Are all the Tanks identical?

They share a lot of similitudes but they also have their fair share of differences.
To say some feels similar, I can agree. To say they're all identical, that's hyperbolic.

Rotation wise
WAR and DRK will share the same problems when mapping their rotation, except DRK has mana on top of it while WAR will be hardly punished.
PLD will have its own problems to tackle.
GNB will have completely different problems.

DRK is basically an extension of WAR with two or three different things, it's basically the biggest culprit in the "all tanks are similar" debate.

Mitigation wise, it is also different.
GNB will have camouflage being very good against auto-attacks.
DRK will have Dark Mind, short cooldown extremely good against magical tank buster.
PLD is the only tank with 2 raidwide and able to shield itself and its cotank at the same time.
WAR has the amazing holmgang and self-healing capabilities but its unique 90 has no mitigation tied to it unlike Dark Mind or Bulwark.

They have the same base, but to say they're all copy pasted is a massive stretch.
Most houses are rectangular, all of them have a window and a door. It doesn't mean they're all similar.
But it's true they share too much similarities.

They are mostly the same with minor differences. As someone that plays all 4 tanks somewhat interchangeably, I created hotbars that pretty much allows me to play these jobs without really needing to know which one I'm on. Obviously, I do know which job I'm playing. But for the most part, they play the same. I tried to place the "glowing button" for stuff like FC, Double Down, Continuation, Confetor, etc in the same place.

I posted this somewhere else on the forum back in 2022 before they changed PLD. It would need to be updated, but it is pretty close overall:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...it?usp=sharing

In most (not all) content, the tanks play nearly the same. Wall-to-wall, pair some mitigation cooldowns together and/or stagger them. Spam your 2 step AOE while using the glowy button (Holy Circle, Decimation, etc), use your short duration, short cooldown mitigation (Bloodwhetting, Holy Sheltron, TBN, HoC). Maybe use a self-heal in-between your short cooldown mitigation (all 4 tanks have one). Build your gauge by way of doing your combo or by building up MP to expend it (PLD and DRK).

It is all half a dozen of one and six of the other. Truly.

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Originally Posted by dspguy

They are mostly the same with minor differences. As someone that plays all 4 tanks somewhat interchangeably, I created hotbars that pretty much allows me to play these jobs without really needing to know which one I'm on. Obviously, I do know which job I'm playing. But for the most part, they play the same. I tried to place the "glowing button" for stuff like FC, Double Down, Continuation, Confetor, etc in the same place.

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This isn't a tank "problem," I do the same thing on all the jobs. I also don't consider it a problem though.

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Originally Posted by CKNovel

WAR has the amazing holmgang and self-healing capabilities but its unique 90 has no mitigation tied to it unlike Dark Mind or Bulwark.

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Hi, only here to adress this.

WAR's ability that fills the slot where Bulwark, Dark Mind and Camouflage sit is Thrill of Battle. It is what I dub the "Extra CD" category.

It is a maxHP buffer it is actually somewhat comparable to TBN in terms of increased value when paired with %-mitigation, minus the characteristics of what shields do (sometimes blocking debuffs or KB for instance).

I say this every time, replace role-wide skills, aside from mandatory things like taunt, maybe shirk, there's not a single reason for the existance of Rampart, Reprisal, Arm's Length, Low Blow, even Interject, and the fucking 30% damage mitigation that is the same across all tanks EXCEPT warrior which gets a pathetic thorns effect which is redundant if your WHM is trigger happy with their blasted Holy. Replace them all for things that actualy could make tanks defend themselves to their own expression, honestly this can also be said about the other roles. Another thing would be bringing back stance dancing by changing your skills depending on your stance.

WAR/DRK are pretty interchangeable in how they play, PLD and GNB used to be somewhat unique, but now PLD is effectively PLDbreaker.

Its a shame they have to change PLD from strong sustained damage to bursty because literally no other option is possible under the 2 min meta.

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Originally Posted by Arkdra

This isn't a tank "problem," I do the same thing on all the jobs. I also don't consider it a problem though.

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In recent times, many have pointed out that SE has painted themselves into a corner with job creation. I can't speak for DPS jobs, but tanks certainly are cookie cutter. I like someone that used the term "PLDbreaker" - that's fairly appropriate now.

In 8 man content yes. But in 4 man content you notice the difference between a WAR and other tanks.

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Originally Posted by Derio

In 8 man content yes. But in 4 man content you notice the difference between a WAR and other tanks.

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You mean that WAR's invul has a 25s CD and all the others have a 300s+ cd?

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Originally Posted by Oizen

You mean that WAR's invul has a 25s CD and all the others have a 300s+ cd?

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Funny how they could easily nerf this since the tech to lower potency based on attack type is already in the game on Bunshin from Ninja. That one reduces the potency on AOE and ranged non-mudra skills last time I checked.

So something they could do that would nerf it but still be pretty viable is reduce the healing potency of it from 400 per target to 100-200 per target, which given the frequency how often they can use this and how much this still heals in a multi-target situation would be pretty okay. Would at very least get Warriors to use their other defenses.

Would also be somewhat more fair vs DRK's Abyssal Drain, which heals for around that level - on a 60s cooldown...