone.

4.05 WAR was also really good before it became the inner release machine, you had to actually manage your gauge and pull off a satisfying string of abilities under inner release bezerk line up

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Originally Posted by TheRealQuah

Current DRK is the smoothest and most complete version, you need knowledge of the fights and mana requirements, and it feels very satifying to hit those huge numbers.

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What huge numbers? DRK toolkit is only being carried by The Blackest Night which you only get at level 70, and even that feels like it got downgraded compared to Stormblood version, but if you really want big tank damage numbers, either GNB or PLD are your best bet, otherwise just role a DPS class.... which I recommend DRG since it saw nothing but good improvements and is in a good spot, and SAM, though Shoha needs to be GCD and increased potency on it.

I think she means how in the openers and burst windows Drk goes over 11000+ dps while for example Pld's dps is constant and do not reach those numbers.

Also yes, blood weapon + delirium in SB was sweet sweet glory.

DRK don't get those parser numbers on burst windows, thats only happen on the opener and thats it, DRK highest potency is bloodspiller with 600 so the job is anything but huge numbers unless we talk about parser numbers and we all know the job holds the 3º-4º position with WAR with his minute of glory on the opener.

i also agree SB blood weapon + delirium was one of the best things the job use to have.

ShB Paladin.

PLD's had some shortcomings in the past. No AoE rotation being a big one. But as of 5.x, the new rotation just feels great. You've got both single target and AoE for both the melee and requiescat stages and it all feels very nice. Not to mention the gap closer, holy spirit being instant, etc.

I do miss having some of the minor CDs to help out with dungeon/trash pulls while rampart, sentinel, etc are on cooldown (bulwark and similar). But finally having a good rotation feels very worth it. I've always had a soft spot for the sword and board, but I've never enjoyed paladin as much as in this expac.

Edit: Oh and like someone previously said, Clemency is a god-tier skill. GNB was one of the first things I unlocked this expac. It wasn't bad, but I went running right back to PLD - without having experienced PLD's ShB rotation yet - just because of clemency.

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Originally Posted by Risvertasashi

ShB Paladin.

PLD's had some shortcomings in the past. No AoE rotation being a big one. But as of 5.x, the new rotation just feels great. You've got both single target and AoE for both the melee and requiescat stages and it all feels very nice. Not to mention the gap closer, holy spirit being instant, etc.

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I’ve always kind of felt like pld has just been spinning its wheels. So much of the current rotation is just mashing the same button a number of times. In HW I liked all the off gcd stuff which made it feel so much more active but it lacked any proper use for its magic. So they added a use for magic but it’s just press one button and we lost some of the complexity. So it’s like every change they made is just as positive as it is negative.

Stormblood DRK.

Heavenswards DRK was good, possibly even above Stormbloods in my opinion. But only due to what we had vs what we lost in the expansion jump and some changes to tanking in general. But I personally liked the idea, more stuff to use Dark Arts on. More ways to use MP, a new ways to help handle the MP(Why they dropped the drain but gave us Delirium/Quietus at the same time... eh). It was a clumsy step, but I felt it was a good step in the evolution of the DRK job.

Personally a perfect DRK would be a combo of Heavens and Storm.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Risvertasashi

ShB Paladin.

PLD's had some shortcomings in the past. No AoE rotation being a big one. But as of 5.x, the new rotation just feels great. You've got both single target and AoE for both the melee and requiescat stages and it all feels very nice. Not to mention the gap closer, holy spirit being instant, etc.

I do miss having some of the minor CDs to help out with dungeon/trash pulls while rampart, sentinel, etc are on cooldown (bulwark and similar). But finally having a good rotation feels very worth it.

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This.
I cant speak for other tanking classes, but PLD seems perfectly polished atm, no changes needed till next expansion.

As for the supposed "boring" factor of PLD: you have Cover/Intervention/Passage Of Arms and when needed, even that Clemency.
Other tanks have their extra toys, you have those tools - think how to use them to max potential and it is very rewarding.