A very understanding FFXIV guide.
Intro:
MMO's can be very unforgiving. Experienced players are quick to boot people who don't know how to properly play their classes. Many people level their classes and never try to learn anything about them, but some actually look only to find out there isn't good information anywhere. SE and the player-base seem to expect you to just know how to do everything. Well, here go some guides and breakdowns that I hope will help the new players who are trying to understand the game mechanics better.
Table of Contents:
Page 1 Post 1: Enmity
Enmity as of 1.19:
Hate, or enmity, is one of the most important mechanics when you fight a monster. Enmity is a value that determines who the monster is "angry" at and who it will attack. Think of enmity as a numerical value. The more enmity you have, the higher on the hate list you are. In a party, the person with the most enmity is the one being attacked by the monster. This is the goal of a "tank." When you solo, you fight alone, so you are always holding enmity.
You cannot see the exact value of enmity you have on an enemy, but there is a handy little bar next to the enemy's health bar that changes color to tell you all you need to know. It goes from green to red, and if you have the most hate in the party it turns flashing red. Hate builds as a fight goes on, and many things incur enmity. Damage points on the enemy and cure points on the party increase your enmity almost point for point. That is to say that if somebody is curing for more than the party is hitting, they will get all the enmity.
Aggro is when an unengaged enemy first sees you and attacks you. Their name will turn from Yellow to Orange. If you are the tank, proceed to beat them. If you did not want hate, however, just ask somebody else to attack the mob. Initial aggro does not give you a lot of hate.
Enmity ties into knowing your class role, and whether or not you want the enmity in the first place. A tank wants to keep enmity, so they will throw out abilities like Provoke and Disorient. A mage typically wants to keep low hate, so they would equip things like Out of Sight. A mage has to balance healing the party enough to keep them alive with not healing so much that they draw hate. A Curaga, which targets the whole party, may be a waste of MP, heal people who didn't need it, and will incur a lot of hate for everyone you just healed. Instead, you should single-target cure the people who need it most.
Enmity changes the way the battle works. If you have any enmity at all, you may not be able to recover HP or MP, for instance. Some enemies have abilities that "reset" hate. This means that everyone's enmity values is pushed back to 0. During a grind, it may be somewhat pointless to manage your hate, depending on how easy the enemy is. But when you are fighting harder enemies or especially bosses, the party must work together to manage enmity effectively.
Tanking tips:
The tank should build up enmity throughout the fight and not be overtaken. In big boss fights it's perfectly normal to allow the tank to fight alone for 10-30 seconds until they feel okay with their hate. A tank has to not only stay alive, but hold more hate than the mages have to spend by healing them. Useful abilities include Intimidation, Provoke, Disorient, Warmonger, Bloodbath, Cadence, Heavy Swing, Heavy Stab, Cure III, and Riot Blade.
Healing tips:
Mages should lay low when the battle begins. You may have green enmity or none at all, but if the tank hasn't built hate you can steal it with one spell. Your highest tier Cure is more potent than the average weapons-skill, and using Curaga just once might put you well above everyone else in enmity. Learn to gauge how much hate you have. Cure people one at a time if you can, and use weaker cures if possible. If you have 5 enemies attacking the party at once and you use Curaga, that big spike of hate is affecting your enmity for all 5 enemies. Do your best to find a balance.
If a mage gets hate, the first thing they may think to do is cure themselves and run away. However, you should do exactly the opposite. Stand still or bring the mob closer to the tank or somebody who can hit it, and ask somebody else for a cure or just do nothing. If you run away nobody can help you, and if you cure yourself you are just building more hate. Use a move like Sentinel or Featherfoot to try to stay alive long enough for the party to help you. As you are about to die, it is your call if you want to start healing.
In conclusion, enmity is a very important game mechanic that is somewhat invisible and not well-described for new players. Think of it as the party running a race. They all start out at the starting line. The tank runs the fastest trying to put everyone behind them, and the mages take it easy because they don't want to pass everyone. Controlling enmity is right up there with killing the enemy in most important points of battle. I'm tired and I probably forgot some, but I hope this guide helps anyone who stopped to read it. Good lucks!