Make a man out of me(overcoming my fear of tanking)...

I won't mince words: I am legitimately afraid of tanking. It seems like a lot of work and responsibility, but it also looks like a lot of fun. I haven't played a tank job in an MMO since FFXI, which is a completely different animal, the experience of which I doubt transfers much, if at all, to FFXIV. It was an enjoyable experience being the human shield to a group of people, but I soon got on the damage dealing train and never looked back. Secretly, though, I've always missed tanking.

After I heard Dark Knight was being released, I thought this a great opportunity to give tanking another try. So I've decided to level MRD/WAR for practice. Unfortunately, I am overcome with the feeling of dread at the prospect of essentially being the "leader" of the group. That's just not who I am... (Continued in next post because of absurd character limit)

As far as MMOs go, I am more of a casual player. I save the Expert settings for solo games. In FFXIV, I haven't done anything beyond Hard modes and Crystal Tower, pretty standard stuff. I just don't have the patience and motivation to bank victories on the possibility that eight people(myself included) have the coordination and reflexes to perform at 100% in Extremes and Coil. That's too many variables for me. I have a much more laid back attitude when it comes to MMOs, which got me thinking: maybe certain people just aren't cut out for tanking.

If I did tank, I wouldn't plan on doing any of the more intense content, but still, being in charge, setting the pace of the party, and seeing each encounter and dungeon with new eyes that require a more intimate knowledge of mechanics, it's daunting to me. So my question to you good people is: does it sound like I should just avoid tanking, or is there something I can do to break free of my phobia?

First step to overcoming any fear is to confront it.

Tanking, especially in 4 man dungeons, isn't as much responsibility in this game as in most.

Your job is to:

1.) Keep hate on all the things that everyone is hitting.
2.) Face all those things away from everyone else and keep them as still as you can.
3.) Pop CDs and pray that your healer doesn't let you die.

If you can do the above 3, then you're golden for any dungeon in the game. Raiding is another beast altogether, but since you're not interested in that I'll just say that everything you learn from tanking 4mans does transfer over well to raiding but with some extra difficulty spice thrown in.

I understand where you're coming from. I was 'afraid' of tanking for a bit because it seems like you need to know a lot more. I suppose you do, but simply telling people you've never tanked whatever dungeon you're in before let's everyone know what's going on and you can just go at whatever pace you're comfortable with. Usually there's not much more to know. If you paid any attention at all while DPSing a dungeon then you already know most of what's going on. There might be some times when you're hit with a debuff or something that you never noticed, but you pretty much deal with it or the healer removes it anyway.

It's really pretty fun, especially since you can spend more time playing and less time waiting around for DF to let you in. Rotations are simple, if you're having trouble keeping hate on a group as MRD/WAR you can simply easy button overpower spam if you get frustrated. It tends to work, and if it doesn't then there was no hope of tanking it anyway (seriously should only ever happen if you have a BLM triple flare a group immediately). Once you get used to it, it's a lot of going through the motions and watching the emnity box to make sure it's all red. Really not much more stressful than any melee DPS unless you're trying to push a healer harder than they can/ want to go.

The advantage of tanking is that you can set the pace of the encounter, so really just keep doing expert dungeons and 'knowledge' of the overall role just comes naturally.

Do you know how to hold hate and mitigate damage? If yes than the only things you have to worry about are individual mechanics for each instance which just takes a little research and practice, which everyone no matter the role has to do in most scenarios anyway.

Well, if you are a level 50 monk, you should have no problem tanking. The first job you level is the most difficult. You already know all the dungeons, and a melée DPS is the most similar to a tank, you are there close to the mobs.

I would just start leveling a tank class. The low levels are easy, you know what a tank should do, unlike a completely new player who has the solo experience or early quests that is totally different to the party experience. You will get used to a different point of view, taking care of what is happening and what is going to happen, looking a lot to the enemy list and making sure you don't lose aggro, etc. Bit by bit dungeons get a bit more difficult and you get practice and learn. With your experience it should be easy.

Of course when you know well a place as a tank everything is so much easier compared to the first times, but with practice all places end being familiar and you will be more relaxed. You cannot go as a tank to a dungeon without knowing anything about it as you find DPS who enter and say they are new to the place, have seen no guides, etc. You play with other people that deserve you make the effort to prepare yourself. Since you are already level 50 Monk, you know the places, just not from the tank point of view.

I wouldn't worry too much and just start to tank. Be prepared to making some mistakes, and to finding people that blame you even if it's their own fault. Most people are nice, but you will find a small minority of not so nice people, as you will also have found them already (some of them, tanks.) Try to learn from your mistakes and accept you may have made a mistake, listen to what people say (they may be rude but have some part of truth, or not) and try to get better, but don't feel too bad, the best players weren't that good the first day.

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Originally Posted by Quadraphenic

that require a more intimate knowledge of mechanics, it's daunting to me.

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Fear does not exist in this dojo, does it? As a leader if you don't believe in yourself, who will?

just go through the low level dungeons upto bray a few times each, nothing you cant learn in them that doesnt apply to every other dungeon in the game as far as actual base tanking goes,

don't be afraid of trying new things and if your unsure how to handle a certain dungeon in regards to pulls just roll dps and watch the tank you get, of course gear on a tank is very important in being able to do some pulls and maintain threat but not as much as skill, and that comes from practice so nothing you can not learn.

from what you said about raids and ex primals its probs best if you just stay a dungeon tank until your comfortable with it then move on,

ive only done some low raids and a few ex primals myself although i tank st and wod all the time, mainly I raid as blm though but i tank dungeons all day long, they don't take long to learn and after a few runs you can look more at combining pulls to speed things up if that's what you want to do.

its a roll that has to be learnt, and unlike dps you don't have a back up tank in a 4 man but seriously just keep rolling tank and don't be afraid to make mistakes as youll learn more that way.

Honestly, you already have the tough part down - you know how the encounters work. Now you just have to apply that to a different role. Just think of the things you like to see a tank do. Hold things still, face them away from the group, and keep hate. Use your defensive cooldowns when they're needed (otherwise your healers will hate you). There's not much else to it really. A lot of the difficulty that goes with the role is just perception. Just take it in stride. If you wipe, you wipe. You dust yourself off and try again. It's actually really fun once you get to 50 and get geared enough that you can pull half a dungeon and watch the DPS light it up as you weather the storm.

Just let people know you're new to tanking an encounter and they're usually willing to work with you. You may get a more experienced tank playing on a different role that can offer you some pointers for the dungeon. If you happen to get someone that bails, you probably didn't want to deal with their crap anyway.

Once you get to 50 (and get enough gear where applicable), try some of the easier 8 man content like Castrum, Praetorium, LotA, and hard mode primals. Let people know you're new to tanking and usually the other tank will take the lead (unless they're new too, in which case you're in for some fun :3) so just watch them. Run dungeons on your monk as well and pay attention to how the tank handles different situations.

It takes some time to ease into the role, but it won't be as hard since you already know how the game works. :3

I'll tell you I'm a terrible tank but I love to do it! Just in the last few days I've gotten to a point where I can solo tank shiva and Titan (although dps has to be decent to solo Titan) and now that Ive accomplished that I'll be working on coil, you'll get the ones that'll lol at you just laugh it off and keep going you'll get it. As far as primal a go always be ready to solo tank it that's the best advice I can give about that.