The tank we want

I want three things from my tank (IDC what class at all):
1 - focus on defense more than HP... I've had a couple higher HP tanks which seemed to mean they had lowered defense and took more damage, required more healing, and I had more aggro.
2 - Know what your limitations: if you pull to groups of mobs and I can keep up, go right ahead, if you can't pull one group of mobs without CC then be careful!
3 - Pay attention to me (okay this one goes both ways) but I want the tank to be aware of whether I'm keeping up easily, or hes almost dieing every pull, or he's losing threat

Well below 40, it's Warrior all the way. It seems until Paladins get Shield Oath, their enmity is pathetic and their mitigation is low whereas Warriors will hold threat on anything and you can keep them up with little healing.

From 40 to 50, it's the complete opposite, Warriors require a few Cure II and constant care while Paladins require little healing. In terms of enmity, they are pretty equal in this bracket.

So far at 50 in AK, I prefer Warriors, simply because they make the run go faster. Otherwise they are equally good. In Primal fights, it's hard to compare because Paladins are usually main tank, but I had a main tank Warrior for Garuda once and it was fine.

By the way, I know these are just observations, but at least, unlike the bast majority, I used a lot of dungeons to level and learn my class. I did every dungeon between 5 to 10 times.

I want a ninja tank with utsusemi so i cant take a coffee while we fight bosses.

This may have already been mentioned but a good trick for WHM with a MRD/WAR tank who is using CC is to use Fluid Aura to knock the target back then mez it, this lets the MRD/WAR use Overpower without fear of breaking CC.

Warrior can generate much more enmity in a short time.
If you want to grab attention fast --> War , otherwise --> PLD.
Boss --> PLD as they have silence and stun w/o cd. Except for some boss. Another reason is being that warrior can pick up adds more quickly than pld..

You might feel healing a warrior is tiresome, yes war need more heal from healer than paladin since there aspect is different
PLD = Mitigation through shield block & Defense.
WAR = Self Heal & HP pool.

To heal a warrior better, you first have to know what warriors are capable of, and when are they gonna use their self big heal.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by PetiteMalFleur

They hold aggro by doing aoe attacks on whole groups. So you can't sleep mobs for them due to their class mechanics.

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Not with a good warrior, the only reason is that they don't know whether someone will sleep or not. So basically right after 1st pull, good warrior will judge play style of party members and act accordingly.

I don't really have a preference for any class, I just like a good tank. That said, I think there is observations to be made.

Most importantly, a bad PLD >>> a bad WAR. I've not played either job, but just looking at toolsets shows me that paladin toolset is a lot more compact. Its hard to mess up. Empirical data seems to support this. Warriors seem to have more buttons to press, and as a result, some people don't even bother. For instance, the amount of times I've had warriors help me out with their self healing after a major damage spike is extremely limited.

FFXIV is in the honeymoon period for me. But even still, I've never been one for elitist class preference. So ill take whoever I can get to tank for me.

On trash, warriors because of threat.

On bosses, PLDs are just way better assuming they have even a basic understanding of how to use their defensive cooldowns.

I like marauders/warriors on scholar purely because it just fits their lore :D Plus it seems all the tank friends I have are warriors. Aside from that I dont have a personal preference on the job, so long as they both hold aggro, pick up adds, move out of avoidable aoe and dont be rude to other players.

I dont mind which tank I have in group, but judging from my DF experience, the PLD pick-ups are usually crap in 75% of the cases, where I havent had any crap WAR tank so far. So when I see a PLD in group I am usually very cautious at the beginning :/

My ideal tank? I'll leave out "generates threat, doesn't stand in fire" as that's the primary function of the role. My ideal is:

Someone who explains fights to new people,
who marks the kill order,
and who respects CC.

That's all I need to be happy.