Why are you not a tank?

Post 44 I had a lot of issues.
Watched some video, Learned my hate control a lot better.
Rarely loss hate now.

The problem with tank classes in most MMOs is that it can often feel more like you're fighting your party than the actual mobs. For both tanks and healers, when other people aren't doing their jobs correctly, you end up picking up the slack.

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Originally Posted by BlueMage

The problem with tank classes in most MMOs is that it can often feel more like you're fighting your party than the actual mobs. For both tanks and healers, when other people aren't doing their jobs correctly, you end up picking up the slack.

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FFXIV feels the an extreme version of this. I have spent almost a decade tanking in many MMOs and loved it. I hate it in this game... Started hating it on titan(story) when my job was to stand there and watch everyone die.

I'd consider Tank classes in this game, the one that requires the most pre-planning out of them when it comes to late game dungeons. More critically so for HM Dungeons. If you do plan to tank, I'd be prepared to look into a dungeon before you do it. It'll make the process more smoother, and you won't have to worry about anything else other than DPS's or the healer going full derp on you.

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Originally Posted by Sephirah

I couldn't tell you. Despite all the frustration and grief that we catch sometimes, I love it.

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Personally I have only gotten grief about tanking once in the 2 months I have been playing the game.

BRD got mad because I was not used to playing WAR after playing PLD for 2 weeks, did my combos wrong, started with the wrong combo, having a bad day and decided to wipe last boss on AK since the positioning was altered. In retrospect positioning is something that could have easily been fixed. We also had a not so pleasant conversation being from the same server and all, but the way I acted after we finished and talked to each other was worse than anyone played.

Always regret it, wish I could take it back, they probably think that I was not being sincere when I apologized for my behavior.

Sometimes I wonder if players really do treat tanks poorly though, because I just never get it. People always say tanking is a thankless job as well, and I mean while I am not praised for what I do in every group, I have received some praise every now and then.

I Tank because on top of the dps in this game being fragile, I really do not enjoy playing Dragoon because of it's positional requirements and have heard Monks are worse about them.

But there are MMOs where I have chosen not to play a tank and am strongly opposed to playing one. The reasons are as follows.

It's too easy.
I don't really feel like I am contributing as a tank.

The reasons why I think other players do not play a tank are as follows.

Because they don't want to play a tank.

Because while what a tank does is critical to success, at a basic level it is nothing spectacular. Tanks are expected to be able to fulfill basic expectations like holding aggro.

Tanks are expected to be experienced players that can lead a group to success.

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Originally Posted by Rochetm

FFXIV feels the an extreme version of this. I have spent almost a decade tanking in many MMOs and loved it. I hate it in this game... Started hating it on titan(story) when my job was to stand there and watch everyone die.

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I'd recommend trying off tanking then when you hit the raid dungeons, if you want to go so far with the class at that point. Your job requires a bit more activity, and less standing around as an off tank.

I took both tanks to 35 before I chose Warrior as my main tank because I enjoyed its storyline more and back then tanking was actually fun.. There then is a steep curve that begins at Stone Vigil and continues into endgame.. and it just wasnt fun anymore, i may or may not get PLD up now to see if I like that any better but I find with having a main job as healer and now a tank at 50, I should just go DPS lol

OT'ing Turn 4 has been the worst experence I have had so far in my FFXIV Tanking career. So much moving around, trying to keep your MP up for the next wave grabbing all the adds. Just a total pain.

Laptop user. No room to upgrade video card despite it exceeding the requirements for this game in reality it can't hack it... I just plain don't see AoE and targeting rings till after they've already hit me... Can't afford to be the tank.

I simply like seeing everything, easy as that. for the same reason I don't like doing melee dps (ok that's not entirely true. I like to .solo. on thief/ninja-like classes)

it's really why I love healing the most. I .do. like the 'stress' of added responsibility and I guess I can 'step up' to leading if need be, but I still have the entire battle infront of me and can see these things easily. same with ranged dps. it's really the two things that are the most fun for me. give me a ranged tank (like something that SWTOR 'sort of' tried with the vanguard/powertech) and I'll tank for you :P

Because I love being a healer. But also, I do not make a good leader.

Because my FC has 4 tanks already and doesn't need a fifth. Especially since our FC is only 8 players.

It's just plain boring tbh.

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Originally Posted by Shan

After you know how to play, tank is the most interesting class.

You can slap the enemy face to face,You can do whatever you want.
if you are good,your teammate will love you.
you paid a lot ,but you get everything.

1.as a dd, you can just follow & stab someone's ass, playing with the boring skill rotation forever.
2.as a healer, all you get is pressure only(dead or alive)

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I don't really agree. Each role is interesting on it's own
1. I don't think you really played Monk, the rotations change all the time if you want to do optimal damage :P
2. Keeping your party alive and compensating for their mistakes can be extremely rewarding. Like saving a tank's ass with a Benediction/Lustrate spam after your healing partner died to plumes and tank messed up their cooldowns right before mountain buster.

