So. Just starting leveling a GLD. Small message to the tanks of FFXIV

I main as an SCH. I've always played healing classes in MMOs and tried to stay as far away from tanking as possible. This is the first time I have actively tried tanking. So far I am only lvl 23, but I can see now what tanks have to go through.

You guys not only absorb mob damage, but the seemingly endless assaults from other players. Your ability to control aggro from all sources is amazing, and I thank you all for that.

As a healer I've never *had* to learn a dungeons mechanics. Typically I just follow behind everyone and watch health bars and avoid AoEs. As a tank I've had to gain a more detailed understanding of Dungeons and their respective bosses. Its quite surprising how many newer players (or even veterans) who don't know what they're supposed to do, or make frequent mistakes.

I've gotten into the habit of writing a series of macros (one for each boss fight that has some sort of fight gimmick) that explains in detail what the 'role' of each job is. Its helped quite a bit so far. Since I've started doing this before each boss fight, followed by a ready check, I've seen my number and wipes reduce and have received a number of thank-yous from players who were otherwise unaware.

You don't know what you don't know.

I am by no means an expert at tanking, and the fights I've had to deal with so far are hard to screw up, but it does happen from time to time. Baby Ifrit comes to mind. Its amazing how many people don't know the 'Nail' mechanic.

At any rate, I just wanted to pop in and express my gratitude toward those Tanks who go above and beyond. You guys are what makes the game great.

I've never been in a healer role here, but I always gravitate to "Cleric" classes in other games. So I've been leveling CNJ lately.

I've run a few low-level dungeons now as the healer and... <gasp> actually enjoyed them. Trail the party, watch health bars, watch aggro, DoT, dodge.

Makes me wish we had a D&D-style Cleric class here - heavy armor, moderate damage, melee weapon + shield, full array of heal and support spells...

I have been playing "Tank" classes for 6 years and I can honestly say I can't imagine having it any other way. DPS and Healing classes both have their responsibilities, but IMO none more so than the tank. Very rarely do you see venom being spewed at heals or dps, but often at the tank. We are supposed to lead the group, position mobs, have extreme awareness of all encounters, dungeon layouts, mob packs, boss strats..etc. While I fully believe that ALL players should have this knowledge most players don't care too much about it because the tank is "supposed to. I have only one iffy experience in FF XIV in AK as I hit 50 when speed runs were popular. I refused to speed run even though I had read and watching nearly everything about the place for a week. But studying is not doing it so I took my time until I understood the place. DPS got angry and left. Oh well...I refuse to cause a wipe for content I am not familiar with. Tanking is fun! Just do what makes you happy!

I agree with your statement on how everyone should learn dungeon layouts, etc. Speaking from my own perspective I always made it a point to learn the boss fights, or at least read up on them before hand. Now as a tank I read a few guides on each specific dungeon before I venture into said dungeon. If its my first or second time in an area I inform the group I am with.

Having said that, its difficult to learn an area when you aren't actively engaged with it. As a tank its important to know this information, but for everyone else its not as big of a priority since you're following someone else anyway.

I enjoy healing. Its fun for me, buuut it does get boring after awhile. Babysitting health bars gets monotonous so I figured I'd level a tank class. Definitely enjoying it minus the grumpy people.

Tanking can be fun. It really most involved into the fight role - as a healer focus on party list and DPS busy managing their cooldowns and stuff... but tanks...
Last time i was really excited playing FFXIV? Primal fights for my PLD relic. At night, with light off and in headphones. Shit just FEELS real.

You do tend to see just how bad people are at your role (heals/DPS) when you play tank. That said, tanking isn't necessarily any harder than either of those two, it's just different. Instead of going with the flow and having to dodge AOE, you have to maintain as much enmity as possible while rotation defensive cooldowns. In other games this is a lot harder to do as aggro is a lot less manageable (leading to force taunts being really good and tanking actually being a difficult thing to master), but in FF14 it's just a matter of AOEing mobs for x amount of times -> Aggro combo, especially with GLD/PLD. While WAR does have more versatility and a higher skill cap, it's not leaps and bounds harder - it's especially faceroll easy to get AOE threat as MRD/WAR. Once you get used to tanking it seems a lot less daunting than it does initially - dungeons aren't as complex as they seem and you can typically explain any boss mechanics in a sentence or two.

All that said, a bad tank will be very apparent and cause many a wipe (especially in 50 dungeons/HM Primals/EX Primals/Coil). A bad healer is usually hard to come by (especially later on) because they've gotten so used to how and when people take damage that it becomes as repetitious as tanking... somehow I've seen more tanks mess up their rotation than healers, it's really strange.

SpookyGhost, you're right, tanking isn't that much harder mechanics-wise than other jobs; if ur doin it right DPS and heal can be engaging/challenging if your goal is to maximize your output. I also agree with Ergheiz. It's easy to screw up the whole run if the tank doesn't know what they are doing or what to expect from fights. It's extra pressure I put on myself too, to lead the group, doing marking and pulling and knowing general strategy so I can direct the action. It is more responsibility but it is also more rewarding.

When running through the pre-50 lvl dungeons as a white mage (and especially as dps), there were times when everything would go to hell and there just wasn't much I could do about it. Sometimes I'd be able to save the party and enable a win, but mostly it just wasn't up to me. As a paladin however, after multiple runs of each dungeon up to and including Stone Vigil, every run has gone well. This is the first class I've played where I feel I can control the outcome beyond just performing well in my job, so I definitely agree that it is very rewarding. I may even spend my first soldiery tomes on this class, assuming I do well with end game content.

I tank in raids and heal in dungeons usually, making the jump from tank to healer can be a bit of a shock at first because you suddenly need to know all the mechanics, However there are times I find tanking easier :)

The default responsibility falls on the tank but you'd be surprised how many DPS are completely knowledgeable about the fight mechanics and don't bother to explain because no one asked them and they're not expected to. Honestly, there's no real reason why a tank needs to be party leader, I've done plenty of dungeons with a fresh tank where someone else lead the party (not physically of course, just giving directions and orders), and it went smooth as pie.

What I prefer more than a knowledgeable tank is a polite tank who won't leave the party at the first wipe, or be a twat to the new healer/DPS who keeps messing up because it's their first time.