Tank itself is great because you get to decide what your party does in a dungeon. It's also a good feeling when you just stand there and barely take damage (PLD) or take damage but DGAF because well, you're a bloody tank and you have your healer as well! As for why I'm not a tank yet is because on one hand I'm enjoying DPS and healing a lot, and on the other hand am waiting for SE to implement those WAR fixes before deciding which one I like more.

Bottom line is, each role is important in it's own way. Without all of them working together you can't really clear content efficiently (yes, i heard about those 3xPLD 1xWAR AK runs... or was it 1xPLD 3xWAR?)

Mixture of simplicity and redundancy.

Paladin I found incredibly boring, warrior less so, but warrior is obselete in end-game. Plus 99% of pulls as a tank go the exact same way, it's just rinse and repeat every time - it doesn't tend to matter if the mob is a giant heavy hitter, or a tiny weak mob; same rotation to establish and hold aggro, face mobs and position them for optimum DPS/safety, step out any AoE's (but be sure to return quickly to avoid turning the mob). Rinse and repeat ad nauseum.

Same could be said for DPS of course, but DPS tend to have much longer skill chains and variability due to procs.

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Originally Posted by Soukyuu

I don't really agree. Each role is interesting on it's own
1. I don't think you really played Monk, the rotations change all the time if you want to do optimal damage :P

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monk skill rotation is simple, it's something like 1,2,3,4,5,6(repeat),then you can get maximum dps

i do not play a tank because i am very bad at the job in every mmo's i played, if i ever do lvl those up, its gonna be via fates and as a GLD/MAR.

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Originally Posted by Shan

monk skill rotation is simple, it's something like 1,2,3,4,5,6(repeat),then you can get maximum dps

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And this is why people think monks suck and need a buff *points to the long-ass monk thread*

if someone think monk skill rotation is complicate,
that's because their key settings are very wrong.& they don't know what they are doing.

please see this picture
http://i1272.photobucket.com/albums/...ps59c669ea.gif
1-3 key are flank attack, 4-5 are back attack, 6 whatever, Q,E key are dot (time:30s, 18s)

here is how you can do full damage with monk:
1. Q,E,1,2,3,4,5,6
2. E,1,2,3,4,5,6
3. repeat steps 1&2

I will be stopping the OT with this post but: You're clipping all your DoTs, thus clipping your damage if you stick to a fixed rotation. There is also no point in refreshing the DoTs on nearly dead enemy. There is no fixed, best rotation for monk, else there wouldn't be so many posts discussing them.

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Originally Posted by Soukyuu

I will be stopping the OT with this post but: You're clipping all your DoTs, thus clipping your damage if you stick to a fixed rotation. There is also no point in refreshing the DoTs on nearly dead enemy. There is no fixed, best rotation for monk, else there wouldn't be so many posts discussing them.

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There is no issue with the dot (well, you can say the best step 1 should be "E,Q,1,2,3,4,5,6" not "Q,E,1,2,3,4,5,6")

if an enemy is nearly die, just 1,2,3, 1,2,3 it

you should not move nonstop while dps (say: back->4, flank->1, back->6),
because the server lag, sometimes you could miss the damage bonus

There are two main reasons I am not a tank:

1) My boyfriend is a tank, and we like actually being able to play together in 4-mans.

2) My directional sense has charitably been compared to that of a moth who is too close to an open flame while simultaneously on [insert hallucinatory drug of your choice].

Well tbh, I am looking to start a tank.

I really like the look of WAR, I'm preparing for 2.1 with the dungeon xp increase so I can learn to tank before Lv 50 and maybe even gear up a little over GC gear. I've already got full Hoplite ready and might have DL by then. Currently I'm leveling GLD for the cross skills. I think I need to get GLD to 34 for Awareness? Or is it more useful to have Featherfoot over that? (GLD is currently 22, just got Provoke, MNK is Lv 8 so I have Featherfoot & Second Wind.) My Marauder is currently sitting at level 20 due to me being sick of fates lol.

I'm already finding DPS in the lower end dungeons who simply wont attack my target/marked target though, how do I deal with that in a way that will keep everyone up, but teach the DPS a lesson so they dont just keep doing it.

1) I am the back up guy in my FC. SCH & MNK

2) Not geared enough. Will only use tank if AK and WP no tanks. CM yes will use.

Main tanking nope for me.

Too easy, too boring.

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Originally Posted by Rochetm

FFXIV feels the an extreme version of this. I have spent almost a decade tanking in many MMOs and loved it. I hate it in this game... Started hating it on titan(story) when my job was to stand there and watch everyone die.

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This is one of my reasons as well. I also find the long GCD and "instant" abilities not always firing when I hit them (due to animation locks or built in latency or whatever the reason may be!) to be really obnoxious.

For me this game has the worst tanking I've ever had the displeasure of playing.

Because i always play mage.
magic is more dreamy than getting beaten up ~ x:

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Originally Posted by Nooblet

Too easy, too boring.

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Same as any class in the game then, if you find it that easy.

This might be a silly reason, but I don't really care to play as a tank due to the end game gear. I don't mind the play style or pressure of tanking. But, the Heavy Darklight Gear is so fugly. I like the AF gear since it clean and an iconic look, but that is just going to get you set for the level 45+ dungeons.

When the implement the vanity slot and I can have my own look I will consider tanking.

Currently I am running low level stuff to clear out gear I have accumulated other wise I would likely not have leveled war past 26.

I originally was not going to main tank. Mostly for the same reasons being brought up in this topic…too much pressure! Then I saw the af myth armor upgrade and really liked the design of the pld. So I thought, “why not give it a shot?” After reading a few guides, checking out some youtube vids, and asking other tanks for advice. I found it to be a fun and rewarding job. You also get a lot of perks being a tank: faster que times (2 sec to get into ak, or mostly anything :D), leader of the group (can grab a drink during a run, why? Cuz everyone else has to wait for you lol), staring down the boss (im a lala so this is fun :P), and don’t have to fight over gear drops as much as everyone else. Tanks FTW! :D

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Originally Posted by Uriahnool

My biggest problem with tank is that everyone expects me to be the leader and know where to go and what to do as tank.

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That's the main reason players don't play tank, too much responsibilities (That's why tanks tend to be elitist jerks as well). You pretty much have to study fights before you do them because if you mess up, everyone gets mad and leaves usually. Also it's more fun to just mindlessly do damage that's why 80 percent of mmo players play dd.

<----------- lawl says Gladiator and picture of my whm when I am a Paladin. I love being a tank.

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Originally Posted by Shan

if someone think monk skill rotation is complicate,
that's because their key settings are very wrong.& they don't know what they are doing.

please see this picture
http://i1272.photobucket.com/albums/...ps59c669ea.gif
1-3 key are flank attack, 4-5 are back attack, 6 whatever, Q,E key are dot (time:30s, 18s)

here is how you can do full damage with monk:
1. Q,E,1,2,3,4,5,6
2. E,1,2,3,4,5,6
3. repeat steps 1&2

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And this is why a lot of MNKs have crap DPS.

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Originally Posted by Ksenia

Same reason as OP. I don't want to be the dungeon encyclopedia.

Could be they are also a pig to level. As White Mage I get 6K for a fate when everyone else gets 20K I don't know what it's like for Tank.

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ummm how do you only get 6k? fate grind as a healer is easy mode. run in spam medica, you dnt need to do any damage. contribution for fates is based on aggro. not damage.

Ex: lets say your in a party and each party member has hit a target that is a part of a fate making the total targets 7, one medica will put you on all seven of those targets aggro list, that alone culd net you a gold rank.

Even as a GLD/PLD i never even bothered with flash i chose an aoe class in my party and spam cured them.

I already geared up MNK and SMN because my friends (who have all quit by now) were all playing tanks. Gearing up another class is literally just a weekly chore, so I play actual games on 3DS instead of doing chores every week to gear another class.

Why?

Trust issues, mainly.

I don't want to tank for randoms. There's too much pressure in the expectation to do well or near-perfect, even if you're not accustomed to tanking. I am working on a tank, so I can tank for friend, but they know I'm not the best at it, that I'm learning how to improve, but at the same time I'm not going to stress myself out over it. I'll learn as I go, I'll improve by doing and making mistakes, failing and recovering.

But that's not good enough for people on the Duty Finder, and I'm not wanting to ruin my time dealing with the fallout from it.

So that's why I tend to avoid the DF as a tank.

I remember my first time doing group content as a tank in duty finder. It was Basic training: Enemy Parties and the dd was raging at me for not facing the mobs the other way even though he was a range dd. I don't even think the adds have frontal aoe.

Then you got healers that spam medica 2 in titan fight and call you a bad tank for not being able to hold hate.

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Originally Posted by Hyrist

Why?

Trust issues, mainly. [...]

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This is more or less my issue. Many groups run fine, but more often than not I get one of three types of groups in the DF:

1: Everyone is quiet, but no one wants to focus as a team, and instead I'll have both DPS attacking two different monsters, and a healer that's going nuts trying to keep up healing 3 different people instead of just myself (or even better, they're pulling monsters too with Aero and Stone).

2: People know what they're doing, but will whine the moment something doesn't go exactly the way their static/FC group does it, aka DPS that will run ahead of me and pull stuff because we're not going "fast enough" (gotta go fast, lerl 9_6), etc.

3: 1 and 2 combined, they attack all but what I've pulled/pull on themselves first, get themselves killed, Healer gets aggro from trying to heal 3 people at once and pulls aggro on themself and dies, and they all blame me.

I try to explain what's going wrong and how to improve so that everyone focuses on the dungeon as a team instead of just "I do mah thang and you keep the hate, kthx", but then I get labeled as an elitist know-it-all bossy tank.

Me: We should focus on one monster at a time so I can keep the hate off the healer and the healer only has to worry about healing myself except for emergencies.
DPS: You're not the boss of me now, and you're not so big!

When the DF is a crapshoot between level-headed individuals and children like these, it really isn't any surprise that tanks are in short supply in the DF pool.